Monday, June 2, 2014

Where Do You Keep It All? 2013 Reprise

"First things first...We are truly blessed to have the means to set a pretty table and invite our friends to join us for good food and fellowship. I am mindful that many are not so fortunate. My daughter has a passion for the work of the Food Bank. As a singer-songwriter, she has written and recorded a song that is the anthem for the world wide Crop Hunger Walk project. Her song, "Raise Your Voice" is featured in their video. I've included a link in the side margin of my blog. I hope that it will encourage you to support projects in your community that contribute to the effort to overcome hunger.
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The last few weeks have been spent with preparations for our 4th annual Wild Game Dinner.  Pictures will follow in a few weeks.  The party was Saturday night, and around 150 guests visited, dined, and danced until midnight.  It was a wonderful evening, and I'll share a few pictures in a couple of weeks.  Today I launched into last minute preparations for my (I can't believe I'm saying this) 50th High School Reunion.  I'm on the steering committee, and we have an events packed Friday, Saturday, and Sunday just ahead of us.  I'll also post some photos of that before too long.  In the meantime, I'm going to reprise my post from last year (2013) for The Tablescaper's "Where Do You Keep It All?".

Each year, The Tablescaper poses the question "Where Do You Keep It All?  This time I have something new to add to the mix.  Last Fall, Sweet Mister announced that he needed another closet for his out of season clothing. He observed that I had every extra closet in the house filled with dishes, crystal, and accessories.  He was correct.  He thought that he would have a carpenter come build a cedar closet for him in the third garage/storage room.  I suggested that he could indeed do that....orrrrr....I could make a clothing rod available for him in one of the guest rooms, and he could have his carpenter turn the third garage/storage room into a china room for me.  Oh my gosh....he did it!!!  It took several months to complete; Sweet Mister designed the whole thing with the carpenter.  I'm still deciding which of our patterns I want to keep in the china room, and I am thrilled with his generous gift.  This week, I want to share the China Room with you...Come on in...


An assortment of tureens and bowls sit atop the cabinets on the right side of the room.  Some day I plan to replace those ugly light strips with a couple of chandeliers.

Cake pedestals plus some additional tureens live on top of the cabinets that run down the left side of the room.  
This oddly shaped table is really my slab roller that I use when I work in clay.  It's always been in this room, and I really didn't have any place else to locate it....and I didn't want to get rid of it.  I covered it with a large canvas tablecloth/drop cloth, and I placed sliders under each leg.  If I ever want to pull it out for clay work...easy peasy.  It's become a staging area when I move things in and out of the china room to the house.

A humble Rubber Maid cart has quickly become my new best friend.  Once loaded, it takes but a few moments to transport my china for luncheons and parties to the kitchen door.  Now let's take a look inside the cabinets...Yes, it's all color coded...

The whites and creams...

Each section of cabinets has three upper and three lower shelves...

 Middle shelf, left to right:  Ovington Brothers accent plate; Wedgwood Queens Plain; Royal Crown Sutherland, unknown pattern name; and Castleton Regal.  Lower Shelf:  Wedgwood Countryware; Cherry motif glass accent plate; Reticulated B&B plate; Haviland plain white luncheon plate; and Wedgwood Majolica Cream Leaf plate. (I displayed as many of the patterns as I could.)

Upper shelf:  Royal Doulton RD199 Luncheon plate.  Middle shelf:  Copeland Spode Jewel; Pottery Barn Enamelware plate; Coalport Kingsware Lady Diana.  Lower shelf:  Maryland China Company Minuet charger plate.


The pinks and reds are next...


Upper shelf:  Coalport Exotic Bird Z3137 luncheon plate; and Royal Doulton Lowestoft.  Middle shelf: Schumann Dresden Empress Flowers; Copeland Spode Irene; and Royal Crown Derby Olde Avesbury.  Lower shelf:  Royal Doulton Old Chelsea; Coalport Old Coalport; and Copeland Spode Red Aster.
Upper shelf:  Royal Worchester Regency.  Middle shelf:  Copeland Spode Mayflower; and Haviland luncheon plate.  Lower shelf:  Copeland Spode Luneville; and Coalport Sevres Group.

My wonderful blues...


 Upper shelf:  Minton Cobalt and Gold; Castleton Old Empire Blue; Coalport Spearpoint; and Minton Consort.  Middle shelf:  Copeland Spode Peacock luncheon plate; Ridgways Lynton; Wedgwood Albion; and Copeland Spode Ermine.  Lower Shelf:  Coalport Kingsware Blue Calico luncheon plate; Meissen Blue Onion; Haviland Meadow Visitors; Wedgwood English Countryside; and Copeland Spode Wildflowers.
Upper shelf:  Spode Blue Room Warwick Vase; and Aynsley Delphine.  Second shelf:  Haviland Rani; Haviland Saxon Flowers; and Haviland unnamed luncheon plate.  Third shelf:  Royal Staffordshire Louis XV!; and Spode Blue Room Byron Group.  Lower shelf:  Spode Blue Room Portland Vase.

The greens and orientals...


Upper shelf:  Wedgwood Napoleon Ivy; Antique Rose Famille; and Jadeite Alice.  Middle shelf:  Bernardaud Artois; and Wedgwood Majolica Green Ivy plate.  Lower shelf:  Bordallo Pinheiro Leaf plates; Arita Imari Fan; Coalport Cathay; and Coalport Exotic Bird Green Z3137.

Upper shelf:  Royal Crown Derby Old Imari; Mottahedeh Sacred Butterfly; and Coalport Corean Temple.  Middle shelf:  Coalport Chinese Willow; and MacKenzie Childs Courtly Check Charger plates.

And the browns, golds, and charger plates

Upper shelf:  Luneville Louis XV Honey; and Copeland Spode Delamere.  Middle shelf:  Alfred Meakin Fair Winds; and Staffordshire Heritage Hall.  Lower shelf:  Coalport Athlone Brown; and Royal Doulton The Beaufort.  The charger plates were too large to display vertically.

The lower bank of cabinets hold open drawers which house...
Assorted bowls...

...placemats...

...and napkins...And finally...

I ended up with the cedar closets.  These are the tablecloths for the formal dining table.  They were moved to give Sweet Mister the closet that he wanted in the house for his out of season clothes.  Thank you, Sweet Mister!  I can hardly wait to see where you 'Keep It All"!  I'm always looking for new and better storage and organizational inspirations.

This week I'm joining:

Tablescape Thursday with Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch

Entertaining Women
Entertaining Women

Hello, I'm Cherry Kay I was 40 before I realized that I am an artist. I love to paint, work in clay, rubber stamping, design tablescapes, entertain, and share ideas. I'm an interior designer wanna-be...no credentials, but lots of experience.

14 comments:

  1. WOW, how great to have such wonderful space to house all of your lovely dishes. Thanks so much for sharing this with us.
    Mary

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  2. What a lovely gift your hubby made for you! I know you are thrilled with all the extra storage, can we ever have too much? Vicki in Louisville KY

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  3. Oh my goodness that is fantastic! So much storage and so nice to see what you have plates, linens all in one place. Nice collection of Tureens too.

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  4. Wow, that is amazing! It looks like an outpost of Replacements Ltd.!!

    And I thought I had a lot of china ... !

    But it's all beautiful, and you do use it, so why not? And I admire you for having it arranged in such a way that you can find things when you want them.

    It's truly impressive. Good job!

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  5. What an amazing dish room! I love the cabinets and have dreamed about adding some to my laundry room for extra dish storage! You have a wonderful collection and I love that you use it so often. Hope you are enjoying our sunny and warm weather.
    Miss Bloomers

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  6. Oh, what a lucky lady! A Sweet Mister AND a China Room!! You are so organized!

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  7. I didn't get to see this last year since I was out with my Dad and everything. I am so glad you re-posted it!!! Goodness, Cherry Kay, you have quite the set-up! I would be thrilled to have everything in one place like this and so conveniently located next to the kitchen area! This was a truly incredible gift! Imagine that...all he wanted was a little ol' closet, and it ended up that YOU got the better end of the deal! :-)

    I hope you guys are doing OK with all the storms we're having. I'm not sure if they've been hitting your area or not. I think they've been staying up north for the most part, but you may have caught some of it. We have gotten TONS of rain here in the last couple of days, and we're expecting buckets more on Saturday. I feel for any couples who planned a wedding for this Saturday! :-(

    Have a great weekend!

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  8. Very organized and wonderful dear friend! I loved looking where you keep all your treasures and where you go to pick the gorgeous things you own to créate amazing tablescapes!
    FABBY

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  9. Oh, you have one of most favorite storage systems. So wonderful to have your amazing collection so wonderfully organized.

    - Alma, The Tablescaper

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  10. I love the way you have kept your things in beautiful cupboard.Inspiring.A beautiful share...:):)

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  11. All those wonderful dishes and amazing storage....right next to the kitchen. Color me drooling!

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  12. Inspiring to see this amazing organization again. You are lucky to have all this wonderful storage. Great idea to use the rolling cart to transport to the kitchen. Your collection of beautiful dishes rivals that of Winterthur.

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  13. Oh my. I am drooling over your amazing collection of china.. One more exquisite than the other and what an amazing piece of cabinetry to store it all. I would love to have the chance to see it up close. Just beautiful. Life has been busy for me too. Lots of projects going on this summer. Hope to see you soon.

    Janet

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  14. You really have the sweetest mister for building those dish closets for you. And what a nice collection you have! I was just showing the. To hubby and told him you have more dishes than me, lol. So nice to have them all together....Christine

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Thank you for spending your time to leave a comment. I read each and every one of your generous thoughts. They encourage me in so many ways.

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