Thursday, February 9, 2012

A Peek Inside My China Buffet (10 on the 10th)

Not too long ago, Stacey of Havoc and Mayhem posted about the various sets of dishes she owns. It got me thinking about my own sets of china and how I store them.  Especially as this year I am working on cleaning, organizing and purging my home - room by room. And I had to admit that there were several boxes of dishware lurking in my laundry room, of all places. 
And that probably meant the laundry room was a good candidate for my attention.  This beautiful Japanese tea set, as well as some awesome depression glass arrived in the laundry room from my Aunt Vera's house in Texas.
My sister and I cleared out her house after she passed away, and I claimed these, as well as her china.
I put the china in my china cabinet, but the rest of the boxes got shelved in the laundry room. We keep our china - a Noritake set we chose when we got married - in the buffet.
When we got married, we also got a full set (plus lots of serving pieces) of Pfaltzgraf stoneware.
The stuff was indestructible. After 20+ years of marriage, we still had a full set.  But we were horribly bored with it.  So, I gave it all away (except for this serving piece which somehow escaped the freecycle), and we purchased a simple set of white French apilco blue-banded porcelain dishes.
The simple white china with the gold band on top is our "kids china." We bought four plates like this for the kids to use when they were little, and we were using our good china.  We bought them at an antique/thrift store. Because we've always loved visiting these stores and adding to our collection of blue willow china.
I guess the truth is that Paul and I have both always had a soft spot for china and glassware. We even bought some beautiful poppy countryware from Herend when we were in Hungary.
My own addiction probably started with the Belleek jar pictured at the top of the post.  My best friend's mom gave it to me for my high school graduation and told me that she thought it was time that I started collecting something. Obviously, she wouldn't be disappointed!  
But at least I can now say that all my china is nicely stored in the living room buffet and china cabinet AND my laundry room is beautifully clean and decluttered.
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For more blog posts featuring ten things on the tenth of the month, go to this link.

19 comments:

Amy said...

Rinda! This is such a great idea for a post and for a scrap page ... you have got me thinking now! Most of my stuff is packed away in boxes still - I do have a small ecclectic collection of sentimental pieces.

alexa said...

What lovely china! I'm intrigued by 'depression glass' - what does the phrase mean?

Jimjams said...

Such an interesting post - I'm also intrigued by "depression" glass ... which is very pretty!

scrappyjacky said...

Fascinating post,Rinda....and I love the Japanese set.

Jane said...

you've got me thinking too, love your post

JO SOWERBY said...

i love the japanese crockery so colourful and the blue and white willow pattern brings back memories of my grandma's kitchen dresser which was filled with it,
jo xxxx

laurie said...

good for you! de-cluttering is the best feeling (i need to indulge more often!) plus, then you can really enjoy what you have and love.

Sian said...

The Japanese set is absolutely beautiful - it's definitely my favourite!

Becky said...

Lovely china - I like the willow pattern best! Great idea for a 10 on 10 post.

Alison said...

I love the china with the grey rose on it!
Alison xx

Melissa said...

You have some lovely pieces Rinda! We've almost finished our laundry room (no, there weren't any dishes in there LOL) and I'm hoping to start on the organizing/decluttering of our front room, which houses the china cabinet & sideboard. I'm inspired to take some photos as I work on that and might use it as a future Ten Things post.

Unknown said...

So pretty! I don't own any china yet, but my dad has a beautiful set of my Grandma Rosalind's Christmas china that I am hoping to inherit someday! Thanks for sharing your pieces!

The Mann Fam said...

I received a Pfaltzgraf serving bowl when I was married which started my acquiring a full set of dinnerware and other serving pieces.

I also have acquired a Royal Dalton set of china which I don't use very often as the gold trim requires hand washing.

I love your blue and white Japanese china. Very pretty.

scrappymo! said...

Thanks for sharing your collections. You have some lovely pieces!

Fiona@staring at the sea said...

What beautiful pieces you have in your collection Rinda. I really like the earthenware serving dish.

Anonymous said...

What an interesting post and wonderful collection. I should photograph mine as well. We had the same set of Pfaltzgraf, and it met with the same end. I'm sure there's nothing left to photograph.

ComfyMom~Stacey said...

You have such a lovely collection! The plates with the black roses I think are my fave. Probably because they would go with my Nan's. :)I also love the blue willow. So pretty

Miriam said...

I love the Japanese set too and am also intrigued by the 'depression set'
This is such a lovely idea for a post Rinda and looking through the comments I think we may see many more lovely collections next month!

Beverly said...

A great collection (I, especially love the poppy) and what a bonus that it made a perfect TEN plus helped with the organizing :)