Board and Batten in the breakfast room...

This is a simple project I have wanted to complete from day one.

As I have said before, there are TONS of board and batten designs and tutorials on the webisphere. Watch videos, read blogs, search Pinterest…find a design you love and a tutorial that makes the most sense to you.

So here is a little before and after.

Before….

Not totally offensive but lacks a little “character.”

After….

Simple project for me since I have done this a time or two. (Check out the guest bath, the entry in the Lankford house and the Bogey house. )

You might notice another little change…the china hutch.

Originally I had the awesome mid century Drexel buffet but I thought I would change it up a bit. I read somewhere china hutches are making a comeback. I can see why…pretty and functional.

Eventually I would like to add some art on each side of the hutch…maybe some botanicals.

My original plan for this piece was to repair it, paint it and sell it but honestly, I kind of like the look in this room. I FINALLY have a place to display some of my heirloom china that has been boxed up and in storage for a year and a half!

Before…

After….

Next week I will share the steps I took to give this piece a little facelift! Not difficult and as you can see it made a HUGE difference!

Until then….

Info

1 Comment

Heirlooms trump everything!

I have said it time and again....family heirlooms trump EVERYTHING!!! So when my uncle dropped off a china cabinet this week that had been my great-grandmother's, everything was rearranged to make room for it!

It's not "my style."(very traditional) It's not "my wood." (oak) It's not "my finish." (white-wash/pickled kinda look)

But it was my great-grandmother's and that is all that matters.

I even have a picture to prove it!

This is my maternal grandmother, great-grandfather and great-grandmother gathered at a holiday dinner in the early 80s....the china cabinet is in the background and the dishes on the table are my great-grandmother's china I recently acquired.

I vaguely remember this piece in my great grandparent's dining room when I was a child. They lived in a charming little post-war neighborhood in Dallas and during my childhood it was the family gathering spot for holiday's and special occasions.

While I was looking through my family photos for a picture of the cabinet, I also found this awesome holiday photo of my mother's entire family taken in 1948 at their home in Houston.

My mother is the sullen looking teenager in the red gingham shirt, my uncle to her left. The woman to the far left in the picture, in white, is my great aunt Judy. She inherited this china cabinet after my great-grandmother (woman far right) passed in 1986...and now it has come to me!

On the table are my grandmother's dishes I also acquired recently!

These pictures are pure treasure!

Sooooo...now I have a china cabinet that is not my style, not my wood and not my finish.

I'm not sure what I will do with the finish...if anything. Right now I am just going to let it sit and mull it over. This is one of those pieces I will not touch until I have a very firm game plan in place. I know it needs a few small repairs but the beveled mirrors were replace in 1986...seriously, I found the receipt in the cabinet....$15 for two beveled mirrors. I just spent $130 to replace two mirrors that broke when my living room wall mirror fell off the wall!

I do know I would like to replace the wood shelves with glass...maybe add some interior lighting....and I couldn't wait to remove the metallic red paper inside the cabinet!

Had I picked this piece up at an auction, I would have immediately slathered it in paint.

Not that I am opposed to making changes to family heirlooms. Sometimes you have to make changes to a piece so it will serve your family for many more decades. But when you are dealing with family heirlooms you should proceed with respect and caution!

Info

1 Comment

Traditional china vs. Ironstone....

I currently have 7 sets of china in my attic. The "important" pieces of each set are displayed throughout my home...tea sets, serving dishes, pitchers....as well as one place setting of all.

I did not set out to "collect" china. My first set was a pretty pink and green floral I purchased at an auction almost 30 years ago. The set had mint EVERYTHING...salt and pepper shakers, tea pot, sugar and cream set, serving dishes and 12 place settings.I proudly displayed it all in my china hutch until one fateful move...when I didn't get the little pegs securely in the top shelf of the china hutch...and it all came crashing down. No, it did not break the pieces I had 12 of, like plates and cups. Nope...the teapot, the sugar and cream set, the salt and pepper shakers, serving dishes. THOSE took the hit. By some weird alignment of the stars or fate, an older lady we were buying a house from was having an auction and she had the exact same set....including the serving pieces I had destroyed. Wow...what are the odds. Now most are packed away in the attic.

I bought another set of china years later, again at an auction.I loved the colors...browns, oranges, blues. It has the prettiest scalloped edges on the serving pieces! We used them at Thanksgiving for several years until we (I say we...actually Brian is the dishwasher!) got tired of having to hand wash them...now they are in the attic!

And then just a few years ago another set...a simple "white" with platinum edging, decorated with little platinum branches with birdies (if you remember, I have a thing for birdies!) Simple. I bought them for a New Year's dinner party. Much more "contemporary" than the other two sets. Naturally I used them once and then most were packed away in the attic.

Now the "family" heirlooms are starting to roll in. The first was from my paternal grandmother. She wasn't a "china kind of person" but she had the prettiest serving pieces of the Universal Ballerina in mist from the 1950s....a beautiful greenish-bluish color with a simple platinum edge. So pretty in fact that I began purchasing the dinner plates and bowls and cups. And then I promptly packed them away in the attic with the other sets.

Then my maternal grandmother's. Then both my maternal great grandmother's. All from Japan or Germany, where my mother's family lived during my grandfather's military career. I get tickled when people make a huge deal out of "Occupied Japan" pieces at auctions...I have an attic full because my grandparents actually lived in occupied Japan in the late 40s!

Again, I have the serving pieces, a place setting of each and the tea sets displayed but the rest are all packed and labeled in the attic.

So where does the ironstone come in?

Well, since the discovery of blog sites like Miss Mustard Seed and The Ironstone Nest I have taken a fancy to simplistic style of the white ironstone. So much so that when I discovered ONE ironstone bowl in an apartment, I went on an obsessive hunt for more pieces. For years I have loved white dishes because it was easy to add other white dishes when needed without there being a "glaring" difference! I ended up spending way more than I want to admit to put together 20 dinner plates, bowls and dessert plates for every day use, buying a few pieces at a time on Etsy and Ebay!

Ironstone is not as prevalent in our area as it is in other parts of the country. I have run across a few pieces here and there but nothing like the northeast where it seems to be in every antique and thrift store...and has soared in value. I have purchased a few pitchers and tureens and dish sets over the years (usually for VERY little), but nothing like what other bloggers report. It just hasn't made a "splash" here like it has elsewhere. The pieces I have sold have often sat for some time and sell for very little.

So I have begun to "hoard" what few pieces I stumble across.

Just last week I bought two pitchers (each thrown in a flat of odds and ends) at an auction.

I also picked up this pretty sugar and creamer set that came with an entire set of ironstone dinnerware. My daughter will get the dishes for her apartment this summer (that should tell you how little I paid for the entire set)...the sugar and creamer set are mine!

I found this little chipped creamer in a box of odds and ends several years ago and kept it because it was chipped and it is the perfect size for little knock-out roses.

I think I picked up this little set at another auction some time back. Pretty....

And this little pitcher...I like it with the little Gerber daisies in my laundry room!

Martha Stewart is credited for bringing ironstone to the fore-front of today's collectors. Her website gives the simplest, most comprehensive, history of ironstone. Well worth the read!

I really love the simplistic styling of the white ironstone. As much as I love and cherish all the pretty china I have purchased and inherited over the years, sometimes I feel like all the "traditional china" kind of gives my home that "old lady vibe." But most are heirloom pieces and are just a few of the Things I Love!

Info

Comment

Universal Ballerina Mist....

When I check on my flea booths I like to mill around and see if there are any goodies I want for ME! I try not to do this often because I do have a hard-fast rule...if I bring something in, I have to take something out.

Every once in awhile I stumble on something I just have to have!

I featured my Grandmother's Universal Ballerina dishes here and here. They are not "valuable" dishes, but ones I treasure because it was my paternal grandmother's. She was not a big "china" person and only had a few pieces of this style. I have added a few pieces here and there over the years.

I love the mist color and the platinum banding and the simple styling. Unlike my maternal great-grandmother and grandmother's very ornate and expensive china (also featured) it is very simple...kind of "mid century-ish" which makes sense since it dates around 1950...and I absolutely love it!

I have never found any pieces in flea markets. I did find another salt and pepper shaker at an antique store one time. I bought it so I would have a set I would actually use! I didn't want to use the original for fear of breaking them! Good thing I didn't because sure enough, I broke one! All the other pieces I have added have been from Ebay or Replacements.com (both great sources for replacing stoneware and china.)

But today I scored a few pieces at the Tontitown flea market!

Two refrigerator jars with lids...both in mint condition!

And a milk pitcher. It is actually the "ivory" color rather than the "mist" but I think it is a lovely little piece and thought it would look pretty next to the other I have in mist!

(Oops...still has the price tag string on it!!)

So today, I broke my hard-fast rule...there is absolutely nothing in this display case I can "take out" because they are all heirloom pieces that have great personal value. So I rearranged a few things and made room for them!

Good thing I don't have a huge china cabinet...

Info

3 Comments