SUMMER CUPBOARD

What To Do With All Those Dishes

One question that I get asked quite often is, "Where do you keep all your dishes?". I must admit that finding a place for all my beloved dishes and accent pieces is a real challenge.  Like trying to park the Titanic in a stream!


I have a  kitchen with large pantries. Lots of space in there. And  a buffet and a small built-in in my dining room. My last resort for dish storage is a  toy closet (more like a small room) turned dish closet in my finished basement.  Mostly seasonal things, such as Christmas and Easter go there. And sometimes, if truth be told, when I aquire new dishes and don't quite know where I am going to put them they sit out in my garage! At least for awhile.


I am in the process of making one of my two closets on either side of my front door into a dish closet. It is right off the dining room- the perfect spot! It will hold a good amount of my collection.  At least it is on Bobby's list to do.

But my favorite place to store my dishes is right out in plain sight! Looking around my house I have dishes everywhere. Every room has a dish display on a wall. Every cupboard, cabinet and may surfaces have dishes displayed on them.  I use dishes in nonconventional ways!

I thought it would be fun to share with you some decorating ideas using dishes. Today I am concentrating on displaying dishes in a cupboard or cabinet. Look for upcoming posts this summer for other ways to display and use your dishes.

With each season, holiday or just on a whim this slender built-in cupboard in my dinning room gets a facelift. I love choosing plates and accent pieces to display in it and watching it all come together.

The newly decorated cupboard draws on the recent popularity of all white decor. I have a love/hate relationship with this snowy and showy turn in interior fashion. When it is done right it is hauntingly beautiful with an etherial quality. But done wrong it can look like someone went crazy with a paint sprayer and contractor grade white paint! All white designs need texture, life and a little color.

I gathered up white dishes and accent pieces that I thought would fit in the built-in cupboard. Because the shelves are curved, I was limited in surface space.

Plates line the back of each shelf, standing upright.

Dishes are stacked on top of one another for height and interest.  I love the look of interesting plate edges.

Adding plates on rich colored wooden  stands gives depth and life. A little touch of wood works wonders in a predominately white theme.

Green apples are both organic and colorful, and add just the right amount of color pop without being distracting. They sit in my favorite scallopped pedestal bowl.

Other elements that are stacked are little white egg cups

And delicate porcelain leaf teacups.

A white ribbed teapot rests on a stack of pretty plates.

A small pitcher echoing the ribs on the teapot is overflowing with White Flowering Almond blossoms. Again, something organic to breath life into the monochromatic color scheme.

This is just one small area of my house that stores my dish collection. And just for now it is home to all the whites!