Displaying Dishes, Farmhouse Style!
Welcome to another edition of Farmhouse Friday where a group of farmhouse bloggers gather together to celebrate our favorite decorating style! This month we’re showcasing how to display or decorate with dishes. Farmhouse style is both functional and pretty. Displayed pieces around the home serve a purpose, whether it’s a basket holding textiles or an ironstone pitcher cradling utensils … everything has a function.
In my dining hutch I’ve paired white ironstone with a few pieces of vintage China. I use all my serving pieces at some point in time, so nothing is there “just for looks.”
When I’m not entertaining, I like to enhance my displayed dishes with seasonal items, like gourds and white pumpkins for fall.
Here’s the same space at Valentine’s Day. I like to move my pieces around from season to season. Sometimes I fill my white ironstone pitchers with flowers or greens, but most often I leave them as they are, in their simple beauty. The small pitchers are perfect for serving cream or even gravy or sauces.
I don’t always keep my white ironstone collection in the dining room. Sometimes I like to move pieces into the kitchen. I love the smooth lines and curves of white ironstone. To me, a stack of white ironstone platters is just as pretty as a fresh flower arrangement.
I love the color white and especially love white-on-white in a room. I know some people think it can look cold and sterile, but I think it looks fresh and light. We all have our tastes and that’s what makes the world go ’round, right?
On the other side of the kitchen, I keep a few utilitarian pieces handy. A small ironstone bowl becomes a mini planter. And I’ll often grab a pitcher off the shelf to water the plants. My neighbors must laugh when they see me out in the garden watering the mums with an ironstone pitcher. I’m too lazy to walk out back to the shed to get the “official” watering can.
We hang our mugs from a shelf and use them every day; for coffee, ice cream, soup, oatmeal, and more.
Do you ever leave simple place settings out on the table for decoration?
Often I’ll figure out how I’m going to set the table prior to a holiday meal, like Thanksgiving. And then I hate to put it all away so I leave the dishes out for a while to admire my handiwork. Of course, this means I need to clean the dust off the dishes and re-set the table, but it’s worth it to me.
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LOVE this post, my friend. What great ideas! I also use pitchers for all kinds of utilitarian jobs other than filling them with water. And what a great idea to set a table and leave it up. It’s such a shame that our handiwork gets swept away so quickly!
What a pretty table you set. And the way you display the dishes on the shelves also. Great ideas for me to study.
Oh my!!! What pretty things you have and what a way of displaying them!!! I feel like I just browsed a House Beautiful magazine! Now I just want to go and make some pretty displays on my table and counters and nooks and crannies! I too love old dishware and pottery in all shades of white, my daughter will literally steer me away from them at antique shows!! She chides me with, “mom, don’t you have enough of that stuff?” ha!!!
Thank you for taking the time to photograph and share!!!
xo Teri
Love it all thanks a bunch. Have a great weekend
I love that first photo of the ironstone and china mixed 🙂 I think I need to get some gourds and pumpkins for my hutch this year!
Jennifer all your displays look so pretty…I’m lovin that first shot!!
Jennifer, I love all of it!! I just love how you display all your pitchers. I love all the white too! You inspire me so much! Thanks for sharing.
Such a lovely collection of ironstone and white dishes…my favorite too 🙂 Love your table setting also!!