They Started It

       Here's hoping everyone had a nice family oriented Thanksgiving!! Now, onto decking the halls!!

I've always been a very visual person..........if I see something that calms me or brings me pleasure just looking at it, I'm very likely to copycat the same look in my home.  A decorator I am not, and that's probably another reason why certain images stay with me.  Case in point: Some years ago (9? it's been awhile), the December issue of Country Living Magazine did an article on a farmhouse in New York State.  It was done up in a simple holiday style, very homey and comfy.  What I really noticed and immediately fell for was a picture of a cupboard with a collection of Red Transfer ware china............boy, did I ever............here's the picture:

It looked amazing to me in the cupboard, and I had to find out more about it.  The article said it was called "Home Sweet Home" An American Subject from Currier and Ives by Homer Laughlin.  I went straight to work..........and back then it meant I went to ebay

This beautiful china was full of different scenes based on the well known prints of Currier and Ives, that fabulous collection that was so popular around the turn of the century.  Some of the different pieces included

                                                   Georgia Washington on the teapot

                                                             Old Homesteads...........

           
                                                       Some fabulous farming scenes
                                                      

                                                   

                                                 

                                                         Clipper ships and paddle boats

                                                     

                             Patriotic- That's Ben Franklin flying his kite on the sugar bowl

                            Well known locations, this one is called "Harper's Ferry Virginia",
                            there's bread plates showing the Hudson River and the Paddle Boat
                                                berry dish is called "On the Mississippi"

                                      a beautiful action scene of riders on the hunt..........

                            (the horse lover in me is particularly fond of that one :)

                      And just pretty pastoral scenes of what America probably looked like over 100 years ago. Little by little I started collecting.........a plate here, a cup and saucer there............and just loving every piece for not only looking so pretty as red and white transfer ware always does, but for having those little pictures on them.  Here's some of the detail

                                          and a demitasse cup and saucer ............

                          Some of you may remember when I moved out the sideboard earlier this fall and moved an old pine hutch in the dining room. This opened up some serious display opportunities!!  I was envisioning those red plates at Christmastime in the cupboard, just waiting to get them out of their current storage place in the side cabinet

    After everything was cleaned up Thursday evening, I moved into the dining room and got to work.......

I picked up some cypress boughs that I bought at the nursery when we bought the tree, sprayed them with a preservative, and tucked them in-between the china

                                                 added some sparkly touches too

                   It's been a long time since I first saw that picture in Country Living,
                                the one that started a whole new collection for me.....
                  had never really looked at transfer ware before I saw that photo.  And
                             now that I have a set for 8, it really makes it so much more
                               enjoyable to be able to display it like this at Christmastime..........

It's still under construction, needs more greens and I plan to put my weather vane horse on top.  Only thing was, when I pulled all that china out of the cabinent, it looked really really sad and empty!  Never fear, i just threw in everything else that was lying around needing a place, until I can tackle another display!!

  

                                  

                          more on that next time! Enjoy your day and come see me again!!

                                                                          devon :)