Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Doing a Seasonal Good Deed


When outside the kitchen window there is a view like this....


and this...




and this...


Yet the china on that table next to the window is pink flowered with mint green edges like this:


Jill is not pleased.
Bernie even admits it just doesn't feel quite right.
However...
Bernie has also "encouraged" not collecting additional china sets, seeing as how I own not only my pink floral set (twelve place settings)...
but also a Christmas set, with eight place settings (above)
and a set of Lenox with a fuchsia rose in the center (for a dozen people!)
There is only so much space one can give over to china sets!
Enter a bright idea, and a fifteen minute break at work.
A quick trip to the thrift shop, and six dollars later....

I now own six "new" plates appropriate for the fall season!

Three plates are this design above, which Bernie likes best.

I also got three of this pattern.

Because mix and matched dishes are more fun anyway.
I already had the painted wood napkin rings..they were wedding presents from almost 33 years ago!


But wait! There is more!

My Christmas dishes included a stripped edge charger size plates and bowls.

Look how perfectly they mix with the "new" plates.

The charger works great with the other pattern as well.

But if I really want to go swanky, I can use my gold chargers to give the table more glitz. I have a gold toned flat wear set as well that will work nicely at Thanksgiving dinner.


I was only planning on getting two plates...one for each of us...but then I remembered my son and his wife *might* sometime come for dinner.

And that perhaps sometime her parents *might* come out for Thanksgiving as well. In any case, for a total of six bucks, I decided I could afford to be prepared.

Storing six plates won't be any big deal either. I just won't plan on serving coffee with the meal; it is always the cups and saucers that take up all the space when storing dish sets.

Love that pattern!

There are no chips, no scratches and both patterns are dishwasher and microwave safe. The plates are brand new. I wonder why they were given away.



In the future I plan to aquire special day dishes more often, but generally I'll be getting just two plates at a time; one for me and one for Bernie.

How fun it will be to be able to set a new table on a whim for only two bucks!

Red white and blue dishes will be gathered for American holidays, and then I'll donated then right back rather than store them at home.

I love the idea of having an endless ever changing china closet right around the corner from work.

Isn't that the cheapest thrill ever?

And just think...the money I spend will be going f0r a good cause too!

Changing out my dishes will actually be a way of performing a good deed!

8 comments:

Lovella ♥ said...

What a great idea Jill .. .I could store 2 extra plates. . that I could do. . maybe I'll go have a look.
Seeing as our Thanksgiving is a done deal .. I could focus on our Christmas plates.

Islandsparrow said...

I think it's a great idea - you found some lovely plates - perfect fall decor. I'm going to look around the thrift stores too.

Vicki said...

Such a great idea! I need to get out of my 'dish rut.'

Thanks for the photos of the leaves in change...I really miss seeing the color!

Off to find a thrift store or two...

Dawn said...

Love the dishes...

Hey...thought of you when I happened on this site:
http://happylovesrosie.blogspot.com/2009/10/introducing-chatham-girl.html

:)

Judy said...

You did good! And you gave me a great idea...why not hunt for a few special occasion dishes with all proceeds going to a good cause?

L&D said...

I like the idea of mixing & matching, however, you are braver than I. I'm far too anal to actually do it. I think I'd sit at the dinner table and develop an uncontrollable twitch. Not easy to eat or drink that delicious glass of wine with a big twitch.

jill said...

Gorgeous Jill!

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

Beautiful choices, Jill, and I love the mix and match look. Isn't it fun to find something new and mix and match with other things...very creative.