My New, Old Cupboard

I still have boxes sitting around, but last weekend I just had to unpack my ironstone and transferware. Each time I'd look at my cupboard in my new little sitting area, it called my name. So, the bathroom and office could wait. I needed to have some fun with dishes.

I debated on using my red transferware in the upper cabinet since it's close to Valentine's Day, but since I'd never styled my brown, the brown won out. As I've mentioned before, I don't have "sets" of any pattern, although the "Old Britain Castle" by Johnson Brothers is probably my favorite. Some of the plates have chips, but that wouldn't keep me from using them for display...just use a well placed sugar bowl or pitcher and no one's the wiser.

The ceilings here are high, so that gives more room for some displayed items on top... yay. One of my antique laundry baskets that received a whitewash last year is holding my boxwood wreath, an ironstone tureen, and some ironstone platters. I'm thinking "Spring" in here, so an old watering can, some clay pots, and a ivy topiary are squeezed in.

You might not be able to see her, 

but a little birdie is nesting in a clay flower pot.

I still have more brown at the other house that needs to be packed, but I only took what I hoped would fit in the cupboard. It's a little jammed in, but I wanted as much to enjoy as possible.

Some barnyard cows are here too, the brown and white one in the back is Meissen, very old, with a faint crossed swords mark and "Germany" engraved on his side. He/she has a horn busted and shows some wear, and I can't remember where I found it, but I knew he was valuable. He only cost a few dollars.

I'm not sure about the all white mamma and baby, but they are also bisque porcelain, although I can't find any markings. I don't know that I'd ever shown these, they were in my powder room at the other house. This is a Cordon Blue creamer, but an older and more detailed one than most.

No markings on this cutie.

I stole  permanently borrowed these cream and marmalade jars from my husband's crockery collection to include in the cupboard. He collects Civil War era pottery, crocks, and bottles, etc. Actually, he was collecting demi johns before they became so trendy. You'll see those too, soon...on the fireplace hearth, I think. 

So here's the bottom part of the cupboard; it's housing my red transferware for now and more misfit ironstone and brown transferware. I have to get the rest of it together and see how much I can fit in without totally breaking those shelves. I still have a load of green and a few pieces of blue. yikes. 

I don't have room to leave the doors open in here, but a few times a day I peek inside, and smile. I've wanted a dish display cupboard for ages. (Ever since I sold my first antique pie safe about 15 years ago.) Who knew moving to a smaller house would get me one?

Things are coming together over here. It's a little frustrating at times since there are some changes that I would like to make if this house was mine, but I'm having to do my best to camouflage them and work around them. 

I thought about starting off this post by saying how dang cold it is, but you all know that. Hope you're staying warm and inside with a fire and some hot tea or cocoa...I know I am.

joining in with these party people:

Savvy Southern Style

City Farmhouse

Timewashed

Mrs. Olson

From My Front Porch to Yours

Jennifer Rizzo

French Country Cottage

Shabby Art Boutique

The Charm of Home

Stone Gable

Cozy Little House

A Stroll Thru Life

Coastal Charm

love ya bunches,

Today's Sponsor

Bel Monili

The Marketplace: Etsy and Boutique Showcase

Hi Everyone, and Welcome to The Marketplace!

It feels good to be back in a routine, since this is the first full week of trying to get some things unboxed and put away, find my way to the pc and get my office/studio together. There's only one thing worse than trying to move into a bigger house and that is trying to find a place for a lot of stuff in a smaller house. But we're making a lot of headway, and I know we'll be in better shape by next week. So let's see what great things have been going on in your shops and online stores since I've been gone. Here are a few links from 2 weeks ago:

Vintage Bolero Crocheted Jacket

Alice W Collection

Vintage by Nina Book

Vintage Flea Market

Pair Vintage French Tea Towels

La Croix Rosion

Set of 15 Vintage Clay Billiard Balls

Nostalgic Artifacts

Vintage Aqua Edged Platter

Vintage Goodness 1

Hope you'll visit Today's Sponsor

Rosekraft

 Party Link Guidelines:

This is a linky party that is for items that are FOR SALE only. You don't have to have a blog to link up. If you have a blog post about your items that's great too, but they need to be available to purchase. Please try to link to the individual item that you are selling if possible. Please be a follower of Common Ground and if you have a blog it would be so nice for you to grab the image below to share somewhere on your blog. (not mandatory, just nice). Remember the link is up all week, so please stop back by to check out new items being listed.

Thanks so much for coming by to list your items

 and to browse all the great shops and items.

Have fun shopping!

Honey, we're Home!

I'm so glad this last week is behind us. It's been non-stop packing and stressing since the middle of December when we decided it was time to take that big step with the move. Just in case you haven't been by here for awhile, we've moved to a smaller lease house so we could start updates on our big house. The move went smoothly, and our younger daughter and her hubby were here to give us some help over the weekend. Amazing what 30-somethings can accomplish when you hand them some cardboard boxes!

We only took less than half of our furniture and "stuff" with us, but we quickly filled up the new "little house". But I have to say I'm loving the coziness and convenience of this smaller place. I wish the rooms were a little bigger, 'cause it's a little tight, but all in all it's super comfortable and I'm having fun putting things together. 

One bonus that I hadn't planned on was having enough room in the eat-in kitchen area to make a small sitting area with some wicker and my baker's rack. It helps ease the withdrawal of leaving my sunporch behind. And once I had things in place, a few things that I hand carried over found their way to the baker's rack.

My galvanized bucket full of paperwhites started blooming the day of the move, making it a sweet little "sign" of blessings to come.

I have a few things that stay on the baker's rack no matter the holiday or season; my wooden seed crate is one of them. Now it's filled with my old garden tools and some pots and seed packets. Hard to imagine, but it will soon be time to think about Spring...really hard, since it was about 5 degrees last night.

The move was a little harder on the kitties, as they cried all night the first few nights; they were ok during the daytime, but at night it was a turf war on the bed. Miss Wrigley kept trying to nudge us out from under the covers so we could go home, where she is queen of the bed. Her little sister is vying for the "top cat" position, although right now they are both hiding behind the headboard of the bed; their go-to spot when the garage door goes up or the door bell rings.

Next on the list to get unpacked is my studio/office. I think I'm going to leave a lot of my many boxes of vintage papers and ephemera, etc. boxed up. I just don't want to think about unpacking all of it to turn around and repack it again once we have permanent plans. I may change my mind later, when I'm feeling an urge to create something...

I can't wait to show you more of this room and how it's coming together. I still haven't tackled all the many boxes of ironstone or transferware, but I'm excited to get around to playing in the old pie safe. You won't recognize most of this furniture in here because it was downstairs out of "camera range", which is code for bad lighting and bad decorating.

I'll be back next week with The Marketplace and Be Inspired,

 hope to see you then.

joining in with:

French Country Cottage
Mod Vintage Life
Coastal Charm
Stone Gable
Dwellings

Stay warm, 

and may all your kitties be happy kitties...

xoxo,

p.s. I missed you all this last week!

Be Inspired# 173

I knew this week would be crazy and it has been. Last minute switcheroos on coffee table and accent tables have had me busy doing some painting instead of finishing packing. Amazing how furniture grows from the showroom floor by the time it gets to your home! But things are coming together. Some of you were amazed that I could get things packed in a few short weeks. The answer is that we are only taking a little of our furniture and "stuff" over to the new little house. The rest will go into storage or be part of a sale. I have several months of packing left to do once we move out. So no, I'm not super woman...

I've had white cupboards on the brain lately: they are always a favorite with all of us in the pottery, transferware, and ironstone crowd. One of my favorite bloggers, Kathleen, has a wonderful example from last week's link party. Here are the top visited links from last week:

Faded Charm
Adding to My Collection

Meg from Oliver and Rust shared some decorating tips from

The Gianetti book, Patina Style

And Rita from Panopoly gave us great side-by-side views
of how she took her sunroom from Christmas to "Winter".

Thanks so much, gals for always coming to the party!

Party Guidelines

Please have an individual link back to Common Ground within your post. I'd love to feature you. This is just part of the Party Etiquette.

Please remember to turn off word verification. I've tried leaving comments that didn't go through. I'm sure others have tried also.

Please no direct links to Etsy or Advertising.

Link up to three of your current posts.

Take a minute to visit a few of the other links.

Please be a follower of Common Ground.

Thank you to all of you who come over each week to link up to the party, I may not get to leave a comment, but I try to visit each of your posts. You are a never ending source of inspiration to me and others, so just know how much I appreciate each one of you!

This will be my last post until after the move. I'm not sure, but hopefully you'll hear from me by next weekend. If not, don't worry. We're working on a new Internet plan which is a little complicated. I'll have a few pics of the new place to share by then.

See you on the other side...

xoxo,

If you want a jump on Spring, 

be sure and visit Today's Sponsor, 

French Bleu Vintage.

Dee has a French Estate Sale in progress.  

Repurposing a Cupboard

We're down to the last few days of packing, and I've been trying to mentally place furniture at the new little house. I have a much larger eat-in kitchen area there than I have here, (but no Dining Room) so I'm going to use a few different pieces of furniture in there. I've had to rethink the furniture layout to use pieces that are good for storage. One piece that I want to use is this old pie safe that I had in my studio, that I used for craft supplies and storage. It will be holding my Ironstone and Transferware. I need a good cupboard that I can "play with".

The inside was dirty and stained so I gave it a few coats of off white paint to clean it up. It's hard to see but instead of glass it has what used to be gold grillwork. I just painted the metal white with a brush. In this photo my Brown Transferware tureen is auditioning for a spot.

Here are some examples of inspiration from my Pinterest Board, Cupboards.

You can find all the sources on that board.

I'm looking forward to having this to decorate seasonally. 

I already have ideas for Valentine's Day and Easter...

I'll be hosting Be Inspired this Thursday morning, hope to see you there. We'll be moving over the weekend, so I'll be out of Internet for a bit, but I'll hopefully be back by the end of next week. Say a prayer for us, we'll need lot's of help!

Joining in with wonderful parties:

Inspiration Exchange at City Farmhouse

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Blissful White Wednesday at Timewashed

Centerpiece Wednesday at The Style Sisters

xoxo,