Our Breakfast Nook Plate Wall

I have always loved plate walls. I think what I love most about them is their ability to bring such a wide array of color and pattern to a room for mere pennies. This summer I took some of the plates I had been collecting and started crafting our breakfast nook wall into a plate gallery of sorts. It's, of course, hard to know when to stop. If you are like me, there is always another opening/color needed/ pattern you are itching to throw up there.

I first blogged about the wall last summer, as my collection grew I had hoped to do an update sooner. I thought I would get it to exactly where I wanted, but alas, I have come to the conclusion that I will never feel it's done and I think my husband fears this plate wall will overtake the entire kitchen!

So, here is where it's at now.

I decided to make the plates cascade from right to left down the West wall of the kitchen. If you are planning on making a plate wall, you can also configure your pieces in a circle, diamond, square, haphazard cluster or even as a border around the perimeter of your room. The possibilities are endless and there really isn't a wrong or right way to make this kind of magic happen.

The plates are a mixture of new and vintage. My favorites are the jadeite and milk glass. You may recognize a few from Target. I love end-cap sales! 

In case you are wondering, the Vintage Alphabet Splat Mat on the floor is by SugarBooger and our best attempt to contain toddler mealtime messes. We've had it for a few years and it works pretty well. You can purchase one here.

I used wall plate hangers like these to secure the plates where I wanted them and vinyl stick-on letters to create the Give Thanks plate as my focal point. It took me about seven tries to get the letter spacing right, but the great thing about stick on letters is that they are repositionable!

Some people are big into measuring and spacing plates equidistance apart, but I am more of a go with the flow kind of a person. In my summer blog post I shared about how I traced the plates on butcher paper and cut them out. This allowed me to play around with configurations till I found what worked best with our space.

I strived to have a good balance of warm and cool tones, new and old plates, floral and solid, big and small... you get the idea. You don't have to go crazy like I did. If you are a fan of a particular color or shape, concentrate on amassing a collection of similar plates. I've seen some absolutley stunning plate walls where the plates are all white. 

Since our curtains (a favorite thrift store find) are dark blue, I made sure to have at least one or two plates in the same tone on the wall.

And so, that's our breakfast nook. I do so enjoy looking at my colorful plates every day!