Mostaza Seed: vintage plate

Showing posts with label vintage plate. Show all posts

3.21.2014

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!

5.01.2013

Plate Walls and Dinner Parties and Haircuts, Oh My!

Hi friends,

We've been busy around our house. I just finished up a blog design project for a client and can now get back to this ol' blog for a spell. If you have a chance, take a look at the blog and read about Hope at Home's amazing ministry to adoptive and foster parents.

Last week I tackled a project I've long been wanting to do, even in previous homes-- a plate wall in the kitchen! If you know me personally, you know I'm not exactly a measure it out kind of a gal. I typically just throw things up on to walls and play with their placement. 900 empty nail holes later, I have a a satisfactory configuration. This time, I decided to go out of character by tracing my plates on to butcher paper in order to create a bit of a non-comittal schematic.

And below is how it turned out! I have a few tiny, vintage plates currently missing in boxes, but once those surface, they'll go up on the wall too.

On Friday night we had some sweet, new friends over for tapas. Our whole married lives all we've ever had is a small kitchen table (which we crammed astounding numbers of people around and food on), so you can imagine the feasts our new, big table can hold! It was really fun to prepare a spread and still have room for everyone's place setting. This was, of course, the first of many dinner parties in our home. We do love hosting and toasting. I couldn't help but miss our dear Atlanta friends and wish I could somehow combine all of our worlds into one place. The pretty, white Anthropologie vase is a gift from the mother's group I was a part of in Atlanta, so it felt like they were with me in spirit! For all those reading this, feel completely and totally free to send me Anthropologie goodies whenever you feel the urge! Haha. ;)

Aaand, this week Collin got his second big boy haircut. I cannot keep the mullet at bay! His hair just keeps getting longer and longer in back and staying relatively short on top. He was such a cutie pie at the salon. The stylist gave him two combs to play with and that, coupled with the fun cape, was enough to keep him happy and distracted. Good boy!

Nick's parents will be in visiting for five days, so we are gearing up for some fun family time. I keep telling Collin Gooma and Grandpa are coming and he says "um hmm!" like he knows already. It will be great to have them in town. Then, we have a week of no visitors and the following week my parents come! It's going to be a good May.

Love,

Steph

4.12.2010

Great Plate Walls

I enjoy plate walls imensely. They look stunning in ANY room, from bedroom to living room, to dining room.

source

This is actually wallpaper! Find it here.

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Plates:

So, where would one find such beautiful plates? Anywhere! Thrift stores, Ebay, yard sales, flea markets, Marshalls, antique malls, Target, Gradma's attic... The best part is that you only need one of each type! Also, don't be afraid to mix up shapes, sizes, and textures. Bowls are definitely acceptable and round tin trays are a great complement to a wall full of ceramic dishes.

Hardware:

I recommend hanging up your fancy finds with adjustable plate hangers:

They are easy to find at your local craft shop and some can even hold up to 30 lbs!

Disc plate hangers that can be purchased here and affix easily to the back of your plates.

Configuration:

You can arrange you plates in any configuration imaginable! There are no limits! Just be sure to know where you will be hanging each plate BEFORE you start affixing or nailing. I have learned that lesson the hard way-- too many times! A great (and safe) way to play around with patterns is to number each plate, cut out paper models (true to their size), and tape them up on the wall. Then you'll be free to experiment with different configurations. Once the paper cutouts are where you'd like the real plates to go, nail the paper to the wall, rip the paper off, and hang the plates! The pic bellow does a much better job explaining the concept...