Living Beautifully...Mixing Old with New

One of my favorite pass times is perusing antique stores for treasures and I especially love vintage dishes. I’ve grown my collection over the years and I’m excited to get creative and set some beautiful tables.

My love of collecting dishes started around 10 years ago when I bought an antique soup terrine. The lady who owned the shop told me a story of growing up in a household where there wasn’t much money or at times, food. She said that no matter what they had for dinner, even if it was just oatmeal, her mother would serve it in a pretty dish. That really made an impression on me!

I have always know the importance of bringing beauty into the every day, but that story made it so much more real. Even though there wasn’t enough food, her mother still took the time to present whatever she was serving in a way that was nice and that gave it importance. Every time I use the soup terrine, I think of the beautiful story and it makes me appreciate it even more!

By no means am I an expert on vintage dishes and there is so much to learn! I think it’s almost better that way, because I buy what I like without worrying about its value.

A couple of years ago, I purchased a set of blue delftware dishes (pictured) and have used them off and on for photo shoots, but I’ve never actually set a table with them and I’m not sure why because they’re so pretty.

Since I found four fabulous chairs to go with my marble top table on the front porch (it was previously chairless), I’ve been wanting to eat out there and use the porch more and more!

As I’m sure you also know, I’ve been collaborating with Haand ceramics recently and using their beautiful pieces in our every day life and also to photograph my food. I decided to play around and see if I could mix the more contemporary pottery with this set of vintage blue dishes and I love how it turned out!

The marble top table has a nice vintage feel and is perfect on our porch. It lends itself to endless ideas for table settings. I used new Pottery Barn square placemats (square is such a great shape), Haand handblown glasses as well as two different shapes of dinner plates and my vintage blue Delftware. The mother of pearl handled cutlery is Meridian Cutlery 1855. I don’t think it’s anything fine at all, but this cutlery works well with the table scape and it’s pretty. The small terrine in the middle of the table is also blue Delftware. I had a butter dish, but it has mysteriously disappeared! Wondering if it was broken at some point and I never found out! Anyway, I bought around 32 pieces of these dishes for under $100 and I’m so glad I did!

Read a little more about the dishes below…

Serving platter by Allertons, Ltd. This "Stockholm" pattern by Allertons is reminiscent of Royal Copenhagen's "Blue Fluted Half* Lace" (1976.1.4950). The Allertons pieces were likely used to replace broken pieces of Royal Copenhagen.

The Allertons "china" quality is lesser than the Royal Copenhagen china. It is not made of porcelain, rather it is a thicker and less dense material, perhaps ceramic or earthenware. The Allertons pieces have a simpler painted pattern and a greyish, rather than white, background. The pattern is painted in blue and based on stylised chrysanthemum and cinquefoil. The design includes depictions of flowers on stems, petals, leaves, and ivy

The maker's mark on this platter is different from other pieces in the set. It is stamped in blue ink on the side of the underside of the platter. Stamped in blue is a crown icon. Underneath there is a ribbon, inside it reads, "ALLERTONS". Under that it reads, "ENGLAND / STOCKHOLM". Stockholm is thought to be the name of the pattern. The style of this maker's mark dates the piece to 1909-1912.

I didn’t mention that the napkins came from Williams Sonoma! I cut a few hydrangeas and kept the flowers simple. If I had thought of doing this earlier in the day, I probably would have picked up flowers with more color, but I still think the table is really pretty and I’m please with the way my contemporary dishes mix with the vintage ones! I’m a firm believer that we should use all of our things because if we don’t, what’s the point of having them! I also think that mixing things up and combining unexpected elements makes a table much more interesting!

Baldy and I ate dinner outside last night at this table right after a thunderstorm. It was a little muggy, but the rain cooled things off a bit. I would always choose to eat al fresco, even when it’s really hot…the food just tastes better!

This post seems to go along with all of the cooking I’ve been doing! I love to set a pretty table and the food deserved to be presented beautifully! I hope you’ve been inspired to use your things, set the table and eat outside this summer! Have a great day!