Where Do You Keep It All?

Congratulations and kind thoughts go to The Tablescaper who is celebrating her Fourth Blog-a-versary. You have given me (and a host of other people) so very much joy and so many fantastic ideas on how to set a beautiful table over the last few years. As most of you know, I discovered Alma's blog when I searched for ideas on how to store all my tablescaping "paraphernalia" (dare I say junk?). So, once again, to celebrate, Alma is hosting a "Where Do You Keep It All?" party, and I am finally brave enough to come out of the closet and show the world where I keep my stuff. (Let me preface this by saying I keep some - not everything, by all means - of my sister's tablescaping stuff, too. Next year, it's her house that I feature. Then, Pat, your secret will be out, also. Remember, it's the first step in Recovery.)

FIRST:  I admit up front that I blatantly and unabashedly stoled my storage ideas from The Tablescaper. No apologies. No regrets. I did it. End of the story. And am I happy that I did. I know where everything is and how much I have. Now - without further adieu -  on to my dish affliction outing.

Now, where to start?
Like a lot of people, I have built-ins.....yes, filled to the brim with dishes.

Doesn't look so bad when the doors are closed

Oh dear.......

This built-in is at the other end of the living room/dining room area. It has three sections that display just some of the patterns that Pat and I have. The first section stores some of my Depressionware.

The livingroom and dining room also houses :

Love this dandy buffet - nothing fancy. It belonged to my parents and is at least 60 years old

The buffet holds Mom's "good china" and candle holders, Depression glass, etc.

One of the last pieces Heywood-Wakefield produced in the 1950's, this dry sink stores my black Depressionware

A curio in the dining room area holds some of my Schumann collection

On to the kitchen, like most of us, I have dishes where they belong:

To the family: I still have room for food items....well, two shelves anyway.

The laundry room is next:

Say "Goodbye" to the Broom closet. Pat's wonderful husband made shelves for me to store the Fiestaware bread and butter plates. I did leave one shelf for my dachshunds' food and treats

Yes, the washer and dryer are in the room somewhere.............

On to the Family room (my brother named it the Bowling Alley - it's long and narrow):

I love these built-ins

First section (Lenox "Holiday", Johnson Brothers "Friendly Village", Grindley "Bath", Lenox Temperware "Wind Song", Tienshan "Spotted Cow", assorted Depressionware,)



Second section (includes Spode "Pink Tower", Franciscan "Picnic", Lenox "Mansfield", Calvin Klein "Luna", Pier 1 "Checked", and lots of assorted Depressionware)



Third section (assorted glasses)

Last section - holds our Waechtersbach dishes and glasses too big to store in the craft room

Did I mention the drawers? They hold mostly placemats. (The first section holds vintage napkins, overlays, etc)

Even the television shares space with dishes. These are some of my chargers. You can see the liners. I line every dish so they do not sit on each other. Lots of work but worth it.

Down the hall:

Built-in cupboard for linens and things. Well, not quite.....

And the drawers hold more dish stuff

The craft/dish room:

Napkins (stored here because I do not have eight or more of each style) and napkin rings (stored here because they do not fit in the regular holder

Pat's husband built us two of these napkin ring shelving units. They are thin and slip in beside the metal shelving unit. Napkin rings are stored in Dollar Store containers and labelled. I tried pictures instead of word description but, to my surprise, they didn't work as well.

This is the second unit stored behind the door in the craft/dish room

Flatware is stored in plastic shoe storage boxes from Costco. They are labelled with the name, who made them, and how many place settings

Pat went to her neighborhood market and got these wine boxes in assorted sizes. I painted them white (to show the name better). It is super easy to transport glassware this way - especially since Pat and I move dishes and glassware between houses all the time.

More glasses

More glasses. My apologies for the paint color in this room. Craft rooms should be a happy place to work - and color makes me happy. Besides, I was a teenager in the 60's..........never quite got over it.

I've got the pictures taken of these glasses - just haven't got them developed yet

The craft room was formally a bedroom. This was the closet

Pat and I have five of these plastic tubs filled with napkins.

Inside each tub. napkins are stored in large plastic bags and then labelled. We can easily select and transport any style napkin we need. (Another fantastic idea from The Tablescaper)

I am in the process of labelling everything - including the silverware boxes

On to the bedrooms:

The other three bedrooms have these built-ins. All three are used to store stuff.

The drawers in this unit store more placemats

A dresser in one of the bedrooms

Yes, it is entirely filled with lacquer chargers

This was the very first idea that I stoled from The Tablescaper. In one of the closets, I store tableclothes. Each one is labelled showing color, size, and other information as needed. It was a bit of a job to get done (you were right, Alma), but it was well worth the time and trouble. 

Another bedroom - another dresser.............

Yeah, no clothes, just dishes...............every drawer
 

Well, it's over. I've just outed myself to the world. It was quite cathartic.So, once again, thank you, Alma, for the wonderful years, the wonderful blog. I truly appreciate you. Congratulations on your fourth Blog-a-versary! I wish you many, many more.

Please join The Tablescaper this Sunday for her "Seasonal Sundays" Fourth Blog-a-versary party:  http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/


And then if you want to see what Pat and I do with all this stuff, please join us every Wednesday night for Cuisine Kathleen's "Let Dish" party:  http://www.cuisinekathleen.com/