I have a slight obsession for dishes. I do own a few sets, but I am secretly wishing I could add a few more to my home.
Can you relate?
Because I’m not independently wealthy and I don’t have several china cabinets, I’m collecting dishes on Pinterest right now. Do you do that too?
My current focus is on brown transferware:
via Design Sponge
via My Sweet Savannah
via Driven by Decor
If you’re dreaming of owning some more dishes like I am, remember you don’t have to be wealthy to have them! Yes, collecting them on Pinterest is free, but if you are serious about adding something new to your collection at home you can do it affordably.
A few years ago I started collecting my beloved Spode Delamere china. You’ve seen it a lot in my tablescapes:
It’s not in my budget to buy an entire set of dishes at one time so instead, I collect mine over time. The concept may not be new, but I think it deserves repeating. In today’s world, we seem to love instant gratification but you don’t have to go in to credit card debt to own some of the things you love.
When I first discovered my beloved Spode Delamere pattern, I decided to begin first by buying an inexpensive set of plain white dishes from IKEA. They were about $70 for a set of 12 dinner plates, 12 salad plates and 12 soup bowls. They are the perfect back drop for mixing and matching and they didn’t break the bank. I actually bought them for myself as a Mother’s Day present!
A few months down the road I began adding the Spode dishes starting with just 4 salad plates to dress up my white plates.
After I acquired the 12 salad plates I wanted, I started buying dinner plates. I currently have 8 dinner plates and am hoping to get 4 more to make a set of 12.
It’s so easy to mix and match them and it doesn’t matter that I don’t have a complete set!
Collecting things you love takes time and it’s totally worth the wait. It’s not always affordable to buy things all at once, and that’s totally okay!
I received two square serving bowls in my Spode pattern as a Christmas gift from my mother-in-law. One of them is tucked inside the basket in the picture below.
You can see I also have some other brown transferware plates hanging on my wall. The pattern is Bow Bells by Mason’s.
I would love to continue collecting little bits and pieces of vintage transferware to go with my new Spode dishes and, again, it will take time. But isn’t that the fun of collecting? Watching, waiting and hunting for just the right thing at just the right price?
By the way, if you’re curious about the origins of transferware, you might enjoy reading this post I discovered. It’s interesting to learn that some of the names we hear all the time when talking about dishes — Spode, Staffordshire and Wedgewood — were actually the names of people who helped invent the process of transferring images on to porcelain, ironstone and bone china and earthenware!
What do you love collecting? Are you a “dish” person like me?
If so, you may like my Brown Transferware Pinterest board or you can browse my other boards here.
Wishing you a great day,
I love the brown transferware too. It reminds me so much of Thanksgiving and fall. Most of my collections are on Pinterest ;0) You’re right that we have become an “instant gratification” society. I remember the days of lay away and getting so excited when I made the last payment and could bring home whatever it was I had bought. There’s something to be said for those good ole days
I’m with you ladies, as I too love the brown transferware! I reminds me of the holidays with family, friends and good times! Julie, your wall collection is so beautiful.
I so love brown transferware…and you certainly have a great start to your collection and have the right idea about collecting it over time…I feel that we appreciate our collections so much more when doing acquiring it this way…The pattern you are collecting is gorgeous…It definitely says “Julie”
I do love dishes. And I’ve always admired the brown transferware, but don’t have any yet. And, I’m like you…I have to collect over time.
Great idea to get the white dishes first and then add to them. I have collected red transferware over the years. Love!! We have collected lots of Lenox Holiday over the years beginning with the few pieces we received as wedding gifts. Somewhere along the line I thought dinner plates were most important so we have enough of those to serve a large group. Works for us.
I have 16 place settings of Spode Delamere in brown that we purchased from Costco about 7 or 8 years ago. It was probably between $50 and $80 for each set of 8. I just love it and I find that it works really well every season of the year. I’ve collected a few pieces of Spode Woodland which is the Delamere with pictures of animals in the middle. Do you have any from that pattern?
I love transferware too, especially brown, it’s just so beautiful and looks wonderful when paired with other dishes. I started a collection a while ago with a set of 4 bowls which I am slowly adding to over time, all mismatched of course but that adds to the fun. You have so many pretty transferware pieces so perfectly paired with blue!
I love dishes! But I don’t have any place to show them off. They are all tucked away in cupboards. I have four sets that I use on a daily basis, switching them on and off. Then I have two other sets in a cupboard. If I ever get to entertain I will get them out too. But I find myself loving the old and different. Love the brown. Not quite sure why but bought two soup tureens this summer while on the largest arage sale! They just spoke to me! What can I say?
I, too, am a lover and collector of dishes. When I, in my twenties) first was packing up cleaning out the many china cabinets and armoires of my past mother-in-law for the auction we were having and saw how many dishes she had collected over the years I thought she must have been crazy. Low and behold I now (just brushing past 60) have collected at least as many dishes–maybe even more! I am a “master of space” as my husband lovingly calls me, and have managed to contain them all in two large armoires and a huge double kitchen cabinet. My current total is 14 full sets of 12-20 dinner plates with salads, bowls, etc. not to mention the additional mix and match pieces which changes things up! (And an additional 3 sets at our beach condo.) My hubby even had to add additional support for the kitchen cabinet for fear of it falling off the wall! I am big on shopping discount stores and even Goodwill and am patient about getting the items as I can afford them. Having many to choose from also makes it easy to mix and match when I have a big holiday party. Good luck on you quest–the fun really is about the anticipation of finding something you are looking for. And then–you have a story to tell about each one!