at your service.. .

my grandfather was an top-notch athlete (he was inducted into my state's sports hall of fame for golf!) this means that my family ended up with a really beautiful collection of silver pieces (read: my parents and aunt, not me). when i saw this article about collecting hotel silver, it made me think of it. I bet I could find some of my own pieces at rummage sales and flea markets... anyway, enjoy these pretty pictures from country living and start rummaging around for your own fun finds!

i'm feeling a little antsy...

the adorable house my boyfriend and his roomie live in has ants. lots of ants. so many that you can't leave a dirty dish in the sink for more than five minutes without attracting some (or about a hundred) tiny little six-legged creatures. in honor of the ants, i wanted to share these fun and silly plates from fashion-designer-turned-fine-artist Re Jin Lee of bailydoesntbark.





i mean, maybe they don't scream "let's have foi gras tonight" but they're just the sort of quirky things i love. visit her website or her etsy store for all sorts of other wonderful and whimsical handpainted pieces.

jackpot, not potluck...

part of this post must be credited to kathryn, one of my most favorite people in the world. she sent me a link she discovered while feeding her own passion for beautiful things. In fact...go see her blog here.

anyway, kathryn pointed me in the direction of lorena barrezueta, a parson's grad who makes really cool dishware. it wasn't long ago that i posted some plates, but these are so different and cool i wanted to share them.


these photos of her gourmet collection's classic and fresh lines just tickle me pink. by using aluminum foil plates and plastic cups for molds barrezueta's designs easily appeal to diners looking for a sophisticated AND casual kind of meal. see more at her website.

another man's trash...

last year, my cousin showed me these refurbished pieces of china from Sarah Cihat that she saw in the Brocade catalog and i blogged on another space about them (in fact, several of these posts are older posts from a different blog of mine that out of the blue, just stopped working).


the wall was covered with these really funky plates and platters in all sorts of colors and shades. on each plate was a different design...anchors, skulls, cassettes, fleur de lis... cihat makes her rehabilitated dishware from old rejected china pieces that she buys at thrift stores and refires with a newer, much cooler design.

Her site mentions that her work is a statement on the value of recycling and the renewed value of unwanted things. pretty cool. visit her website for more.