Shall we dine in tonight dear?

A few dining room pictures to share. I love having a true dining room even though it's small. We use it mainly for intimate dinners - max. of six, other times it becomes my cutting out table and scrapbooking desk! Cottage living means using every space available, when available!!

A Pink Bee found corbels this week and she mentions using them for a window treatment. I did this in my dining room - they hold a pole which in turn has held, at different times, curtain panels, formal top treatments, and my favorite - silk organza placements embroidered with gold dragonflies! At present I have a lovely grapevine garland with those tiny glass "raindrops" from Smith & Hawken dangling here and there - quite pretty at night when the lights are on.



Thank goodness for my Welsh Dresser with plenty of shelves in the dining room - I bought it unfinished, painted and distressed it for a shabby cottage look! I do love china - doesn't have to be expensive bone china in formal place settings, just anything pretty with Nature themes, writing of course, or pretty colors. The pink teacups are for afternoon tea with a girlfriend who may stop by - the cake plates don't match exactly but that's OK, they are pretty. The green china with shells and seaweeds is an old English pattern reproduced here in the USA. It's named TORQUAY which is my hometown in Devon, UK so of course I had to have at least a few pieces - it's terribly expensive. I often use it for tea when I'm on my own.

This sugar bowl and creamer, with another pitcher in back, are part of my large collection of Noritake's "The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady". I love the illustrations of flowers, birds, insects etc., all named in English and Latin, and different on each piece. The plates, saucers etc. have lovely sayings and lines of poetry around the edges. I started collecting this set in the 1980's when I received an unexpected pay raise - a present to myself!

Hope you can visit me for tea some afternoon.