Halloween Hutch Display

Halloween china vignette

I love my hutch.  I love my hutch because I can easily display different plates throughout the seasons.  Ta da!  This is the first time I have seasonally arranged it.  This is my October/Halloween hutch arrangement.  

Halloween china vignette

Basically, the only thing that makes it "Halloween" are 3 plates with pumpkins on them that I got for about $1.50 total at a rummage sale.  The plates are either (a) fun, or (b) scary.  I have four children I figured would probably like the pumpkin plates (more then I do).  I am hoping that they may someday come to appreciate the other china pieces too, if I mix in fun plates and ask them to pick a favorite. 

To add to the Halloween look I brought out various black and white plates I had as well.  (My collection lacks orange plates.)  The overall effect falls far short of the look I hoped to achieve, but I figure my arranging skills can only improve over time. (No place to go but up?)  Note: I know I did have the mini pumpkins in different spots, and I know the children moved them around.

Brown transfer ware

I found both the antique brown and cream dishes (brown transfer ware) and the harvest fruit plates at different rummage sales within the last two months.  The brown transfer ware china has really grown on me.  The line art is so beautiful. 

Pomona Portmeirion plates and beer stein

The fruit plates are labeled on the back 'Pomona Portmeirion', made in England, and have a designed by date of 1982. The various steins and pewter pieces have been accumulated over the years by my husband, some of them from his grandparents.

Click on the images to see them enlarged.


If you enjoyed this post you might also like:

My Collection of all Hutch Posts!

The Blog 'Nancy's Daily Dish' has a good informative post on Transfer Ware, and a great post on How Transfer Ware is made.  I consider these to be two great resources on transfer ware.






















I am linking to these parties:

Shabby Chic for Transformation Thur (I was entry 50 of 288). site gone.
Colorado Lady for Vintage Thingies Thurs (I was entry 6 of 43). links gone.
A Picture is Worth for 2nd Time Around (I was entry 12 of 13.). 
Bloggeritaville for Thrifty Thursday, (I was entry 80). links gone.
Apron Girl for Thrift Share Monday (I was entry 22).
House of Grace for Twice Owned Tues (I was entry 53). 
Romantic Home for Show and Tell  (I was entry 210).
Jessica for Favorite Things Fri (I was entry 143). 
My Cottage Charm for Trinkets and Treasures (I was entry 3).
Linda for A La Carte Finds (I was entry 34).

French Country for Feathered Nest Fri No 6 (I was entry 45).
Brambleberry Cottage for Time Travel Thur (I was entry 25).
Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tues (I was entry 100).
Savvy Southern Style for Before and After (I was entry 79).

Furniture Treasure, 2010, Welsh Potboard Dresser

Image 1: Welsh Potboard Dresser

Here is one of my best finds for 2010.  I think of it as my Tudor monstrosity.  Knowledgeable individuals might say OMG, there is nothing Tudor about that piece!  [Do knowledgeable people say OMG?]  But to me, well, it isn't colonial, country, primitive, French, Russian, Rocco, Baroque, or any of numerous other styles.  (It isn't modern...) 

I don't know what it is, but I was happy to find it at an estate sale in July.  In the poor lighting at the estate sale, this hulking hutch(?), shelving unit(?) looked much darker then it really is, and it sat forlornly until the 4th day (last day) of the sale, it's 1/2 off tag tempting only me as it stood with other more impressive furniture.  (Another piece of which I bought, but that is different story...)

I saw it and wanted to take this orphan home.  It is 68 inches wide.  (Did you ever notice that most furniture today stops at about 60 inches wide max?)  Numerous calls home rousted my teenager from his XBOX - the annoyed child found a tape measure and measured the only place in the house where I could place it.  (Several measuring attempts were made.  I knew some of the measurements he was giving me were wrong.  Always get a child to give you inches on the tape measure.  Reading feet and inches is too confusing for a teen whose game time is being interrupted.)  The destination location was 82 inches wide.  

Sounding like his father, he asked what are you going to do with the furniture that is already occupying the spot?  Go back and blast pixels on the TV screen I wanted to tell him.  Leave adult issues to mom.

Transporting the item home, what the spouse said, cleaning it up, moving the furniture around in the house, all those adventures remain mine for now.  But I wanted to share with my on-line crowd.  I love this furniture.  I makes me smile.  Perhaps the biggest reason for my love of the piece is that I can display an ever changing array of collected china from numerous sales. I wanted to share this today before I arrange a fall display on it, or the Christmas display, or the spring one.... 

Image 2: Welsh Potboard Dresser

For my treasure hunting blog world friends: the price was around $250, with maybe $40 worth of delivery charges spontaneously arranged on the spot with a stranger who had a pickup truck. Perhaps the piece is a Victorian version of colonial?  It can't be too old, it has antique looking tiny casters on the bottoms that were glued shut with cob webs and floor yuck.  If any of the blog world people want to give an opinion on what they think the style, value, etc. are, please comment away.  I don't think the Antique Roadshow people would be impressed, (my spouse wasn't), but I do value your opinion. Weigh in please!

[2011 Update: I now consider this to be a Welsh dresser with a potboard, possibly Jacobean.  Welsh dressers are open on top (no glass doors).  The top 'rack' (shelving unit) also has 3 working drawers (tooled to look like 6).  I haven't seen another example like this when searching via google images.  The potboard dresser is the base consisting of the open bottom with a shelf near the ground.  There are 7 working drawers on the base.]

Click on the images to see them enlarged!

I blog for fun and my blog is ad free.  Comments encourage me, and I sometimes need encouragement. Please leave a comment if you have time!  Anonymous comment are welcome even months/years later!

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See other FANTASTIC travel posts here...

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If you enjoyed this post you might also like:

Furniture Treasure

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Christmas Hutch 2

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Valentine Hutch 1

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Easter Hutch

Easter Hutch 2

July Hutch 1

July Hutch 2

China Cabinet

Austrian plate

Vintage China

Bavarian China

China Finds

Rosenthal

Flow Blue China

Harvest Plates

Kent china

 





















I am linking to these parties:

Colorado Lady for Vintage Thingies Thur (I was entry 13 of 51.) 
Diane for 2nd Time Around, (I was entry 19 of 21.)
Bloggeritaville for Thrifty Thursday, (I was entry 14 of 81.)
Selena for Thrift Share Monday (I was entry 27 of 27.)
Bonnie at Twice Owned Tuesday (I was entry 57 of 64.)
Romantic Home for Show and Tell (I was entry 91 of 217.)
Claudia for Fridays Finding Beauty (I was entry 18 of 18.)
Jessica for Favorite Things Friday (I was entry 116 of 168.)
Cottage Charm for Trinkets and Treasures (I was entry 1 of 3).
Debbie for Garage Salen Party (I was entry 7 of 22.)

French Country for Feathered Nest Fri #5  (I was entry 33 of 44).
Brambleberry Cottage for Time Travel Thur  (I was entry 21 of 21).
Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays (I was entry 16 of 91.)
House of Grace for Best of Twice Owned Tue (I was entry 31 of 51.) 
Primative and Proper for Piece of work Wed 18 (Entry 37 of 42.)  

I have to admire this lady...

Vintage Treasure Chest

My newest storage container is also my oldest - I bought this vintage trunk for my family room instead of another filing cabinet or plastic tub.  It should be able to hold a lot, but mostly I love it for it's treasure chest feel.  (And my children like it too.)   

This trunk was waiting at a resale shop for several weeks, tempting me. I decided it was one of the nicest trunk I had ever seen, or was likely to see for sale (since I don't collect trunks), and so I finally gave in and bought it for just under $50.

The history I imagine for these trunks catches my mind - imagine moving across the ocean or country with everything you own and value in a trunk like this. 
 
I am guessing that the trunk is over 120 years old, but made after 1880.  The metal decorations have a patent date of 1880, and the latches (hasp) patent date seems to be July 6 1872.  The lock has a patent on it of 1972 also.  

The trunk is surprisingly sturdy, the wood interior is almost entirely encased in a metal coatings with wood accents.  The black material is a very strong metal, which was cut and bent around the curves, and then tacked in.  This kind of hand work from 100 years ago would be manufactured differently now - the metal would be machined with the curve, and probably not nailed.  

My trunk is higher end - the pattern on the tin(?) was probably an option for the more expensive trunks.  I understand that the pattern is called 'crystallized tin'.  While the gold color has worn away in some place,  I like weathered surface texture the old finish has.  I'm OK with the way the black paint has been worn away from the black metal.  I like the way the builders used decorative metal hardware instead of plain functional metal - the details add interest for me.  One of the side leather handles is still surviving.

To clean the trunk up, I used lots of surface wipes all over, especially on the interior.  Then I used Murphy's wood soap on the exterior wood parts, followed by pledge.  On the silver colored metal I used Brasso Metal polish.  The black metal, which had been painted black, was washed down with the surface wipes only.  I aired the trunk out first in my garage, and then outside on a blindingly sunny day.  I put little bowls of baking soda on the inside to absorb any lingering smells.  (I now know kitty litter might do a better job.)  This was my first attempt at cleaning up something like this.

 


Interestingly enough, the site Legacy Trunks is loaded with trunk photos and information.  Opps, now I found the site Brettunsvillage Trunks which is full of photos, info and humor.  Look what happens when you post a blog.  You learn a lot more about the item you are sharing.

Click on the images to see them enlarged.

I blog for fun and my blog is ad free.  Comments encourage me, and I sometimes need encouragement. Please leave a comment if you have time!  Anonymous comments and comments months/years later are welcome!

_____________________________________

If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy...

Summer Sunsets

Summer Vacation

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Japan Memories

Garden Mosaics

Flower Mirror

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Italian Garden

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Rock Window

Bonsai in Bloom

Bluebirds

Canada Autumn

Autumn Wreath

Glass Leaf

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I don't just collect platters,
See some of my china collection here!

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See more great finds and treasure! 

Visit Colorado Lady for Vintage Thingies Thursday, (I was entry 16 of 35).
Diane for 2nd Time Around, (I was entry 32 of 32).
Tales from Bloggeritaville for Thrifty Thursday, (I was entry 5 of 70). 
Jan for Boardwalk Bragfest, (I was entry 54 of 55).
Selena for Thrift Share Monday (I was entry 23 of 23).
Bonnie at Twice Owned Tuesday (I was entry 40 of 41). 
Romantic Home for Show and Tell,  (I was entry 68 of 125).
Claudia for Fridays Finding Beauty,  (I was entry 5 of 14).
Jessica for Favorite Things Friday,  (I was entry 72 of 124+).
Trinkets and Treasures (I was entry 3).
Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays,  (I was entry 111).
Southern Hospitality for Today's Thrifty Treasures, (I was entry 105).
Debbie for Garage Salen Party,  (I was entry 15 of 16).