Making it Lovely

Tag: ceramics

  • Country Fare Vintage Dishes

    Country Fare Vintage Dishes

    Today is our last day in the Wisconsin family cabin, and we’ll be driving back to Chicago soon. The surroundings are beautiful, but there is just as much enjoyment to be found in the home’s details. These are the plates we ate off of last night for dinner.

    They remind me of Heath Ceramics’ original Coupe line from the 1940s. I’ve shown their studio mug before, and that heritage Coupe line has long been at the top of my wish list.

    The collection of Country Fare dishes here at the cabin have been in my father-in-law’s family for decades. The line was discontinued in the mid-1950s, but they pop up on eBay and are available through Replacements.

    Aren’t they beautiful? They’re so obviously handmade, heavy, with imperfect edges and subtle ridges where people smoothed the clay with their fingers.

  • Changes in the Living Room

    Changes in the Living Room

    I had written earlier this year about how the living room had stayed fairly consistent over the last five years. I still like the room, but I had been feeling the need to shake things up a bit. So I’ve been making some changes.

    I got my hipster Chia pets. (Local friends, Carriage Flower Shop here in Oak Park has them.)

    I sold the orange chair (fare thee well, sweet orange chair!), and I have the floral chair floor sample that I repaired in its place. I was able to almost pay for the new chair with the old, and the chair paired with a floor lamp makes a nice reading corner.

    You may recognize the pillows in the room from yesterday’s post. I should point out that August gave me that red/orange pillow for my birthday last week. Didn’t he do a great job picking it out? I suspect Brandon helped him, but good job all around.

    The rocking chair is upstairs (because I am lazy sometimes and don’t like to cart it upstairs and back down for August’s monthly photo), so we brought back the other Eames chair and the elephant. It is possible that I have too much of an affinity for Eames furniture, but they’re classic investment pieces that I don’t tire of. Plus they’re sentimental for us. We got the LCW when we were married, the rocking chair when we were expecting, and the elephant for our first Christmas as new parents.

    There are still some things I’d like to do in the living room. I took down the silhouette quilt above the sofa. It was funny to have that many heads in one space now that the busts are on the side tables! So we need some different art. Or a mirror? Not sure.

    I’d also like to switch out the side table next to the floral chair. It’s cute, but the spindle doesn’t play well with the floor lamp behind it and something chunkier would look better. Oh, and I keep putting it off but I need to paint the trim white. I’m always too busy, but I don’t think there will be a time when I’m not busy, so I really should just force myself to tackle it.

    What else? Maybe one more pillow. Maybe different curtains (maybe). Not much… the room if feeling pretty good now.

  • Male and Female Bust Vases

    Male and Female Bust Vases

    Me: Aren’t these neat?
    Brandon: Yeah, if you want to go traipsing around the forest like a wood nymph.
    Me: ?
    Brandon: Don’t you already have a hat like that?
    Me: No, the vases! Aren’t they awesome?
    Brandon: Oh, they’re vases? So they’re like Chia pets for hipsters?

    • From Floral Art, via Oh Joy.

  • Large Tripod Pot

    Large Tripod Pot

    White + a pop of color + simple, organic forms. That’s a combo that will get me every time.

    • Pigeon Toe Ceramics

  • Owl Butter Dish

    Owl Butter Dish

    I’m keeping this in the kitchen, sans butter.


    (from west elm)

  • Ceramic Owls

    Ceramic Owls

    Whooooo’s a little cutie? Oh, right. These owls.

    • west elm