Easy Ways to Style Your China Cabinet for the Seasons

 

Easy Ways

to Style

Your China Cabinet

by Chickadee Home Nest

As I thought about this post it occurred to me, “My blog should really be called “The Lazy Decorator,”” because if there’s an easy way to do something, or a shortcut—I’m there!

And here’s a perfect example: Many of you know that I like to decorate/refresh our china cabinet for the seasons and holidays. I find that if I leave it be for very long it starts to feel lifeless, like it’s there as a shrine, or as a “Hands off: This stuff isn’t meant to be touched and used!” That’s exactly why I took the doors off—I wanted our china cabinet to be approachable and inviting, and to serve as active storage.

Here’s how it looked before, with the doors ~

Then, with the doors removed ~

So much more inviting, don’t you think? It’s as if it’s saying, “Come on over and use the stuff here! Live with it! Enjoy it!” And, as you can see, in each of the two pictures it’s decorated for the season or holiday: Valentines above, Spring below. You can see the whole post here.

My challenge for today’s post was to keep the foundational pieces I’ve had in the china cabinet for almost three months and change only the embellishments, hoping to show you that it doesn’t take a total re-do to bring your china to life and keep it current for the season or the holiday.

Here’s the china cabinet with what turned out to be the foundational pieces that have carried me from post-Christmas until now:

From there, still keeping the foundational pieces—the white pieces—I moved to early Spring~

Notice that I left the snowy little trees, after all, it was only February and we still had LOTS of snow (and lots to come!). I even kept the deer on top, though you can hardly see them in this picture. So I simply added the violet tea cups and the violets as we i-n-c-h-e-d into Spring, because I was sooooo ready for some color and signs of Spring! You can see the full post here.

Here’s a close-up of the early splash of Spring color~

 

Yesterday and this morning we had lots of rain. Welcome, because it got rid of the last bits of snow we had left (which we thought would be around at least until, oh, JUNE!!), so I was inspired to get with the program and do a bit of Spring and Easter decorating. Yea!! AND…sunshine later in the day!

First on the list…you guessed it! The china cabinet! As I’ve mentioned before, our floor plan is very open, so as the china cabinet goes, so goes the mood and the season at our house!

So on with my challenge, and here’s today’s Spring china cabinet~

  Notice the foundational pieces remain exactly the same. I was tempted to switch some pieces out as I rummaged through my Easter and Spring bins, but nope! I stuck to my challenge of using the same white pieces one more time. A few silk flowers tucked in here and there, and the addition of my favorite Nicodemus chubby robin and bunny, and voilà! We have a Spring china cabinet with minimal effort! (I did switch the deer out for a chippy basket painted in Annie Sloan Duck Egg. It was time for them to go hibernate until winter!)

  In the early Spring version this sterling compote held dried roses with touches of preserved cedar. A nestful of eggs and a splash of color from the daffodils, and it says Spring!

These glass “cups” are votives now repurposed as vases, and the silver “vase” is a salt or pepper shaker.

Wow!! I have these “crocuses” in yellow and pink. I wasn’t sure which I was going to prefer, but once I put the pink in the white sugar bowl, I didn’t even try the yellow! Love the splash of happy color!

In its previous rendition this Pfaltzgraff creamer held vintage knives, and the cloche simply had a tiny sprig of baby’s breath. Just one little crocus for a bit of color.

Just some speckled eggs in the Waterford goblet—the colors go well with the robin and bunny.

Forsythia!! Every year I search for the first forsythia bloom…JOY! It means Spring really has arrived! For now, only in the silk version, but it does the trick!

Gotta have chickadees in our china cabinet! Did you notice they’re a salt-and-pepper set?

I absolutely love this darling little spoon, though I don’t know exactly what its intended purpose was—do you? I’ve always thought of it and used it as a jelly spoon, but I’m not sure about that. I’d love to know if you know!

  You’ve seen this darling silver cup before, I’m sure. It was in an auction box lot! What a find! In the previous display it only held the baby’s breath, and liking the white, I simply added a sprig of {faux} stephanotis.

Okay…here’s one change I forgot about! In the former displays I had a darling miniature milk glass sugar bowl where the glass one now sits. I’d had it on Etsy, and when I saw that Beverly, from How Sweet the Sound (here) holds a Blog Shop where you can add the items you have for sale on Etsy, eBay, or your blog, I added my Etsy items. Lo and behold, Beverly herself bought the sweet sugar bowl and another milk glass vase! If you have items for sale, be sure to visit her!

This little silver tray and “bronzy” spoon were already there on the china cabinet. I simply added the “grass” and daffodils. This spoon is perfect for the Spring setting—it always reminds me of a hosta Patriot leaf.

So…have I convinced you about how easy it is to update your china cabinet and enticed you to use yours as a seasonal display? I can’t wait to hear from you!

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Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you’ll leave me a comment to let me know you were here—I’m thrilled to know you stopped by, and I’ll always visit back and comment too. If you like what you see, I invite you to follow me (I promise to follow back), and please—Pin away and follow me on Pinterest too! Thank you!!

NOTE: Some of the items I use in my posts are in my Etsy shop, but many are not, simply because I haven’t updated my shop. If you see something you like and wonder if it’s available for sale, email me at coral5252@gmail.com and let’s talk!

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From my nest to yours~

Zuni