My "Goodie Drawer"

   I once told a friend about my kitchen "goodie drawer' post idea and she thought it a good one but to change the title for it because someone else once blogged about their goodie drawer - next to their bed, if you kin my meaning!

   Well I can understand why she'd be worried about that!  But I have called my "goodie drawer" just that, for years!  And to people like me, this is a real goodie drawer - full of beautiful kitchen and serving pieces I use but rarely or on special occasions.  Silver knives with M.O.P. handles...silver sugar cube tongs, tea strainers, etc.  And my favorite pieces of all, the soft paste porcelain handled serving pieces made by A.E. Lewis in Sheffield, England.

   Some have navy handles with a colorful filigree pattern, some have a pale blue handle.  My favorites are in the classic Blue Onion pattern.  I used to have over 110 pieces but sold some off now and then to raise money for other household projects.  The pieces I sold were flatware - fish sets and soup spoons, etc.  The pieces I kept are ones I use and bring out at tea parties or during the holidays.

   The pieces range from bread and cheese knives to salad servers, berry spoons, cheese planes, pickle forks and even iced tea spoons, with long necks and a perforated  bowl with etched filigree.
   Most are stainless while a few are silver plate, like the gorgeous 2-sided punch ladle I found on eBay for $55, around 15 years ago!

   All are treasured and live in my kitchen "goodie drawer", which is off limits to everyone in the house but me.  I can't tell you how many times someone has dropped one and shattered the precious and delicate porcelain handles so now they are used very sparingly but are wonderful to look at in between those occasions!
   My kitchen is tiny so to set aside an entire drawer for these treasures shows you how I feel about them!  

   I thought I'd set a few up outside on the patio table, under the protective umbrella, on a very hot summer day, and take photos to show you.  This isn't all of them, I have around 50 pieces, but they are some of the more fun ones!  I used one of my own fabric designs I have available on Spoonflower, for the back drop: "Watercolor Roses in blueberry blue".

 Server, berry spoon, bread knife and serving fork in Blue Onion

 Pickle fork and cheese knife in Blue Onion

 A cake server and combed cutter in navy Floraine

 Cheese knives and planes in periwinkle Floraine

 Iced Tea Spoons in navy Floraine

 Double-sided silver ladle in periwinkle Floraine

 Butter knives in navy Floraine

 Silver salad servers in navy Floraine

 Bread knife and extra large serving spoon in navy Floriane

A very old Austrian-made silver dessert fork in Blue Onion

Link to Pink Pagoda to see many other wonderful blue and white entries!
 Pink Pagoda Blue and White Bash

Simple Accents

When a home has good bones, you don't need alot of stuff to make a room magical.  Case in point, this bedroom.  The room already has spectacular bones and the few things in it are equally magical but not over done!

I adore the small gilded canopy draped in a French blue and lace, paired with the matching head and foot boards.  Note the small gilded sconces with the blue toile print shades and the gilded half-moon table.

A Timeless Dining Room

This is from an older Laura Ashley Home Furnishing catalog (at least 20+ years old, I kid you not!) but you'd never know it. It is as timeless as any room can be! It's French, its Swedish and its "elegant country".

The French blue, keeps the room light and elegant while the worn wooden French style furniture adds warmth and character. I have always loved that Palace garden wallpaper - I still have a roll of it in that same light blue colorway in storage. If I had several rolls, I'd cover every inch of my living room with it! The hutch is lovely too - a pale blue and white, filled with gorgeous china and crystal.