The Prettiest Way To Display Dishes On The Wall

Just about a year ago, the long wait for my new family room sofa came to a close.

The months of a complete room renovation were finally behind me and the fun part of the project, the decorating, was about to begin.

And I couldn't have been more pleased.


I loved every design choice I'd made, from the caramel colored vinyl planked flooring and the red rose adorned floral wallpaper to that big, bold green checked fabric that covered the new sofa.

Until I got them all in the room together. And quite frankly, I was stumped.

You see in the old room, the walls were a solid color and the only large pattern was on the floral sofa. It was a much easier space to accessorize.

I scattered pillows, hung art, signs and mirrors on the walls, without a lot of thought. I swapped out curtains all the time, mixing prints and solids, with and without trim.

But in this room. I just couldn't get my bearings. That floral wallpaper threw me a curve ball every time I tried to add a new element.

Honestly, I don't have a green thumb. I've always struggled in the garden.

I don't know why I thought those flowers would be any easier to manage just because they were on the wall.



I can't tell you how many times I've changed the window treatments, finally opting for blinds.

It wasn't until this summer, a few weeks ago actually, that I finally began to figure out what the room needed.

It was weight. It needed some ballast to tether that light and airy rose covered wall and tie it together with that celery colored couch.

It started with a dark wood mirror and a faux DIY panel on my end table. One corner of the room was starting to feel more like home.

But the opposite wall was still bare and I had no idea what to add to it. I already had three mirrors in the room and floral paintings or prints didn't seem right.

Then I saw these green rooster plates and I knew.

So I ordered a few of them and pondered how I was going to hang them on the wall. 

I considered these plate hooks and these plate hooks, but I felt like the plates really needed something more. That wall needed some weight as well. 

That's when I started thinking about shelves. If you remember a few weeks ago, I shared the tale of these scrolled beauties in the kitchen.


These lovely vintage styled iron ledges.

They were meant to hang in here, but one of them, the largest looked very charming under my plate rack. That put a little bit of wrinkle in my plan, but in the end, it worked out better overall.

Originally, I was going to stagger the largest two shelves on the wall. However, since the largest one was no longer available, I had to come up with plan B...which was to stack them. 


After my husband centered them and screwed them into the wall, they looked like this.

Lovely, but a little bit skimpy.

That's when we decided to add the fourth shelf in the set, the tiniest one, underneath. 

It was perfect.

Of course, I'd only ordered four plates. I needed two more to fill my shelves, since I was going for a clean and unified look. 

Finding them took a bit, but in the end, it was Etsy to the rescue again.


This week, I had a little fun playing with some thrift store artwork in the room, swapping out a dish for a geranium.

The shelves are narrow, so not much else fits up there, but I can definitely envision some seasonal swaps.
Like I did with bottle brush trees in the hallway last year.

For now though, I'm thrilled with the way things are shaping up in the space.


At the moment I'm relying on that furry throw blanket to warm up the room.

Truth be told it's been a staple in there since last October. It's so soft I even draped it over myself when the AC was on!


Next up, I need to nail down the curtains and the right red pillows to cozy up the couch and add a pop of drama for fall and winter.

I just have to find the proper way to do it without clashing with the roses on the wallpaper.

Or the roosters on the shelves.

Then again, cottage gardens are supposed to be a wild, rambling, no rules, collection of blooms.

Inside or outside.

Wouldn't you say?

😉

Do you have plates on your walls?

Happy Decorating, Friends!