Met/Blue Mon. ~The Blue Birds are Happy Again, Thanks to Penny's Tip!

Not long ago I received a wonderful comment from Penny at The Comforts of Home/Lavender Hill. She wrote:

Hi Dawn,

Thanks for stopping by. I just love your blog. Your shabby rocker is just perfect!


I wanted to let you know a sure fire way to get rid of the brown staining on your sweet blue bird plates. Fill a plastic bucket or tub with hydrogen peroxide and make sure the plates are covered. Put in in the sun for the day and it should bleach out the brown stains!


Hugs,

Penny

Now first off, I'm a huge fan of Penny's. She has such wonderful style. Her work is beautiful. And she is a real sweetheart. So I was thrilled that she made time to stop by my blog and comment. Not only did she comment, she left me this wonderful tip. She was referring to the blue bird plates I had found in my attic. Below are two photos from the original post. You can see there is a lot of crazing and brown stains.

I used one and a half large bottles of Hydrogen Peroxide to cover the plates. The photo is blurry but you can see it's the 32 oz. size.

I could have used less if my tub had been closer to the size of the plate. I had thought I could fit both plates at once but guessed wrong. You know what they say, "measure twice, bleach once" or something like that. I left it in the sun all day as Penny said.

Here you can see the first plate I bleached on the right, compared to the unbleached one on the left. It made quite a difference!

Here is a close up. The crazing is still there but without the brown stains you don't notice it as much. It's like a doing a reverse crackle finish! Ha ha! An "uncrackle". Oh, I just crack myself up.

I did the second one and it turned out just as well. Now you can go out and buy up all the ugly stained dishes you can find. They're cheap because they're stained but now you know you can make them look almost like new.

Thank you so much Penny!

It's funny how sometime the blogging world seems so small. Just before posting this I was going through some magazine clippings from a year or two ago. I came across one on a mosaic artist that was part of a series of articles on women's businesses. I had saved it because it was so inspiring. I thought, "That looks like Penny's work". Sure enough I flipped the page over and there was our own wonderful Penny! The article was from Romantic Country and titled, "A Bouquet in Bits 'N Pieces" by Bunny MacIntyre. So it looks like I was a fan of Penny's even before I met her through blogging!



Now that I'm done gushing, go on over and visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch and Smiling Sally for the rest of the Met. Mon. and Blue Mon. madness!

Dawn

Blue Monday ~ Dinning Room Got the Blues

It's Blue Monday and this is my first time joining in the fun at Smiling Sally's. Please remember to visit Sally and see who else has the blues today.

I recently shared some rooster plates that had beautiful blue borders in different patterns. They were the added to tie some blue and white salt and pepper shakers into my red, green and yellow color scheme. You can check them out by clicking here. I was really trying to stick with those colors but my rooms seem to take on a life of their own and before I knew it blue had become the main accent in the dinning room. These are some of my favorite blue and white plates that hang over my hutch.

This one hangs high on the picture rail to cover where the pipes from the original wood stove in the kitchen sent warm air to other rooms. It had been removed long before we moved in. The picture rails had been cut around the duct work so the top of a circle is missing from half of the rail here. The hole itself was covered by what almost looks like an upside down plate. If you look close you can see part of the rim under my plate.

My hutch is always evolving depending on what new treasure I've found, the seasons and if I need extra storage for groceries. It's not uncommon to find a bag of Flaming Hot Cheetos wedged in there "for now". Our dinning room is the middle of our home and open to several other rooms. We have a small galley kitchen so we eat here every day and use the table for everything from paperwork to crafts. Some day I'll get all the rooms clean at the same time, have the puzzles, bills and smore's maker cleared off the table and the curtains back up. Then you can see the whole room, but don't hold your breath! That's why I covered the mirrors inside the hutch with wallpaper. Mirrors are great at doubling space but they also double clutter!

One my favorite collections is my Tracy Porter Stonehouse Farm ceramics. It has a quirky mix of great colors and patterns. Some pieces are mostly dark, dark blue, almost black, with just a little of the red and cream plaid. Others are just the opposite. Throw in a rooster, some almost pastel veggies and a bright green accent and they're perfect for someone like me who likes everything and can't make up her mind what direction to go!

You can see the rooster plates next to the hutch. Not much is left of my original color scheme except a few table clothes but they can only be seen at dinner time when the rest of the day's accumulation gets cleared away!

The yellow and green have taken a back seat to the blue and red.

And Bessie is looking girlie in her blue toile bow!

I don't mind though, sometimes Plan B works out for the best. That's Plan "B" for Blue of course!

Have a great Blue Monday.

Dawn