Vintage Dish Collage

Over the years, I've collected several decorative plates, both antique and new, from my grandmother, my mother, and I've bought a few myself. Instead of hiding my beautiful mementos in a closet somewhere, I decided to display them where all (who come to my apartment) can see. There are several ways to hang decorative dishes: regular wall mountings, stands for individual dishes, china cabinets, and heaven forbid....to use them for serving food! That's too boring for me!!!!

A few years back, I saw a magazine photo that displayed dishes in a bold way. There was no measuring or perfect alignment, just fantastic dishes of all sizes hanging in harmony as a real statement piece. It appeared as art rather than plates hanging on a wall...I had to do it with my very own dish collection!

How to do it yourself:

1. Get some dishes in all different sizes and shapes:)
2. Use the floor to arrange how you want your dishes to look
3. Take a picture of your desired look as reference
4. Get plate hangers (so cheap) and begin hanging. You can perfectly line things up and draw exactly where you want the dish to go, but I like to do things a little haphazardly. Just approximate and start hanging!

Can you guess which dishes are vintage? There are 7!

When we buy a house (hopefully in 2011), I will reserve a wall in my kitchen or dining area for this dish collage! At that time, I hope to have some color on the walls instead of the boring "rented apartment off-white" color that's in the photo.

I still have several vintage teacups and beaded purses from the 1940's locked up that I inherited from my grandmother. One day, I'll find a creative way to display them too!