Decor-a-Tea...

"Tea does our fancy aid,
Repress those vapours which the head invade
And keeps that palace of the soul serene."

Edmund Waller ~ Of Tea

This is week three of Gracious Hospitality's Blog-a-thon. This weeks theme is Decor-a-Tea where you share ideas and pictures that incorporate tea and/or tea themes into home decor. Displays, art, prints, fabrics, and collections all count in this category. If you use teapots and teacups as part of your home decor you are to describe how. You are all invited to join in on the fun! Below is the picture on my calendar for the month of April. (Some of the pictures below are repeats, sorry, but they fit the post subject.)
Let's take a peek in the book shelves in my family room. Do you take cream or sugar? On this stack of books from my childhood rests a Bavarian sugar bowl, its matching creamer sits on the shelf beside it. I found this lovely set in a flea market and loved the colors. This little set was a bargain at $3.00. (Click on photos to enlarge for better viewing, but please ignore the dust!) Perhaps you'd prefer to enjoy sipping your tea from this charming cup while perusing this vintage diary! Another of the shelves contains this lovely black floral patterned cup, a vintage diary written by a young woman named Katherine Taylor who was in her early twenties and lived in Peoria, Ill., a stack of favorite books and a favorite ink pen made from on old silverware handle. Two years of her life, from 1904-05 are recorded within these pages. Both are flea market finds, the cup cost $1.00 and the wonderful diary $3.00! Now let's move into the dinning nook where I have a cupboard filled with china that is topped off with a teacup vignette. The bowl is another Bavarian piece, the cup and saucer are from my Great Aunt Sylvia's china which was passed down to me. The pattern is called Old Moss Rose by Ballerina. Handy hubby made the cupboard for me. It was actually two old wall cabinets that hung in an old house some friends were renovating, they gave us several pieces from their demo. He affixed one cabinet on top of the other and added molding, cleaned and repainted the original hardware and replaced it. I painted it and when my friend saw it she said if I ever get rid of it she wants her stuff back! The niche in the nook gets frequent make overs but it always includes some fun teacups. This is the most recent display:The all the cups hanging here belonged to my grandmother. She said they got these in boxes of soap. She and her neighbors would trade pieces to get whole sets of dishes that included cups, sauces, plates, platters, and serving bowls. She passed this set on to me. I often drink from the cups and remember my grandmother drinking her morning coffee from them. She chuckled when she was here a few weeks ago when she saw them and said she thought I had some much nicer things to display than those old things. I told her I might have some thing newer but not nicer or more dear.
Below is a former display with some of my favorite teacups, tea bag holders, and hot pots:Perhaps you need to powder your nose, here is the powder room. Atop a cupboard I painted is a small vignette with a framed tea cup print and another cup and saucer from my great aunt's china. This cupboard came from the above mentioned friends reno also.
On the sink sits a tiny demitasse cup and saucer: There is also another vignette which I got the idea for from my Aunt Linda. She had a framed print hung in her bedroom above a tall chest. On top of the chest she had used items that echoed the still life in the print. I thought it very clever so I used the idea in my design. People always come out and say it is so cool that the clock on the shelf is the exact one in the picture. Both prints in the powder room were purchased at a discount store for a couple of dollars apiece. I used vintage frames, the larger of which I did a little hand painting on. The clock actually came from a grocery store. They set up a little gift section one year around Christmas and I found the clock there. I'd love to find a matching cup and saucer but no luck so far.On my dresser sits a pretty little flea market cup and saucer, but does it ever contain tea? No, it holds jewelry! I tend to drop my earrings or rings in here, when it gets full, I put them where they really belong!On the top shelf of my writing desk sits a cup and saucer that belonged to my mother-in-law. The tea pot was a gift from my daughter-in-love and I love them both.Inside my desk sits a pretty little cup that holds my pens and pencils:That wraps up my current tea themed decor. I hope you will visit all the links on La Tea Dah's post as there are some wonderful blogs featured there.

Blessings,
Miss Sandy