When you spend as much time cooking up your dinner as JT and I do (due to my conversion to veganism and a general interest in eating healthy, whole foods), your plates and dishware get a lot of use and abuse. Way back when JT and I got married (9-1/2 years ago now!) we registered for Pottery Barn’s Great White collection of dishes and I must say they’ve held up pretty “great”. There are a few permanent discolorations (small and not too noticeable) and I think we have broken one plate (not the plates fault, just slippery fingers). However, I did pack away the dinner plates because they’re HUGE! So big that if you put a regular serving of dinner on there it looks shrimpy. So on a daily basis we use the salad plates and those are just the right size.
I’ve been on a mission to reduce clutter and miscellaneous items in the house — a few weeks ago I took a few boxes to Goodwill and I have another two filled up in the basement as I type. One thing that caught my eye as being not-as-much-used-maybe-it-could-go were a set of mocha brown salad plates and berry bowls that I had picked up at Target at least eight or so years ago.
Part of the nice part about the Great White plates is they mix and match with pretty much anything. A few years ago I was on a big brown/tan kick and that’s pretty much shifted over to a black/gray/blue kick. So I pulled out the plates and bowls for donation and decided a one-in, one-out policy wouldn’t be too bad for the berry bowls . . .
Especially after I saw these funky beauties at West Elm last Thursday . . . . I’m donating six brown bowls and only brought home 4 of the West Elm bowls so that counts as clutter reduction . . . right? We have Great White cereal bowls but like the dinner plates, the cereal bowls are a bit large, so these West Elm bowls are a good size for starter salads, soups and other things. Plus with the blue rim, they look so awesome in our blue kitchen. Love.
(Above is the cavernous Pottery Barn bowl. I think these must have been designed for a family of football players or something. Or fat Americans who don’t understand serving sizes.) I couldn’t escape West Elm without a few more of the Turkish hand towels. They’re so lightweight and graphic looking, they dress up the stove instantly when draped over the door handle.
One other little thing came home with me . . . (maybe there’s a reason why I’m not so good at this whole controlling clutter thing after all . . . ) – these cute little gemstone shaped plastic bowls from Target. (They were a set of two for 99 cents). Right now it is proudly displaying my latest obsession – Good and Plentys. I get these almost every time we are at the grocery store. So much for eating healthy!
There was one thing I’m still dreaming about from my West Elm trip . . . the John Vogel chair in Acorn/Charcoal. I furtively snapped a picture of it while we were in the store . . . wouldn’t that be dreamy around my tulip table?
Yum.
Living Analog 
Love the black plate from the first shot!
Stunning 😉
I wish they were black plates! That would be super cool. They are actually the chocolate brown ones we are trading out. The base was fairly small on those so if you pressed on the edge of the plate at all, it would wobble and crash around on the table — not so practical for us clutzes. Cheers – CT
Oh, oh… black or brown… all close by in the colour pallet … still cool looking plate 🙂
I love that chair. A lot.
When we opened our Williams-Sonoma bowls at our wedding shower I mentioned they would be good for ice cream. I remember my sister scoffed at that idea and said they were way too small for ice cream. She likes the bigger rimmed chili bowls for that.
We also use our salad plates almost exclusively – dinner plates are huge. (But perfect when you have corn on the cob!)
I need to go back to West Elm again. I was too busy pouting about the boot on my foot and the lack of my hex side table to really notice anything else. I love everything you got.
They had a lot of gorgeous things but also a lot out of the price range I am willing/comfortable to spend on home goods. In particular there was one organic colored silk pillow that I loved but just couldn’t justify for a throw pillow. Especially considering that most likely my dog will end up enjoyng it more than I will. Such is life. But that chair . . . I think I could find a way to justify that price tag . . . but really I need four .. . . I need to go buy some lottery tickets! Cheers – CT
We also use our salad plates most often. Our dinner plates from C&B are so huge! When we lived in an apartment before this house, they didn’t even fit in the cabinets.
I’m loving those little plastic faceted bowls from Target. Might have to pick up some!
This oversized plate thing seems to be a trend across manufacturers . . . hmmm. The Target bowls are pretty fun — right now I have cashews and pistachios in them and they look almost too good to eat (almost). Cheers – CT