Are you looking for ideas to style the wedding china that you so adore? Here are 7 easy steps to get you started with a vintage hutch cabinet.
What can you do with a china cabinet?
Decorate your vintage china cabinet hutch today with wedding china in these 7 simple steps.
How to make your china cabinet look more rustic?
My favorite vintage cabinets and hutches are made out of pine wood. They are all so rustic and charming. You can decorate them with your favorite china patterns, antique ironstone, pottery, quilts, blue and white platters, books, glassware, everyday dishwares, and any other collectibles that make you happy.
Whether you just acquired your first set of china or you recently dug it out of the attic from years of collecting dust (like I just did), displaying your china can be special in so many ways.
I was gifted our blue and white china pattern, by Lenox from my family almost 25 years ago when we were first married. And honestly, I have not used it that often. Do you use your wedding china regularly?
Displaying our wedding china reminds me of these family gifts arriving at our home before our wedding. Do you remember getting gifts before your wedding? It was such an exciting time. And seeing them displayed in our vintage hutch cabinet is making me so happy right now!
Not only this, but my mother used to pick us up one or two individual pieces to add to our china collection every year on our anniversary. We were fortunate enough to have a Lenox outlet in the next town over in Kittery, Maine. And you know what? Some of the patterns she picked up for us didn’t match. They have a silver trim instead of the traditional gold. And I couldn’t love them anymore today knowing this.
Let me show you how I displayed our wedding china in our old pine hutch in these 7 simple steps.
1. Gather and Organize all Your China in one Place
This will give you a good visual of how much you have to work with. Organize all your plates, bowls, tea cups, platters, etc. all together. And if your collection is new and you don’t have many pieces, that’s ok too. That’s part of the enjoyment.
Here is my collection of 25-year-old wedding china. Not a large collection, it’s 6 table settings, one platter, and 4 different size bowls that my mother picked out for us that have the silver rims, not matching the rest of the set:)
2. Choose the Largest Dishware First
Choose the largest of your china pieces to display in your vintage hutch cabinet first. For me, it was this large china platter.
Center this large china piece into your vintage hutch cabinet.
Now every hutch and cabinet, of course, is not going to be the same. This vintage hutch cabinet only has two shelves for me to use for displaying. You may have more or less. But aligning your largest pieces first is a good practice to start with.
What is the best background for a china cabinet?
I like the natural look of my vintage pine china cabinet background. However, I have seen many old cabinets and hutches with lovely wallpaper backgrounds. If you are going for a more formal style, I recommend adding wallpaper as a beautiful option. Or brighten it up by painting the background Chantilly Lace White or Simply White. It will give your china cabinet a fabulous farmhouse look.
You may enjoy this post, Romantic Antique Table Setting with Thoughtful Design.
3. Display Your China Dinner Plates Next
Next layout your dinner china on or around your hutch cabinet to get a visual of their size and placement within your shelving.
Looking at it here I knew I wanted to display all 6 of my dinner plates on the top shelf.
4. Secure Your Plates and Platters
You will definitely want to secure your plates and platters to the shelving so that they don’t slip and break. You could use plate stands, but they take up a great deal of space.
So I use a thumbtack in front of each of my plates and platters.
Don’t worry, you will not be able to see the thumbtacks in the hutch once you are finished decorating it.
You’ll see more on this as you read on.
Should you line your china cabinet with dishes on end?
This is completely up to you! There are so many different looks. A full china cabinet vs. a streamlined hutch? It’s all a personal preference. Here I lined my top shelf with 6 dinner plates end to end. Yet, I think 3 plates would simply look beautiful too. Test it out in your own china cabinet hutch to see which look you prefer.
5. Create Height by Stacking Dishes and Bowls
You’ll want to create height on your hutch cabinet’s shelving. You can easily accomplish this by stacking the smaller plates, bowls, and tea cups.
I have also used vintage books to help create height. See more in this post, Vintage Hutch Farmhouse Style.
6. Add Glassware Matching Your China
Adding vintage-colored glassware will fill in the open spaces and complete your wedding china display.
I started by adding two little sherry glasses that my mother gave me one Christmas years back. But it was still missing something.
Then I added these cobalt blue vintage glasses that I found while out “Thrifting with the Gals” a week or so ago when I was in Maine.
Can you see how much the colored glassware added to this display?
You can now also see how the thumbtacks securing the plates and platters are all nicely hidden.
How to make your china cabinet look more rustic?
As I mentioned above, my favorite vintage cabinets and hutches are made out of pine wood. They are all so rustic and charming. You can decorate them with your favorite china patterns, antique ironstone, pottery, quilts, blue and white platters, books, glassware, everyday dishwares, and any other collectibles you may enjoy.
7. Add Your Favorite Flowers or Greenery
With Christmas just behind us, I chose to add some simple greenery, red berries, and white hydrangeas to my newly displayed china cabinet.
And used an antique blue vase to match the blue touches with the china and glassware.
On the top of this old pine cabinet, I stacked a few large white dishes, a vintage soup tureen, cake stand, and a few wooden bowls for a soft texture.
I love adding a “fakery bakery” to my hutch displays too. Like this Pecan Pie created by my friend Dawn over at Everything Dawn. You may also enjoy this Faux Berry Mousseline Tarte in the post, Table Ready Fakery Bakery.
I am slowly putting our home back together after an extensive interior painting project this past November. I will be blogging all about it soon, I promise! But for right now, I’m taking my time and enjoying every minute.
Lastly, I hung a couple of baskets next to this newly designed china hutch for a little added texture. I used an old handmade spool rack that my father made years back to hang them from.
And then, but of course, I decided to completely move the hutch to another wall… What do you think?
I’m so glad you dropped by, and if you are new to my blog, welcome! I hope you enjoyed your visit with us here today at our Home in Vermont.
Be sure also to check out our Home in Coastal Maine where we spend summers and weekends when we are craving a walk on the beach or a visit with old friends.
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Beautiful, Ann! I love the way you styled the cabinet and accented the dishes with blue glasses and greenery. I think I may have to restyle the Lenox in my hutch and add some interesting touches. Perhaps I will use it more! The new paint color is so pretty! It makes the antique pieces really stand out. Thanks for the inspiration!
Thank you so much Leslie, I’ve been putting it all back very slowly, enjoying every minute of it. It’s going to be so nice when we have it all finished. We start wallpapering the bedrooms in a week or so too:) So lot’s going on. I’m so glad you were inspired today, it means so much to me. Best to you!
I love your dishes and china cabinet and the way you displayed them, so pretty. The way you want to change when you post is fine with me, I will be ready to read them however you choose.
Marlene, you’re the sweetest. I’m looking forward to the less structured way of promoting blog posts. I love blogging, it’s so much fun, and I want to enjoy it even more. Thanks for being here! Happy New Year!
I think that’s the same as my daughter’s wedding china or pretty close. I absolutely love it! I miss the Lenox outlet in Kittery but it seems that Lenox is now an outsourced company. This looks great Ann
Thank you Linda. I did not know they were outsourced now. At my first job out of college, I worked for a company that was owned by Lenox. It was really neat to be affiliated with them back then. Happy New Year!
Your wedding china is beautiful and I love how you displayed it. It would make me smile to see it out and remember. I love your hutch too, such a beautiful piece.
Thank you Kristin!
This turned out so pretty, and I can tell you enjoyed styling the china cabinet. To keep plates from slipping, if the shelf doesn’t have a groove, I hot glue a piece of quarter round to the shelf at the correct location so the plates stand up but don’t fall forward. I’ve also just used toothpicks. They pop right off if you decide they are in the way at some point. I’ll look forward to reading your blog whenever you feel like blogging. I actually think more bloggers should just blog when they feel like it or have an interesting topic.
These are wonderful ideas, toothpicks would be perfect. Thanks for sharing this! Yes, hobby blogging is so much fun and a great creative outlet. But as you get going you realize how much there is really involved in it all and it’s so easy to get caught up in all the other “stuff”. The newsletter is what a lot of “hobby” bloggers use but I’m just finding it a little too structured for my liking. I’m looking really looking forward to this change. Thank you so much for following along!
You have such a way of styling a vintage cabinet hutch Ann. Your chine is beautiful.
Thanks kindly Kim!
Beautifully done Ann. Change is good what ever you choose is fine with me.
Thank you Karen! I agree change is very good and less structured is good too:)
Of course you know a pine cabinet with blue and white china has my heart! Yours is beautifully styled! I also love how you stacked the wooden boards next to it!
Thank you so much Molly!
Thank what great tips