Author: Carla

Blue and White Chinoiserie Memory Foam Mats
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Blue and White Chinoiserie Memory Foam Mats

Bath Mats, Kitchen Mats or Doggie Beds I was looking for bath mats and found these. They are all very similar, but sold by a lot of different companies. They are very well priced on Amazon, but the descriptions came from other websites. Style and comfort come together in these Asian Motif memory foam mats….

CalamityWare: Fun Twist on Blue Willow
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CalamityWare: Fun Twist on Blue Willow

I was looking for a replacement piece of Blue Willow china and found something really fun! Have you ever heard of CalamityWare? I looked it up. These are designed by Don Moyer, a retired graphic designer. The Calamityware website says that when he inherited a Blue Willow plate, he copied the pattern and added a…

Capiz Shell Chandeliers, Natural & Fresh
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Capiz Shell Chandeliers, Natural & Fresh

The January issue of Better Homes & Gardens starts with the article Fresh: Obsessed with Scalloped Edges We’ve seen their swooping symmetry in architecture, furniture, and hemlines for decades, even centuries. What’s new is the way scallop’s structure has been loosened, scaled up, and repeated graphically in a way that’s bolder, curvier, and a bit…

Signature Style: Creating Beautiful Interiors
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Signature Style: Creating Beautiful Interiors

One of my favorite decorating books is Signature Style: Creating Beautiful Interiors from Traditional Home Books. The book is about finding your own approach to design. All of the interiors are Traditional, but the eight different designers have very different approaches. There are a lot of photos, as you would expect. But the designers explain…

Reproduction Transferware Porcelain Tea Sets from the Madison Bay Company
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Reproduction Transferware Porcelain Tea Sets from the Madison Bay Company

Blue Willow and other Chinese looking patterns are transferware. Transferware was developed in England sometime in the 1750s and became enormously popular. Transfer-printed dishes were affordable. Cobalt blue, like Blue Willow, was the most popular, but transferware was also available in green, yellow, red, pink, purple, cranberry, brown, black and gray. The style is timeless….

Gondola Green Antique Reproduction Transferware from the Madison Bay Company

Gondola Green Antique Reproduction Transferware from the Madison Bay Company

Examples by E Wood and Sons, William Smith & Co and other traditional houses were made in browns, reds and other popular shades. The composition of gondolas in the waters of Venice are bordered with bold florals with a grand Italian feel. The example from the Madison Bay Company uses multiple shades of an attractive…

Green Toile Tea Set from the Madison Bay Company

Green Toile Tea Set from the Madison Bay Company

Similar to the Gondola pattern, the Green Toile tea set is transfer-printed in green on white porcelain with a classic English tea pattern. The teapot holds five cups. The teacups are 4″ in diameter. The saucers are 5 3/4″ across. The Green Botanical pattern from the Madison Bay Company has a beautifully shaped tea cup…

Pagoda Blue and White Antique Reproduction Porcelain from the Madison Bay Company
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Pagoda Blue and White Antique Reproduction Porcelain from the Madison Bay Company

The Madison Bay Company out of Pennsylvania markets reproductions of vintage china, mostly through museum gift shops. They make china that looks just like the antiques, but it is microwave and dishwasher safe. You can buy sets or purchase it by the piece. I just found that you can get some of the pieces on…

Madison Bay Company Liberty Blue Antique Reproduction Transferware
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Madison Bay Company Liberty Blue Antique Reproduction Transferware

The Madison Bay Company, out of Pennsylvania, distributes antique reproduction tea sets made using the transferware process popular in the late 1700s. Liberty Blue isn’t really an antique reproduction. The pattern wasn’t made until more recently. The original Liberty Blue was Staffordshire china made by Enoch Wedgwood to commemorate the Bicentenial. It wasn’t expensive. Through…