SIMPLE WHITE: WHAT GOES AROUND...

I have a dish dilemma. This morning I was perusing a weekly design newsletter I get online, and I came across a segment showing five or six different patterns of simple white dishes, from basic catering style, to a contemporary one with square plates. They even had one that looked like French stoneware, and another Bauer-like pattern with embossed rings. Suddenly I was feeling that old pang again. You see, when I first got engaged, and went to our local gift shop to fill out my wedding registry, I chose a pattern of simple white dishes. My mother asked "Why on earth would you want that?" "Well, because it's simple. I love colorful napkins and placemats and tablecloths, and no matter which ones I feel like using, these dishes will always go with them." She thought I was crazy, and my sisters pretty much agreed with her, so eventually I changed my registry and chose this Noritake pattern instead.

Later we added the colorful Fiesta dishes...

then I picked up a cute set of winter/Christmas dishes over in Indonesia for next to nothing...

and then I was gifted with some gorgeous serving pieces that had that Italian pottery look.

The only problem was that, whenever it came time to host a dinner party, I never seemed to have enough of the right dishes or glassware to go with the table linens or placemats I was planning to use. So I started collecting a mismatched set of gold and white china that would go with anything.

My mom gave me a pile of gold rimmed plates from her stash, to get me started, but most of them were more ivory-colored, while my serving pieces were all pure white. Now I have tons of dishes taking up tons of storage space -- storage space that could be holding art supplies instead -- and it still takes me a couple of hours, every time I have guests, to juggle around bits of this and that before I can come up with a table setting that will work.

Well Mom, I hate to tell you this, but you were wrong. I still don't appreciate having all this fancy stuff, now that I have "finally matured." Right now I would give anything for a full set of plain white dishes -- dishes that could be mixed with a few select serving pieces from my pastel wedding dishes at Easter time, or a bowl and platter from my winter set during the holidays. Dishes which would be just as comfortable alongside a gold and white china tea set as they would be with my old white ironstone jugs, and which would go with any of that closetful of tablecloths or those drawers full of napkins I have accumulated. And you know what? This time, after only 38 years or so of waffling, I'm finally going to get them!

P.S. I apologize for the photo quality today, but good pics need good, natural light, none of which is available in the wee hours of a cloudy morn.