Styling a Glass Cabinet with Vintage Dishes

Styling a glass cabinet can be tricky. The furniture piece is meant to display keepsakes with pride and it screams “look at me”! Even though, wood cabinet doors make it easy to hide all our necessities and things we want out of the way, clear glass is just soo pretty!

What Furniture Should I Use to Display China?

Recently, I purchased a new cabinet at a moving floor sale. Unfortunately the cabinet’s lock was damaged and it was missing all 4 shelves and dowels to hold the shelves. But I’m a sucker for pretty french inspired pieces of furniture so I bought it!

The cabinet is a beautiful blue green gray. It has a lovely antique Cremone bolt and I just love its details. I brought in my carpenter to fix the latch and build some shelves. The trickiest part – was building the dowels to hold the shelves, but he got it done and it looks great.

When I initially bought the piece, I had so many ideas as to where it would land in our home. Ultimately I decided on a wall in our sunroom.

How to Add Items to a Cabinet and Make it Look Good

Then came the decision as to what would I fill this beauty with – keepsakes? That was my first thought. I gathered a few items around my home and gave it a shot…unsuccessfully I might add…didn’t like the outcome. It was clear that I would have to purchase several “pretty items” to really complete the look because let’s face it…our tchotchkes just aren’t all that attractive, especially when bundled together.

I have many sentimental pieces that mean a lot to me but this cabinet was just not the place to display them…that’s ok..I will find other areas to show them off.

Determined not to buy several more items just to fill the cabinet, I moved onto Plan B. Let’s fill this piece with beautiful china!

If you are interested in this cabinet, you can find it here.

Front and center were my favorite dishes embellished with a beautiful dainty rose colored flower pattern. With a perfect mix of pink, gold, green and gray I fell in love with these dishes the moment I saw them in a thrift shop, so home them came!

Add Adhesive to Hold the Plates in Place

Even though the shelves do not have a groove for plates, I propped three plates on the back wall using this adhesive. It’s so easy to use and gives me the extra security that the plates won’t fall forward or move, especially when the door is opened and closed. The putty comes off easily and can be reused so that is a win win for me.

For the cabinet, I used three sets of china, styling each shelf a bit differently.

The teacups are my favorite pieces, with the delicate pattern inside the cup. It deserves to be shown, so I prop the cups on their sides.

The biggest secret to a beautiful display is to layer, layer, and then layer some more.

Layering plates in front of each other and having them connect in a row is a favorite way of mine to really show the pattern.

My lavender beauties are proudly displayed on the first and fourth shelves.

The last set I have included in the cabinet is a pretty blue set from Mikasa. I have the fewest pieces of this set, so I was able to fit them all on one shelf.

These plates from Bavaria are my go to Easter plates as well as for Mother’s Day.  They make the most beautiful table, check out the link!

So what do you think about my display, I would love your feedback. I feel a double door cabinet is a great piece to display favorite dishes. I hope you are able to use ideas from this post to display your own most treasured pieces too.

Styling with Mis Matched Dishes

Another way to style a cabinet is to mix the dishes up and use different patterns on a shelf. I love this idea too. Styling with mis matched dishes is another very pretty way to display treasures. There are no rules my friends, just ideas. I chose to keep the patterns together but one day I’m sure I will change it up just to try something new 😉

Want to See More? Check out My YouTube Chanel

If you would like to see a video of the cabinet display, check out my YouTube channel.

Update Features on the Glass Cabinet

After waiting five months, my sconces finally arrived! I added two amazing sconces to the walls on both sides of the cabinet and I love it!

You can also check out the most recent updates on YouTube HERE! Check out how I styled the ottomans I added to the sides as well.

I would also like to add lighting to the cabinet. I love the way it looks in the evening and would really love to light it up more, so I’m thinking of different ways to add it without drilling holes! Yea, I know…maybe I should have thought of this before I added all those plates!🤣 Will have to be crafty for sure!

Thank you all for following along and sticking with me. It’s been a rough year for all of us but things are looking up so cheers to that!🥂

Lots more to come…including decorating for the holidays!! Woot woot!

Denise xoxo

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