A mix of old and new...

When these extremely old purple toile family dishes were passed down to me several years ago, I was beyond thrilled - a feeling I'm sure my fellow dishaholics can understand. Then when I got them unpacked to display, I realized I needed a few things to fill in the gaps, to make them look their most beautiful. Almost immediately, I stumbled across the little tea cups you see in the second photo. They complement the set nicely, don't you think?

But the more inspired find is the accompanying linens. I stumbled across these linen napkins with the same color and feel of the dishes in TJ Maxx. As soon as I saw them, I knew they would be perfect to set off these old dishes. You can see just how well they go together in the first photo. To take advantage of this gift from the universe, I decided to display one of the napkins in the bottom of a basket tray and prop up the basket - it provides the perfect backdrop. The full display is shown in the bottom photograph.

Not too long after I put all this together, a friend asked me if the linens came with the purple dishes or if I had somehow found a near perfect match (an odd ability of mine). I confessed the linens were new, not old. But as is so often the case, that little bit of new brought out the beauty of the old.