Authentic Victorian style country kitchen in blue and white.

I really wanted a blue-and-white farmhouse kitchen. It’s such a refreshing combination—and one that highlights my blue-and-white porcelain dishes and cups. I’ve been collecting for years, often finding pieces in secondhand stores, ever since an aunt gave me a teacup on my 21st birthday. But I knew getting the right shade of blue for the walls could be tricky. So I took a teacup with me to the paint store!

Now the walls beautifully set off plates, antiques and other treasures. Among them is a flow-blue plate mosaic—I’d found the shards while digging in the yard and glued it together, complete except for one piece. It hangs near the working antique telephone Steve built, using original parts he’d found online. There’s also a button-tree picture I made using buttons selected from my mother’s button jar.

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