After all the wrapping and boxing of breakables, the packing and unpacking of bins (upon bins, upon bins), we're finally settled into this quietly magical spot of country and thrilled beyond measure to be back! Thank you, everyone, for all your warm wishes over the last week. Opportunities abound in this place for creating beautiful things to inspire and delight you, and I hope you'll return often to share in the fun! Speaking of, let's start off with a super fun project Jaithan and I did over the weekend in the little room of the farmhouse just off the kitchen. The shelving is great and the perfect place for a butler's pantry! Back in the city, I'd used an old pharmaceutical cabinet to hold my china, but out here, the ceilings won't allow it. No matter, though, because this little room, with its wall of adjustable metal shelves, will work beautifully!   

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As you can see, the shelves were of different lengths, so to update them and to give the wall a more built-in look, we headed to Herrington's, a great little hardware store in Millerton. On the way into town, we came across this beautiful, old church, painted a pretty blue with white trim and a gorgeous gray slate roof. Talk about inspiration! What a great color for the butler's pantry! All that silver and china would look so pretty with it, and though we loved the palette of grays in our city apartment, it was time for a change!

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At Herrington's, we had five shelves cut to size, then picked the closest paint color to match, Benjamin Moore's Covington Blue. It's a warm, happy shade of blue that I think would feel good in the room all year long. First, I began by edging out all the walls and moulding, taking care not to get any paint on the old wood beams.

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Check out the final result! With the new shelves running the full length of the wall, and everything painted the same pretty blue, I think they have that great built-in look but for a fraction of the cost.

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And now for the fun part! The propping of all my things from the
flea market—the china, silver, glass and linens I've been collecting
for years, ever since my days as a caterer, combing the cabinets of
other people's butler's pantries, searching for the very same stuff, just
more expensive! Here's the finished pantry, propped and styled.

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I love how open and accessible everything is, especially as we start to entertain. And with all those platters and plates, tureens and vases, and even a silver cloche, you can barely see the metal shelving! How great is that, especially if you're renting? Looks built-in, but it's not! And check out these little drawers from The Container Store. I painted them the same color as the shelves, and now they're perfect (and perfectly discreet) for holding small serving utensils, like salt spoons and caviar servers.

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These drawers from IKEA I painted as well. They definitely keep our silverware sets neat and tidy. It's a custom look that's easy and inexpensive.

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And now that the butler's pantry (or at least the butler's wall) is done, I can't wait to start using everything! There's lots of great stuff in store this week, including a glittery Valentine's card craft that's fast, easy, and beautiful. Thank you again for all your sweet comments about the house, everyone. We're so excited to be back!