apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

noooo! don't hesitate to use your mugs! life's too short...you have to use the beautiful things that make every day special!

I absolutely agree! Life's too short to not enjoy. And your luscious green Fire King is gorgeous. I use my 70 year old Cloverleaf depression glass all the time, makes me happy.

I agree with miss sparrow.....use them!

I once had a friend, this girl had huge collection of vintage glassware and unique cocktail sets. She NEVER used any them and was even hesitant to take them out of the displays she had arranged in her dining room cabinets.

When people came over to drink before clubs....she would serve us cocktails in boring old Target style glasses.

We would comment on her collection often....it was always a "look but don't touch" situation. She would even serve food on a plain white dish, despite having a rather fancy collection of Park Avenue style china.

We were always puzzled at her bad hostess skills.

She was weird.....sort of a tweaker, still unmarried.

Don't be that girl...have fun..use the mugs!!

you don't put them in the dishwasher, do you? eeek!

I agree...use your collection! Often, people will change their minds about collections a few years later, and it would be a shame to never have used them. It's just stuff, whether it's cheap plastic or nice china.

Another vote for using them. You never know what will happen tomorrow. Use them. Do what makes you happy, even something that small.

Ahhh..timely post for me. I have a huge Jadite collection that sits pretty up in glassfront cabinets. It's time I took them down and enjoyed!

In the second picture with the rocks, where could you get that storage thing? I want something that will hold my big collection of tiny toys, and that could work well, I think! The spaces are a little big for me, but I could make it work.

Thanks!

I have a Franciscan Starburst set I was saving for about a year or so. Then i realized i'd be so much happier using them. I've never regretted it.

See the style here:
http://www.ccdinnerware.com/Franciscan%2070/Starburst.jpg

I collect teacups (heavy on the Japanese teabowls and old restaurant mugs) and daguerreotypes. I do drink tea from my cups all the time. It's silly, but sometimes I feel a little sad for an object that started out life as something useful but now sits disused in a dusty display case.

ezzyjshark, that is a vintage printer's tray from back when newspapers had to be type set. Check out ebay or craigslist, you are sure to find one...

Gosh, use everything, of course.

I mean, frankly, how many of us collect antique Baccarat or eighteenth-century English glass? Anything else is easily and fairly cheaply replaceable.

Most of the dishes and glassware I own are vintage but were bought at flea markets and charity shops, so if something broke I'd be sorry but not distraught.

Get a cork floor would be my other tip - since we moved from an apartment with a marble kitchen floor to one with a cork floor, we haven't broken a single thing. We are both clumsy and it used to be like a Greek wedding with all the smashed crockery flying about.

Use it, definitely.

I'm annoyed at the phenomenon of people having two whole sets of stuff: one set for everyday use and one 'nice' set that's never taken out of the cabinet (or box, or wrapping, or whatever).

Why bother? Use the stuff that makes you happy. And if something breaks or is damaged? Well, it's just stuff.

I can't stand having stuff around that I don't USE. It's wasting space.

marcspice, what's a tweaker? Does it have something to do with being unmarried? I have some married friends who hang towels in their bathrooms that people aren't supposed to use. Seems silly to me.

More to the point, I always use my vintage treasures and I'm having a really bad run of luck lately, breaking quite a few of my favourites. But I have to laugh because it occurs to me that I probably only have them because someone else saved them "for special."

Definitely use them.
When they get a crack, thats when you put them on display...or put a plant in them (depending on the shape)

When I lived a housebound life and the only traveling I did was of the 'too much time in the car and bad motels' variety, I collected inexpensive blue willow patterned china. I don't think I had two pieces that matched exactly and when one broke, I'd find a replacement on my next trip. I can't believe the number of antique dealers who told me that the china was for looking at only, not using! I completely disagree!

I regret not taking my china with me (thinking that motorhoming would be harder on my fragile things than it really is), but suspected I would and it's the only thing I stored, so I'll pick it up whenever I'm back east.

Yes, you should use them, not only because life is for living (not just displaying) but because you're actually less likely to break something that you use everyday. When you take a "precious" dish out for that rare occasion you automatically make yourself nervous and then you're more likely to drop it.

My uncle told me this, and he and my aunt have some amazing china and glassware, some of which has been in his family for years and which I have blissfully been bashing around since I was a toddler. As soon as he told me the plate I was holding, and which I had used in his house for years, was part of a set his uncle had brought back from pre-revolutionary Iran I of course nearly dropped it immediately. Neatly proving his point ;)

I know you don't need another vote for the "use them" category, but I'll give it anyway. Use them !!

My grand-parents had a nice collection of antique St Louis and Baccarat crystal glasses. They never used them and displayed in an old china cabinet. The cabinet broke, and the glasses smashed. The glasses were part of their everyday background, so they didn't take pleasure in seing them; we never used them and thought the display was ugly and cluttered, so they were useless to us too. And now, they're no longer an heirloom.

I wished we'd used them. Fortunately, my great-great-grand father's silver coffee and tea set is intact. At my request, this was my wedding gift. It's being in constant use, but the two fragile cups are for my husband and I only.

Use precious thing !

First picture, the green mug in front on the right: where is it from??? I used to have one exactly like this when I was a child, I think from Goodwill. I would love to have another one...

Use them!!

If you can't use them all or don't have the space to access them all the time... rotate their use... put a few where you can get to them easily.. then put those away & bring out others... so a few don't get the 'overused' look.

I try to use my things on a regular basis... the family stuff gets lightly used, but everything else...

I use it or I lose it!!

Why not use it? A lot of the contemporary dishware sucks anyway.

I grew up thinking, because of my mother, that even fancy smelly soap was only for underwear drawers, not for actually using. So in adulthood I've come around to the belief that if you own it, it should be used - and used up! Especially housewares - everyday is the special occasion you are waiting for. When you die, you can't take it with you anyway.

I have two sets of vintage dishware and two sets of vintage glassware. I keep both on display. One set is displayed close at hand and I actually use them daily. The other set is displayed on top of the kitchen cabinets and I do take them down to use on occasion just to change things up.

I LOVE using my vintage dishes. Part of the enjoyment of collecting is using what I collect. Like someone said above, life's just too short to worry about breakage.

Even if you don't want to use them everyday, I use mismatched cheap thift store china everyday, it's perfectly acceptable to have 'nice' dinnerware. The stuff you only use for company and parties and family get-togethers. If you already have OTHER nice 'company' plates. Then use this stuff!

I agree, you can't take it with you! I do collect 19th-century English china... and do use it. Carefully.

If it isn't art and you can't use it... it's just junk. So use things, and mourn when they break, and move on. Life is all about impermanence.

Use, use, use!!!

I refuse to treat my home like a museum and my things like priceless artifacts, even of more than a few pieces are precious to me.

After all, what's the point of having anything if you don't enjoy it fully?

My advise, keep using them but in the mean time keep looking on eBay for the same collection so you will have few extra if you break one or two. :)

I don't see the point of owning dishes you are afraid to use. If they are so valuable that you have to protect them, why own them at all? My collection of deity figures has no use apart from decorative (and personal amusement), but dishes? Use them. (If you have clumsy friends and will need to commit hari-kiri when THEY break a piece, you could save them for your own use and have something else for them!)

My parents have an extensive collection of jadite like yours, and use them daily. When I was younger they were always "for grown ups" only - unless it was Thanksgiving or Christmas and we had guests over. I used to look forward to them, being extra careful when setting the table. I love them so much, that I've already staked my claim on them!