From the "Use what you have" and "Thinking out side the box" Department

By Elizabeth Prata

If you have read my posts for very long you know that I collect teapots and teacups. I'm done now, having accumulated all that I feel I can actually use, store, & display in my small kitchen. I abhor clutter, so my collections never get very big, lol.

I now own 8 new-to-vintage-to-antique aged teapots, and 13 teacups (an awkward number for sure, but how can I dispense with one of my babies?)

For a number of years I have made do with the countertop shelving and display that I already had. That's rule number 1 in frugal living, make do. Don't run out and buy new things just because of what could be a temporary desire has crept in. What I had was not unattractive (if not the classiest thing on the block) and serviceable.

Finally I got tired of the clunky display. It drove me nuts enough so that I reached a tipping point. But I had a hard time finding a good display option. It was when I thought outside the box (the box in this case being "kitchen" and "teacup display") and searched for 'countertop bookcase' that I hit the jackpot. I found an adjustable shelving unit I could adjust to different sizes for each section. I do have large to small teapots so a one-size would not fit all. The boards are a smooth bamboo, but I had to put them together. It was a bit difficult at first but only took me an hour. 50 minutes to figure out the directions and then 8 minutes to put it together. I needed to backtrack a couple of minutes as I put 2 boards on backwards...but voila, it was finally done. Here it is:

Now, what to do about the teacups? They proved a more difficult item to figure out how to display, without clutter, in a small kitchen, with no more wall space. I loved the 4-cup display holder I'd hung on the wall, but I didn't have any more space on any kitchen wall to put 2 more of them to hold the other cups. What to do?

This is where thinking outside the box came in handy a second time. (I mention this again because I'm proud to think outside the box. I like boxed thinking. It's hard for me to get out of the box). Since none of the regular teacup displays would do, I looked for any hanging rack. I spotted one at the Dollar General store for $5.50. It holds 4 cups, but no saucers. The bottom tier is crooked which isn't ideal, but the fact that I could actually hang it myself without a drill and was inexpensive made me decide to go for it. The crooked display will take a long time for me to build up a grudge against so this will do for now. It's a shower caddy.

Well, that took care of 4 more cups, how about the other 5? If one shower caddy worked, how about another? I had one hanging in the ... guess where? Shower. I cleaned it off, noticed some rust, but oh well, and hung it up opposite the other new caddy. An S-hook helped with the 5th cup. Here it is:

I enjoy looking at them admiring the patterns and the well crafted china and the glow they make in the light that comes through the window sheers. I also like them to be accessible for when I want to have a pot of tea, which is every afternoon in fall, winter, and spring. The saucers are in the cupboard.

Since I installed the new shelving I put the old shelving in the cupboard to make two tiers and that's where the saucers are. As a bonus, I now have room to put my paper towels on the counter instead of underneath. No more bending and opening the cupboard door a hundred times a day to get one.

Now here is the story of the stick.

I found a stick in the yard. It was exactly the right thickness and the right height for when I walk around the yard and up and down the street. I especially loved the stick because it was my spiderweb buster. You would not believe the size of the spiders here in GA. They are huge. They make stringy, sticky webs all over the yard AND in front of my door building their crazed-dance inducing webs from the overhang to the railing. More than once I've opened my door and stepped out only to go face first into a web, and more than once had its owner drop down on my neck. That'll get ya going.

So I lean a stick by the front door and wave it furiously around, looking like a spastic ninja, but I do not care. At least I don't have a spider on my neck or a face full of webs. Spiders string webs all over the yard, so I wave my stick about wherever I go, every time.

See?

One morning last week I saw a huge spider had built a web from the basketball hoop to the trash can I was trying to get to. I busted the web, and the spider fell to the ground. It was big. Scarily big. Since I was in my sandals with exposed foot, I used the stick instead to bring down my wrath upon it. Don't laugh! Some of these spiders bite and they jump. Unfortunately, my wrath proved too much for the stick, and it broke. The creature ran away unscathed, ready to foil me another day.

Now I had no stick. My perfect, years-long possession that saved me from webs, spiders, and was companion as I walked along (I lean on it when my arthritic knee hurts). What to do?

Amazon.

New stick. Not as short as the other one, but still a good stick. I do not mind looking weird as I wave it around in front of me outside and in the garage. Not at all. My neck is spider-free, and it's gonna stay that way.