Royal What? and Silver

Royal Jelly,  Royal Blue, Battle Royale, Casino Royale, Royal Caribbean, Royal Doulton,  Royal pain in the..... well you get the idea.  Did you awake early to watch the event of the season on your telly?  ....or are you one who hasn't figured out yet that I am referring to the Royal Wedding?   How anyone could not possibly know that today was the big day for Kate Middleton and Prince William, now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, is beyond me.  

In honor (not that I am that much into it) of the Royal Wedding, I sifted through the bottom of this china cabinet.  It is full of silver......the closest I will ever get to anything 'royal.'  I hadn't opened the door in years and had very little recollection of what was actually in there.  One thing I did remember, is that several pieces were covered in plastic wrap.  This was a trick my mother employed because she said it cut down on tarnish.  Most of this silver belonged to my mother.  No one in the family cared about this stuff, so she downloaded it to me.  I use to be a pretty heavy duty entertainer at the time, so I jump at it. 

Many years of raising kids has cut down on dinner parties and the like, but I am thinking I might start to fold some of these pieces, if indeed they are worthy, back into my decor.  I got this idea from Mary of A Very Merry Vintage. She showed on her blog this week a simple way of displaying floors and it inspired me to peek inside this cabinet. Well that and the Royal Wedding, of course!  I especially like the idea of not having to fuss over cleaning the silver...one of the main reasons I rarely have used this in the last few years!  Lazy, yes, I realize.  But hey, I got stuff I'd rather be doing! 

So I creep up to the china cabinet and pull open the door and this is what I see......

Wow!  I had all that in there and forgot about it?!!  I quickly dug through the pile and pulled a few pieces out to inspect.  There are about 8 platters of varying sizes, two chaffing style serving pieces, a water pitcher, candlesticks and more.  I got a kick out of this relish platter.....

It still has the plastic wrap on it and I am positive that I have never used it.  As I stooped looking at this, I realized that my mother had to have wrapped this years ago.  I stopped and wondered if her finger prints were still on this wrap.  Does anyone ever think those things??  Well, I do.  Yes, I know, weirdo here.  If you look closely, it is amazing how untarnished this piece of silver is......  My mother was certainly onto something. 

There is a lot of tarnish on most of the silver and I don't know exactly how I am going to utilize it.  Some of the pieces definitely need cleaning. Ugg.  But, some I will leave in their 'charming' state.  I will try and remember to come back here and give you updates on this project. 

Until then......let me put my tiara on (albeit not the one given to me by the Queen Mother) and get painting.............

-The End-