How to pick a bouquet of roses

Yesterday, I was at a breakfast meeting along with an antique-store-vendor friend when I told her, “Yes, I agree that our thrift stores around here are crappy.” And I kid you not, one hour later, I was killing time at Goodwill, the only store I found open while I was waiting on Barnes & Noble to open, and ended up buying four gorgeous vintage plates with roses on them, grand total $5.98!

This single pink-trimmed plate first caught my eye and was just $2.99.

This stack o’ plates was also $2.99. I absolutely hate when they tape these together and wish they’d stop it. A) The result is a mystery stack, and I had no idea whether I was getting a gilded plate that said “Happy 50th Anniversary” or a commemorative plate from who knows where. B) The tape can lift the gold from the plate. (Goodwill, are you listening?) But I figured the plate on top was worth the $2.99, so anything else was gravy.

And when I got home, I discovered I liked the gravy!

Aren’t these roses pretty?

And these?

The two plates on the bottom of the stack had old, old sticky spots on them—probably from price stickers of yesteryear—but rubbing a little baking soda on the spots quickly wiped that away, so that’s a neat tip to use with a teacup or plate or anything that has sticky residue on it. (And baking soda is much less abrasive than scouring powder.) And that’s how I picked a bouquet of roses yesterday! I’m planning to copy that “plate wall” trend very soon—my only question is which room—and these are perfect additions.