Martha Stewart Decorates Windows With This Vintage Kitchen Find

Plates: they're not just for eating. Although beautifully-decorated plates often steal the show as part of a memorable tablescape, they can be equally useful as wall decor — especially vintage plates, which often have unique designs and may not come in complete sets. You can even use vintage plates to decorate windows, which sounds unusual, but bear with us.

Homemaking icon Martha Stewart once transformed a drab dining room into a sophisticated and colorful space, with wall-mounted decorative plates forming an important part of the overall design. Key to the room's appeal was a wall dominated by floor-to-ceiling windows, with small spaces in between. Stewart filled these with vintage plate arrangements to transform the blank walls into a thematically unified frame for the windows themselves.

This is a great way to accentuate the pesky, narrow spaces between and around windows, corners, and more. Just be sure to make paper cut-outs of the plates and tape them up where you want the actual plates to hang, so you can edit your design before you start putting holes in the wall. 

For the best wall-mounted decorative plates, you will want to choose carefully. You could buy new to get the exact designs you want, and there are plenty of Martha Stewart dinnerware sets that will add a pop of color to your kitchen (or windows), like her peony floral porcelain. However, vintage plates are best for this DIY decorative project. 

Think of it as using kitchen clutter to create charming kitchen decor. Old plates you don't use much anymore, or which may have lost their pairs long ago, can find a new lease on life by making your windows pop. This holds true if you decide to shop for wall plates as well: pick up attractive vintage designs on the cheap, instead of shelling out for a full dining set you're going to separate anyway.

Dessert plates, for instance, are some of the best vintage dessert dishware to collect, but they don't necessarily need to be used for cakes. Their small shapes and striking designs can be perfect for the compact spaces between and around windows. Additionally, if your vintage plates are old enough to have lead-based paints, mounting them on the wall lets them continue to look pretty without leaching dangerous compounds into your food.