A Chair Full of Bowlies

I've always loved that misguided "Bowl Full of Cherries" tongue twister.  And never more than when I realized that I'd started a bowl collection for myself.

 Vintage - "inherited" from my Gram

I think I was first smitten with a bowl in a Nestle Tollhouse Morsel commercial.  It showed a mom and daughter baking cookies together, and the bowl was beautifully cream-colored, with an embossed design that has faded from my memory.  But, that bowl is what grabbed my attention every time I saw the commercial.  I'm guessing that was in the 90's.

Think about it.  Nowadays, bowls can be so beautiful.

These two were picked up on clearance at Target on two different visits. 

For a while, I would grab pretty bowls that I spotted on clearance at places like Target or Kohl's.  I'd find bowls of all shapes and sizes.  One birthday, I was gifted with some money, and I spent it on a big, beautiful Valentine bowl.

 

Then, I got brave enough to own up to my fetish, and I started getting bowls as gifts.  I've gotten some beautiful ones over the years.

This one was a gift. 

I used to keep my bowls in various cupboards, to keep my countertops neat and tidy.  But, the bowls didn't really get used.  Now, I keep the bowls stacked on my counter top -- usually in two stacks.  I find that I not only USE them more this way, but I get to appreciate them visually as well.

Kohl's clearance, Target clearance, gift from friend (she found at a garage sale),

& home party purchase 

I remember once seeing a Hoosier cabinet, it's shelves filled with cookie jars of various types.  What a special collection.  I told my husband, "Some day, I'm going to collect cookie jars!"  He looked at me like I was one french fry short of a happy meal.  Of course, you know he was imagining that I would FILL all of those cookies jars.  He couldn't imagine just having them for the visual appeal.  Anyways, I gave that dream up.  (If you could've seen the look on his face, you would've too.)  Since our home is small, there is no place to keep such a collection.  (Read: no room for a Hoosier cabinet if I even HAD one.)

 A Pfaltzgraff bowl to match my Pfaltzgraff dishes (though different patterns).

But bowls.  Well, they are beautiful AND useful, and stackable (meaning they take up less room than say... a cookie jar collection).  My bowls get used for mixing, storing, serving, snacking, and even the occasional morning cereal if all the cereal bowls are in the dishwasher.

These days, there are SO MANY seasonal bowls, too.  They're always packed away until the appropriate time of year.

Winter/Christmas

Fall/Halloween

Springtime!

And, I know my sweet hubby is on-board with this collection.  Afterall, he bought me this beautiful bowl on clearance from Sears just the other day.

That's my collection.

Well, at least part of it.

I didn't realize how many bowls I HAD

until I started taking pictures!

What do you collect?

 How do you display your collection?

How did your collection begin?

These are the bowls that started my collection.

They were ordered from a country book club catalog when I was a newlywed.

It's a sturdy set from Roseville, Ohio.