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The gift of a serving bowl stirred an interest for American pottery in Jean Jones. Her search for matching pieces began a collection of Homer Laughlin china. She became so passionate about the brand that now her home is a showcase for several hundred chargers, plates, teacups, platters and other serving pieces.
“At one time I had parts of 40 sets of dishes,” said the Chickamauga, Ga., resident. “I collect pieces from the 1920s to 1950s. It has to be Americanmade for me to love them.”
Her massive collection is displayed in two floor-to-ceiling built-in shelves as well as 11 antique china cabinets.
Entering the Jones home is like stepping back in time, literally due to its floor plan and figuratively with its Victorian decor.
“I was raised in a house on this property,” said Mrs. Jones, “and when my parents died, we bought the property and were going to renovate my childhood home.”
The couple learned the structural support of the house had deteriorated with age to the point it was more practical to rebuild. To duplicate the house of her childhood, Mrs. Jones sketched out the original home’s floor plan for the contractor.
Upon entering the front door, the open floor plan allows one to view the living room, dining room, den and kitchen at a glance, with only a partial wall separating the living areas from the kitchen/dining area. The master bedroom, guest bath and guest bedroom are spaced along the wall to the right of the living room.
The living-dining-den combo is a feminine delight where everything is coming up roses in a charming Victorian decor. It is filled with rose patterns (from china to porcelain tabletop accents to upholstery) and myriad hues of rose and pink contrasted by a soft sage green carpet.
Mrs. Jones enlisted the help of Marsha Yessick to choose a wallcovering that complemented a multicolor rose paper and border she already had selected — a pattern reminiscent of Royal Doulton Old Country Roses china. Mrs. Yessick also helped with window treatments and decorating the guest bedroom.
Mrs. Yessick paired the floral paper with a rose and ecru damask on a strie that flows through the great room and into the guest bath.
Wing chairs upholstered in rose floral are placed before the fireplace opposite a rosecolored love seat. The couch is flanked by Fenton cranberry glass lamps from which dangle twinkling prisms. A larger Fenton cranberry lamp centers a round table before the front window.
On the mantel are two 19thcentury pink lusters. These elaborate glass candle holders still have the original cut-glass prisms dangling from the rims of their bowls.
The fireplace, which is flanked by two floor-to-ceiling built-ins filled with her china, including the original bowl from which the collection grew, is the focal point of the room.
Mrs. Jones said her cousin gave her the original serving bowl in the early 1970s.
“The bowl had been our grandmother’s, who died before I was born. He said he remembered her serving some type of beans in it every Sunday.”
The bowl’s pattern is Full Red Clover by Homer Laughlin. Researching the Laughlin company, she learned it was a pottery along the Ohio River. The Full Red Clover pattern had been made as a promotional giveaway in the 1950s.
“I began researching American potters and became really interested in them. Housewives couldn’t afford dishes from England in the 1800s, so they had to buy pottery here,” Mrs. Jones said.
A large portion of Mrs. Jones’ collection of the circa-1933 Virginia Rose pattern is displayed in these wall units. The Laughlin Web site estimates that 150 decorations were used under the Virginia Rose pattern, many of which are represented in Mrs. Jones’ collection.
Mrs. Jones has a sugar bowl dating to 1909. An interesting round butter dish dates to the early 1930s, reflecting the era in which butter was made in circular shapes.
The china cabinets are as interesting as their contents. The oak antiques all have 5-to 6-foot-tall wooden frames with glass front doors, many with side curved glass panels as well.
In the kitchen, the Joneses display their first set of dishes when married, a blue Laughlin pattern, in a 1920 Hoosier cabinet. The antique cabinet still has its original flour bin and sifter, sliding metal work table, spice rack and glass canisters.
“I worked at Georgia Power, and I walked across the street and bought the entire set at a dimestore for $10,” Mrs. Jones said.
The dining room table — set with cranberry thumbprint glass passed to Mrs. Jones from her mother — as well as all other tables in the living area are covered in either dainty, feminine table skirts with lace or crocheted embellishments or crocheted doilies made by Mrs. Jones’ mother.
Graceful, ceramic ladies gowned in period costumes adorn mantels and end tables in each of the living areas. These Royal Doulton and Florence figurines, another of Mrs. Jones’ collections, heighten the Victorian influence of the living areas’ decor.
Mrs. Jones said she uses the dishes only once a year when she selects a pattern to set her table for an annual party of childhood friends. Otherwise the china is cleaned once a year and displayed year-round.
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