It's funny about china patterns. You could probably analyze an individual's personality by the sort of china they choose. Kristi commented below that she liked the Wedgwood pattern I picked, but that she herself had been afraid to go for something ornate, afraid she would get sick of looking at it after a year or two. I can't speak for everyone, but I've had my china for about five years now, and I am still as besotted by the pattern as I was the first time I saw it. Sometimes I open up the sideoboard just to look at those little amber-hued bursts of flora swirling so seductively on the salad plates and tea cups. The dinner plates themselves are very simple but the bordering band of chinoiserie adds a touch of the exotic--which is nice, in an otherwise very plain dining room.
To say our bungalow isn't very exotic is to put it mildly; it would never in a thousand years be pictured in American Bungalow magazine, for although it has the overall exterior characteristics of a bungalow, i.e. a low-pitched gabled roof, wide open eaves, a full porch with wood trellis, etc., it lacks a lot of beautiful touches. The dining room has a plate rail, but no built in hutches, paneling or ceiling beams. The living room has a fireplace, but no inglenooks or inlaid tiles.
I have resisted, out of principle and out of concern for family finances, trying to fill it entirely and only with "bungalow" style furninshings, Arts and Crafts fixtures, etc. because although the style is appealing, it lacks a lot of room for creativity and individuality--not only that, but what do you do with all the things you loved before you decided to go full-bore Arts & Crafts? I will admit that I picked my china pattern because the geometric chinoiserie edging the dinner plates struck me as characteristic of the Arts & Crafts movement--even though no one told me so and the pattern Oberon wasn't advertised as such. (If Wedgwood were smart, that's how they should market the pattern; they'd sell a ton of it.) But it was the geometry combined with the swirling floral pattern that appealed to my dual nature and I cannot imagine ever becoming sick of it.
Old things one loves. . .I just saw on a tv news report that all of Katherine Hepburn's old possessions were up for auction at Sotheby's--some of them were thread-bare and downright ugly, but as the spokesperson for the auction house said, "maybe they weren't the most stylish things in the world, but they had value to her." The anchorwoman on the news program gushed (I was embarrassed for her) "Oooh. . .how cool would that be? To own something that was Katherine Hepburn's!" That woman was missing the point. Call me a fierce individualist, but I'd rather have Hepburn's spirit, and love my own ratty things, much moreso than any trinket or object that used to belong to someone famous.
And so, feeling cranky and aspiring to turn the Wedgwood into something ratty, I've decided to use it whenever I want, even for spaghetti.
10:46:55 PM 
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