Happy Monday, my friends! I hope you had a lovely weekend! We spent several days at the lake working on some much needed projects, which I’ll share soon. But I did take a day to go shopping with my sweet sister-in-law. Come see what we found! Oh, and how to clean silver plate items, for my SEO.
Last week Shana and I went to one of her favorite spots to shop. Everything in the store is always 50% off. My husband doesn’t understand this concept because he says if it’s always half off, then it’s not really a sale. But I argued that if I think something is half off, then I feel like I’m getting a better deal, don’t you??? Men.
Anyway, I found several goodies, one being this silver tray. It was marked $20, but you guessed it, it was $10! I don’t have a silver tray this size or shape so I thought for ten bucks it was a bargain. Plus, I adore footed silver trays for serving. This one is about 11″ x 20″ not including the handles. I think it will make a great serving piece for the holidays.
As you can see, the tray is very tarnished and dirty. Clearly for $10 this is not a real silver tray, but is silver plated.
This doesn’t bother me in the least. I think silver leaf is just as lovely.
This is my favorite silver cleaning polish. It is a pink soft solid and comes with a round sponge. It retails for about $4.12 per tub at Walmart or on Amazon. And it goes a long way. You simply apply the cream to the silver and start scrubbing! I keep rinsing the sponge because it gets caked with black tarnish. Once the piece is clean to your liking, then rinse and polish dry with a clean cloth. I also washed it with warm water and dish soap to clean off any remaining cleaning residue.
As usual, my pictures don’t really do it justice. I ended up using a toothbrush to get into the crevices on the handles and some of the swirly detail on the tray itself. Some of the spots on the tray wouldn’t come completely clean. I figure some of the silver leaf rubbed off over the years, but I think it adds character!
As I was taking this picture, the shadows got in the way, but the tray cleaned up beautifully! I love my little $10 find.
Here’ s a side-by-side comparison. Again, the picture doesn’t show just how bright and shiny the tray turned out, but it looks gorgeous in person! I can’t wait to use it for a Thanksgiving Luncheon we are hosting for both of our families in just a few short weeks! I can picture using it as a fancy charcuterie tray or filled with cookies and candies.
No matter what SOME people believe, I think this was a great buy for 50% off! And, if you are like me and gearing up for the holidays, go ahead and polish up those silver pieces so they will be bright and shiny for your holiday gatherings! Thanks for stopping by today! I hope to share with you some of our progress on Happy Hill (aka our lake house) soon! Have a great day! xoxo Dell
