vintage swap No.2

This is my second attempt at trying to find vintage alternatives to new, chain-store or high-street finds. 

This time I've chosen a large glass vase by Bloomingville, reminiscent of vintage hand-blown bottles. It is a cool blue, 25cm high, 18cm diameter and available at John Lewis for £61. Phew!

My alternatives are both vintage, both on Etsy and both cheaper! They are green glass rather than blue, but they are the real thing! First, is a French Demi-john with a height of 26cm, from Chezvivianne on Etsy. It costs £25 and even with postage costs of £12.25 to UK, it is still a cheaper option. Larger still at 33cm high, this pale green Italian Demijohn from Rusticitalia on Etsy is £35 plus £18 postage to UK, so only slightly cheaper but it is bigger... and vintage!

(By the way, I decided to call this post vintage swap as "Don't buy this..." is a bit harsh!)

Happy vintage-hunting!

don't buy that, buy this! {1}

Don't get me wrong, I love Ikea. I think it's fantastic that nowadays people can completely furnish their homes on a tight budget. BUT, on my last visit, I spotted a rather attractive vivid green dining chair which I was rather surprised to see priced at £100. It was attractive, a lovely green but it was still Ikea, still flat-pack and you would still need at least 4 for most dining tables! My reaction was "Why would you pay £100 for a new Ikea chair when can buy a vintage G-plan one for a fraction of that price?"(Actually, what I probably said was "F***ing Hell, a hundred quid?!") With that in mind, I'm attempting to start a new post finding vintage alternatives to high-street goods. The aim is not to say that Ikea or high-street, or chain stores should be avoided (I do buy new too!), but sometimes the vintage styles that these new designs are emulating, can be found at similar or cheaper prices than the modern versions. They will often have signs of wear which can add to their charm ...and as they have already been around for a few years you can be pretty sure they are made to last! Also, I think sometimes people want to create an eclectic, vintage look in their homes but don't know where to start, hopefully this might help!

So, post No.1: I haven't gone for that green chair, but for this cheaper metal-framed chair. It is only £29, but vintage alternatives are available at similar prices. I found two school chair alternatives from Mayfly Vintage and Nixey and Godfrey:

{1} Korpo chair, Ikea £29
{2} Vintage Stacking School Chairs, Mayflyvintage.co.uk, £20
{3} Vintage French School Chairs, Nixeyandgodfrey.com, £35

latest finds

I just wanted to share my latest vintage finds. Purchased with the intention of selling, but as usual I have become rather attached to them:

First is this painting of roses, painted on a heavy piece of wood in oils. It is just old and charming enough to not be too twee. I think it is quite sweet, like an old biscuit tin lid from the fifties.

Then are these two wooden trugs. The smaller one caught my eye initially but I ended up getting them both! I think the larger one is for firewood and the smaller one possibly for gardening, but it could be used in so many ways in the home. 

This one is my favourite: simple, well-made and useful.

So... keep or sell?!

salvo fair

On Sunday we headed off to the Salvo Fair at Knebworth. It was a brilliantly sunny day, a beautiful setting and lots of lovely stalls. We weren't looking for anything in particular and knew we probably wouldn't find any real bargains, but lots of gorgeous inspiring stuff. I just wish I had a big house to do up and lots of cash in my pocket! I apologise for the lack of decent photos - they don't really do justice to it all, but I only had my phone on me and the batteries soon died! But good to look around and we had a lovely picnic, making the most of the hot day. Despite the hot weather, this was Hesper's outfit of choice:

Saw these for £8 - thought they'd be good in the bathroom. Forgot to go back...!

Lovely vintage London bus at Knebworth for transporting visitors to playground area.

I love old shop furniture and fittings, like these drawers. If only I had an actual shop to furnish...

My only purchase... I bought six old hessian sacks - used for potatoes, coffee etc, for £1 each Most of them are not that old but are in good enough condition to do something with. This is my favourite though, very worn and musty but the print is still clear. I just like the font and the fact that it has the age and old price on it. It looks like a doormat. The other, newer ones I will probably use to recover our dining room chairs. They've come in use already as a floor cover in my furniture photos, that I'm taking for my Etsy shop:

Knebworth was beautiful, we also visited the gardens with Dinosaur trail (which scared the crap out of Hesper!). We were too hot /tired to go inside the house, though beautiful from the outside. We'll have to go back again one day just for that. 

vintage finds

As well as selling my handmade textiles, I have for a long time, wanted to sell vintage items and second-hand furniture. Our home is full of second hand, handmade and customised finds - not only because I love transforming things, but because it means that we have unique things in our house which have cost very little to achieve. Now that our house is pretty much full, I often find that when I come across amazing bargains I have to walk away from them...but no more! After much talk, I have finally added vintage items to my Etsy shop. We are also busy working on furniture finds to add in the not-too-distant future. So recently, we have been scouring car boot sales and charity shops sniffing out treasure...

At Potterspury car boot sale, we bought this lovely old wooden folding chair. It needed just a light sand and wax as its aged look is part of its charm.

Chris also sanded the hinge which was heavily rusted. 

This lovely hamper box was only £4. I think I will have to keep this as I often need baskets for storage and this is a good under the bed size.

This lovely box is an "after"photo. Unfortunately, Chris got to it before I had the chance to photograph it "before". It is an old metal deed box. It was painted black and heavily scratched and rusted in parts. Chris sanded and polished it back to the bare metal, leaving behind lovely distressed marks where the rust had been. Lovely!

my boot dilemma

I need new boots for Autumn, but there are so many styles that I love at the moment, I'm having trouble deciding... (all non-leather options)

Pull and Bear

Vegetarian Shoes

M&S Outlet

M&S

Next

New Look

Next

Next

Zalando

Orla Kiely bed linen

 

I got an amazing bargain yesterday from John Lewis. This Orla Kiely duvet cover (in scribble stem, sand) was reduced from £90 to £32. The lovely lady serving us then took another £5 off! So we paid £27 for a superking size Orla Kiely duvet cover (in a lovely re-useable box too!).  The fabric is good quality and the print is really vibrant. The only problem now is it makes me want to change everything else in the room! 

dream summer wardrobe

My summer wardrobe needs to be a planned affair this year. The problem with British weather is that hot weather catches us off guard and it can seems silly to spend a lot of money on clothes that will be worn for about 2 weeks out of the year. However, a bit of forward thinking and bargain hunting should help. I am really drawn to classical, effortless styling... without too much scary flesh on show: Breton stripes, pleats, simple dresses in white, navy, neutrals with a flash of colour.

All via Pinterest: blazer: Forever21.com // sunglasses, spot cardy, stripe dress, wedges: hm.com // pleat skirt: warehouse.co.uk // chinos: oasis-stores.com

satchels and tweed

I love Pinterest as a way to help me shop! I can browse online and pin anything that I like the look of, then see what else I could put with it, like a virtual wardrobe. Especially useful as I seem to have gone off actual shopping in the real world these days...it's just not the same with a bored toddler in tow - as for trying things on, forget it.  I've been after some brogue heels for weeks and finally found a decent pair (from Tesco!) for £20, similar to the ones here. I'm also coveting this tweed blazer from H&M, but  being a bit of a cheapskate I'm hanging on for a sale. This striped jumper was reduced to £3.99 though so I've ordered two in different colour combos. Bargain!

Above: striped jumper, tweed jacket, scarf, jeans all H&M // heeled brogues Dorothy Perkins // satchel New Look

cosy nice-ness

Now the glorious (& much appreciated) October heatwave seems to be over, I can no longer fool myself that it is summer. So, my mind is back to thoughts of open fires, knitwear and our forthcoming trip to the Yorkshire Dales for my birthday! Here are a few of my seasonal favourites, with a little help from Pinterest (the Dickins & Jones cardy I already have!)

Clockwise from top left: Dickins & Jones Handknit Cardigan at House of Fraser// Renata Cushions, John Lewis // Artwork by Coulson Macleod // Linen Tablecloths, Cox and Cox // Lollipop Trees Autumn by Eloise Renouf  // Toasting Fork, Cox and Cox 

teal tights/spots/stripes

As I said in my last post, I am absolutely not trying to turn my daughter into a mini-me (perish the thought). But there have been times when without even thinking about it, I have dressed us in similar clothes (red plaid shirt & leggings//stripey tee & denim skirt...NO, I am not wearing pastel pink Hello Kitty dresses, nor is she) or accidentally bought us similar items.  For example today, I bought myself three pairs of coloured opaque tights (going through a bit of a teal tight obsession) - New Look bargains: £2.99 and at 3 for 2! I also bought Hesper a pack of woolly tights from Boots. When I got home, I realised the similarity  - not an exact match but teal-aubergine-grey vs.teal-raspberry-purple...hmm. 

My best bargain of the day though is these three bundles of fabric... all at just £1 each from Northampton market. There is about 2 metres of each: a black & white spotty jersey, a blue & white stripe sweatshirt fabric and a lovely black stretch lace (I also have a spot /stripe obsession). My sewing skills are minimal to say the least but I am trying to learn (slowly). I'm thinking of a stretch lace top for me, simple slouchy tops, a spotty pull-on dress/skirt for H. I could always make matching outfits for us both out of the spots/stripes.....No, mustn't!

First task is to find easy patterns/tutorials online. Tempting to start cutting but I have ruined many a piece of lovely fabric by being impatient/scissor-happy/unskilled!

we love autumn!

Our first "proper" autumn with Hesper - she was not even one last year so a bit too young to share my enthusiasm for all things autumnal. Have made up with it this year though with lots of conker and acorn gathering, walks in the park kicking up leaves and general excitement (on my part!). I've been shopping and browsing for autumn clothes for myself and Hesper hasn't escaped a new wardrobe. I'm not deliberately trying to make a mini-me, but I hate to confess I could almost copy her get-up here...

I love a denim skirt/thick tights/boot combo. These boots are actually boys, from H&M, but the girls version are pale pink...why?!

She looked quite the part...even when she took a dive she managed to look cool!

september teal & gold

Autumn is well and truly in the air now, my favourite time of year. This month has been a real in-between-summer-and-autumn month. A combination of stormy skies, sun and flashes of autumn colour.  The colour combination of teal and gold has caught my eye lately and thanks to my recent discovery of Pinterest, here's a little collection perfect for September:

September Teal & Gold

Clockwise from top: emerald decanters from Graham and Green; photo by Hannah Dennis; interiors photo fromscandinaviawithlove; linen and velvet cushions from Cox and Cox; tin trunks at Toast; Content by Conran Aspen armchair and turquoise Bump chair, Sanderson Miro wallpaper, all John Lewis; lace dress from Warehouse.