Firstly, I want to say thank you for the nice comments re: Betty and Bertie on my last post. It's not hard to guess that I'm a huge animal lover...to quote George Bernard Shaw "Animals are my friends..and I don't eat my friends".
(I've just read this again and realised it may sound as if I'm on my soapbox. I'm not! These are my beliefs. I expect no one to share them. I just think it's a great quote and sums me up)
Oh dear. I'm showing my true colours today aren't I? I also don't like people to get the wrong idea about me! Moving swiftly on...
As posts go, that was very personal for me as I'm quite a reserved sort of person and maybe that comes over in this blog. It would be difficult for me to talk about really deep, meaningful, personal stuff....but who knows! I've also promised myself I will try and get through a post without an exclamation mark (or 10) but that's never going to happen! (see!) Oh, and before I forget...some people may have been horrified at the picture of Betty on my butchers block...cries of 'eughhhh!' but I can assure you we don't use it for food preparation - of any kind.
So, on with the light-hearted waffle. Not much new stuff makes it through my front door (surprise, surprise) but occasionally needs must and this blanket box is a case in point.
I desperately needed a home for my bedding. We have drawers in the bottom of the bed that I used for a time but the bottoms always fall out. So what do you do when you need something in a hurry...and cheaply? You head for that shop...you know - the Swedish one. Now, I've always had a love/hate thing going on with Ikea. They are the complete antithesis of everything I love...mass made...flat pack... chip board, not real wood...pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap brigade...rubbish customer service(unless they've improved lately) nice hotdog though. But. You can sometimes find the odd thing you wouldn't chuck on a bonfire (apologies if anybody reading this loves them - this is just my lowly, non-important view)
So this blanket box has done it's job well but I always intended to cover the top and never got around to it. It was painted a while ago in Calke Green (I think) and the time had come to finish the job. I was half putting it off anyway in case I messed it up but all it took was a bit of foam, some spare fabric, twenty minutes of my time and three ton of staples and it was done.
I'm quite pleased with it ~ although I have lots of lovely vintage fabrics, I don't actually use them ~ I hate cutting them up! I have rather a lot of this Linda Beard fabric which I think dates to the 80's or 90's. It matches the other fabrics in the bedroom quite well. And now A has "somewhere comfy to sit and put my socks on in the morning". Quite.
I haven't got an airing cupboard so this has to hold everything. Therefore I can't go mad buying pillowcases like Stephs lovely collection. I only wish I could.
I mostly like my bed linen white...white sheets, pillowcases, valance (also towels, tablecloths and napkins!) But most of the pillowcases are embroidered.
These three are very special ones I don't use.
When I was young the Christmas one was only put on the bed on Christmas eve ready for Santa and the one with the tiny, almost faded away roses was my cot pillowcase that my Mum made out of an old flannelette sheet. I don't know why I hold on to things like this. I only know I could never let them go. This is the reason I have a very full loft. And why next time I move I really mustn't buy another two bed house.
So why do I keep bringing bring more stuff into the house like these lovely books?...you know you've got a problem when you buy a book (Practical Gardening) you already have just because this one has it's dust cover.
The one in the middle has a glorious full colour plate like this on every page. I just want to rip them out and frame them! No, I wouldn't do that unless it was very badly damaged.
I have a little dream that one day (when I get that bigger house) I will decorate my spare bedroom as a vintage nursery. It will have 1930's dark wood bedsteads (twin beds to function as a spare room- see, I've thought it through!) matching eiderdowns and lot's of vintage toys (including a train set - I always wanted one as a child...they looked more fun than dollies)It will have picture rails, a fireplace and bare floorboards with rugs to soften it.
And finally! I'll have a home for all my vintage children's books. Plus my childhood toys could be released from their lofty prison! I can dream...
I also came across these two old galvanised containers this weekend. I have a few buckets and watering cans that I use as containers in the garden and am always looking for more. The old oil lamp makes a great display piece.
I had a few basket plants left over that were in desperate need of a home so Saturday afternoon was spent doing this. Hopefully, I can show them to you again in a few weeks when they've filled out a bit. The blue one already had holes drilled in the bottom so I just roped A in to doctor the other one.
I was really excited though when I found this at the car boot sale ~ I love enamel signs and have always wanted a large one for the outside of the house but they fetch such a lot of money - even with trade discount! We managed to negotiate this one down to a mere £27.00. I know!! I think that's cheap as chips for something that's over 5ft long. Hmmm, wonder what it would fetch on Ebay? Only kidding ~ it's took me too long to find this!
We actually didn't have enough cash left on us so A had to shoot off to the Post Office up the road from the sale and grab some more! Bit naughty as we're going on hols soon...but, you never get a second chance with antiques - that's my mantra if I find something I really love. A couple of times I've left things behind and still regret it even now. Like the two, yes two mannequins that a dealer was trying to get rid of at Newark many years ago. She was accosting everybody that went by to try and get rid of them - for £20. I hummed and haa-ed but walked away. We had just moved in to our first house and had gone with the sole intention of buying furniture so mannequins didn't seem important. I remember saying "we'll get one another time". Since then of course...well, you know the rest.
We actually didn't have enough cash left on us so A had to shoot off to the Post Office up the road from the sale and grab some more! Bit naughty as we're going on hols soon...but, you never get a second chance with antiques - that's my mantra if I find something I really love. A couple of times I've left things behind and still regret it even now. Like the two, yes two mannequins that a dealer was trying to get rid of at Newark many years ago. She was accosting everybody that went by to try and get rid of them - for £20. I hummed and haa-ed but walked away. We had just moved in to our first house and had gone with the sole intention of buying furniture so mannequins didn't seem important. I remember saying "we'll get one another time". Since then of course...well, you know the rest.
I seem to have gone on a long time today so just one more small thing ~ I'll be having a Summer Sale in the shop very soon for anybody that may be interested. Hopefully, I'll be sending out a newsletter to everybody that's opted to receive it to let you know when it starts.