Vintage Pleasure

Finding Treasure

 

 

At the minute we are having pretty major works done on the house. Including a new roof which means emptying the entire contents of our attic storage space. For a pack rat like me you can guess that's no easy task!

 

 

One of the perks has been finding long stored treasure that you find now fits in perfectly with new colour schemes. Like this 1950's poodle cushion. One of a pair that were still in their original packaging. Very kitsch and look perfect next to my Oooh Betty cushion that deserves a whole post of it's own.

A Little Bit of Change

I'm such a stuck in my ways kind of girl when it comes to decorating. I am definitely not one of those people who is constantly coming up with new decorating schemes. Over the last year or so though the dynamics of the household have changed. With Lily moving out to university we have a had a change around in the bedrooms and with that came the opportunity to redecorate. They are still works in progress but I promise photos and info very soon.

Another room getting a bit of a facelift is the playroom. I think I have mentioned before but this room has to work really hard. It's where my girls do their music practice, homework, watch TV, craft etc. The walls are very neutral as there is a lot going on in there!

Not anymore though as we now have the lovely Mini Moderns Pet Sounds wallpaper! I knew as soon as I saw this over a year ago that it would be perfect. In fact the roll of paper has been sat under my desk for almost a year. I had always hated the fireplace as it was nasty yellow pine and knew the paper couldnt come up until I found the right colour to paint it. Then one morning I had a brainwave to paint it black so glad I did. I love how it pops againts the wallpaper now. 

It is also a perfect backdrop for some of my favourite treasures like Grandma's Dala horse.

Anyway still lots to do in the room. It needs a major de-stasthing and new shelves building. That wont be happening for a few weeks and first of all we are having a new roof!

So I'm off to dream about attic room renovations. Just imagine huge velux windows, lots of white with pops of colour and natural wood. Sound good? Have a look at my Attic Renovations Board to see what I mean.

Something I Love...

 

I thought I'd start a new thing and share some of the things I love in my home and how they came to be there. I know we all like a good nosy at people's homes and treasures. So first up is my collection of Maling Cobblestone.

"Cobblestone" was a popular range of Maling kitchen wares produced in shades of brown, green and blue between 1931 and 1939. The range included not only storage jars but items as diverse as teapots and rolling pins. I first saw it in edition of Country Living magazine and fell in love with a kitchen that had a few pieces dotted about. It was designed by Lucien Emile Boullemier an English footballer and ceramic designer.

By chance a few months later I came across all these jars in one lot on ebay cheap as chips. I remember that my husband drove up the motorway for me and met a lady in a service station. He exchange cash for a box. They stayed in that box for another few years until the kitchen was finished.

Ever since they have lived on the shelf above the cooker and they still make me smile. I love that they are obviously well loved and well used. Unfortunately since they have become a little bit too expensive for my budget but I do love my little collection.

Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat Where Have you Been?

 

We've been to London to visit the queen...

This beautiful firstborn of mine was 19 last week. I know how on earth did that happen? So we popped to London for a few days.

We managed to grab a bite to eat and a cocktail at Jamie's Pop-up Diner. Lily was in her element with it's modern dinosaur theme. There is plenty of Jay Jay Burridge artwork throughout and we came away coveting a poster or two. The diner has had mixed reviews but we found it great overall. Slightly pricey but only in a centre of London kind of way. We had starters, mains and a cocktail each and it came to just uner £60 so not tooo bad I'd say for a one off treat. I can heartily recommend the Cajun Blackened Monkfish but we are still undecided about the avocado fries! The Pit Waffles were a little stodgy too but the pulled pork was very moist and tasty.

Obviously we visited LIberty's and Anthropolgie and Camden along with various art galleries. We maily walked and talked and stopped for a drink and a snack here and there. Perfect.

 

Lots of memories to fill up my tank for old age. LIfe is good.

A New Rhythm

I look back at this blog of mine and smile at some of the memories it captures then feel sad that I no longer seem to have time to keep it up to date. Life is like that. Things that you once found important are forgotten as a new rhythm emerges.For a long time whilst I was a stay at home mum this space gave me a voice and you my friends gave me a listening ear. Somedays your comments and the voices of other blogs would be the only adult conversation I had. They sustained me through many a difficult time. I am lucky that I have a good support network of friends and family but sometimes there are things that you just do not want to, or can not, discuss with anyone. This was my place to escape to.

Over the time that has past I guess Instagram has taken the place of this space. It's just so easy to do. The click of a button on my phone and boom...a moment shared. Like when Josie could not resist one last dip in the sea on our last night of our holiday in Ireland. A new fast and easy rhythm. I think though that however fast and easy Instagram is it is not enough. It doesn't have the depth and potential memory making. It doesn't fufill the motive I had when I started this blog. My Reasons are still the same just a little older.

Maybe I do need to find a little time to come back. Maybe my new rhythm can include this space.

Flashback Thursday...

Fancy a Change

Over the last year my increasingly busy life has meant re-evaluating where my time is spent. It's a tricky balance between necessity and enjoyment. As much as I love thrifting and selling vintage it just doesn't feel like it should be a priority anymore. After much soul searching I have decided the time has come to begin selling off all my stock and de-cluttering my house. Hopefully I will be able to find more time to do other things like blogging.

One of the benefits to selling has been the extra cash available and I want to make sure that I don't fritter it away. So I have a list of projects (in my head). The first is a lovely wallpaper for the 'playroom'. I narrowed it down to one of two.

 

As much as I love the colourways of the Roddy and Ginger Log Pile wallpaper I eventually decided that the Mini Moderns Pet Sounds wallpaper would work much better in our playroom, come craft room, come music room. 

So now I just have to find the time to get it hung!

Flashback Thursday

Lily's 18th birthday was the ideal time to embarass her with lots of photos. I thought it might be fun to start sharing some of my most favourite photos of my girls that we found whilst looking. So Flashback Thursday is just that. A chance for you to ooh and ahh at just how cute my girls used to be.

                            circa 2003

       'three of my 'tiger cubs' in our playroom'

Imperfection

When you are handed your baby there is no instruction booklet given at the same time. Your mind is full of your ideas of the perfect mother and your heart is full of longing to be that perfection. Life however isn't like that. Life isn't perfect. Love is the only thing that makes things right. That makes life worth living.

As soon as I saw this image on the screen all those years ago I was filled with pure love. My life took on a new meaning. It became full of fear and hope in equal measures.

The moment my girl was born I felt I had arrived somewhere. Somewhere comforting, exciting and scary. Somewhere that I needed to explore. I knew that the journey ahead would be full of ups and downs but that love would be our guide. 

Along the years I have made many mistakes and we have each had our hearts torn by our harsh words and selfish actions yet through it all we have always had a deep seated love for each other. A mutual love that gives us a base to come back to. That offers forgiveness and acceptance. So somehow despite my imperfectness my first born girl has grown into a beautiful young lady. A young lady I would happily chose as my friend.

 

For her 18th birthday a few weeks ago she chose to have a very grown up cocktail party at home. It was a perfect mix of her friends and our family. They say you can tell a lot about a person by their choice of friends and Lily's are a great bunch of people to know. Just like her. I'm proud to be able to say she is my daughter and humbled to be the person she turns to.

We are off on a very grown up adventure this weekend. 5 days in New York City just the two of us and I cannot wait.

Love you Lily Roisin and I always will. x

Creeping Back In

Just thought I'd pop by and say hello. I spent a nostalgic half hour or so the other day reading my blog archives. It brought back some lovely memories. That's the thing about having a blog it records all the day to day goings on that would otherwise disappear from our overstuffed brains. That little cute conversation can be saved forever. I'm looking forward to reading about our life as a family when my girls have families of their own.

So I'm going to try and come back to the space I once knew so well.

I thought I'd better start by introducing you the newest member of our family. Our little puppy Maggie. She's a Miniature Schnauzer/Bichon Frise cross. 

When she isn't sleeping she is incredibly cheeky!