Vintage Trends... A Pretty Cabinet.

A few months ago at the Mill where l have my stall l spotted a friend of mine sorting her wares into a fabulous cabinet. l asked....l BEGGED...but it wasn't for sale.....Long story short, things have changed for my friend and knowing how much l loved it she offered me first dibs. As you can see l haven't exactly artfully arranged anything into it, since l'm not sure whether or not to paint it. l quite like the mustard coloured finish however it doesn't really match anything else in the room.....What do you think, should l give it a splash of paint or not??

A bit Frenchy and nicely crafted, each section of the door contains a separate piece

of glass....imagine having to cut out each of those oddball shapes.

 

              

 Anyway besides messing round here, l've also been doing a bit of "market research" to find out what vintage trends are happening at the moment. It's good to look with a fresh eye (or two:-) when l'm out junking around.....l've noticed people are very specific in what they want to surround themselves with, they want their homes and how they present themselves to the world to truly reflect their OWN personal style...so they're very particular about what they buy, which means it's not so easy for us to predict EXACTLY what will cater to peoples desires. l'm hoping my list might be of help if you also like to do a bit of trading:-)

  

Vintage Clothes. Especially outfits from the 50's, rockabilly style. Beaded handbags from the 60's....70's tooled leather handbags. Poodle jewellery. Pearl necklaces. Clip on earrings.Wedge shoes. Beaded/angora cardigans. Tiny floral print sundresses...and then there's always a market for era trends like tartan skirts, doc martens, cowboy boots, western shirts for guys and band t-shirts of popular artists. l believe 80's frocks are selling well too...eeek!!!

 Bar Carts....and 60's champagne glasses - Bond martini style to sit on top. Vintage ice buckets and harlequin sets of glasses.

  

Metallics- Silver and brass candlesticks. Copper plant planters. Galvanised buckets and planters.

Linen. Irish linen tea towels- souvenir or novelty. French style ones with stripes. From old to the 70's....and preferably unused. Old quilts especially the paisley and floral ones from the 60's. Genuine wool blankets.

  

Bird Cages  Old or new....light colours sell better than black....

Bottles-  Perfume bottles preferably art deco style. Cut glass or crystal, the coloured ones sell better. Unusual avon bottles, novelty or animal shaped. Anything glass that's turned mauve with age. Uranium glass.

 

 

Other top sellers.

Vintage model cars preferably in their box. Yugioh cards and figurines.

Specialty blades...swords, knives and pocket knives. War memorabilia.

Old tools. Old lamps. Old clocks, oil cans and bottles, enamel signs.

China dinner sets. China ornaments-often animals (birds and dogs) or lady's. Novelty salt and pepper shakers.

Pre digital age cameras.

Storage items. Cane baskets, laundry baskets, old wooden/metal drawers.

Records and more Records....vinyl that is:-) from the 70's 80's and 90's.

 

 

 

 

Thanks so much for visiting.....l hope you all have an awesome week ahead.

Til next time,

Bron.


 

A Valentine's Day Post.

The Realities of Life.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone.....well this morning hubby and l were up early, we chatted away over breakfast, our talk full of things we want and need to get done today....l drove off early to do a few garage sales and he went out to the garage to work on a shed he's building. It wasn't until l popped into the supermarket after trawling the sales and visiting Mum that l even remembered it WAS Valentine's day and l only remembered then because there were all these blokes carrying bunches of red roses.....naturally l bought myself some flowers too (pink, not red:-) 'cos any old excuse will do, although today l don't really need one do l:-)
l thought l'd have a laugh and present them to hubby and wish him happy Valentine's but can you believe the roses were already falling apart all over the bench and l didn't want to deal with the mess all those petals would make if l carried them out to the garage so straight into a jug they went...or at least what was left of them did. So romantic aren't we..haha.



l've done a little digging to reveal some facts about Valentine's Day that l hope you'll find at least a little bit interesting:-)



Valentine's day has been around in some form since around 496 AD - more than 1500 years, which is when on February 14th a priest named St Valentine was sentenced to death for having the audacity to perform secret marriages which were illegal at the time. The Roman emperor Claudius was having no end of trouble enlisting men into his army, which he felt was directly due to men that were married not wanting to leave their wives and children to go into battle. Hence the ban.


Valentine's day began to gain mainstream popularity in the early 1800's in England when paper Valentine's were so popular they were assembled in factories, and by 1835, 60,000 of them were sent in Britain despite postage being expensive. Being able to post a Valentine's card meant that people were able to send them anonymously, and because they were anonymous the card companies often made the verses a bit raunchy. In Victorian times it was considered bad luck to sign your card.


Valentines Day is also the day of SAD (Singles Awareness Day) which is meant to be a humorous celebration for people who are single. On this day 15% of all American women will send flowers to themselves.

Most roses for Valentines Day come from South America and around 110 million roses are sent over a three day period....most of them red.

Men are the spendiest of the sexes, averaging around $130 each which is more than twice as much as women. 

Around 8 billion candy hearts are produced as well as l billion cards exchanged. Surprisingly teachers receive the most valentines followed by children, wives and mothers. 

 

Valentines Day will set the scene for 220,000 marriage proposals. 

 

 

 

 

Wishing you all a special and beautiful Valentine's Day no matter how you choose to spend it......


The info in this post was found here and here.



Thanks so much for visiting,

Til next time,

Bron.
 

Just Chillin'.

Summer Post.

We're in the middle of an unusually cool Summer this year and everyone's been whingeing about it, ok maybe it's just me:-)) Hubby on the other hand is lovin' it since as a tradie he's usually sweating it out in 40 degree heat through January ....anyway one (kinda) warm afternoon this week l set up the hammock under the ash tree. l love how it looks slung between the branches even though there's no way l'd attempt lay in it....l don't know if you've ever tried getting into or out of one of these things but, one word springs to mind....TRICKSY:-).You could easy do a hip and hey... l NEED my legs.

 

 





 

  

Hope you've enjoyed my Summer-ish pics......you can see the lawn's still green, it's normally strawlike by now:-)....I'm totally optimistic for a HOT February:-)

Wishing you all a great rest of your weekend, thanks heaps for popping in for a visit.

Til next time.

Bron.

 

Daylight Robbery.

Hi there, it's been a while hasn't it....you may have guessed that l've been struggling a bit with my blog of late....many reasons, however l do want to persist through these not so easy times....l really enjoy being part of the land of blogs, it's such a creative and inspiring place.... somewhere too l can record this journey and hopefully be somewhat inspirational along the way.

 

l purchased some new living room drapes a few weeks ago and though l would've loved roller blinds and sheers.....for me they're just not a practical option during our chilly Winter's, being that the windows make up an entire wall of this room.... so heavy duty drapes it is.....l was happy to get 5 sets alike, in a light neutral. l made some tie backs to hold them away from the windows to allow in as much light as possible.

 



Each tie back was sewn from hessian (burlap) and then decorated with tulle and vintage millinery flowers....all in varying shades of white.



 l fell a little bit in love with this cane table which was bought at a country garage sale, even though it's headed for my stall at the Mill Market. My guess would be that it's 70's. The previous owner said it came from Bali with a matching side table, couch and two chairs... sadly none of which were for sale. 

Of course this fabulous wedding dress had to come home with me.....the gorgeous lace and pearl button detail are totally my thing. 

 

 

A new/old Buddha, what a face....with "peace" mother of pearl earrings. 

 

(Adult) son and l were walking yesterday and these gorgeous hydrangeas were growing through the fence, spewing out onto the footpath, it was a huge bush.....so come on, who wouldn't......well l picked a couple of blooms much to son's horror....l had to laugh at him taking off up the road like l'd kidnapped the Queens' corgis....and it took some convincing to get him to walk with me again....struth... aren't we the one's meant to worry about them embarrassing us:-)

 

Anyway hope you enjoy the pics of my ill gotten gains...haha.

 

 

That's it for now. Hope your life's going well whatever you're up to....

 

Til next time,

 

Bron. 

 

Twenty Fourteen, The Year In Review.

Happy New Year 2015.


I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas celebrating and noshing with family and friends:-)
A few days ago l went through all the previous year's posts and selected some (a lot) of my favourite pics to share, although l really felt like it'd been a bit of nothing year, l see there's been a few positive changes and improvements:-)

The New Year had me creating a white day bed in the spare room...Just cos :-)

 

 

l DO love a Summer post... and it's worth the effort just to  remember these warm days in the midst of Winter. Temperatures are quite wide ranging here where we live.....from -5 (Celcius) in Winter to over 40 in Summer.

Also in March hubby and l celebrated 30 years of marriage which was quite the milestone....and they said it wouldn't last....haha.

 

 

Lots of furniture got makeovers including this TV unit which began life as the base of a dressing table. 

A 1950's prom dress pattern found at an antique fair was used it to make this ruffled tulle number.

Red lipstick music bunting celebrated Valentines Day.

 

A vintage wooden side table got a blue makeover.

 

Found lots of  lovely old china to both sell and to add to my collection.

 

 

Around Easter l opened my stall for business at the Mill Markets, there's been some serious culling around the house since then.....which was needed, though l have to say also rather painful.

 

                 



The main bedroom is forever changing...new linens always create impact .

 

From pink to blue.....

 



and new wall shelving too.

 

 

Sewed some Winter velvet slipcovers...changed up the tables and wall décor.

 

New paintwork on the dresser in the dining room.

 

Chosen to compliment the new paintwork in the adjoining kitchen...

  



 From orange/brown timber to fresh, light and white with a few coats of Antique White U.S.A.

 

Now a calming cohesive space....

 



Visitors arriving meant a do-over for the guest room. l painted some new artworks as well.

 



After a long cold Winter, Spring finally arrived and l wasn't about to miss a minute of it. The house was awash with flowers....

 



 Whether from the market, the garden, or snapped from trees along the side of the road, flowers are forever inspirational.

 

Sewed more cushions and created new vignettes...always chopping and changing, an endless process.

 



After years of searching for a new dressing table the right size and style for this corner l finally gave up and decided to repaint the one l was already using.....Made my own chalk paint colour and was happy with how it turned out.

 





 

l wish you peace, love and happiness for the coming year. Thanks so much for popping in to visit over the past year and for your kind and encouraging comments.

 

If you'd like to see last years New Years post you can check it out here and

the year before that here

 

 

Til next time,

 

Bron.