Another day in France...another brocante to find treasures..............

Today was the day of the second brocante of our holidays and what a charming little collection of stalls it was, children selling their old toys, people selling homemade jam and home grown vegetables and fruit, stalls with cafe au lait et crepes and lots of other treasures....

I got a cast iron french recipe book holder - which has been on my wish list for a while....

A wire basket with wooden handles....

And two rusty old french keys...........

Also purchased in one of my favourite french homeware shops GIFI - a gorgeous birdhouse pictured hanging in my dad's walnut tree...........

Au Revoir 'til tomorrow

xx

Sunny France..............

Well here I am in sunny France enjoying the sunshine and the brocantes, the english equivalent to car boot but somehow feeling more sophiticated....

My love of all things enamel and french was rewarded on Sunday at a huge brocante where I picked up these beauties.....

We have 2 more local brocantes to go to so who knows what I will discover.......................

The Vintage Queen does tea...............

With much anticipation the day of the Vintage Tea Party arrived... when I booked it with my lovely friend Vici from Dragonfly Bakery her status on facebook read....

"Have had a lovely couple of out door days with the kids but one of the highlights was definitely a suprise visit from a lovely friend who was a vision in vintage! A living walking beautiful homage to Cath Kidston! Xxx"

I spent the afternoon running up vintage looking Peter Rabbit bunting for a baby shower pressie .....

First, the styling of the windowsills with relevant vintage bits and pieces including gorgeous flower hairslides for all the guests to wear.....

The fireplace adorned with floral bunting......

More styling....

A china pram, a baby picture..........

Everything was vintage, the plates, cups, even the cutlery and the napkins.............

Then the food, we had a choice of menus and we chose retro mushroom and prawn vol au vents....

 Vintage summer fruit jellies served in mis-matched retro glasses..........

Traditional sandwiches - with the crusts cut off obviously....cupcakes, a large victoria sandwich cake, muffins, pasta salad and filo goats cheese parcel,a quiche and a gorgeous lemon cheesecake with summer fruit compote.....



And to wash it all down a choice of fruit juice and different teas all served in large vintage teapots and pretty mismatched cups..............

The mum to be with the buffet.............

One final note, the company was amazing we laughed 'til we cried, the food was gorgeous and the styling brilliant - it was everything I dreamed off and more.........

 Anyone wanting to host one of these amazing parties please look up Dragonfly Bakery on facebook or contact Vici for info on

	07870 368925

Cakes and more cakes..........

Well we started last week with a birthday - Oldest T was 12 - as tall as me and larger feet by 3 sizes! Goodness knows what 13 and onwards will bring.............

I did a bit of arty vintage styling with his enormous chocolate cake........

 Last friday, royal wedding fever hit the T family and we had friends round to celebrate - which obviously involved more cake eating.............

 In the excitement baby T thought he would be a princess bride too, wearing my original veil from 1996...

So this week sees a vintage tea party baby shower.... pics to follow...and next week a week off from cakes I feel.................

All cakes were made by the Dragonfly Bakery of Saltburn please facebook it for more details..............

Shopping with the feel good factor...........

Well today we have out and about to our local shopping centre - we always go by car but today I thought I would give the little T's a treat and go on the train. They thought it was great fun and with petrol and parking so pricey - it was actually a cheaper way to go - althought the shopping was heavy coming home ..............

We went to Laura Ashley and they were having a sale - so bargains galore - the fabric I wanted to cover my stool was half price and then a further 10% off !wow!- and I obviously had to pick up another couple of bits whilst I was there!!

When I shop I love to raid the charity shops to see what bargains I can find - I today I came across a fab vintage boutique - with bargains galore. It was all set out beautifully - china displayed on a shabby chic wooden farmhouse table, rails of clothes all laundered and smelling fresh, and a reading room with comfy vintage chairs to sit and read the day away.... I came away with a glass bowl with little feet- a snip at £2.49 and it will look great in my dining room...

And the name of this vintage boutique - YMCA - wow - I'm impressed they have taken on the love of all things vintage and turned their 'charity shop'  image into something on trend.....

We also had a have a few Easter makes - all half price at ELC...

Sweet or what?

birds...........

We have been feeding the birds in our garden and have had loads of the usual - blue tits, robins, sparrows, even little birds nesting in our box but we didn't expect this..........

A big fat greedy duck of epic proportions.........

Or this..............

We have named him Phil and he is very shy but has been back on several occasions.....



I'm back.............

Well here we are up and running again........
Mr T (with a little help) has been revamping our bedroom and here it is - in all its shabby chic/country cottage glory..........

Wow what a difference...............

So, the wallpaper is Abbeville and paint- pale biscuit, both from Laura Ashley, bed and chest from ebay, bunting and cushions made with Cath Kidston fabric by my friend at Moola in Saltburn. Bed throw to match in working progress......

The alcove with my Mother's Day basket from the little T's and my gorgeous letters looking expensive but actually very cheap!

Laura Ashley Abbeville wallpaper (very ditsy and country cottage looking) with my gorgeous bunting....

Top of my chest of drawers - french 1930's painted in Farrow and Ball Old English - similar letters as before, gorgeous little bee embroidered linen from a local charity shop and my black ladies as seen in previous posts......

My bed in full glory - I have just put plain white bed linen on from argos...

Wow I just love it all so much.....

Still to do

• Paint the brass lamp fitting in cream metal paint
• Prime and paint my pine dressing table
• Prime and paint my stool and find fabric for the top
• Pick up my new bed throw
• Make my own lampshades

So still plenty to do - will post again soon and please let me know what you think......

Spring time....

Well we have been enjoying the sunshine over the weekend and last night we even made it onto the beach .....

Three little T's enjoying the waves.......

We have been planting vegetables today courgettes, brocolli and potatoes as well as raspberries and strawberries, Mr T is busy with his plans for a raised vegetable bed and I'm planning a small herb garden - still wanting some chickens as my Mum and Dad have just got some - but they have a much much larger garden than me. I will just have to keep dreaming..........

 The spring flowers are still providing lots of colour and my tulips are looking good, they were £1 a pot and you took a chance with the colours, we managed red, yellow stripe and purple........

Well done boys........

Very lucky girl!

Well, we didn't win the piece of furniture we had our eye on at auction - it went for loads more than our highest bid - but some things are meant to be, and at auctions you have to be prepared to lose sometimes or possibly pay over the odds for something if you can't bear to not win it.

So we have been back looking on trusty www.ebay.co.uk we have had our eye on a few pieces and watching the rough prices that they go for. I am currently watching a victorian chest of drawers which was found in a barn and needs a lot of tlc - so we shall see.

Yesterday saw the final finishing touches to my dining room (apart from the back wall which we are undecided about whether to knock down or not!) but the antique curtain rail and new voiles went up (again off ebay) and I am really pleased with the effect. The table and chairs were another bargain of ebay - table £1.99 and looks fab with my antique table cloth - bought at auction a few years back...

Middle T's room was finished at the weekend - his union jack themed room ideal for a royal wedding year! The handmade cushion and gorgeous bunting again off ebay....

 Middle T is very happy with his room he especially likes the vintage mini and union jack picture picked up in our local pound shop!! He is now sourcing more union jack bits off ebay every day!! He has his eye on a mirror, some covered letters spelling his name and a very large canvas, and a cushion with a westie wearing a union jack! He collects westie dogs too!

Middle T's odd collection of westie dogs! (Birthday in 4 weeks and I have a large china westie dog for him found at a local charity shop)

Big T's gorgeous grown up room for a teenage boy with sofa found in a house clearance with fleece throw and odd cushions. Black and white prints from various places - new little New York pics found by Big T in the local pound shop! proving the vintage look is not always an expensive one....

Odd stress buster found by Big T at a brocante in rural France!

Obviously the vintage look has to be mixed with TV and laptop, but vintage style chrome lamp sits well on his desk and letter from Buckingham Palace from Prince Harry - take pride of place on the wall.....

Baby T has a very busy room with vintage Laura Ashley bedlinen and small vintage chair for sitting to read all those books!!

So what next....watch this space..............

The auction

Well today is the day of the big auction, we have been viwing the sales every week looking for a cabinet for our sitting room with no luck, until this week when we spotted a gorgeous piece of vintage wooden furniture. A cross between a drinks cabinet and a desk sounds hideous but beauty is in the eye of the beholder......
I have left a bid ( I can't go as I will keep bidding until I win it! so I followed Kirsty's tip! ) So we wait with baited breath to see if we have won it - will let you know tomorrow........

My dining room cabinet

my dressing table....

Sometimes I just like to look at the things I have been given and think how lucky I am to have such amazing friends who give me gorgeous bits and pieces..............


My darling vinatge style hanging photo tree with pictures of all 5 of us in and my gorgeous mannequin tree and perfume bottle......


I love having them on my dressing table ...I just hate dusting..............

Mr T's great plans................

So, I let Mr T have a sneak preview of my blog - well I figured he would feature quite a lot in it along with baby T, middle T and older T and the inevitable happened....he decided to completely revamp the house if 'people' were to be looking at it - decorate the dining room you say....

So instead of my list reading wallpaper, curtains, new curtain rail and table and chairs it now reads knock kitchen into dining room and block off 3 doors to make one large entrance ....then completely redecorate all the way through......

My ever growing Cath Kidston Spray Flowers china collection

This seems very drastic but makes sense as I love my kitchen but my dining room tends to be a glorified laundry room, it gets the sun during the day so is ideal for drying, and it is spacious so ideal to pile up ironing....if knocked through it would make an amazing family kitchen room BUT can I cope with the stress of having it done AND as my kitchen has a definite Cath Kidston influence can Mr T cope with that running through into the other room as well.....only time will tell.....first to work out is the cost...............secondly where will my enormous mounds of ironing go......better get started..........

New Years Resolutions Day 12....

Having thoroughly been through Mrs Frugals ideas on www.frugalfamily.com I have made myself a shopping list from the menu planner for the coming week, as she suggested, I then took my shopping list to the supermarket and spent twice as much as usual.....

But, I do have more items than I normally buy so I think it will last longer than a week - I have hidden items bought for packed lunches - to stop them being eaten as late night snacks (Mr T and older T!!) Middle T thinks crisps should be tucked into until the cupboard is bare - so they have been hidden as well - just hope I remember where I have put them or could be finding them next christmas when I sort the cupboards out.....

So the test will be whether we can keep to the menu planner or if life gets in the way..........

Whilst planning I also took a hint from a favourite book of mine The Life Audit by Caroline Righton. She suggests  making  a list of all the rooms in the house and then list all the things you want to be done.

I have started with the dining room which Mr T painted before xmas but is still looking very unfinished.... items to be finished include curtains, curtain pole, tie backs, wallpaper feature wall and table and chairs.....so still quite a bit to do....but the plan is that you look at your list and break it down into dooable chunks...... So here goes............

From every acorn grows a great oak tree......

Well today has been a learning curve, New Years Resolution to build my own blog and link to all those other vintage, shaker, new england style bloggers out there with their gorgeous ideas, how to do it blogs and crafty plans for the year.

So here goes, boys back at school and a little free time to start planning this seriously................