Look what I've got!

I have to admit that I am finding it hard to be upbeat with my half empty nest. That happy, jumpy, excited feeling I usually get when playing with my Gorgeous Things has been passing me by! But then, the other day, this little kitchen cabinet popped into my life, and I am feeling a little tiny bit of the old bounce returning.

It needs some care and attention - look the poor old drop down leaf is dangling by a thread! If I take that strap off, then the whole thing half falls off. But the colour is sooooooo 50s and all the knobs are original, and in great condition. Now, here's the thing, I am a painter of furniture, so I would normally get the sandpaper and paint out and set to..... BUT this is in its original colour which, I think, is totally and stunningly fab. A bit scratched and scuffed, but still FAB. So no paint will be sloshed over this old girl! She will be carefully washed with some good old fashioned Vim powder (remember that stuff? I love it); her poor old broken leaf will get some new hinges; and she will get a soothing coat of wax to protect her. And then she'll be off to Bourne Mill where she'll be used to display my ever growing 1950s kitchenware collection. I suppose I ought to offer her for sale as well, but I'm not sure I can bear to part with her just yet!

So what else have I been up to whilst quietly pining for Little Thing 1, you may ask? Well, maybe you won't ask, but I'm going to tell you anyway. The clue is in the word - pining - I have been painting a few pieces of pine furniture I have had skulking around the workshop for longer than they should have been! AND I have been playing with a new paint colour (new to me, that is).

I normally use a very neutral palette, because a) that is what I have always used in my house, so I am used to it and love it, and b) because I assume my customers will find it easier to fit into their homes. But I rather rashly decided to start experimenting with some stronger colours. So this is the first piece off the production line - in Farrow and Ball (of course!) Stone Blue. Of course, I couldn't resist a little bit of decoupage on the interior of those doors - just jollies it along I thought. But, silly me, when I took it up to the shop on Friday I forgot the shelf - duh! So, I shall be sprinting up there as soon as I have finished this post to put the shelf in - let's hope noone has noticed!

It is a pretty strong colour, but I am SOooooo pleased with the result. What do you think? It provides a lovely blast of colour in the shop - I love the way it looks with the Midwinter tureen (pattern Cassandra).

So here is a gratuitous photo of it nestling in the shop.

oops, just slipped another quick picture of the shop in! I had a little reorganise on Friday - I removed some of the "stuff" off a couple of the pieces of furniture, as I think people can't see that the furniture is for sale when it is obliterated by things (even if they are Gorgeous Things!). But I still think there is too much stuff on the furniture - ah well!

Stanley Dog - and Back to my Old Ways

Well - what do you think of this little fellow?

Doesn't he look like Cath Kidston's Stanley dog? I love the grumpy expression! He's definitely coming to the shop.

I made a big effort last week to make a start on clearing my excessive amounts of stock from home - and get it in the shop where it should be (no I can't keep it all - naughty me to even think it!). So I tried to be really organised, and put together a little system - picking a box; going through the whole box; getting rid of the unsuitable items; preparing and pricing the rest; and getting them into the shop. Yes, I even wrote down a little flowchart to help me focus on making some progress (sad, but true!) So, how did it go you may ask.

 Well, I cleared quite a bit, but still not enough to actually use my dining room. But, this week, after putting the new stock in the shop, I decided that the shop was beginning to look a little drab; it needed a bit of pick me up. Ahhhhh! I realised what it was missing  - my old ways - you know when I just pick and choose stock according to how I feel, and what I think would look nice with the rest of the stock in there. SO........ it's back to my old ways this week (but just this week, cos I really must get that dining room cleared!). I'm picking and choosing ........ Ooooh, it's lovely....... the freedom to just go whereever the mood takes you. And that is how the Stanley lookalike came out!

But, I bet you'd like to have a look at some of the other things. I have an amazing Art Deco uranium glass dressing table set. The shapes of the trinket boxes, and the sunburst pattern of the glass is SooooooooO Art Deco - I love it!

And this little measuring tape - so cute - it has a little button on the back which makes it retract. Quite distracting, cos it makes you keep pulling it out and retracting it, rather than getting on with the sewing!

And on the subject of sewing (or indeed knitting, tapestry or crocheting) I thought these lovely crafty books would go down well in my growing crafty section of the shop. 

Of course, anything with Kaffe Fassett's touch is bound to be uber-colourful, and these books do not disappoint on that front. But I was also really interested in the alphabet charts, which could be applied to embroidery, tapestry or even knitting - but particularly nice for embroidering onto some plain linen napkins, I thought.

I had to share these tapestry cushions from the books with you - they are totally gorgeous!

And after all that, who wouldn't like to have a sit down in this chair to flick through the lovely crafty books?

Yes that is a tapestry screen - all hand stitched, amazing!

No sitting around for me today, though, I must be off to Bourne Mill to rearrange my room and display these lovely treasures.

Gorgeous Things Vintage Jewellery

Greetings dear followers of the Gorgeous Things blog - I have to report that GT & Family are on holiday again (yes I know!) so little me (the Jewellery Department) has been left to hold the fort and entertain the dog on her city break while her pack frolic on Caribbean beaches - I've been there myself, it's horrid, they'll hate it, I'm not jealous at all, not one bit!! This is my first attempt at blogging, exciting.... I hope it doesn't all go horribly wrong! Gorgeous Things Vintage Jewellery currently trades through an eBay store - you can find the link on the right of this page under favourite places. Here at Jewellery Towers we source all sorts of sparkly, classic, collectable and just gorgeous vintage jewels from the antique and unusual to the relatively modern with prices to suit all pockets - I thought I'd take this opportunity to share some of my personal favourite upcoming pieces....

I have a bit of a passion for reverse carved lucite whether in the form of ornaments, napkin rings and of course brooches - this is quite a large brooch with 3 beautiful roses in washed out shades of red and pink - it dates back to the late 1950s/early 1960s and these are not made anymore so becoming very collectable. There are more than one of these in the store at the moment.

Rhinestone jewellery is ever popular - personally I can't resist the clear crystal floral variety, pure simple glamour - always stunning against black - a friend of mine uses brooches like these to decorate lampshades around the home and they look fabulous! This is a particularly nice example, large & good quality - you must always be careful of dead or discoloured (yellowed or greying) stones - the foil backing deteriorates with time and moisture - this one is near perfect very sparkly and a fantastic find! 

Do have a browse of the Gorgeous Things Vintage Jewellery store - you may find something you like - here at Jewellery Towers we pride ourselves on excellent customer service, gorgeous safe packaging and value for money so have a look around - a repair and necklace re-string service is also available.

The new jewellery cabinet at the flagship store at Bourne Mill is coming soon as is more gorgeous stock for the online Gorgeous Things Shop so keep checking back.....    

I hope you've enjoyed this little look into my world of 'wearable art' - feel free to contact the jewellery department at gorgeousthings@btinternet.com, we're always happy to hear from you - in the meantime me and gorgeous doggy will continue to enjoy the riches of the Hampshire summer countryside and try not to dream of white sand beaches, sunset cocktails and fabulous fishes..... hhmmmm.... sigh - on the positive side, the fresh fresh eggs from Gladys and the girls are a total bonus!

Late night opening

So, this Thursday was the first late night opening at Bourne Mill - Yay!

We had a little vino fizzo and good old natter in terms of a celebration of this milestone! But only once I'd straightened out my room a bit -

I took a few shots for my slide show on the web site.

 

Maybe I should have taken these shots after I'd filled in the gaps with the new stock!

But sometimes you don't notice these things until you look at the photos.

You can't beat a bit of a sparkly light, can you? So pretty!

I'm not completely happy with the way I have my room laid out, so I'm going to have a really good look over all the photos I took on Thursday so that I can get it better. It can be tricky, as all my pieces of furniture are for sale, so when they get sold, all the contents get dumped on the nearest available surface, and I have to try to rearrange and make it all look nice again as best I can when I go in to restock. Any ideas or tips, would be very welcome!

Meanwhile, the plate rack and the what-not I showed you as WIPs in my last post are now finished.

I stripped the old wax off this piece, then I knotting solutioned it, primed it, 1st coated it in F&B Pointing, 2nd coated it in a mix of acrylics (from the paint box) in greens and blues applied in a sponged on wash (at this point it looked like it had gone mouldy!), 3rd coat in F&B "Bone", 4th coat in F&B "Pointing" - phew! that was the painting finished. Then I distressed it (quite ruthlessly) so that you can see back to the wood in parts, but through all the various layers of paint. It was a bit experimental, but I'm happy with the result. Mr Thing said if he was going to buy it that he'd want a bit more paint on it (cheek! - I think he missed the point). I'll have to let the public decide - it will be going in the shop on Monday!

Meanwhile the Cath Kidston decoupage on the little what not has been very satisfying. I love papering furniture! For anyone who fancies trying it, my first tip would be to make sure you use paper which is proper paper - if you know what I mean! Don't use wrapping paper for example which tends to not have much actual paper content and has a "shiny" finish, as it doesn't absorb the glue - so you can get a horrible mess when you apply it. You need paper which is a bit absorbent (like wallpaper) so that you can work it whilst it is wet. That gives you time to get all the air out, so you get a nice finish. Maybe I should give a quick tutorial on my blog sometime?

Have a nice weekend!

What lovely needlework!

I have a huge stash of hand worked linens. I've been buying for the shop, of course, but I just seem to find it so hard to part with them! So today I decided that maybe I need to break this job down into smaller, more manageable goals. Like getting just two out of the stash and ready for the shop. Which I have managed, but then I thought I'd just photograph them before I let them go - so I can share them with you!

How about this beauty? I love the strong use of colour and the scalloped edging is divine. Can you imagine how long it must have taken to embroider? Let's have a closer look at some of the needlework.

oooh those pretty scalloped edges.

But for those of you who like a bit of crochet, my second piece is a real beauty...

Little Thing 1 and I are currently crocheting the granny stripe blanket by Lucy at Attic 24, so we are in awe at the amount of work in this table cloth. It is all done in lovely white cotton, and looks and feels really fresh. Personally, I would never use it on the table (too many messy eaters in this house), but it would make an amazing throw on the bed or even sofa if you have one of those "different shades of white" style interiors. I would love to achieve a calm, white interior, but this doesn't seem to work with my need to collect stock for the shop! So it's more like Steptoe's yard meets school art room. Shall we have a closer look at the crochet work?

 I wonder how many stitches are in this cloth? Sooooo pretty!

And here is the progress so far on my first ever crochet project - - somewhat rustic compared to the tablecloth above! But I'm quite pleased with it, and my crocheting speed is definitely improving. I can't believe how quickly I'm getting through the wool. I'm using Patons Fairytale 4 ply which comes in some lovely colours - but I am finding it challenging to choose the colour combinations, as this sort of bright colour is not my usual thing - but I am loving the challenge!

I'm hoping this baby gets a lot bigger over the Wimbledon fortnight - know what I mean???!!!

Toodle pip!

Gorgeous Glass

I love all glassware - as anybody who knows me, or visits the Gorgeous Things Flagship Store at Bourne Mill will know. But the coloured glass is just soooooo divine. Here is one of my shelf units covered in lovely, jubbly coloured glassware. On the top shelf here is a 60s lemonade set which is a real cracker - the jug is a great shape - sleek and tall - and the set of glasses not only are in harlequin colours (my favourite) but have an unusual lustre to them.

I have soooooo much glassware (and other gorgeous vintage things!) waiting to go up to the shop - would you like to see some of it? 

Some lovely blue glass here - and, of course, the sparkly cake stands.

This milk glass goblet shaped vase is more unusual. It is by Anchor Hocking an American company who produced a lot of this type of glass in the 30s, and it has their impressed mark on the base - it is quite unusual to find makers marks on glass, so I was very excited when I found this one! Although my photo may not do it justice, it has grapes and vine leaves impressed on the sides. It is really pretty!

I'm not so sure about the little Virgin Mary statue - she is an experiment. I have painted her in Farrow and Ball Pointing - so she looks all virginal! She is definitely a unique "interesting" object. I am having a bit of a thing at the moment for painting things other than furniture - like statues of Virgin Mary, wooden bowls, biscuit barrels, basketware etc. I love the clean but old kind of look about them - you know, they look like they are old, loved objects which have been refreshed to give them a new lease of life. I suppose that is what I like to achieve will all my painted furniture.

So, are you ready for a bit of colour again, now?

Here are some more of the lovely, 50s stuff I'm getting ready to make a display of in the shop.

And some more....

Got any favourite pieces amongst this lot? I know I have!

As soon as I have the new set of shelves painted and ready, these lot will be going up to the shop, and there will have to be a serious sort out and rearrangement day (what fun!)

I am always happy to chat about any of my items further if you are interested in them - just email me. (Don't worry, there is never any obligation! Browsers and chatters are most definitely welcome!!!)

The Glamorous Fifties

So glamorous! So stylish!

I was just saying to Mr. Things the other day over a cup of tea - why don't the young Things and I go and visit my very good friend in France as soon as school is over for the summer. We've been invited to spend a week near the glamorous Biarritz. So I have consulted the travel brochures ....

It looks pretty sophisticated - I'm going to need to glam up! I'll need  a nice frock to travel by air - this one from Horrockses might do..

...but I think I'll take a handbag rather than a coffee pot (not sure what that's all about). Oh and gloves - yes dress gloves will be needed.

And when I get there I can sun myself and frolic on the beach...

...all whilst looking incredibly glamorous, of course!

I have a modest collection of 1950s magazines - they are fascinating to leaf through. The articles are pretty interesting, but the photos, and some of the ads are brilliant - really evocative of the era. While I was setting up my latest gorgeous things to show you, I suddenly thought that a couple of 50's magazines might help to set the scene. But, of course, I couldn't resist checking through them, and was amazed to find the article on Biarritz - I have literally just booked flights to go there this morning - spooky coincidence. So I managed to waste (?) quite a bit of time day dreaming about the 1950s.

Well, I ran out of time to finish photographing my 50s themed china collection, but I'll show you some of the snaps, as it must be time for another picture...

I have amassed quite a quantity of Midwinter Stylecraft and other 50s china. It is just so amazingly jolly! I just picked a few of my yellowy themed bits and pieces here.

The picture above has one small difference to the previous one - can you spot what it is? Sorry, no prizes - well not today! Let's have a closer look at the detail on the different thing.

Oh my, those colours are so pretty! And I can't wait to set up the turquoisey themed pieces, and then the black/red/grey one - oooooh, I'm getting hip hoppy happy thinking about setting that lot up!

As you can probably guess, I'm supposed to be getting some of my 50's china collection ready for the shop, but I wanted to show you some of it first - cos I'm sure it'll all be snapped up and gone in a jiffy once it's over at Bourne Mill.  I've got loads more to photograph, so if you fancy seeing some more I'll post again tomorrow (and try not to spend too long looking through the magazines!).

This little number by Johnson Brothers is called "Gay Fantasy" - I was thinking of titling this post the same, but I'm not sure whether the audience I attracted might be rather disappointed by the content! Still, it might get my hit count up! Hmmm.

Toodle pip!