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!

Learning to Let Go

I think I have a problem with letting go of some of the treasures I find for Gorgeous Things. I find it sooooo hard to put some of  those special things into the shop! Why? I don't know. When I find these items, I tell  myself that I'm buying them for the shop, but then I squirrel them away. This is not a good way to run a business!

I have had a serious talk with myself - I must do better! Gorgeous Things Vintage Jewellery has had serious words with me too. I have to think about my lovely customers, and remind myself that it isn't fair to keep these special things for so long. My customers need to see them and buy them  to make their homes Gorgeous. And I need to get my dining room back - which has turned into a stock room. So, dear readers, the time has come to part with the Special Things. And here is one I adore....

This has lots of groovy fabrics from the 60s and possibly early 70s, and is all hand sewn - can you imagine what a labour of love this was? And it is huge - this is my bed and it's a king size. I love these patchworks which are made from leftover fabrics - and this has been made from old shirts, dresses, sheets etc.- I think they tell a story, of another time. I love how the Mary Quant style flowers sit on the dark background - it's a real Flower Power item.

So I feel better now, I've started on the Special Things.

So while we are putting ourselves in the 60s - we might need a coffee from a groovy coffee set? This set is by Midwinter. This pattern is called Coutry Garden. When you look closely, the colours are amazing - I am thinking of using the colours of this set as inspiration for my next crochet project.

Here's a better look at the colours, and I love that lid! The two linen placemats are from the same period - they are a little washed out, so I'm still undecided whether to put them in the shop.

And here's some more floral funkiness! This is a Dorma bedcover in a cotton mix - I think it must be for a single bed, where it would reach the floor. I don't think it has ever been used - the fabric still has that "straight out of the packet" feel.

But it is sooooo bright and cheerful and FUN! I think sometimes we take our interior design so seriously, don't we - I think the time has come for us to have some fun again!

Painted furniture update

As promised, it's time for an update on the painting and general furniture makeover progress at the Gorgeous Things Studio (aka the dining room at the old village hall).

Here is a lovely bun footed bureau. I love these pieces of furniture - I think they are really practical. Little Thing 2 has one in her bedroom painted white, but with a pink girlie interior! They are great bedroom pieces, cos you can store stuff in them, but then you can fold the desk part down for using your laptop, and then fold it up again out of the way when you've finished. How practical is that? Brilliant, I think! As a furniture revamper (is that what I am?) I love the fun of the foldaway part - it is just asking to be decorated with a bit more pizzaz than the outside, cos it isn't always on view.

See? A lovely bit of Cath Kidston floral there on the inside. Now it's looking pretty good, huh?

Cute little cubby holes for all those bits and bobs.

And a pretty desky bit to cheer anyone up while they are working or doing their homework.

Another feature about furniture that I love painting is "the twiddly bits", so when a cheval mirror with lots of twiddly bits came my way I was very excited. Not only did it have some nice twiddly bits, but it also had a nice flat surface (back of the mirror) which was just asking to be prettified with a bit of floral.

Front (above) Back (below)

Shall we have a closer look at the twiddly bits?

I love these bits so much. Little Things 1 and 2 are both pretty keen on this mirror, so I'm not sure it will make it as far as the shop! Luckily I have a few more pieces which are WIP , like this little what-not..

...which needs another coat of paint before I set to with some decoupage on those shelves. Then I have this plate stand thingy which has been through the mill a bit here in terms of me trying out some paint effects.

I have just painted over the paint effects at the moment, but after another coat of Farrow and Ball "Pointing", then I will start to distress it, and then the paint effects underneath will emerge - I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out! Meanwhile, these Midwinter plates look right at home on it!

And, just in case I don't have enough in the revamping studio - I have just picked up some more pieces !

This rather dirty lloyd loom chair is just crying out for some gorgeous vintage cushion - well, after it has had a good clean! But I'm thrilled to have found an original green one - the colour is really, really gorgeous!! Needless to say this one will not be painted over!

Then I'll have a bit of painting and upholstery to get this lovely shaped chair ready. I'm thinking of some sort of patchworked vintage fabric seat for this one - luckily it is a drop in seat, which means it is pretty straighforward to recover.

And I managed to find this nice shaped dresser back - which is always popular in the shop.

I'll get the knotting solution over this one whilst watching the tennis this afternoon! Then it'll have its undercoat on before the school run. I really don't like orange pine - so I'm in a rush to get it covered up!

By the way, if you are interested in buying any of my pieces, please drop me an email. I am in the process of getting a blogshop up and running, cos I don't want to fill this blog with a list of items for sale. I'll be linking to it from here just as soon as I get it sorted.

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!