A Visit to the Brocante

Well, the Biarritz holiday has been done and dusted.... and what a lot of fun was had! There was some indulgence .. with a little bit of this.

And lots of people watching whilst having one of these...

And there was lots of sun and fun on the beach with my hosts. Here are Little Thing 1 and 2...

And here is me on the beach - (as I see it anyway!) pretty glamorous eh?

But I thought that you might be more interested in one of my little outings - to the Brocante?

I make no apologies for the following totally indulgent photos of fabulous, vintage gorgeousness!

Oh my, those vintage linens are exquisite (unfortunately, also exquisitely priced!!)

The whole street was filled with tatty vans, which were unloading the most amazing treasures.

Nice bit of enamel ware coming up...

The dark table and tall cabinet at the back are made of metal - they have been stripped and polished, and were totally amazing. I loved them - unfortunately the luggage allowance on Ryanair would not have stretched to one of those though! But great ideas for Gorgeous Things methinks!

Mmmm, some girly stuff on this stall!

And some lovely lighting - as you know, I love a pretty chandelier...

It seems a bit disrespectful to just dump such gorgeous lighting on the dirty gravel, don't you think? I really, really wanted to "rescue" some of these!!

There was lots of stuff on view at this street Brocante, and, having never been to one before, it was really interesting to see what was on offer. The lighting and the linens were stunning, but I thought the furniture, china and glassware weren't a patch on the the amazing variety you can get at an English antiques centre (mention no names, but hey, it's true!) And, I guess, partly because of the Euro, the prices were really high.

So, back home now, and I feel refreshed and eager to get on with all my ideas for my Gorgeous Things. Starting with the opening of the Gorgeous Things Online Shop (see the link in my sidebar), where I will be offering various interesting bits and bobs over the coming weeks.

Oodles of Poodles

Not sure why, but I seem to keep finding poodles this week!

This sweet little tin was hidden in a box of sewing things inside a piece of furniture I bought this week. Isn't it the cutest thing? I was so excited when I found it! Perfect for filling with pins in a vintage sewing basket.

 And then, my lovely friend from Gorgeous ThingsVintage Jewellery (see link in my sidebar) asked if I'd like to buy anything from her pile of items in need of repair. Oh yes, I'd like to have a look! And I chose quite a few brooches, one of which was this proud looking woofer.

Isn't he the most gorgeous chap? His pin was a little bit wobbly, but I've given it a quick tweak with the pliers, and I think it'll hold now. He's definitely coming on holiday with me! Oh - did I mention I'm off on my hols? Yes - I'm off to Biarritz this afternoon - and this brooch is going to preserve my modesty on the front of my new maxi dress! Apparently the dress required boobs - and I'm a bit lacking in that department - but no matter, this little fellow will make sure that there will be no gaping!

And my final poodle is this fine, fluffy chap-

He's an old pyjama case, and he's made from sheepskin. Look at his lovely face.

Aaaaw! I feel so sorry for him, because he IS very cute, but he is also very old, and (whispers... a bit mancky) I think he must have been in a house with heavy smokers, cos his woolly coat is a bit yellow. I have tried to sponge wash his coat, which has improved him a bit - well, he doesn't smell anymore, anyway. But, he is still a bit mancky. Mr Thing is sick of moving him around my utility room and keeps asking to take him to the tip. Oh, I wish I knew what to do with him - I'm thinking maybe he is destined to find a new home from the car boot sale. But that is if Mr Thing doesn't dispose of him whilst I'm on my girls holiday with Little Thing 1 and Little Thing 2!
But we mustn't be too cross with Mr Thing, cos he has to work next week while we go away to the land of poodles!
So, until then, toodle-poodle pip!

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!