All for Autumn

Helen from Most Wanted asked a host of bloggers (including me!) to pick out some nice things for £50 or less that will spruce up your home this Autumn (you can read more about it here). With a canny eye, you can easily change the look of a room on a tiny budget. Seeing as most of my budget is tiny, most of the time, the challenge rather appealed to me.

Virtual money in hand, I rootled about the interwebs and this is what I found.

1. Mod Orange Sterno Pot from The White Mole, $28.

2. Hand Water-Coloured Fox Gocco Print by Lizzy Stewart, $10.

3. Miniature Raindrop (Orange) by Ashley G, $10 (I'd be tempted to buy a few of these, they'd look great grouped on a wall).

4. 'Hubert est pensif' Owl cushion by Caroline Selmes, €24.00 (her other designs are lovely as well, you could buy two and still stay within budget!)

5. Set of six acorn coasters from Wooden Donkey, £12.

6. Deer & Vines Print by Esoule, $25.

7. Pair of Mid-Century Teak Candlesticks from 27thAVE, $22.50.

8. Beetroot Tea Towel by Lush Designs, £10.

9. Large Embroidery Hoop Chalkboard by Bliss In A Teacup, $45.

So there you are, a bit of vintage, a bit of handmade and hopefully still some money in your purse! What would you buy with £50 riiiight now?

New! {Vintage} In The Shop! Part 2 Or Is It 3?

I'm aware I'm being very shop-centric in my bloggings at the moment, sorry. It's just that having neglected it for so long, I really feel like putting it out there, otherwise, I'll have to get a proper job and lord knows, I don't want that. So, please, if you like what you see, will you tell your friends and generally push people my way? I'd be really everso grateful.

I have just put these two LOVELY Kenneth Townsend dishes (and the groovy girl tile above) in the shop this very afternoon. It was quite hard to do, I'd love to keep them, but now I'm all about the commerce, I just can't... So, off you go my pretties!

In other news, there was a hat festival here at the weekend, everyone looked so jolly and dapper.

It really made me want to make a bit more effort to wear a hat and suchlike. But I type this, wearing jeans and crumpled tee however, not dandified in the slightest. Tsk! Tsk! Do you have a favourite hat? This winter, I would like a felt hat with a wide brim that calls to mind Ali Macgraw in Love Story. You can see some nice examples here.

I'll be back later this week to announce a giveaway and also something exciting in the pipeline!

Weekend Finds

Thank you all for your excitable comments re my last post, all your encouragement has been so wonderful. I am hoping to throw the doors to le petit boutique open later this week, but I'll be sure to let you know!

We had a lovely weekend, loafing and gadding about in equal measure with dear friends who came a-visiting. We wandered the market on Saturday, had a splendid blowout lunch, and even found a last minute babysitter so we could all go to a birthday party on Saturday night, which was so much fun, even in the pouring rain.

Yesterday, we went to the best carboot sale in the world TM, except it wasn't because the weather forecast had been so very terrible that there was hardly anyone there. But I managed to winkle out what few treasures there were. Then it was on to the beach in the not-quite-blazing sunshine. We buried Iris in the sand, had some salty chips and an ice cream and visited a bookshop or two so before long, our fuzzy post-party heads were quite forgotten.



Last night we had an epic feast of thyme-roasted chicken, with almond pilaf and lots of Moroccan-inspired sides. Replete, we savoured the last few hours of the weekend, drinking red wine and giggling endlessly. Marvellous.

Onto the treasure then...



Pretty little matchbox.



Old box decorated with faded swallows.



Tiny and perfect tin brooch of a pair of swallows.



A Walter Bosse bronze elephant, I spied him on a heaped table at a tiny antiques fair we visited on Saturday. I also have a cat and a horse, which I also found at the market a few months ago. They're very striking and weighty, I particularly want to lay my hands on a sleeping fox next...



Vintage Fisher Price - a little safari jeep with driver. The back seats flip up so you can put two more little people in the back! So sweet!



A pair of tiny owls. The one on the left is the same as this - look!



Child's mug with a Mary Blair style illustration from Baa Baa Black Sheep.



A lovely puzzle tray. The pieces lift out to reveal the inside of the house, I bought it with the shop in mind, but on getting it home I realised that some silly person has drawn around all the pieces with black marker pen, maybe because it's quite a tricky puzzle. I'm going to try to return it to its former glory.



A happy chimp - I think he may've come from a Fisher Price circus. He reminds me of this.



And ONE book. I know, just one, amazing isn't it? But the cover is so beautiful, it deserved my unbridled attention.

Weekend Finds

This weekend has been a breathless and whistle stop tour of the flea market, junk shops, vintage clothes shops, a vintage camera shop, a couple of charity shops, old bookshops, and a short walk on the beach. It's been lots of fun, especially as I had a marvellously enthusiastic sidekick in the shape of a friend who we'll call Katie, mainly because that's her name. I haven't known Katie for long, but she proved herself to be excellent fun and expert in all secondhand matters.

We were at times measured and at others completely giddy kippers. Some treasures got left behind, but we came home with bags aplenty and a dressed crab for supper. I'm already looking forward to our next adventure. Today, I added to my riches by going to the carboot sale.

So, where to start?

A bag of stencils from the junk shop - too many to list here, these are two of my faves.




Vintage toffee tin for Iris from Katie


1940s court shoes. Sigh, they are perfect...


A great many books - might have to do another post on the rest!

The Peacock Party by Alan Aldridge, published 1979.


Tinker Tailor by Charles Keeping, published 1968


Page detail - lovely, eh?


Balbus by Oliver Hill and Hans Tisdall, published 1944


Page detail - extraordinary snail


Groovy Sultan eggcup


Tiny red enamel candle holder


Two wooden owls


Pretty bird plate


Abstract ironstone plate


Wowzers, what a haul! Maybe I can encourage Katie to share her finds with us...?

*UPDATE* See Katie's Flickr - she's posted her finds!

The First Car Boot Sale of the Year

Car boot sales are the best.

Well, they're right up there with flea markets, charity shops and jumble sales. All so full of promise - it makes me excited to just think of it! Sunday saw the first one of 2009 and although it was super-cold and about the quarter of the size it usually is, I still winkled out some lovely things.

I have (somewhat foolishly, perhaps) told a friend or two about this, my favourite car boot sale, and in doing so piqued their interest. I shall have to be as cunning and wily as an old fox if I am to maintain my success rate now I might have direct competition!


What a combination, birds AND Russian dolls. They have such forlorn little faces as well.


A Swedish wall tile. Beautiful.


Everything is better in miniature. Well almost.



I am collecting a few of these old Agatha Christies for a friend's birthday. I love the covers, surreal and macabre.

Oh and these things too - a embroidered wool shrug, it's really beautifully finished with beading and lovely detail. And another piece of embroidered fabric to add to my huge fabric stash...