A Sunday Market

Our vintage website keeps us very busy these days and during the course of a month, we often visit the large International fairs and markets all over the country, sometimes setting off as dawn is breaking (wonderful in the Summer months!) So it was nice to visit a smaller flea market on Sunday, deep in the heart of rural Somerset. This has long been a favourite fair of mine, but in the winter months there are less outside stalls and sometimes none at all if the weather is very bad. But Sunday was a bright and breezy day - albeit a bit chilly - so there was a good spread of hardy stallholders outside! Despite arriving much later than usual (we had decided a long and leisurely breakfast was needed that morning!) and having to park almost outside on the road due to the number of visitors, we did indeed have a very successful day!

I was pleasantly surprised by the wonderful haul of textiles I managed to find. I thought you would like to see a selection of them; as you can see, there is a very Spring-like feel to the collection above, with the delightful violets and fresh, pretty lilac colours.

These wonderful French rosy curtains are just gorgeous - and huge! The pretty boxed pillowcases have never been used.

These beautiful fabrics, including a 1930s print and 1950s barkcloth and chintz are wonderful!

The majority of these will be for sale on the website soon or transformed into something beautiful for our handmade section.

We left the market fairly early as we decided that a leisurely breakfast should really be complemented by a leisurely Sunday lunch, so we set off in search of a country pub - the perfect way to round off a very enjoyable trip!

Have a wonderful week!

NEW! The Handmade Range at Vintage Home

I am pleased to announce the first batch of our handmade items are on sale at the Vintage Home website from today! We have created a range of beautiful cushions made from vintage fabrics and trims to suit a wide variety of interiors.

Here is a little taster...


...there are breathtaking barkcloths...



...perfect patchworks of delicate French textiles...


...floral linens, barkcloths and pretty trims...


...fresh Gustavian-style cottons...


...and subtle linen roses.

We are currently working on our other exciting ranges of soft furnishings and accessories - I will bring you news of them soon!

A Colourful History

There are many beautiful vintage items which help to make a house a real home - and there are a handful of vintage items which provide each room in that home with its centre piece or crowning glory.

For the bedroom, one of those special items must surely be the patchwork quilt. What was once made out of necessity and sheer practicality has now become a very collectable item. The many fabrics were often salvaged from favourite items of clothing or soft furnishings which were no longer serviceable. A patchwork quilt was also a very good way to preserve and enjoy fabrics which carried a special meaning or fond memories.

This absolutely stunning patchwork quilt is an exceptional find; in near perfect condition, it is made from many varied and beautiful fabrics. The quilt is entirely handsewn and dates from the late 1930s to the early 1940s. Even the soft cotton/linen backing and forest green cotton edging is hand stitched. Every single hexagon is handsewn and great thought has been given to the placement of the many different fabrics.

There is an astounding variety of fabrics in this quilt; velvets, needlecords, crepes, cottons, chintzes, satins, silks and slub-silks, brocades and damasks - and more! There are some very pretty Sanderson and Bernard Wardle fabrics in the form of roses and rosebuds. There are also several cottons most typically used for the pretty eiderdowns of that era, and delightful polka dot, gingham, floral and jacquard patterns. Such an amazing array of gorgeous fabrics which complement each other perfectly. This beautiful quilt is one of today's many new additions to the Vintage Home website which also includes some rather pretty French fabric boxes; this one is lined with a beautiful old wallpaper...

...this one is covered in peonies and pinks...

...and this one dates to the 1920s.

There will be more vintage treasures coming soon - in the meantime, here's a taster of the forthcoming range of Vintage Home handmade goods, which incorporates an exciting and beautiful array of vintage textiles and trims.

Have a wonderful week!

New Year, New Stock!

A Happy New Year to you all and I hope you have enjoyed the holidays! It's back to work for most of us now but we shouldn't complain, there's only so many times you can watch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and only so many mince pies you can eat!!

I've been busy sourcing new vintage stock for the website and have added a varied selection today. There are some very pretty accessories; the beautiful hanky case shown above is part of a boudoir set; the handpainted roses are exquisite!

There is a distinctive boudoir theme...


...and pink is popular too!

These pretty chocolate boxes were a lucky find. This one has delicate pink roses...


...and this one has sprigs of mimosa!

More vintage stock coming soon, in the meantime have a lovely weekend wherever you are and whatever the weather!

Happy New Year!

I'd like to wish you all a very Happy New Year!

2007 has certainly been a very eventful and exciting year here at Vintage Home. February saw the launch of our vintage website and the response has been wonderful! Living a 'vintage' lifestyle has always been a true passion of ours and running the website is the perfect complement to that lifestyle.

Thank you to everyone who has made Vintage Home possible - we are currently working on new ideas for the website so 2008 should herald even more exciting times!


All the very best to you and your loved ones for 2008 - Happy New Year!!

A Very Merry Christmas to You All!

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you a Merry Christmas and a Peaceful and Happy New Year! It's certainly looking very festive here and as soon as we'd finished putting our decorations up I grabbed the camera and snapped some seasonal photos to share with you.

Evening approaches and the lights twinkle softly...

...draw a chair up to the fire where we will sit and reminisce awhile ...

...help yourself to a tasty treat!

It has also been looking very seasonal outside. Alas, we have had no snow but the heavy frosts have been the next best thing! Here is a recent spectacular sunrise...

...my neighbour's frosty mailbox - yes, it is situated down a leafy lane in the English countryside!

Thank you all for your wonderful and entertaining blogs. We each have very busy lives and it is just brilliant that we take the time to share the moments of our lives throughout the year. Have a wonderful time wherever you are in the world!

Mystery Ladies!

Regular readers of my blog will know that I have a penchant for 'mystery ladies' in the form of old paintings and photos, which I find on my travels across the country in search of website treasures.

Here are two more mysterious ladies for you! The first is a spectacular and huge oil painting of a beautiful young lady - perhaps a debutante - painted in 1965. I spied this painting (how could one miss it?!) at one of my recent buying trips. It was propped up against a tree, its custom built frame leaning alongside it. I simply could not resist her and without even questioning whether both frame and painting would fit in the car with all my other purchases, I told the stallholder I'd take her! The frame is nearly five feet tall and is a work of art itself. But my mystery blonde lady in her pretty blue roses on silver dress with matching shawl and delicate pearls is a true work of art.

I have christened her Maggie - but I wonder who she actually is. I quite like the way she sits waiting to be placed within her frame and have decided to leave her that way for now!


My other mystery lady is a very charming young woman of some considerable years! Although a young lady in the painting, she was painted well over a 100 years ago.

I was instantly drawn to this delicate and entrancing watercolour; the white lace and pearl smothered hat is just beautiful and the delicate frilled shawl of her dress frames the pretty pearl chain and cross around her neck.

One of these delightful ladies has been added to the Vintage Home online shop today - along with some very special and beautiful items - find out which one when you pop along for a visit.

We also have a special treat for you - we are now playing a particularly famous piece of music on the home page, I hope you enjoy it! Plus we have switched the Christmas lights on at Vintage Home and there is a special Christmas message to you all!

I hope you enjoy your browse - I'm off for some festive refreshments - I think a mince pie would go down a treat - any one for a glass of mulled wine?!

The 1950s Home

We recently found this amazing book at one of the many antique fairs we regularly attend. Whilst on the hunt for new stock for the website, Mike stopped to browse at an antique bookstall and couldn't resist this 1950s pop-up book. Although it is a child's book, the pop-up illustrations of a typical 50s house are just amazing so I thought I would share it with you. Here is the kitchen - I love those Rose kitchen units which were all the rage then - and how about that mangle?!

Oh look, the ironing board is out - anyone for an afternoon of ironing?!

Here's the living room - this would have been considered very 'with-it' for that era!

The 'modern' bedroom - looks like a nice cosy eiderdown on the bed! Can you see the 'party frock' hanging in the wardrobe?

It's all mod-cons in the bathroom - they even have a shower!


This is not only a wonderful piece of social history but a really fantastic example of a vintage children's book - I hope you've enjoyed having a peek inside!

When is a chair not a chair..?

...When it has been transformed into a truly beautiful, one-off gorgeous piece of vintage furniture!!!

It's a 1930s armchair which had been re-covered in recent years, but was now rather drab, dreary, tattered and torn (thanks to the cats!) and more than a tad grubby in places! I had a vision of a patchwork of rosy vintage fabrics and having some fabrics that I thought would be perfect, I went on the hunt for more. Of course, I regularly changed my mind with regard to colours, styles etc!

There is such a lovely variety of fabrics here; old Sanderson linen; 50s roses cotton; French florals; rosey barkcloth - all stitched together in a charming patchwork!


The chair will live in the clock house which means there is the temptation to sit back and relax every day!

But the relaxing will have to wait - first I have to update the website with more vintage goodies!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!