Category Archives: the sisters

Remembering Frances

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Its mother’s day today and also the anniversary of our mama’s death in March 1997. She was the first and foremost dalzell salvage sister and the inspiration for much of our activity on this blog. Our first ever blog post in May 2010 was this newspaper article below from the 1970’s, detailing some of her projects at Tullyroan House. Since then i think we have gained a wider readership so i am posting it here again as an homage to her talents which wisely taught us (begrudgingly at the time) the ways of the salvaging underground! I recall countless trips as children to old junk yards and antique shops. One in particular always seems to stick in my mind which was The Hole In The Wall in Armagh. I used to hate going to that dank cellar which had a musty stench and seemed every week to feature a collection of odd people skulking quietly around, handling all the ‘rubbish’ laid out on tables and creaky shelves. I used to try and interest myself in the books but they all were about ancient queens, local geography, or old maps, of no interest to an 8 year old. Of course that is exactly the kind of place i myself now love to frequent. The smellier the better, in fact. Then there was Hueys in Loughgall, and an old worn-out stately home somewhere off the M1, with several floors of antique furniture.

Mum was notorious for re-arranging furniture. Not only was there mounds of it to move around but as there was a lot of space in Tullyroan, things frequently got carted off to different rooms, or just a simple re-organisation room-by-room. It wasn’t uncommon to disappear off from a task and come back shortly afterwards to find the sofa you were sitting on located on the other side of the room, or 3 inches from the fire. So as young girls we thought nothing of taking a sofa between us and transporting it to various trial venues under her tutelage.

It seems fitting to speak of all this now as Ryan and Marianne put the finishing touches just this month to their very own version of Tullyroan House after a 3 year arduous salvage project of epic proportions. One day we will get a blog post detailing it all on here i hope!

The rendition of the article isn’t great but if you can zoom in or pull out your magnifying glass you will read about Chesterfields, french polishing, auctions, bedspreads, crocheted blankets and other such topics familiar to any reader of our own blog. I chuckled to read the phrase about auction ‘finds’ – still a term widely in use in the business but more recently attached to the word ‘vintage’.

If you knew her, what memories or stories of mum’s salvaging might you have?

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Get skirty

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I’ve mentioned one of my blog crushes, Miss James at Bleubird vintage before. She does a thread called Mama style which is worth checking out for those uninspired dressing days! I find if I keep an inspiring pic in my head, it spurs me on to make an effort in the morning! Check her out for lots of vintage life and fashion inspiration and bouts of downright jealousy!

It’s been a while since we show cased some Salvage sister fashion finds, so here’s a collection of skirts for you. Had my Salvage sister over in the summer so didn’t even have to fall out with the husband to get some of these shots!

The skirt, so up-or-down beat, whatever you want it to be depending on what goes above and below it.

First up, Im in love with navy at the moment, and grey, and navy and grey..

Navy Pencil skirt Cancer Research shop Belmont road

High waisted Navy Pencil Thrifted in Dublin

That reminds me, have been meaning to tell you about my shopping trip in Dublin months ago.. will do. Heres another  Dublin find and a shot in our trendy hotel!

Denim pencil thrifted in Dublin

Sisters choice.. mustard and tourquise.. love.

Mustard skirt - Urban outfitters

And finally a reworked number I got from the fabulous Fashion Souk, catch them at Belfast fashion week next week!

Oh and the bracelet is from MK Vintageusa at St Georges market, and the necklace watch from Liberty Blue on Lombard Street.

Pleated skirt

Pleated skirt

Carvela wedges from Deja Vu

There are some great designer second hand shops in Ni, including Deja Vu on the Lisburn road, read more here, and theres also Rich Rags on Bloomfield avenue who fabulously supported our Charity Swap and Fashion show last Dec.

And just to remind you that we did have a summer here’s where the skirt went that day

Stormont Park Walkies

Go fetch!

 

 

Toot Toot Car Boot

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This weekend saw the salvage sisters bleary-eyed at St. Donards car boot sale after our 6am start to beat the queues and secure a space to sell our treasures. Our loot had been gathered up at another episode of Tullyroan family house clearance, to include some antique finds by the original salvager, our mother, and also our grandmother who is now 102. The items we sold had a lucky escape from skip-heaven and will hopefully live on to adorn the china cabinets of their new happy owners in east belfast.

The buyers were a friendly bunch of locals and regulars, who were delighted to inform us of the origins and sources of some of our porcelain figurines and items, which were high in demand. We were happy to shift anything for around a pound as sadly, most of it was chipped or in bad repair. We did attract quite a swarm initially as people are definately interested in things which have vintage appeal or nostalgic interest.

We were informed by one shrewd buyer that he would shift the silver mustard spoon he’d found on our table for 50p for up to a handsome tenner on ebay! Its good to know a little more of the life story of the items you’re parting with.

There’s definatley a roaring car boot culture in NI but accessing the details can be tricky. Important nuggets like the fact that if you arrive at this one after about 6.30pm you’ll miss the cut in the queue for when the gates open at 8! Apparently 40 cars got turned away yesterday from this 50 car space.

Two good websites that we used were Car boots R Us and CarbootSales.Org, and we heard about this great page on Facebook so don’t forget to report your successes and tips there if you head out booting!

 

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Back to our roots

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Many moons ago, Gemma and i undoubtedly committed a multitude of style sins during our 2-year experiment on Dad’s old farmhouse during our last years at school. Take, for example, the lime green conservatory. Or the ‘Mexican’ theme sitting room – orange brush-effect walls, red velvet curtains adorned with multi-colour beads , blue window and door trims, gold stars suspended from the ceiling, a £10 salvaged red velvet sofa. Hopefully, our tastes have softened somewhat since then, but those were the days that nurtured and shaped our creative longings. Perhaps as a form of penance for our unfettered interior experimentation, we started the big clear out of Tullyroan House last weekend, making room for a new era in its long Dalzell history.

Work began under rather sodden conditions, but relics of salvage sister history soon made for cheering moments. This table was my first furniture project at age 13. The driftwood piece posed as a light for many happy years on the psychedelic wall.

This vintage bistro chair was restored from the brink with copper paint and a blue paint wash.

With creative confidence setting in at 17, i revived this dresser from its previous life as a paint-pot graveyard, making the doors and adding a chicken wire/material frontage. The paint stains were covered up using white paint and a wood-effect tool. I think i was aiming for a bleached wood look.

But no time for nostalgic loitering, the salvage sisters turn to seeking out opportunities anew amidst their car-crash teen craft projects. Enter the complementary skills of the self-proclaimed Burn Brother Ryan! Unfortunately, some things just can’t or won’t be reincarnated… These sofas have seen many a party, but their final destination in the great Tullyroan Sofa Heaven has come, via the pearly gates of the holy bonfire.

Good job we had plenty of help from the next generation in making all these tough decisions, and a steady hand to stay the course on the way up to the bonfire pile.

And for another day, when sources of plant pots, wobbly stools and rusty lamp stands have run dry, we can always return to this pile of salvaged goods and start all over again!

Saturday Morning showdown

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We had an exciting time on ‘The Saturday Morning Show‘ hosted by the lovely Alyson McElroy Jones. Admittedly, as much as the sisters tried to appear nonchalant, a close up microphone earlyish on a Saturday morning did rattle our nerves ever so slightly! Alyson and her other guest for the day, Jennie Wallace skilfully made the experience cosy and chilled and we are thrilled  to have been honoured with the invite onto the show! Still high from the media debut here are some photos of the show in action..

Alyson is an inspiring entrepreneur with The Fashion Souk and Hola Lola evidence of her brilliant recent initiatives. She is commited to fashion and lifestyle with a green and ethical conscience. Check out the next Fashion Souk in the Ulster Hall, Belfast on the 8th August, for everything from Humble Jumble, to previously loved designer fashion, and brand new pieces from local designers, or peruse the ethically sourced mexican design goodies on Hola Lola which she runs along with her co-host on the Saturday morning show, Jenny Simon. I am cheered every time I see my recent purchase of funky cherry kitchen oil cloth.

Salvage Wedding

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Take an engagement, a fleeting hilarious idea, a barn (well you could say shed), a family heirloom tractor, and quite a lot of enthusiasm, exertion and amazing friends and family and all their creativity, and you’ve got our Barn wedding.

It’s making me tired just browsing through all the photos of the whole process! But it was amazing to share the task with so many people dear to us, and on the day, before anyone took their seats they had all contributed in some way as their gift to us! Many hidden talents were unveiled after much initiative and lashings of humour! [slideshow]

A team of salvagers, gathered china cups busily for a few months, competing their way to the best bargain, and best design. We managed flowers ‘for free’, planting little pots of grass in advance. The dandelions to go in them were harvested well in advance, into the night actually, as their season was ending when I had the idea! I recieved a tip from a friend that hairspraying them preserves them after musing how much I loved their delicately perfect puffball form, and reminiscence of their ability to tell the time, when time mattered not a jot!

In keeping with the barn theme, my fabulous aunt created the ‘fresian frisky cow’ graphic for the stationary, and an incredible fruity fresian cake was created by a friend from uni.

The tractor which was my grandfather’s, had an excuse to be restored to it’s former glory, and was our open air carriage, and is now a family treasure! Check out the bunting in the outdoor shots which was exquisitely made by hand by my sister in law. I still look at it in awe when it is rolled out to create instant festive spirit at any event.

The dance floor was a large cutting of classic chequer print lino which is now our kitchen floor! In true salvage style, nearly all of our decor is used and re-used now in our home, at parties and for any fitting events we can find for it, but I  still need to find a fitting place in my home for the disco ball! (if you fancy more photos see www.adammcmurray.co.uk and look at Gemma and Ivan album)

Organisation station appreciation

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I am a grateful recipient of the amazing ‘Organisation stations’ of the previous post by Lucy. Here it is in action.. along with a peak at my nursery which with a little fighting some old furniture into a metrically challenged space, and a tin of paint with a lot of masking tape, I was able to transform for under 25 pounds! A proud 1/1000 of the prices I was amazed to find being pedalled at me with emotional attachments when I briefly snooped around a few stockists of such things, surely over indulging a need for such transitional items! A little wire line with pegs makes a great showcase of the cutest tiniest things and favourite cards.. enjoy.