November moments

Posted on November 30, 2014 by lucy

After a series of (relatively) successful autumn sourdoughs emerged from my oven, it was time to return to old tricks as winter approached.

It was good to share ideas again with my Edinburgh salvage buddy of old. We happened upon this delightful Cotswold cottage and hastily booked in for a long weekend. Surely no better place exists in the cosmos for Annis-Calvert getaway.The old Aga; Cornishware; french monogrammed linen scatter cushions; Thomas Crapper-style temperamental toilet; antique curtains; reclaimed treasures in every corner. I could go on, but Hollyhock’s description captures the rest…

My latest local discovery has been the monthly Drill Hall Flea Market. 50 stalls of well selected, reasonably priced vintage goodies for the discerning customer. I’ve been 3 times now, and each visit has resulted in a handful of tasty treats. This weekend I took my latest vintage compadre and colleague. It was busy from doors open, but nothing could stop us from landing a few pre-Christmas bargains.

1. Copious meters of vintage silk ribbon, £5

2. More coronation mugs, £1; another unnecessary “Everhot’ teapot, £3; and my favourite item of the lot, this wicker tray, £3. It reminds me of one of my antique heros, Elizabeth Harty, who had an enormous version and I’ve been looking for one for years. I’ll think of her fondly each time i use it.

3. Enamel roasting pot for the turkey this year, £3. Came up brand new with a touch of bleach (don’t tell anyone); enamel bowl £14. Wicker picnic basket, £3

My October visit to the market was equally successful, proffering up the following lovely items.

1. Retro sugar shaker, 50p2. Set of Poole servers, £53. This Worcester ware tea tin had the words “CAKE DECORATION’ scrawled on in red marker. For some reason i still paid £3 for it. After trying every cleaning agent i could think of, i realised it was written in nail varnish. It came up trumps in the end with a little acetone!4. Irish linen vintage Christmas tea towel, 50p5. Picquotware vintage teapot, £5. Hey, i know, how many teapots can one person own. My nanny had this one, and since Ryan now uses it for engine oil in his garage (sacrilege) i thought a little reminder of her would be in order with this purchase. Christmas is nearly here and I’m getting into the spirit with some festive foliage. Plenty more creative crafts coming up this month….

Charity shop stop

Posted on September 18, 2014 by lucy

It’s voting day over here, so I was expecting to feel momentous. Turns out it’s just like any other September day in Scotland (the haar, autumnal, beautiful), apart from a few feral-looking people wandering around wearing Saltires. From my perch in a Morningside cafe opposite a polling station, it’s pleasing to watch a comely Yes campaigner and his equal and opposite No man chatting amiably side by side. That’s the spirit lads.

Whilst we’re on it, isn’t it a fine thing that we still vote in person? In an age where technology is pervasive, we are still required to present ourselves bodily in order to have a say. Unless of course you are casting a postal ballot, but let us not split hairs. I will begrudge the day when voting becomes something you can do across a screen – impersonal, cursory. The short stroll to the polling station allows thought, consolidation of views, a chance to reflect. The pleasant staff, the make-shift chipboard booth, a little pencil on a string. Symbols of democracy.

Meanwhile, to more pressing business. It’s Thursday and that means Lane Sale. Well, ideally, except that upon my expectant arrival I discovered that it has since been moved to fortnightly, this being a fallow week. Darn it! Not to worry – onwards to the fertile grounds of nearby St Columba’s hospice charity shop. A Leith institution, this is the best 2nd hand shop in town. I don’t know how they manage to gather up so much vintage stuff. It’s coming down with linens, enamel, trinkets, kitchenalia, material. I spent a good while browsing, doing circuits to spot the things I missed the first time round. Here’s the haul.

1. 50s curtain material. £5

2. Set of vintage Sheffield wood-handle cutlery. £3.

3. Skyline meat fork. 50p. To go with vast collection….

4. Linen pillowcase. 50p.

5. 3 polka dot mini glasses. £1.

6. Retro chunky wine carafe. £2.

7. Enamelware. £1. (To be honest, I need another one of these like i need a hole in the head, but i just can’t pass it up.)

8. Blue and white meat platter. £9.

9. Dinky little aluminium gravy boat. £1.

10. Michael Pollan hardback. 50p. I’m currently reading his latest, ‘Cooked”, and thoroughly loving it.

Ah, its good to be back in the fray.

Car Booty

Posted on April 30, 2014 by lucy

With the flat now operating at a ‘one in one out’ policy for furniture, focus has necessarily, but pleasantly, turned to smaller delicacies. For such things, a car boot sale is the magnum opus. There used to be a boot sale at New Street in Edinburgh, which was wonderful as i recall. This closed and the Omni boot sale on Sundays replaced it. Me and my pal Julie used to go there a lot, but then she moved to the south coast where loot from the country ‘jumble sales’ took her vintage and retro salvaging to another plain! I’ve dabbled in the Omni centre sale a bit over the years, even participated once, without spectacular success. My last foray into the bowels of the cinema left a lasting distaste for the whole affair. Apart from the challenging environs, a lightless, airless lair of feral bargain-hunters at level minus four of a concrete jungle, the place was rife with stretched Primark cast-offs, electric foot spas and leopard print starched nylon curtains. And enough baby clothing to see any youngster through a long winter in Siberia.

That was two years ago, and things are certainly looking up, even if the crazy ladies dangerously wielding suitcases to cram with maximum tat remain. Last Sunday was an extravagant festival of the £1. This appeared to be the going rate for pretty much every item i laid my hands on. The critical factor for success is whether the traders, and the house clearance del-boys, are in residence. There will always be the pathetic drooping wall-paper tables filled with naff trinkets that no-one in their right mind will so much as glance at. Then we have the disenfranchised relatives looking to make a few quid on the remains of their Auntie’s estate, the rest of which was bequeathed to Bolton Adopt-a-Donkey charitable trust. The proper traders know that at a car boot sale, prices are rock bottom and as such, are the place for thrifty hunters like me to find cracking deals.

So what spoils were acquired at this veritable £1 feast? 1. Salvage sister Gemma sagely advises that this is the ultimate canny British family purchase, a wind breaker for those fateful gale force days at the shore. No more sandy sandwiches for us! This jaunty vintage number sadly came minus 3 poles, but no matter. That can easily be remedied. This set me off to a good start…. 2. Next up – the 50p box. Starting safe with a pair of pretty floral bowls. I have one Midwinter ‘Red Domino’ teacup, so was delighted to find this matching plate in good condition. It’s a sought-after range, and fetches a pretty penny on ebay at the moment. To add to the vintage coronation mug collection, this 1937 piece, the oldest one in my assortment so far. I have never had much luck finding good quality Poole crockery. This classic jug should get me started….Some old sewing patterns (inspired by the sewing bee, I’m planning to get into home-made clothing), and vintage dominos.3. From there, I came across a wily tradesman who drove me down with his relentless bargaining. That is, me, not the price sadly. Still, this full set of red Skyline utensils for £5 was a great find. I collect red kitchenalia so this was perfect. Prices for these on ebay are mad at the moment! Me pal Jules and I have been gathering these classic wares for years. Particularly pleasing is the frying slice, which you don’t often come across. 4. From the same seller, I was rather taken by these Melmex mix ‘n’ match picnic-wares. There is a notable irony in old hospital crockery becoming fashionable. However I LOVE a good picnic, and what better than to enjoy yer tea in a retro chalky pink plastic teacup. There was more in the set but I couldn’t bring the price down any further, and was running low on funds by this point! £5 for the lot.

5. This might be purchase of the day. An art deco lidded casserole dish. Guess what? £1.6. These turkish-style tumblers are great for amuse-bouche (I know, so pretentious that i would even consider producing such an item) or mini desserts. £1. 7. One can’t look past a £1 stack of vintage linens. Well, speak for myself I suppose…

8. Another collection – Danish vintage Melamine utensils. 50p. 9. Jackson’s tea tins. Number 4 of the collection.

The theme is clearly collections. I love gathering up items here and there, especially when they are sourced from various scouts. It’s the thill of the ‘find’ that keeps me coming back for more….

See you there next Sunday?

Measure twice cut once

Posted on March 19, 2014 by lucy

If only I would take heed of these my father’s wise words when at the machine. But as my sewing buddy can confirm, pinning and measuring really aren’t my thing. I just want to attach things together and deal with problems later. Some may find this surprising, my perfectionist tendencies being well known, however task completion and productivity are in fact higher values for me. I just love racing through a project.

Though I sew every Monday night with my pal and neighbour Kathryn, I’ve also been turning out a few extra projects at weekends during the rugby torture/season. This, and baking, as ye Instagrammers and rugby revellers will well know. This winter i’ve made efforts to improve the draughts blowing through the flat. Because of the uneven floors, its difficult to go conventional on draught exclusion around the front door. Hence i opted to construct a more traditional item, using tweed samples rescued from a junk shop in the Borders (The Glory Hole, Innerleithen). These tweed squares came from the closure of Ballantyne’s mill in 2010, the last establishment of the formerly booming textile industry to remain in the region. After a bit of research, i discovered that buckwheat hulls are the ideal filler for excluders, owing to their density, weight, and eco-friendly credentials being a waste product, not to mention mouse-unfriendly. Using traditional synthetic filler leads to a lighter and hence less effective mechanism. I added attachments for the door, to match the newly painted walls in Stiffkey Blue (see later post).

Thanks to Waitrose, I’ve recently started drinking coffee. But just the lame type, latte. Meanwhile my husband drinks tar from this receptacle on a regular basis. So i reckoned it needed a bit of sewing love, and made it a wee jacket. To keep it warm in our draughty house. I looked at a few pictures online and then put together the cosy in my own way using some nice floral offcuts, random buttons and vintage elastic. It’s got some nice insulating lining and hopefully will keep our coffee happier for a bit longer.

Death by scatter cushions – could be the strap-line for my entire interior decor style. So it follows that I have made a lot of cushions over the years. But never a round one, hence my latest conquest. The living room is pink floral in theme, and i fancied a new challenge in the soft furnishing department. I cut an Ikea filler to size and used my favourite vintage soft satin curtains for the cover. Some white piping and buttons, and hey presto.

Having been following the BBC Sewing Bee, i’m tempted to try and work with a pattern, which i haven’t done so far. I’ve been modifying some charity shop clothes with some success, but quite fancy some ‘just for the heck of it’ sewing projects. I have a Liberty sewing book which i plan to get into over the summer – first up, a peacock pincushion project…

Finest finds

Posted on February 12, 2014 by lucy

After the epic-ness of my last major project (the cabinets), I haven’t had much inspiration nor inclination to write. Then, I got a new writing machine (not vintage, not a bargain) and I figured some writing and picturing was just what was needed to break it in. Though actual projects have not been prolific of late, bargain hunting never ceases, as long as i have eyes in my head (hopefully for a long time).

One of the best salvage outings of late was with my good pal over at Hollyhock Lane. We started scouring the Edinburgh hot-spots together about 10 years ago, and many a wonderful item has been communally spotted and swooped upon since. Sadly the distance of many miles limits such outings these days, so a few hours in her home town Lewes in November was a real treat. There’s a 5-storey heaven called Lewes Antique Centre, in which we spent a happy couple of hours browsing the many stalls and sellers. The sheer volume of desirable items seems to drive down prices and i was most pleased with my little haul that day.

I have been building a collection of platters, largely thanks to the writings of my two favourite chefs Ottolenghi and good ol’ Jamie. Both contend that serving food on crappy plates rather defeats the purpose of spending precious time laboriously creating it, hence i have gathered up quite a party of pretty pastel plates. These blue ones came with 2 delicious lidded serving bowls, both of which smashed on the ground en route to the car. No matter.

In the same establishment i picked up this lovely vintage eiderdown for £15, owing to a few repairs required here and there. Our bedroom is dusky blues so navy was a new direction but an ever-welcome excuse to run up some new scatter cushions; for this occasion i am mid-way through some sumptuous mustard yellow velvet covers.

I also got some retro red scales (another growing collection), and completed this set of red enamel tins, started a few years ago

.Occasionally i can steal a few minutes at work to pop into the local establishments. The two best places are a sale room in West Linton (now closed) and another one in Coldstream. Now, it must be stated that a closing down sale in a sale room is right up my street. The other week i came away with this set of blue tins, a blue platter, and some picquotware for £3 in total. Ridiculous!

Last week i popped into the Coldstream place for the first time in a few years. I’d forgotten how good it was, in terms of the wide range of vintage and antique, as well as good quality second hand ‘proper’ items, all from house clearances. I got this dinky little suitcase, lots of enamelware, a vintage whisk (which i have been searching out for ages), and a great wee brass fire guard. Prices go a little higher, but having a niche in the market within a rural area dictates that i suppose.

My next big project will be the living room. I’m contemplating the possibility of painting it pink, and if i do i would love to find a huge old persian rug to sober it up a bit. So far no luck, but every week’s a salvage week!

Happy-dashery cabinet

Posted on January 15, 2014 by lucy

Some months ago, I serendipitously came across a rather wonderful item. Some have remarked that such an item has already made its mark upon our home, but i disagree. One can never pass up the opportunity for another haberdashery cabinet.

Such opportunity came via an idle browse on Gumtree for ‘cabinet’, as i pondered the most suitable article to accomodate ever-more stuff in the guest room. High ceilings call for tall furniture, hence deciding to sell the quirky but vertically challenged ‘man-wardrobe’, originally purchased for our attic-room in Hailes Street. As it happened, a very pleasant mechanic in backstreet Leith had decided at that same time to clear some space in his workshop, and placed this tempting picture on Gumtree.

Intrigued, i called up and took the measurements. Perfect in all dimensions for the space i had, in particular a decent height of 7ft 4in. Overlooking the obvious problems (12 missing drawers, terrible condition, enormous), i went down to visit. Tucked away in an attic up a precarious flight of stairs, the cabinets looked worse in person. Covered in oil inside and out, and with a lot of damage to the woodwork, naturally i made a deal there and then. Apparently, they were originally from an old wool shop in Leith, which closed in the 70’s and this guy had taken the cabinets off their hands as a favour.

Some months and no cabinets later, after numerous failed attempts to contact the seller, i assumed they were wholly lost to me. But after calling by one day when passing, i was relieved to discover they had since exited the attic via the window and were awaiting my collection. Furthermore, all but 1 large and 4 small drawers had been found in various locations around the workshop. I swiftly arranged for collection, ignoring the puzzled looks of the man-with-van as i handed over my £50. I guess he had assumed i should be the one getting paid for taking them away…

I spent most of that day cleaning the frames and drawers. To say they were dirty would be rather an understatement. 20-odd years of storing engine parts had certainly taken its toll. Some of the wood will never be parted from the oily coating. Once they were house-ready i moved them into position in the white (guest) room. Thus commenced stage 2: the deep clean.

I considered for a short moment not painting the cabinets. I was quite taken with the marker pen annotation of each drawer, and the enitrely un-self-conscious chippy paint effect, achieved over years of abuse from unsuspecting metal objects.

I tried (fruitlessly) to remove more oil and grease, but gave up and decided to only store things in the oily drawers that wouldn’t mind getting oily. Next step was removing all the fixings, for steeping in dishwasher powder. A great wee trick and handy for any metal items you want to make good and shiny. Then i borrowed malkie’s toothbrush (kidding) for a final scrub.

I decided to paint them the same tone as the other woodwork in the room – F&B Strong White. It has grey and lilac undertones, and contrasts well with the mahogany woodwork. Maybe one day I’ll go for a fabulous and daring colour but for now, I wanted to remain with the white room palette. In an ideal world, I suppose i should strip them but that we would be a project of epic proportions, and not one i would have the stamina for at the moment. So, here we can see evidence of classic Lucy project work – don’t wait til its finished, just start using it for storage half way through and risk getting paint on all your stuff. Oh, and a wee cuppa perched nearby.

Fast forward another couple of months. Having attached all the fittings, the next job was to clean the glass. I used a razor blade to remove car spray paint, oil and ancient paint. Finally, the top 4 drawers are missing forever so i boarded up the bottom of each space and will use that for larger books.

A joiner is making the final 3 drawers for me, but i suspect that may be a while in happening, so as far as i’m concerned, job done! Phew….

The Room That Will Never Be Finished

Posted on October 13, 2013 by lucy

Well, the room that will never be finished has inched closer to being finished. Which is a bit ironic i suppose.

It’s been quite a while since i fully repainted a room on my own. The last was probably the now flattened conservatory at Tullyroan, but even then i had enough sense to forgo the woodwork. However opting for the all-white look creates certain obligations, for example not having chipped, yellowing gloss-work.

Applying the wall paint was no bother. I kept thinking it was just like painting with double cream, such was the colour and texture of the paint. 3 coats were required to remove all traces of the sunshine yellow. I decided to do the woodwork in the same white as the floor, a grey-tone as the perfect antidote to yellowy gloss. After an interlude to go on holiday to ireland in August, i dragged my heels over restarting on the room until the end of September, when i finally donned my paint suit and got to work. Egg-shelling the shutters, window frames, fireplace, door frame and bookshelf constituted hours of work, during which i signed a document to myself stating i would never paint a whole room myself again.

Although probably not noticeable to anyone but me, it was worth it in the end as the whole room now has a crisp, fresh feel, with the gentle white on the walls contrasting the grey tones and softening the overall look.

Now to the fun bit – accessorising and styling! Even for me (ie high ideals and uncompromising when it comes to maintaining a sense of coherence in a room), a strict white palette seemed ambitious, plus i had already spent copious hours making the soft furnishings last year. I decided to add colour but still work towards a theme – bright antique florals in rich pink. Against the white, the colours do seem to ‘pop’ (as they say in the photography world.)

I have collected up a variety of antique linens and where else to showcase them but here. Of course the ubiquitous scatter cushion makes a key appearance top and bottom of the bed. I also swiped the vintage eiderdown from Tullyroan as it goes perfectly in the scheme. I still remember snuggling up with this as a very young child. Bringing in a sense of history to our home is important.

The french gray distressed cabinets, floral roman blind, and magazine/lever arch files have all previously been featured on the blog.

Newer additions and updates to the room include this vintage chippy filing cabinet, colour coded book display, and the recently re-painted victorian leaf table. The vision behind the white theme was primarily inspired by the volume of light this south-facing room receives, and nowhere does it become more obvious than when sitting of a morning at this desk, bathed in warm sunlight. Seated there, I’m in my happy place.

The walls are decorated with these fine vintage floral prints, recently found in a charity shop. The fireplace holds the original inspiration print which i found a few years ago and had hoped to expand upon. A couple of vintage mirrors cast a bit more light around the room on a sunny day.

The fireplace was previously boarded and sealed up with ugly chipboard. With trepidation I burrowed through to the other side and found a very respectable but draughty fireplace, but with no surround. Ideally, i’ll get one cut for it. (One of these days.) Meantime, a good place to display canvases and pictures.

The last major task is transporting and restoring two old 7 ft haberdashery cabinets from Leith, formerly from a wool shop. They are in terrible condition, with drawers missing, oil soaked (currently in use by a car garage), and filthy. They will be ideal for storing and organising the expanding Calvert sporting goods collection. All mine of course. Wonder if a kite-surf will fit in the drawer?

‘Vintage find’ tribute

Posted on June 12, 2013 by lucy

The phrase ‘vintage find’ seems to crop up everywhere these days, to the point that it’s getting a bit annoying. That said, i am about to write a post detailing all my recent ‘vintage discoveries’ shall we say, as its been a while since i gloated…i mean…shared the wealth of my recent travels around Edinburgh’s bargain trail.

Exhibit 1: The meadows festival in June is always ripe pickings for a canny eye. Here we have a lovely vintage wool picnic blanket rescued from the 20p box.

Exhibit 2: Birdies. I do love birdies. This (larger) picture also emerged from the 20p box. Got a clear theme going on here above my mantle. The illustration above is by my friend Julie, as an album cover.

Exhibit 3: This reminds me that last year I came away with this absolute steal: a set of Woodsware ‘Jasmine’ teacups and plates for £1. These are becoming hot property folks. Get ’em while you can.

Exhibit 4: (ok the ‘exhibit’ thing is wearing thin so hereafter i shall adopt a more traditional numeric approach). Also from the Meadows festival: a pretty gold-lined glass storage jar, to add to the bathroom collection of similar wares. 20p box again.

Five: Its not often i buy anything i can sew up myself, but the horsey fabric on these cushion seats really caught my fancy, and i knew they’d fit perfectly on my 4 Ercol Quaker dining chairs. Its like Cath Kidston, but before she popularised (butchered?) the country/floral/kitsch themes of early and mid-century fabric design. These come from one of my my regular haunts, Drum Farm Antiques.

Six: I am hoping to develop a new cushion design incorporating some of the embroidery peices i have picked up over the years. This recent find, also from the 20p box, stands alone as a beautiful sample which itself would/will make a great cushion cover.

Seven: I have acquired quite a few of these vintage shoe horns. They come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes. Functional vintage items are becoming very popular as display.

Eight: I tend to grab material when i see it rather than work out its potential purpose at the time. This works well for patchworking. I fancied these 2 off-cuts from Shelter charity shop in Tollcross. Guess what – birdies again!

Nine: The ceiling lights are pretty dull in this house. But least they aren’t ugly. This one has been tarted up for just £5 with these 5 mismatched lampshades, also from Shelter in Tollcross.

Ten: Copper pans. Love. £5 from St Columba’s Hospice charity shop, Leith

Eleven: Last but not least, these ultimate ‘finds’ have just arrived in the house this afternoon. I’ve lauded Ercol chairs in previous posts already, but i have not yet ventured into anything more substantial than dining chairs. Certainly the brand is enjoying a revival and in researching these chairs i discovered that a fully restored ‘studio couch’ (of which these chairs are a match) will sell for up to £1000. Handmade, solid elm wood and steam-bent to shape, this is well made furniture. These ones date from 50s-60s, they will need new webbing but the frames are incredibly solid for their age. This was certainly a high risk purchase though, which i don’t often do. I saw them on eBay on sunday night, ending in 20 minutes and for collection in Edinburgh. This seemed too good to be true, but didn’t allow any time to ask questions, view etc. I paid slightly more than i had hoped at £120 for the pair, but I was a bit giddy on opportunity (i have been looking for a pair for a while now), and is further confirmation of why i still find auctions super stressful! I collected them today and was grateful that they were true to the description. I will re-upholster them in time, but the tartan doesn’t seem so bad in real life.

And to finish, a very nice gift from my pal Ali, discovered in the family dressing up box and originally belonging to his granny. Check out the wonderful ‘housewife’ style tunic design…

Teak-ing boxes

Posted on February 13, 2013 by lucy

There are a few categories of furniture that it seems every self-respecting home decorator should have. Some chippy paint pieces. Something industrial. A Chesterfield. Maybe a persian rug somewhere. And a couple of outsized lamps. Then there’s the mid-century stuff. Get the lot and you may as well just phone up Homes and Antiques right away and have your house featured.

So after my most recent purchase, i reckon i am ticking most of those boxes. The teak sideboard seems to be one of the classic mid-century must-have items. If its Ercol so much the better. Well preserved sideboards are going for around £200 on ebay at the moment. But who needs ebay? I picked up this cute wee thing from a YMCA charity shop for a tenner.

It sits in our hallway, which is a dark place so we need lots of lamps to brighten things up. None of the things on top are actually useful for a hallway, but i wanted it to be more display and also in keeping with the ‘old stuff’ theme. An old typewriter, some random lamps, plants etc. I haven’t found a good place yet for the Nicholas Mosse pottery collection, it feels unsatisfactory to have them all hiding away down here, but as you can see from the previous post, display space is rather at a premium around here. The two chairs on either side proved to the bain of my dad’s recent stay here, when he crashed into them each night en-route to the toilet. But he doesn’t quite appreciate that form over function wins every time!

This old typewriter seems to turn up in every corner of the house!The top compartment opens up and provides an ideal place for putting letters you want to forget about for a few weeks.My original plan was to paint the cabinet, but Gemma put me out of the notion. What do you think?

Seeing the light

Posted on October 14, 2012 by lucy

Every once in a while i come across something in a charity shop that makes all the rifling through endless tat worth it. Such an occurrence happened last week when i came across this lamp in a YMCA charity shop i rarely frequent.

Anglepoise have been making lamps since the First World War and more recently have reproduced their original ‘1227’ design lamp in celebration of British design. I was quite taken by said lamp whilst browsing in John Lewis and had even considered forking out the required £150 on one. A few trial twists and turns, up and downs, and you will soon realise why these are designer lamps. They don’t droop, squeak or labour; they are built with lots of little springs and levers in all the right places to make their movement seamless.

So, when i spotted what i immediately recognised as a classic Anglepoise desklamp for £5, i swooped upon it with a look of smug pride and duly delivered my note to the shop assistant. My conscience did consider giving a larger donation, given that i knew it was worth maybe £100, but then i rationalised this by concluding that i am propping up many a local charity shop with my compulsive purchasing and continuing to do so for the foreseeable future would suffice. As the lamp is plain old black, it does look a tad dull in my living room so i have established it as the workhorse lamp in my ‘project room’.

Speaking of John Lewis, it has been coming up trumps recently in relation to mid-century design. I came across this fabulous lamp there during the summer. Its a Christian Dell reproduction and whilst i tend not to buy many new ‘detail’ decorative pieces for the house (lamps, pictures, materials etc) i couldn’t pass this one up. Original Christian Dell lights can go for around £500 now in particular some of the original Bauhaus designs. But this little nod to the original will do me just fine and has been illuminating happily on my stripped pine and gloriously south-facing ”writing desk” .

Lighting has certainly been a major focus of setting up home in our new place. I have been madly installing spotlights in every corner and have arranged for our first ‘proper’ workman to come and fit some new fixed lighting and update some of the old existing fixtures. The most exciting of these upcoming projects will be the installation of these industrial pendant lights above the dining table in the living room. A couple of years back I posted about a little shop in the Borders called ‘The Glory Hole’. It probably hasn’t been open since that post and so i was keen to pop in when i spied it in operation again last month. The place was so loaded with stuff i couldn’t actually pass the threshold but i did spy these lights and subsequently entered into an illuminating (ha ha) discussion with the proprietor about their origin. Apparently they came from the dismantling of an old psychiatric asylum somewhere in Ayrshire. At this point, i was sold, but at a fiver each, it was hardly a difficult economic decision!

Salvage Sisters

Join us in our apparently inherited insatiability for resurrected relics and design on a shoestring…

Category Archives: vintage