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!

History takes a hit

Posted on February 5, 2014 by lucy

Usually, I have a long list of hopes and dreams when it comes to salvage ideas. Many remain as such forever, but its not too often that i find some unsuspecting project has cleverly escaped my attention. Such was the case with the dining table, which i bought a few weeks before we moved into our new flat. I found it in a charity shop for £100, but not having the dimensions of the new place, i took a chance that it would fit. It didn’t. The vision was for a bay window dining area, but it turns out our bay was not as big as i thought. Along came moving day and the table was placed, ridiculously, in the window, scooping up all the floor space as far up the living room as the fire place. Right before the waterworks/swearing/despair came on, Malkie came up with the idea of having it at the other end of the room, near the door for easy access when depositing delectable dishes. Turns out our living room is the oddest shape, with the door right next to the fireplace, both stuck bang in the middle of the room. This carves the space up into two smaller areas, which makes it tricky for those, namely me, with a penchant for oversized and numerous furnitures.

Anyway, the table had the usual expected scuffs and stains, but all adding to the ‘character’, i suppose. A sense of its history; a chance to wonder and muse who those cup rings once belonged to, what moments of intimacy, drudgery or hospitality led to their addition onto the wooden landscape….

Scratch that, literally. Time to sand those ugly buggers off, and what better opportunity than a broken down car and an unexpected day off work, with a sunny february day to boot. Thus, upon a whim i got set up outside, and within 45 minutes any hint of nostalgia was swiftly replaced by a wonderful, silky smooth table top.

I lost heart in the task though before the legs had a chance to shine. I have deliberated painting them in the proverbial ‘shabby chic’ style, but having recently watched this BBC interior design series, I’m going right off the look altogether. Though the series has some great ideas and certainly talented amateur designers, it highlights how easy it is to overdo, and thus kill, the said style.

I sealed the surface with 3 coats of clear wax, giving it a good buff afterwards to try and make it less porous. No doubt it will see many ‘additions’ over time, but no matter. Another quick sanding down can easily remedy that. Ah, i do love a bit of sanding, surely the quickest way to usher a piece of furniture into a new lease of life.

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….

Advent Adventure

Posted on December 2, 2013 by lucy

December 1st, and its acceptable to put up your Christmas tree, right? Well, maybe not, but at least if you take an eco-friendly approach, recrimination is less likely from the festive police. And what could be more earth-warrior than going out west to choose and cut your own from a lovely wooded landscape that won’t miss a tree here and there?

Upon arrival at our friends in Blackridge, West Lothian, there were a few housekeeping tasks to be carried out. Malkie’s chicken herding skills were urgently required to secure this unruly lot.

Time to tool up. The pouch is of course essential for maximum country kudos.

Not to be outdone, Kevin produces a fine range of woodland implements.

And you never know when a roll of cling-film will come in handy. Well, as it happens if you opt for a Norwegian Spruce Christmas tree, and you wish to avoid tree sap in your hair, this item is a fine addition to the harvesting team.

The boys stroll ahead towards Beechbrae woods, no doubt discussing strategy and technique.Thankfully, Kevin decided to share his man tools, otherwise it could have been handbags at dawn.
The Christmas tree search begins, with afternoon sun flooding the landscape.‘Nothing to report from this section, boss.’

‘Ok chaps, let us head towards this bright light before us’ ‘Aha, a fine specimen ahead’. The boys discuss the logistics. Too large? No, an 8.5 foot Scot’s Pine will surely fit in a small hatchback with ease.

The tree is dismounted from its young perch…And carried to dry land…Where it is stood upon in the service of a manly pose.Kevin realises his attachment to his trees is strong, and bids it a fond farewell with a warm embrace.Followed by a form of ancient celtic tree-blessing.
Tools of the trade – this very sharp lopper felled this tree in one swoop! (not really).
A happy chappy prepares to walk her proudly over the threshold.Stopping to admire the new fire pit, as the sun lowers. And she’s home! Ready to be smothered in decorations and death by fairy lights.Plus a few pretty festive pieces picked up along the way.

Love Salvage

Posted on October 23, 2013 by lucy

Ali and I have been scheming a trip to Glasgow for months now, to visit the latest salvage hot-spot in the west, Love Salvage. The opportunity finally arose when Ali decided to submit a piece of sculpture to the Royal Glasgow Institute open exhibition. Having fairly unsuccessfully navigated the bewildering one way streets of Glasgow’s city centre, we headed out across the Clyde Arc to blue skies over Govan.

Love Salvage opened in May and since then has marketed to great success via Instagram et al. I’ve enjoyed seeing their regular pics in my insta-feed (is that even a legit phrase?), including all sorts of retro, vintage, up-cycled and kitsch items. Feeling that many bargains were precipitously slipping through my fingers, I was keen to get acquainted with the place and its wares. Laid out temptingly in a sunny old former church building, there was everything from vintage eye charts to roulette tables, huge maps, church pews, school blackboards, ladders….

A few things caught my roving eye including these retro tulip chairs, a lovely selection of vintage picnic ware, and colourful pub trays.

If i had an inch or two to spare at home, which i don’t, i’d have snapped up this unusual narrow vintage filing cabinet.

Most impressive was the wide selection of vintage and industrial lighting, all at very reasonable prices. I came away with this cool little battered danish table lamp.

Ali and I received a warm welcome from John, and negotiated a decent trade of my spectacular but formerly under-loved overmantel mirror, lamp and some slates, in exchange for a very reasonable £30 plus some blog post publicity!

Here’s my mantel mirror in situ. Its absolutely perfect and exactly what i had been looking for.

All in all a very worthwhile trip indeed. Any other east coasters up for it?

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?

Re-pair o’ chairs

Posted on September 24, 2013 by lucy

I posted a few months ago about these Ercol chairs i picked up on eBay. Unfortunately i can’t say they were a totes bargain, but its rare indeed to find something in Edinburgh, on said website, that i actually like.

Our living room doesn’t lend itself that well to sofas, mainly owing to all the other items i feel the need to cram mercilessly into it. So these lightweight, simple but comfy armchairs are perfect. Made around 1950-60, there are no bolts or screws to be found here. Classic Ercol chairs such as this are made from solid elm, using steam-bending, in order to produce long-wearing yet elegant pieces for which the company is famous.

These two were in need of some love, mainly in the seat department. After instructing visitors to not sit in them for weeks, i finally got around to mending the webbing. Given their high quality and standing in the furniture community, i felt it imprudent to scrimp on the materials hence i bought new leather straps from the company itself for the repair job. Here we are pre-mending. No rear end can possibly feel safe placed here.

The tools of the trade – measuring tape to work out the correct placement, staples to secure, leather straps and dowels to keep the strap in place by a clever little design feature that avoids the need to damage the actual wood frame with the staples.

Strap one went swimmingly. Which is unusual. Normally when i’m experimenting with my carpentry skills, there is the inevitable series of failed ventures, shortcuts and swear words, followed by stalled proceedings as i go off to re-order all the materials i have wrecked in the wholly unsatisfying process. Ercol leather straps are surprisingly expensive hence i opted to repair the broken ones only and await the fate of the others in due course. See, i just can’t help a short cut somewhere along the way!

The finished chairs and now standing proud and functional, awaiting some new covers which are almost certainly never going to happen, and some nice new scatter cushions (if in doubt, add some scatter cushions), which will happen now that Kath and i have taken up Monday sewing night again after the summer break.

Jelly for my belly

Posted on September 21, 2013 by lucy

I was given this cooking apple bounty by my good friends over at Blackridge. As i said in a previous post, i love this time of year in which the land offers up it’s abundance and we give and receive from it and from each other. Last night was the striking annual harvest moon, ushering in the next season and bringing with it colder climes but the hope of cosy nights in, fireside.

I made a start on transforming them with a recipe from Hugh Fernly-Whittingstall for Herb Apple Jelly. This is truly delightful with pork or cold meats – a gentle sweetness, delicate herbal notes and a pleasing texture. (Hopefully).

Like the apple cheese, it’s quick to get started so you can pop it onto the stove in the morning without too much thought. The apples are quartered (whole and unpeeled), and simmered in water for a couple of hours. Add in whatever herbs you have languishing – i used rosemary, mint and majoram.

Strain it over a bowl for at least 2 hours. This is important as the pectin content increases the longer it is strained. I have a jam straining kit but i have started to use a more coarse muslin with the stand as it tends to leave less pulp (waste) afterwards.

To the pink nectar, add 3/4 sugar to liquid volume, and some freshly chopped herbs of choice. Boil hard for 10-15 mins, until set. This batch took about 20 mins of boiling to set properly. I hadn’t quite mastered this before but to get the herbs speckled through the jelly, stir after about 5 mins as it’s just beginning to set and they will stay put rather than float to the top.

Ok, so it could be time to stop preserving…. Space is becoming a problem!

Apple Cheeeeeese

Posted on September 10, 2013 by lucy

The autumnal manic preserving has continued apace and i thought i’d share with you my latest exploits. I was given a load of apples via work, from a long neglected apple tree outside the office hence producing very small fruit. The thought of peeling and chopping them all individually didn’t fill me with domestic joy so i decided to try out a recipe for ‘apple cheese’. The concept of fruit cheese in fact originated from wartime austerity whereby the pulp leftover from fruit jellies was re-used, although with a bit of compromise on flavour.

To me it’s a bit of a misnomer. Why call something that you eat with cheese, cheese? That reminds me – when we lived in Hailes Street, Lyla’s first attempt at naming butter was “butter-cheese!’. Maybe she was onto something.

For apple cheese there is nothing more to preparing the fruit than simply chopping into quarters and stewing gently with water. Ideal for those small knobbly little buggers.

Next, pass the pulp through a sieve. It will need a bit of encouragement to come through… Place the concentrated puree into a saucepan and add 3/4 of it’s volume in sugar. (100ml = 75g sugar). Boil for around an hour until it darkens and takes on a glossy texture. At this stage i tested it for setting point using the traditional method of placing a wee blob onto a plate and putting in the fridge. If set in a few minutes, you’re laughing. Literally, as there is nothing worse than unset preserves, because there is no going back once you’ve potted them.

Oil some ramekins so your little mounds of joy will slide out without too much objection.Seal with waxed paper and string or elastic, and leave to set for a few days. Then serve the little lovelies with a some medium flavoured cheese. Anything too strong and the delicate apple-y-ness gets lost.

The recipe came from this 1970’s preserving book. I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s ideal for the novice but with a bit of know-how the recipes are truly authentic, and they work (which is more than can be said for internet preserving recipes, many of which are complete rubbish.)

More preserves coming up next week!

I love stripping

Posted on September 4, 2013 by lucy

It’s been a long number of years since i undertook a proper stripping and sanding project. And having just finished this cabinet, now i remember why.

As i started work on this latest piece earlier in the summer, i was remembering the first desk i stripped and sanded in Edinburgh. We found it on Dalkieth Road the year we got married; a beautiful traditional school desk in need of some love. I convinced Malkie to help me (those were during his days of innocence), and together we did the whole thing by hand down in the shared garden of our flat overlooking the Hibs Stadium near Easter Rd. Why on earth i hadn’t thought to buy a mouse sander back then i don’t know. Perhaps it was the gritty authenticity i was after, in those our days of young love.

I had been looking for a glass cabinet for the bathroom wall, and came across this piece in one of the many antiqueries along Causewayside. As it was in the slightly mad shop of Alan Jackson, rather than the nice but overpriced alternatives on said street, it was a decent price at £35 (post-bargaining). The previous owner had attempted a paint effect reminiscent of the morning after several pints of vodka. Gratefully, it seems they used acrylic or some sort of hobby paint, as it came off fairly easily with the judicious use of a paint scraper and avoiding the need for chemical solvents.

I think the cabinet is oak but it seems to have been made up of a number of different bits and hence once sanded back, it was lacking coherence as the wood tones differed throughout. I therefore ended up staining it in order to bring up the natural colour. Having got pretty bored with the scraping i decided to paint the inside bright white, to coordinate with the bathroom and help the contents stand out. And save my sanity.

Weeks later, and today i finished off the job by completing the doors. The glass was in poor condition so i removed the panes, scrubbed them up, and refitted them.