10 Brocante Buys I Love

I love second hand buys. I don’t know whether it’s a reflection of being part of the universal church, in time as well as physical reality, but sitting at a dressing table that’s generations old for example makes me feel connected to them. So I thought I’d share some of my favourites with you.

In France so often find these items for a few euros – the pheasant jar below was 2€, The most expensive piece wasn’t the sideboard below for 120€. They’ve been bought over the years since I first starting coming to France and now they’re finally in my dream home.

The Sideboard And Picture Medallion In The Dining Room

I put an image of this up when I took you through my house tour, but I thought I’d give some close up shots here too.

The cabinet not only has these beautiful inlay of roses, my favourite flower, but these brass keyholes and detailed key. the top is a rose marble and it has lovely legs too. I spotted it in our nearby brocante with my mother in law. as soon as I pointed it out she said it was the reason shed headed over in that direction.

I think it goes well with my lamps that I brought with me from England and also this medallion painting. Everyone thinks it’s made out of carved wood, as did I, but it’s actually fibre glass! I love the colours and as I always wanted a “Christmas room”, or room for best, I bought it anyway.

Violin Table

I bought this table when we were renting and I love the details on the legs, roses again. I originally wondered how it would go in the more modern living room, but it seems to be quite at home. This is what it looked like in our old home…

I’m going to repost from my old blog on how I managed to easily fix the little watermarks on it.

It’s now in the corner of our living room.

Entrance Cupboard

This is so beautiful and was originally bought for my daughter Rose, but it’s so heavy we couldn’t get it upstairs. I’d still love her to have it, but at the moment it’s just here in our hallway. Again, there are roses. Spotting a theme here.

Lamp

I bought this lamp when we first moved to France – here it is in our old house. Again I’ll upload my old blog post here shortly on what it looked like before and how I managed to make it presentable.

Chair

This is a one off chair, not part of a set. I love the details of the craving on this one now in the hallway, and it’s material. For once I won’t be changing anything on it.

Statue of Jean D’arc

When I saw this I fell in love with it, I think it’s stunning. The little flour des lys on her skirts are beautiful and even though her hand is a little damaged I think she’s wonderful! I can’t wait for her feast day now (30th May, if you want to know), so that’s why I’ve only included this one image as I expect there will be more images of her then.

Pheasant Jar

Sometimes I just love the little things! This little jar with pheasants on it is so charming. Every once in a while as I’m driving through the French countryside during this time of year I’ll see a pheasant flying or on the road, they’re so beautiful!

Oil Painting

In my local brocante they put the more expensive paintings and pictures up high, then on the side in a big jumble are lots of other prints, pictures, paintings etc. In the jumble I found this oil painting of, you guessed it, roses and the tones really matched our last home’s front room. However as we planned on moving shortly after I bought it, and I hadn’t even had time to put it up yet, I just put it away.

Whenever we move house my basic way of unpacking is to place furniture where its likely to go and then unpack everything and place it in a spare room. Then I go and gradually pick things that I think will go in different rooms. All of a sudden I spotted this after we moved and thought I’d try it in the dining room as the colours reflected the medallion. I only put it above the radiator because there was a nail there, but I think it looks perfect there and don’t want to move it.

Milk Urn Umbrella stand

My daughters bought this for Mother’s Day – it’s so cool. Couldn’t resist including it.

Marble Topped Table

This wasn’t an actual brocante buy, but they are from Le Bon Coin – a French website that’s for people selling unwanted items. As the living room is the most modern part of the house I’m trying to balance the decor between modern and classic French; I’m hoping this helps me do that.

So, these are some of my favourites. They cost us little, and we don’t add to the piles of refuse that consumerism creates (although I am, unfortunately, too consumerist myself). Most of all I love them, the fact they come from other people and therefore have a secret story all of their own.