I’m super busy with kitchen, the children and -you know – life, so I haven’t been posting a lot. I just rushed back today from a hectic morning and the beauty of the Autumn colours calmed and uplifted me, so I thought I’d share….
God bless…
I love this painting, it reminds me of the french revolutionary period. It’s incredibly old. However, my husband doesn’t love it as much. He actually encouraged people to vote on whether she was attractive or not once; let’s just say that I could see how devastating the Tinder app could be for teenage girls nowadays.
I have an entire dinner service like this, with different scenes on the plates. It goes exactly with the shades of teal and blush pink I have in the dining room. No way Autuman is here I’m waiting for a dressy Sunday lunch to get it out. When I do I’ll post it in all it’s glory, so subscribe if you want to see it.
I know I posted about this here, but I couldn’t resist including it in my latest favouraite Brocante buys top ten (for the devious one take a look here).
I love the carved side mirrors on this, as you know Art Nouveau is one of my favourite decor periods. It’s evidently a homage to the period as this light wood would never have been used during this period. I orginally thought of painting it, inspired by similar painted pieces on Pinterest. However I decided in the end to keep it as it is; I didn’t want to risk spoiling it.
Just two of my lovely chandeliers. I’m avoiding posting some of the others as many of the have carpeted walls for a background as you saw in the house tour when we first moved in.
These was my Christmas gift from my mother. We’d spotted it together when we were in the brocante and I loved it. It’s Art Deco and beautifully feminine. I have plenty of vintage tea sets, but this is my first coffee set. As our friendships here progress I hope to be able to bring it out for a café with friends. So far I’ve been using a set I don’t mind destroying as I haven’t wanted to risk it with the children around.
This wasn’t from a Brocante, but leboncoin.com – a site where individuals sell unwanted items. These bistro tables were traditionally used to display patisserie on, with the marble top keeping them cool.
As he’s called in our house. I saw him in the Brocante with my friend who was travelling through to her holiday destination, with a planned stop on the way back. When I pointed him out she looked at me oddly, evidently wondering what was I thinking. I mean, he isn’t a pink Jesus. Then when we got home she saw Mary in the dining and exclaimed ‘That’s why you wanted him. Yes, you need to get him’ out of the blue. So convinced of this was she that when she returned she actually reminded me of him.
I love his golden heart – what a perfect centrepiece for Easter?
These were a bargain at 25€, and I think serviceable. They’re obviously on the small side as a set, but I hope to add bigger pieces to them. I’m gradually starting to do up the room that will be our kitchen – it will take a while as we need the big electrical items as well as new flooring. Nevertheless I already have most of the cupboards we’re going to use, as I’ve opted for free standing vintage pieces for a farmhouse look. I’ll update you on that in the coming weeks and months (I think it will take that long to get the money together).
I actually had bought two large, black and white photographic prints taken at the turn of the last century of the area surrounding us whilst we were in rented accommodation here in France. I loved them and was keeping them seperate, waiting to put them up in our new home. I’d wrapped them carefully, but somehow along the way they got lost in our move. I’ve searched and searched, praying all the time to, as yet, no avail.
So when I saw these prints in our Brocante they went some way to making up for their loss. They’re actually hung in the hallway but, again, the brown carpeted walls put me off photographing them in situ.
As it’s the first day of autumn today I thought I’d share this old how to on an Autumn Wreath from my previous blog.
I started making this wreath out of vines from the garden last year and decorated it differently at that time. However recent Pinterest searches had me inspired by the Autumn or Fall decor that our cousins the Yanks are so good at. I don’t know whether it’s their Thanksgiving tradition, but they’re decorating at this time of year is awesome, I love it. So I thought I’d give it a go.
Making a vine wreath is simple. Just cut some fresh vines, I actually used some kiwi fruit vines, and start to make a circle with them, starting to weave additional pieces in and out. I eventually tied up my wreath with florist wire as you can see here…
So far so (pretty much) free. I’ve got to say that I would have liked to have made the wreath thicker, but I couldn’t hack away at the vines too much as we were in a gîte of our friends at the time. This really affected how I decorated it.
Due to the thinness I wanted to add some density, and I also wanted the wreath to be used each year, so I bought some silk flowers;
Of course you may just want to add sunflowers if you want to attempt this and this will save you money. Or, if you have the thickness from the vines, you may want to buy just berries, or add pine cones for earthy tones.
I then started to weave out the ‘cotton’ branches just like I’d done the real vines, and I did the same with the berry branches, leaving a space at the top for a burlap tie and bow. I used some more florist wire at this stage to tie it in place.
Next, as the sunflowers were in attached bunches, I separated them with secateurs. These were inserted into spaces around the wreath as well and, where needed, I added extra florist wire.
I’d made the decision not to glue the decorations with hot glue at this time as we are planning our final move (yes, we’re looking to buy in France, woohoo!) and I don’t know what our final house will look like. One house we’ve looked at has a double front door as well as a nearby single one. That would suggest two small wreaths and a large one; so I don’t know if this will be deconstructed and the parts used elsewhere to make a three wreath display, a two wreath display etc. However I do think that gluing the flowers, for example, could ensure I could position them how I’d like (some of the flower heads face the wrong way, for example).
As les petites filles birthdays are so close together I decided to make the wreath an alternate birthday wreath with the little flags. So I have ‘happy birthday’ and then I change one daughter’s name for the other when the time is appropriate.
I don’t know if I’ll keep it as a birthday wreath, perhaps next year I’ll use it as an All Saints/Souls wreath next year? Or if we do end up with a three door house perhaps I’ll have one for each feast day and a third as a birthday wreath? Either way I love the wreath, particularly as we approach the drive and are met with beautiful Autumn colours like these that reflect the wreath….
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