10 Brocante Buys

Oil painting

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.

Dinner service

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.

Art Nouveau bust

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).

Dressing table

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.

Chandeliers

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.

Café set

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.

Bistro table

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.

Pink Jesus

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?

Copper saucepans

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).

Architectual prints

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.

A Treasure Still

I found this beautiful bust in a Brocante high up on a shelf. It’s incredibly heavy and you can see inside where it’s been worked in the plaster, so I think it’s an original rather than a copy from a mould.

I’d been wandering around looking for something special to fill a little spot in our home and as I walked and looked I noted things that I might come back to. But she just spoke to me in spite of her slightly distressed appearance, or maybe because of it. There was no additional thinking needed, she was the one.

As I walked with her, the weight heavy in my arms, I fell under her charm even more. The gentle blush of her cheeks, the mauve on her eyelid – she’s been exquisitely painted.

She’s obviously of the Art Nouveau period, the lilies swirling around are typical of that style. Further, the pale lavenders and pinks go beautifully with our living room.

After I’d paid for her I noticed a man look at her, then silently catch the attention of his wife and signal to her to look too. They seemed to politely watch our progress, evidently in the hope that I’d place her down somewhere. Alas for them I walked out of the brocante and placed her lovingly in the car to take home.

I was rather perturbed when I was repeatedly asked the question ‘are you going to fix it?’ No! She’s beautiful as she is. It reminds me of Shakespeare’s sonnet 116;

“Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no, it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand’ring bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.”

Love. Beauty. An objective reality pointing to the existence of the divine.