he said.. theres somthing in the woodshed..

well the other week.. the hubbys grandad asked us to help clear his woodshed, which is when we took most of it to the car boot sale ..remember this previous post..

http://charl-prettyvintage.blogspot.com/2011/08/carboot-madness.html

so we did.. and most of it was the usual woodshed gubbins..lots of tools and books on woodwork and johnny mathis albums!!

but there was a few things that i spied with my beady eye... and these things came home with me!!

first off this sweet little teacup..no saucer with it but its fine for popping a little tealight in..to pretty to go in the bin dont you think!

these lovely pink glass dishes.. the colour on the picture looks almost orange but they are a lovely light pink and i think would be perfect for a gorgeous pud covered in cream!!!

then this sweet little yellow floral tea set.. a girl can never have enough ( i know i say that about most things ...but it is true!)

and then whilst we were clearing out the shed i could see something at the back which looked suspiciously like a mirror to me, now his grandad didn't say anything about it so i assumed it was for keeps, so our car was packed to the rafters honestly the man is more of a hoarder than me it was great!!.. we were stood in the shed door just having a little chat when he pointed to the mirror and said how he'd had it for years..was going to give it a bit of tlc but had never got round to it.. and now he was just going to take it to the skip... well i nearly fell over when he said that.. "I'll take it!!" i said .. the words were out of my mouth before i knew it!!.

i couldn't believe he was going to skip it i mean why would you!!???

so i got myself an antique dressing table mirror !!

look at the lovely detailing

you gotta love bun feet on anything!!

i love the little flip up drawer .. its already starting to get filled with my bits and bobs!

now the hubby has said he thinks the glass needs replacing but i sort of like the mottled effect it has that vintage feel to it now... my sister says it looks like something out of "The portrait of Dorian Gray!".. i feel it is a bit phantom of the opera'sh .. i am resisting the urge to paint it for now because i know how slapdash i am with a paintbrush and i think i could actually go to jail for crimes against antique furniture if i was to wreak this!!!

so remember the story "cold comfort farm " and the little old lady keeps saying "theres something in the woodshed!" this time she was right!

low cost lovelies

finally made it out of the house yesterday..ooo it felt good .. even doing the dreaded school run felt great as i knew i was on my way out!!..

so i dropped off my little boy who is still at that stage where he shouts "kiss and a hug" before he goes into his class.. which i love him for because i just know in about 2 years he will rather me drop him off outside of the school gates and put his head down pretending not to know me.. i will weep then I'm sure of it!!..

right were was i.. oh yes.. so i dropped him off and took a stroll into town.. didn't have that much money on me as i had forgotten my purse silly me so it was literally loose change rolling around in the bottom of my bag ..no bother for me.. if i see something i like the charity shops by me tend to put things away so i knew if i saw something i could always do that...

my favourite charity shop wasn't even open yet so i was bit fuming at that because it is pretty much the cheapest one in town as well so i went and had a mooch around the other two.. and i was glad i did because in the second one i went into i came across a few bits ..picked them up took them to the till to see about putting them away.. when she told me the price of it all.. i went through my bag.picking out dead receipts and bits of fluff and got the money together ( i have no shame in handing over change.. i paid my window cleaner £1.50 last week in copper!!) so anyways i picked up this little lot all for the princely sum of £2.50!!..

i got two of these little tea light holders..


Ive put them on a shelf on my landing just outside of my bathroom.. it does look a bit like an alter at the minute so I'm not sure how long that will stay like that!
a Laura Ashley candle holder .. i thought id show you the bottom of it so you know I'm not lying.. think its the type that you put your oil in the top.. but Ive not used that stuff since i was about 15 and was a body shop fiend so I'm not sure were id buy it from now??... but it still gives off a nice light with a tea light in though..

these four lovely pastel gingham mugs were still in their box.. brand new.. i had to have them as the colours just go perfect in my kitchen.. and i have smashed a few cups over the past few weeks so could do with a few more !

and lastly these sweet little sherry glasses..not that I'm a massive fan of sherry..but i have been known to get through the cooking sherry when there was no booze in the house .. ( but that was a few years ago when it was more of a party house than a shabby chic house!) ..i saw the coloured stems first and at the minute i seem to be a coloured magpie..so thought these would go somewhere in the house to!..

so i popped them on the kitchen dresser but you cant really see them in this picture can you.. i promise you they are there and they do look rather pretty not to overpowering .i do like clutter but not to much !!


so all that for £2.50... that's why i love charity shops the randomness of it all and on a good day the low cost loveliness of it all!!

well I'm going back down to town now ..picking up a little leather biker jacket that I had to put away yesterday as obviously id used up all my loose change!! its a style Ive been after for ages but couldn't afford TopShop's prices this is only £3.99 and Ive already planned my autumn winter wardrobe around it!! ..

tuesdays thrift from last week!

well i have been stuck in the house the past few days due to my oldest boy having had a high temperature and sore throat.. cant believe it, hes only been back to school for a week and i have had to ring the school already to say hes not coming in how bads that!..

so we've had a couple of pyjama days, well more so me the boys have both been wanting to get dressed and Ive been clinging onto my comfy togs for as long as i could!..

so we've been stuck in, its been a shame as the weather has been fab here.. very windy of course but the sun has been so bright in a real blue sky .. Ive had to make do with walking round my little yard or staring out of the window at it..

i think hes back to school tomorrow.... he was back to normal by about lunch time today

cue.. mummy shouting an awful lot and him being a cheeky five year old..ahh yes hes ready to go back in tomorrow!!

so because Ive not been able to get out for the past few days i thought id show you some of the pretties i bought last week, last Tuesday in fact so very much Tuesdays thrift just a week late that's all!

well first off this wasn't thrifted but it might as well have been it was from Pound Stretcher and only cost £7.99..im going to add a trim of white pompom on it as i think it needs a bit of a finish to it but how pretty is that.. yes i know its probably meant for a seven year olds bedroom but i thought it would be perfect for the kitchen!

i know this is a particularly un-inspiring picture.. I'm not sure what happened to the light when i took it but this was the best out of the bunch of the pictures !!.. i bought these two pink petal ware plates for a pound from a charity shop that has more displays than anything.. and everything you think oh that's nice wonder how much that is.. theres a dirty big sticker on it saying "display, not for sale!" how silly is that.. so i was amazed that these were being sold!!

i haven't got any pink utility china so i was pleased to pick these up .. just need to have a look round for more!

i got these two cornishware wish it was ..for a pound from the market.. sat on my dresser at the minute with my real cornishware cups and saucers and it looks alright really next to it so we wont say its a big fake if anyone asks!

a bit of a dodgy closeup of my two washing up brushes that i bought from B&M's they were only 99p so that's why i got the two.. i tend to be the chief washer upper in our house .. ( even though I'm so rubbish at it.. you always find bits of stuff still on the plates after I've washed up..gross! ) so i might as well have something pretty to use!!

i picked up these beaded tea light holders over the weekend.. they give off a lovely warm glow when the candle is lit.. nothing better now its getting cooler than to start lighting the candles again and just making everywhere feel all nice and cosy ..

this mirror cost 30p.... yes can you believe it 30p...before you get to excited though and think i got the bargain of the century.. it is actually really tiny .. the photo makes it look big doesn't it.. its about the size of my hand!!

yet another glass cake stand.. a girl can never have enough cake stands!!

i love the top of it.. i think its a very elegant number this one!

pink, blue, cupcake print, polka dot.........its like all my favourite things in one place....

on my new glass chopping board!!

i got this from B&M's as well for £2.49, same time as i bought my washing up brushes.. man i love that shop it just never fails to make me buy something from there!!

so there you go.. just a few bits, they've kept me going but i feel the force of the charity shops calling me tomorrow !!

chickens, waterfalls and egg cups

evening all...

well the pretty vintage household took ourselves off on a mini break this weekend!!..

it came at the end of a pretty long summer holidays i have to be honest and our holiday back in May felt a very long time ago it was much needed!!..

but then saying that when you go away with kids its not a restful holiday is it really, i mean its still the same as being at home but just in a different house!!..

that sounds awful doesn't it .. sorry!

anyways id been looking on eBay and the Internet trying to get a little last minute deal on a cottage somewhere, when i stumbled upon a listing on eBay, it was quite cheap and it wasn't that far really from us.. so it meant that there wasn't going to be hours and hours of driving to get to it..

so we were in wales but on the Shropshire borders i think .. i kept getting confused because one minute id see a sign saying welcome to wales then id see a sign saying welcome to England!

we were staying about 8 miles outside of Oswestry which is shrewsbury way i have to be honest i don't even know what the little town was called it just began with a double L LLsomthing!!

it was the sweetest little house.. it was called the smithy and it used to be the blacksmiths..

we had chickens outside that we could go and pick eggs from..

i obviously sent the hubby in to do this job.. i stayed on the other side of the gate chatting chicken talk to them..

the smithy itself was a real surprise from the outside it just looked like this tiny shed but then when you got inside it was lovely really open plan and high up..

it had a wood burner were the hubby was found here both evenings stoking up the fire and generally being fire hungry as only men are!!

I'll show you some pics now to give you a little idea of what it was like...

this was the view all around us. this was taken from the windows of the bedroom


gotta love a stable door..!!



our lovely comfy bed.. we put the boys on two put me up beds pushed together in the eves of the room.. they loved it ..

anyways we took ourselves off for many drives to discover nice places.. first place we went to was to see a beautiful waterfall .. it was stunning.. now I'm not really a lover of nature id rather be in the gift shop or cafe next to the place of natural beauty ( ooo they sell book marks and ice creams I'll see you later!) but even i thought it was gorgeous .. so it must be!

the air felt so clean and beautiful to, that i just know if my boys lived near to it they would never get bad chests again..

next day after a bit of a slobby morning we drove up to this which was a fantastic dam built in the Victorian age and again it really was stunning,



we even found out that underneath all the water was the remains of the village that had been standing there when the dam was being built.that was a bit strange to think that under all that water there was actually houses ..creepy..

there was even a fairy tale tower that was actually built to filter the water ( am i sounding a bit like a school trip report ..sorry !) and because it was all misty and drizzly it looked even more ethereal than it usually does i should imagine!!..

anyway mummy had been very good and hadn't mentioned any shops until later on that day!..

well the rain was coming down a lot so we had to do something indoors !!

these bright egg cups/sundae dishes i don't know what they are really, called to me, so it was to the charity shops for us!..

i just had to have them with their lovely bright colours and the mini spoons that came with them!

it was a day for bright colour as sitting not far from these beauties was this little beauty.. a bright yellow gravy jug..




it doesn't have a name on it just had an England stamp on it,

i love it though the bright acidic yellow of it, this is now popped on a shelf with my kitchen jugs..

so all to soon it was time to come home, and as always the sun was cracking the flags when we were leaving bah ...the English weather it hates us going on holiday .. it really does we drive into rain .. we leave sunshine behind.. it always happens!!.. anyway it was gorgeous and there was also a car boot sale not far from we were staying so we thought it would be rude not to go...i saw quite a bit that i could have bought but funds were running a bit low as they tend to do on the day your coming home from a break don't you find.. but i picked up this lovely cup and saucer for 20p







and the cutest tiny little jug also for 20p


.. they were actually in the same box,

and these two rather tall candle sticks complete with square candles that aren't staying i assure you!..


i am going to give them a nice lick of paint and replace candles with a nice size pillar candle just in time for the cold months coming up!

so there you go..if you got this far.. well done you !!...

carboot madness

me and the hubby braved the elements on Monday and not only went to the car boot but actually were selling from the back of our very own car boot to!..

we were actually helping out the hubbys grandad who just wanted to clear out his shed so on Sunday we deposited the kids at their nans and we went and sorted out the shed.. ( Ive kept a few things back for myself but I'll save that for another post!) anyway we basically had a bootfull of tools, books and many other random things ..

went through my mother in laws loft to and got a few things from there and then there was a few bits out of our loft to clear to.. lets just say the car was packed to the rafters !!..

so car was all packed and it looked promising when we first woke up there seemed to be a sun rising in the distance i was feeling positive..

i kid you not the minute we shut our front door and opened the car door it started battering it down.. i mean what is that all about !

so we were in two minds about what to do ..but we just thought lets do it .. we didn't have the kids, and i couldn't face emptying that car it was to depressing a thought!

anyways we got there and it was full of people.. sellers and buyers.. it made me laugh so much when we drove on to the field you could see the look in peoples eyes .. " ahh heres a new seller.. new stuff for us to buy now!.".. honestly we were swamped by people.. i felt like a famous person surrounded by the paps!!..i ended up getting one bloke to help me put the cloths on our paste tables , to give him something to do while the hubby fended off the others with the line "erm can you give me a minute mate !"

so we did rather well.. that was more of the grandads things that just went in a flash.. if you want to know the best things to sell at a car boot.. Tools!!.. they were going like hotcakes !!.. my table looked a bit more forlorn and looked actually like the type of table i give a miss.. i think it was the amount of tack that was on mine.. my sister came along with my mum at one point .my mum ended up buying two things off me .. i did try and give it to her for free but she was having none of it .. so i gave her a reduced price.. you know family rates and all !!

by the end of the morning i was getting a bit fed up of the actual amazing cheek of some people.. the rudeness of others and i was cold.. so we decided to start packing up.. we still had a few things so the hubby ( very clever he is to!) went up to one of the "you can tell he is a professional trader because he had a big van!" and said he could have the bits we had left for a fiver if he wanted.. he said yes!.. so it meant we had a nice empty car and we got rid of everything!!

so there was still a few die hard sellers which meant we could walk around and have a look ourselves..and because it was so late in the day we got everything at v silly prices!!

i got this picture and i thought it would be lovely for our bathroom..

i picked up this china mug and coaster for 20p!..


stuffed them on my dresser theres always a place for everything in my house!!

id walked past this cup a few times and it was there at the very end of the morning so i think it was waiting for me to take it home! the seller wasn't budging though and i still had to pay a pound for it but its ok because its very pretty and is ideal for our toothbrushes !



not sure why its come out upside down this picture but anyways its got the date on it 1918 so a little bit of an antique isn't it!!

oh and i erm kinda picked up another (cough cough..haven't got a problem really ..)
shelf.. yes that's right i bought another shelf!!..


i had to it has all the elements of a good shelf.. solid wood and little hooks so i can hang things off it to .. i had to have it and it was only a pound..i couldn't walk past!!..
so last night the hubby was trying his best to ignore me asking him to put it up..but then i started banging around a bit and i think he thought anything for a quiet life so got the drill out!! ..

i am going to get some nice tea light holders to go on this sweet little thing.. I'm thinking jewel colours like greens and reds..so keep your peelers peeled for me !!

oh did pick up a lovely vintage style cardie as well with lace and beads on but forgot to take a picture of it doh .. ( oh well I'll start Friday Frocks soon and show you then!) but that was only 50p to!!

think that is the last time i do a carboot for a long time though i was exhausted when we got home!!