a bit of a drought

i don't know what it is but there seems to be a bit of a drought in the charity shops lately...

usually i come away with a pretty tea cup.. a little bowl.. a pretty of some description anyways..

can i find anything that looks at me off the shelf, begging me to take me home.. nope!!

i did think that this week the drought had come to an end.. when i found these pictures ...

how lovely are they.. i am going to put them in the bathroom..i think they were just made to go in my bathroom to be honest..i could even try a similar pattern on the side of my bath..what do you think!!??.. but then knowing how slapdash i am with a paintbrush...it might not be such a good idea!!

and this huge tile that is going to go outside on my garden wall... ( when it gets a bit warmer!)

its so heavy.. i'll have to make sure that the wall is actually strong enough to take it!..

i thought i was on a roll then.. but then that was it again.. nothing..

what can be done.. i love my thrifty buys and the way things were so much more delicate with less of a mass produced feel.. can this drought carry on for much longer..

i hope not!!

...showing though that you don't always have to leave your home to get a pretty.. my sister had been to stay at her in-laws at the weekend.. and her nan-in law..( is that right??!) offered her this little dish its not really my sisters cup of tea but she said she knew who would love it!!.


.

so back up the motorway it came with her were it has found a little home among my glass bits n bobs..

its so pretty.. and its rather old.. it was her late husbands grandmothers.. i wonder what she used it for.. did she serve up little bonbons in it . .or was it just for show!??

FRIDAYS FROCKS

well this weeks Friday frocks is a complete charity shop number!!

first off the frock itself.. this are my fave type of dresses.. ( elasticated waists.. you cant go wrong!!)

i love the bold pattern.. and the gold buttons.. and the price £4.99

teamed with a tan charity shop leather belt.. 99p

my leather boots from Clarke's via the charity shop .. i had been after a pair of chunkier heeled boots for ages.. ebay wasn't playing and i wasn't prepared to pay over £80 you know how tight i am!..

so when i saw these beauties in the charity shop for £3.99 i knew they were for me!!

i wear my leather coat that was already vintage when i bought it nearly 13 years ago..

and my green woolly scarf that was 50p from the charity shop...

i feel a bit like I'm in "Cagney & Lacey" when i wear this outfit.. but i like it !!

Saturday night in the den

Weekends BC ( BEFORE CHILDREN!) for me use to be, a quick nip around the shops on a Saturday to buy an outfit for that night... a bit of a soak in the bath, my whole beauty regime.. then a few drinks to get me relaxed ..jump in a taxi with friends and out we'd go were we would dance till dawn,

how times have changed... this weekend we made a huge den in the living room..watched movies all afternoon with the kids..

and once they were in bed.. me and the hubby stayed in it with wine and snacks and watched Wayne's world!!!

please note that vintage and floral fabrics were used though .. mummy has to keep some order !!

pale and interesting

now I'm not talking about myself!!.. ( at one point during "the sunbed years" my mum actually commented on how i looked like a carrot!) i let the Nivea false tan do the talking for me on that one!!

no I'm talking about my hallway...

the lovely Sadie from the lovely Cotton Rose blog was talking about painting her hallway Gustavan grey.. now this time last year i was having the same conversation with my hubby..i really wanted to paint our hallway grey .. and have accents of red.. - i think the country homes and interiors of December featured a Swedish house so i instantly wanted that look!!

anyway i did a post here

http://charl-prettyvintage.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-hard-can-it-be.html

about how many different types of grey there actually was.. there were very blue tones and then almost brown tones... i wanted more of a white tinge to mine..

now because our hallway is narrow.. and then the stair well is very high it would have looked to depressing if it was very dark grey.. so i thought id opt for the paler end of the spectrum..

i didn't want it to look to cold either and because i don't have any plug sockets in the hallway there would be no chance i could have a lamp to soften the light.. big light all the way here girls!!

i put a period style wallpaper (from Wilkinson's of all places.. they don't do it any more..gutted actually because it was lovely and only about £6 a roll..) under neath the dado rail.. which i just painted bright white.. and then i finally opted for a dulux colour mix called Quartz Flint 6

i picked the palest of the colours because i thought on a big scale it would look darker than the tester squares i had painted on....it didn't!!

it is very pale , it is almost white.. i have tried to pick out the grey with the little cupboard on the wall which i painted a darker grey...

and the pewter of my mirror.. but to be honest i think after a year i could probably go a shade darker now!!!

so the problem now is to go for Quartz Flint 5 or 4 or a different make all together..

defo need to get a new carpet the one we have is absolutely wreaked its full of coffee stains, black unidentified marks and paint !!..i have seen one which is striped in tones of grey... think i will have to start selling on eBay again to get some pennies for it!!

FRIDAYS FROCKS

After the dreariness of this month and then the bursts of sunshine that we've had alongside it .. i thought i would use as this weeks Fridays frock my sunshine dress!!

i actually tried it on for a laugh when out charity shop hunting with my sister... it was a funny length ..not maxi nor midi just a funny ol length and because of the bright colours it did look rather amusing on me..

but there was a part of me that quite liked this funny old dress and as it was tres cheapo i would buy it anyways..

so i got my mum to cut and hem it to just under my knee and because it is slightly a-line in shape.. although it doesn't show that in the pics.. its rather nice on !

it always makes me smile this dress..( and probably makes everyone else laugh !)..if you're having a bit of a grey day you just cant once you put this ray of sunshine on!!

i love the scarf that came with it.. it makes it feel like it is a quality item aswell..although the fringe is looking like its in need of a tidy up!

i put this with a vintage Jaeger dark green jacket that's part of a suit my sister gave me.. which she bought from a charity shop...

and then my little cute shoe boots from primark.. which look shiny and a bit tacky in the pics but they more of a dull red.. i love the tassells on the back of these.

just one quilt

well i bought a quilt cover from the flea market in the summer for something silly like 50p!!

had a funny musty smell so gave it a wash .. and then cut it up to use as material for my doors in the welsh dresser...

still seemed to be quite a lot of material left so just put it back with my fabric stash and basically forgot about it!

then we got this cupboard didn't we off freecycle beginning of December


..which we put in the bathroom... it went in the corner were my washing basket had been..

this was then rehoused in our bedroom...but you know what i know it was only a little thing but it really did my head in!!.. i hated feeling like my dirty washing was on show in our room!!..

couldn't find anywhere to put the basket it just had its natural corner in the bathroom but that was now taken... so i knew it had to go!

decided to make some laundry bags..one for us and one for the boys room..did have some fabric but just thought it would be to nice to use for the purpose of smelly socks and dirty school jumpers!..

so i found the old quilt cover and because its gingham on one side and floral on the other it was perfect for both the boys room and ours...

so Ive made pretty big bags because i constantly have the washing machine on and yet theres still always washing.. is it like that in your house??

and you know what .. i still have quite a bit left .. i think its like a magical bit of material that just keeps returning to size when its cut!!..

***thanks for your messages from yesterdays post... the bubs is feeling a lot better than he was.. still full of cold and snuffles but we are just keeping his temperature down and basically trying to get him to chill on the sofa!..hes getting back to his dramatic little self anyways.. the arm against the wall with head in arms in a favourite one of his, usually followed by the words " no mummy!" so i take that as a sign to him getting better!!**

shades of grey

well Ive been feeling as grey as the flowers in my hallway this week!!

something that Ive not been able to shake off as quickly as i usually do when i feel low..

but then last night the baby was really poorly.. he was sick in his bed ... was absolutely red hot.. temp sky high.. his body was shaking.. very wheezy chest which is his weakness it was all very very frightening.. so it was a dash to the hospital again.. me making tearful phone calls to my sister convinced he had swine flu . ..

anyways they gave us antibiotics and paracetamol so that we can keep his temp down

today he isn't as bad.. he is still quite warm but no were near the furnace like temperatures he had last night.. * and why is it children wait until late at night be become really unwell ..when they've been running round all day fine !?? *

so from this i have realised that what Ive been feeling low and depressed about is really not as important as my family are to me.. that my family should come first in my life and not let situations get in the way that i cant do anything about but just concentrate on bringing up our boys the best that we can..

so Ive decided that yes life can seem very grey at times but what do you see when you look at my jacket here..



the red stand outs doesn't it... that's what I'm going to do..I'm going to focus on the brightness in our lives !