Village Life

We are the village green preservation society, God save strawberry jam and all the different varieties. Preserving the old ways from being abused, protecting the new ways for me and for you.God save tudor houses, antique tables and billiards, God save little shops, china cups and the Village Green. Thank you to the Kinks for summing up what life is still like in a village in the United Kingdom, in my case Buckinghamshire. Yes all this still happens in these little pockets where time stood still.

British summer fetes are in full swing, the one in my village takes place this weekend. Heres some photos I took in previous years to give you a taste of what to expect.

local produce and plants from village gardens

Morris men with funny hats

Morris men have a horse figure who falls down dead at one point in the dance.

home made good old fashioned fun

Morris Dancers

cream teas in the village hall

flowers and plants very cheap

more Morris Dancing

an old steam engine or two

a brass band

some local residents

the great chefs of the village show off their skills

lots of home baked cakes made by the ladies of the village, sadly not me, I cannot bake 

fun for children that doesn't involve technology

a dog show

show me the way to go home, I've had too much Pimms.

themed flower displays in the Church

Have a lovely time if you make it along to a village fete this weekend. The Morris Dancers featured here are called The Aldbury Morris Men

Loppis Love

Loppis Love.

There is nothing more exciting for me than to go shopping for vintage and antiques, it doesn't matter where, I love fine Antique shops like Sally Turner in Wendover Bucks, I love vintage markets like the ones in Milton Keynes and Winslow and I love car boot fairs all equally as much. But there's one type that beats them all, it's over in Sweden and it's call a Loppis.

A Loppis is, generally speaking, a garage sale, on a slightly more professional level.  When driving around the countryside never pass a little handmade sign saying "Loppis" with an arrow pointing up a lane or dirt track. For, at the end of the path will be a world of goodies just waiting to be discovered.

The Loppis can sell anything, new, old, vintage, antique and the downright bonkers. 

My latest jaunt over to Sweden naturally included a day of Loppis shopping, luckily for me, my friend Rachel does occasionally find something to her taste, like the mad steampunk 1930s coffee pot we used in these photos of the "babes in the woods".

A Loppis can be found in a barn, a garage, or even A WINDMILL!!

The above two Loppis are in Grillby, the Windmill still has all its working parts, amongst the bric-a-brac, all except its sails. The owner gives you a lovely talk about its history.

I bought a traditional Swedish rag rug from here, and some mounted deer horns from the other Loppis. Keep an open mind as to what you will find. 

Generally speaking the prices in these places are very good, the owners know the worth to the "Towny" interior decorators, but they are still sensible, a bargain can always be found. One mans junk is another mans treasure.

If you google up a translation of the word Loppis it says flea market, and its a general term that can cover car boot and flea markets too.  I think the Swedish perhaps have one word for their old junk, whereas in the UK we like to narrow it down and categorize the types of junk we are selling ha ha !

The Windmill owners also have a studio for ceramic making and run courses there. The other Loppis has a facebook page, they are called Mormors Lupbod.

Grillby can be found just off the E18 out of Stockholm, just over an hours drive. Its just before Enkoping.

Bright Stockholm I love you.

Bright bright bright the future is looking bright for the new colours in Swedish interior trends.

There is a new wave of interiors, a total mixture of granny chic, vintage, antique but all with a new take on the colours applied to them. Here at the Cafe Tjarlek in Stockholm, they have got it all going on. Not only is the decor great and fun and lively, but the food is fantastic too, make this a destination to stop at if you are visiting the city anytime soon. 

It is a testament to how effective decor can be in business, we were heading for a bit of girly shoe shopping next door at the Swedish hasbeens pop up shop, the bright colours from the cafe lept out at us and we looked at each other and said "we'll go there after for sure".

The boutique castle hotel of Gorvalns Slott is another fine example of these crazy colour combinations. Crazy they may seem, but the vibrancy really wakes you up and lifts the spirits, perfect colours for areas of eating and chatting. 

I love the way that the doors are open to almost warn you of the next colour change, they don't do things by halves at this hotel, when they use a colour, they really use it.

Even the traditional Dala Horse can be seen to be embracing some new colour combinations. 

Funny isn't it how styles criss cross over from country to country. A few years ago there weren't many places in Sweden where they had strayed from the safe and the norm. I do believe that the British revival of vintage and retro has travelled back to them. Whilst here in the UK, we are happy to swap for Swedish traditional and classic. That's what style is all about though, mixing it up, re-inventing and picking bits from here, and there, and making it your own. 

This is all going to influence my next knitting designs, traditional styles with new colours ... watch this space. 

Homes And Antiques

Homes and Antiques magazine came to our home yesterday, and it was really great fun to spend the day with a team of ladies who appreciated my efforts to make it ready. They are a lovely bunch and I am so happy that my vision to re-invent this house has been noticed by my favourite magazine. 

This is an extra mid-week blog to give special thanks and links to all the friends, new and old, who supported this effort. The full feature will be in the September issue, which is out in August. I'm only giving you snippets here so as not to spoil the big reveal.

flowers by Wild Orchid of Leighton Buzzard

I met Lorraine Issott (yes I know, similar surname how funny),
when I ran into her shop on Monday, she stocks the most beautiful flowers and was happy to help. Lorraines shop is in Leighton Buzzard, my favourite high street for everyday shopping. Thanks Lorraine, yours flowers made it into the photos, I hope I did an ok job arranging them.

Several items in the bathroom made the final cut, the Lavabo from Judith at Heartfelt Designs and an art deco ceiling light from Amanda Leader (not seen here). Thanks to you both for making my bathroom so unusual and pretty.

You all know my friend Poonam from Holy Cow Home, thanks for the horse hook, it completed the look in the guest bedroom.

This ball of fluff is Coco my blind cat, modelling one of the many Kantha quilts supplied by The Bohemian Beach Company. If you didn't know already, the cushions are Van Asch, honestly where have you been? 

Barcelona Orange Chalk Paint on wall.

 The brightly coloured cabinets are from Namaste UK. They have an online shop, lots of keenly priced Indian fairtrade goodies, delivered to your door.

Two ladies have gone above and beyond the call of duty, they are Patricia from the shop in Leighton Buzzard called Making The Best and Jane from Serendipity Reclamation. Patricia supplies products for making all kinds of things, soaps, candles, beer, and also holds workshops for Annie Sloan chalk paints. Jane has moved out of the cold draughty rec. yard and into the world of designing beautiful dressers and tables from reclaimed wood.  Although neither lady normally supplies vintage fabrics, it just so happens that the fabric on this cushion and lampshade came from them, by hook or by crook. Isn't it nice to make things from your friends vintage finds.

The editor of Homes and Antiques was kind enough to notice my recent changes, she even commented on how I had styled the kitchen sink ... but of course, for Homes & Antiques, nothing is too much trouble. If you haven't seen my facebook page, theres often updates there too, it still has the title Vintage Stitches 

Wooden painted cupboards 

http://www.namaste-uk.com/

Vintage Kantha quilts/blankets on e-bay from this seller

https://www.facebook.com/TheBohemianBeachCompany?ref=br_tf

Paints on walls in hot vibrant colours are Annie Sloan chalk paints

At www.anniesloan.com

Enamelware and bathroom "Lavabo" from 

Judith https://www.facebook.com/pages/Heartfelt-Designs/402570936494533

Paints and some vintage fabric from Patricia at : Making The Best in Leighton Buzzard. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Making-The-Best/147225911987184

Other vintage finds from Jane at http://serendipityreclamation.com/

Indian bits and bobs from a tiny café in the woods near Berkhamsted (little Heath) called Sanuk http://sanukatlittleheath.co.uk/

Horse Hook https://www.facebook.com/HolyCowHome

Amanda Leader

http://www.amandaleader.com/

Scandinavian Pink

Scandinavian Pink.... hi everyone, I've been across to Sweden for many reasons and shall reveal the story over the coming month. This weeks blog is brought to you by the colours pink and grey. 

Wherever I went, different shades and hues of the colour pink were popping out at me, usually alongside grey. It is no wonder that the paint maker Annie Sloan has a colour in her range called Scandinavian Pink, whilst Annies colour is darker than seen on some of these images, I can see why she associates pink with Scandinavia.

One of our first outings was into Stockholm for a trip to buy Swedish clogs, en route we passed this building, all shuttered up, with beautiful detail. 

The area is called Soder, we found a lovely cafe which is featured in Rachels blog this week with my photos. It was called cafe Tjarlek on Tjarhovsgatan.

Swedish style wooden shoes seem to be hot right now. Even in Sweden the brand "swedish hasbeens" has a big following. They are an online store with pop up shops around the world. 

From there we walked to where we could take a boat over to the area where the museums and amusement parks are, (Djurgardsvagen). As the boat was docking I spied this pretty ride, decorated with a lovely colour combination where the pinks are sitting with yellow. We were heading to the Nordic Museum for research into folk art and Swedish traditions.

Day three and Rachel had arranged to go to a hotel called Gorvalns Slott, just outside Stockholm in Jarfalla. The castle hotel is decorated throughout with Van Asch cushions, ornate furniture, feather lamps, interesting wall treatments and colour themes. We were taking photos for the next catalogue and were allowed free run of the place. 

There is a room to suit everyone, whether its strong green, pale pink or calming gold. 

bathroom tiles

this wall is a mixture of old plaster, paints and stone, rough and textured,
hints of pink and grey show through the layers.

 Day four and we all packed our stuff into the car and headed off to the family home in the countryside. Tjulsta here we come for the Midsummer Festival. In Sweden the eve of Midsummer is as important and Christmas Eve. My hosts informed me that most of the country is intoxicated on this day, the weather was perfect, we picked wild flowers, made our head garlands  and headed off to the nearby village of Veckholm. Here the large village hall was hosting the event, a maypole had been erected and on our arrival it was in full flow, with the traditional dance in progress. 

The nearby church had this annexe ....

Back at the 200 year old house in Tjulsta, I spied yet more of this wonderful colour on this little cupboard. 

Heres a shot of all the girls with myself, and a special thanks to Gunilla for giving me the full Midsummer feast later that day.

Special mentions and links this week go to Swedish Hasbeens, Cafe Tjarlek,Nordic Museum Stockholm,Gorvalns Slott hotel, Rachel Van Asch