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 

Camden Market

Down memory lane, across the cobbles and near the Canal. That would be Camden Market then. I had a stall at Camden Market for many years, during the time when the indoor market was for makers and designers selling their own handmade goods. This changed over time which is a shame. I was reminded of this period recently when a writer called Caitlin called me to ask about the market and its people. Caitlin has written this book spanning several decades, showing how at one point, the market launched the careers of people like Wayne Hemingway, who I love.

There I am in the index, yes, my surname does not lend itself to coming first, this became apparent to me from the tender age of 5 when school registers were read out surname first.


So, well lets have a look at the kind of thing I made and sold at Camden, here is the corner of a mirror I still have in my bathroom which incorporates flowers pressed between layers of glass.

I used this technique to make frames, clocks, pendants - all sorts.

I learnt to make stained glass, with Lynette Wrigley who taught me both the techniques of leaded (like church windows), and copper foiled and soldered, which is less messy and easier to manage at home. I did sometimes make coloured glass and heres something I designed and made for my parents.

Next week I shall be in Sweden, many wonderful things are planned, all revolving around photo shoots. Luckily I also get to see my God-daughters who are frequently my models on such trips.
The designer (and bessie mate), Van Asch has got Swedens top newspaper coming round to photograph her at home, so she is going through the same turmoil as myself. we have both found ourselves  scrutinizing every detail of our homes before they get photographed. Mine will be for Homes & Antiques in the UK.  

I hope to be doing some research on Swedish knitting and antiques, lets see if we can fit that in our schedule.

left is a Mora clock, I will be doing a piece on these soon. 

we shall be celebrating Midsummer Festival while in Sweden

Swedish Midsummer parties will be happening during my trip, thats partly why Im going, it's very Pagan, garlands of flowers in hair, folk costumes, dancing round an effergy while drunk on some sort of home brewed alcohol and full to the brim with raw fish.
What more could a girl want? My camera hopes to be capturing the season in its full glory, and yet again, I will be thanking auto focus. Somewhere along the drunken path, I shall have to learn a song about a frog while dancing round a Maypole, the song is  called Sma Grodorna. There will be an extra long, double strength, all guns blazing, blog on my return .....

did I mention that my hosts are excellent cooks this was one of last years creations.

As usual, all photos are my own and so are the typos. 
Since writing this I have thought a lot about my surname, and if its good enough for Will.i.am then I shall from now on, be 

Jan.is.IT  - why not make it work for me, who else could do that with their real name. Might as well !

Colour

Colour love is still high on the agenda in Janice world this week. Yes, I'm still decorating the house, and trying furniture in different places, like some installation piece of art or something, to me it's never finished. Well I suppose it keeps me off the streets. 

coffee table painted with a mixture of Florence and Paris Grey.

Judith Devlin, who you can see in this months Homes & Antiques, was one of the sellers I met at Village Vintage last week. I bought several pieces from her like the pink enamel coffee pot. I also bought a French Lavabo, ok I didn't know that name until after, but its a hand washing device, fixed to the wall, and if you read about it on Wikipedia, it has religious connections. It also has amazing pink enamel tank and basin but the wooden stand needed some shuzzing,so I delved into my Annie Sloan paint library.

It is a proven fact that colour effects mood, and I think for creative types its more than that, it touches something deep down that cannot be described. Green is relaxing, red increases your heart rate and blue, apparently, actually makes your body produce calming chemicals.

Just recently I have been buying Kantha quilts and Suzanis. Kantha is the name of the stitch used to patchwork vintage saris together to make quilts and blankets in India. The two I have on the floor above are very old and faded, they bridge a gap between ethnic and country perfectly.  Suzanis are embroidered pieces from Afghanistan, I have been using them as throws and also recovered some seat cushions. 






Since hearing of the death of Jocasta Innes, I thought back to her amazing paint transformations with stencils.
Chalk paints work quite well with stencils as they are thick and don't bleed. 






I found that Homebase had a little stand of stencils and just to get my hand in I tried this one on my dresser.  I chose it because it matched with my Swedish jars, and the dresser houses my Dala horses and Swedish bits. I will tell you the gorgeous story about Dala horses later in the year. 

My dining area is Sweden while my lounge is India. My two favourite countries. So in "Sweden" its Paris Grey and Old White, a very classy combination. 

The knitting is no exception to the vibrant colour combinations as I've now knitted my third piece for a book on bright fairisle by Nicki Trench.  Its a jumper knitted in the round with a yoke. 
The wool above is Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed Aran and comes in some gorgeous brights. 

The cushions above are, not surprisingly, Van Asch, a few more shots for her catalogue before I go to Sweden for the big shoot.
The blue decorated coffee pot just peeking into shot on the dresser was another find last week from Faded Rose vintage
Kantha Quilts and cushions are from The Bohemian Beach Company
and the Suzani throws are from e-bay. For stockists of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint look at her website, I am so lucky to have the wonderful Patricia at Making The Best near where I live.

If you spend more time on facebook than twitter, here is another way to find out when blogs are being posted etc. Go here and please like the page. 

Village Vintage Fair

Red and yellow and pink and green ..... summer is here, and just in time for the most wonderful event: Village Vintage at Plumpton Race Course. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Village-Vintage/103917839661532?fref=ts heres their facebook page.

I am so pleased that the weather turned nice for them just in time. Having had a market stall myself, I know how much effort goes into setting up a good display, and this they surely had done beyond excellence. Every stand was brimming with amazing finds, and decorated to the hilt with fresh flowers, the rush of colours and scents quite overwhelmed me, I wanted everything, it was all beautiful.

So many photo opportunities, I made a collage to fit them all in.

The problem with shopping with a like-minded friend is that they sometimes beat you to the very thing you want. Jane and myself have magazines coming to feature our houses very soon so were on the lookout for statement pieces.  At this fair there was no time to dither, about ten times I pointed and went "OOOO" and at that very second someone else was there, money at the ready.

I really wanted some shutters, despite having nowhere to put them, and was too slow for both the blue and green ones. My own fault. 

Village Vintage is held at Plumpton Race Course, quite a journey for me and Serendipity Reclamations very own Jane, who is fearless in the extent she will go to find gorgeous things for the house. 

There is most definitely a French flavour to the fairs in East Sussex, due to their proximity to the coast. Up in Buckinghamshire we are about as land locked as you can get so the feel of the vintage and antiques is much more British. This French feel gives a lovely alternative to interior decorating, which for the eclectic decorator is yet another string to their bow. 

I really hope we can stay in touch with the dealers we met here today and I will list the names that I got, please though, if I missed anyone out send me a message so that I can add you in. You can message me on facebook https://www.facebook.com/JaniceIssittLifeStyle Some of the dealers sell from their shops and some are purely pop up fair sellers, most of whom have a facebook page.

There is something about certain colours that connects to me. Its pretty hard to describe but I know there are many others out there like me who get excited by a particular shade of green, or pink or blue.  It must be an interior stylist thing, but I have to hold my hand up and say "hello my name is Janice and I am a colour holic".

In amongst these photos are items which are now sitting very close to where I type. Perhaps I should run a competition "guess which things I bought home with me".  Sadly the Shepherds Hut was not one of them, it was a particularly fine example of the genre and I doubt there was a single person at the fair who didn't have "hut envy".

Theres some cupboard love going on regarding the one above from Harrietts Attic..... we couldn't fit it in the car but I think Jane has a cunning plan.

If you want to find me on facebook, Ive revived my knitting page vintage stitches and it doubles as a link to this https://www.facebook.com/JaniceIssittLifeStyle

Heres some of the sellers whose products are featured here ..
Harrietts Attic, Heartfelt Designs, Sue & Janes Nice Things, Wolves Antiques, Rustic Garden Things, Nightingale Shepherd Huts, Nikki Page Antiques, Mia Fleur, Quince, Faded Rose Vintage, The Old Haberdashery,Love Lane Vintage Wild Willow, Love Inc Ltd

A really big thank you and well done to everyone working at the Village, and we can highly recommend the ice creams from Bluebelles ice cream parlour. They have been tried and tested, twice. 


ALL PHOTOS AND TYPING MISTAKES ARE MY OWN.