I wonder if I'm the only person who can walk around a Vintage Fair and think most of the stock is too modern? At a fair recently there were so many 1950s items there, and I kept on thinking that was a little modern but found it rather lovely at the same time. Then we walked along a little and found tables with 1970s kitchenware that I remembered from my childhood and I wondered how my childhood days are now deemed to be 'vintage'! I guess time moves on and it doesn't help that I'm not a fan of orange and brown plastic and yellow formica.
In the end, I only bought the one item, a 1920s Chocolate tin which I hope to use in my sewing area for buttons. I'm also hoping to look through my Mum's button tin, which includes a lot of old buttons that belonged to my Nan.
Most of the items we buy for Hazel Cottage are the first half of the twentieth century, ending about the same time as the end of the Second World War and centred on the 1930s.
There is something so very beautiful to me about the 1920s, 30s and 40s pottery, something so homely about old baskets and hand made cushions and wing arm chairs.
In our kitchen, our vintage items are used alongside the modern ones as they should be, not displayed in glass cases to look pretty.
To me, old leather suitcases, stone jars, old books, embroidered tablecloths, patterned rugs and ticking clocks just signify
home. Much as I like shabby chic (as long as its not 'aged' too much) and Cath Kidston in small doses, you cannot beat the beauty and design of the real original items that are not only better designs, but have been used and loved over the years.
And, if those items are available in charity shops, eBay, jumble sales and car boot sales, then all the better.
Even our garden has given up some lovely antique items that were dropped by previous inhabitants of the house. In addition to a vast array of broken up Victorian and early 20th century pottery, we have found buttons whilst digging. I wonder what we will leave behind?
