I love old things. Antique, vintage, pre-loved – whatever you want to call them. Something old looks fantastic mixed with new items, and really lends your home a unique bit of personality. Lots of vintage things are also so much more affordable – especially paintings and furniture.
I used to collect a lot of things when I was younger – espeically old magazines and vintage china. I’m much better at resisting too much hoarding these days as it all has to fight for space with the inevitable mountain of Lego and general boy clutter. A lot of my collections are now living in the loft, or under my bed, but here are just a few of my favourite vintage finds…
We bought these two watercolours from the 1940s at an auction when Gabriel was a few weeks old. They are by an artist called Clodagh Sparrow, who I hadn’t heard of, but we both really fell in love with them. They were in dingy old frames and weren’t looking their best, so we were able to buy them very cheaply. We had them reframed and they immediately came to life and looked so much better. We did a little research on the artist after buying them, and she turns out to have designed railway posters during the 1930s and 40s. These pictures are a bit reminscent of vintage transport posters, don’t you think?
Here you can see a vintage tin given to me by James’ granny, which I’ve had leaning up in various places over the years. I love it! This little dog came in a box of other vintage toys from an auction.
This jug was a recent charity shop find. It was a bit expensive at £10 (charity shops are not what they were!) but it was still there after a few weeks of dithering, so eventually it came home with me…
Here is another auction find. We bought a few of this artist’s paintings in the same lot, but this was my favourite. We haven’t done anything with the others yet, but this one went straight up on the wall. I love the colours and it looks great in the playroom. Auctions are such a great place to buy affordable paintings – I think we paid about £35 for the three.
I used to collect these little Mauchline ware boxes and still have a few left. This little one lives in my bedroom and is so pretty, if a bit damaged.
What are your favourite vintage finds?
Oh I love these vintage finds. I really like vintage toys so the little wooden dog has to be my favorite! I would love to be able to start a collection but we just don’t have the room but I’m sure I could make room for a few little pieces here and there. Like you say, they mix well with new stuff. 🙂
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Thanks Jenna! There’s always space for a little dog on wheels… but yes, there’s a fine line when it comes to clutter!
Aaah Lizzie! I LOVE that sweet little dog! What a gorgeous find! 🙂 I absolutely love picking up vintage pieces — ur home is a real mix of old and new! Thanks so much for linking up with #HomeEtc x
Caro | http://www.thetwinklediaries.co.uk
Thank you! The little dog was such a nice surprise – I bought the box of old toys without really looking through it. He was lurking at the bottom. Thanks for hosting! x #HomeEtc
As I scrolled down the page I kept saying to my hubby… “look at this”, “do you like that?’, “that’s beautiful”. I’ve only just found the #HomeEtc Linky but boy am I excited. I think i’d unlocked a passion inside of me I never knew I had. A brilliant post!
Angela xx http://www.daysinbed.com
Thanks Angela – I’m really glad you enjoyed it! I love peeking into other people’s homes too x
Those paintings are beautiful! Vintage has never been my thing in all honesty. My tastes tend to lie towards modern with the odd nod to the past. I do love vintage postcards though. They’re a bit of a weakness 🙂
Thank you! I’m definitely getting a bit more modern as I get older – or maybe mid-century, anyway! If and when we ever move again I’d quite like it to be a more contemporary space – I’m sure I’d still have space for my old favourites though x
That dog! I definitely would have taken him with me if I’d spotted him somewhere. I love picking up vintage bits and pieces but, like you, the boys’ Lego, books and general mess is taking over the house.
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Fionnuala from http://www.threesonslater.blogspot.com
Thank you – I love his expression! x
Love the dog! And the pictures are lovely. We have found some amazing things via car boots and charity shops. Thanks for linking up again – really appreciate it 🙂 Jess x #HomeEtc
Thanks Jess! I really need to get back into car booting… I’m just not very good at getting up early!
Hi Lizzie. Interesting site! I live in Girton Cambridge and we visit lots of antique fairs locally around and about. Like you we found some Clodagh Sparrow artwork a couple of years or so ago at Brampton race course I think, and every so often I google her name to see what else comes up relating to her. And your site just did lol. I was fascinated to see your two pics which I really like, that was a stroke of luck but they’re very different from her rail posters, and from what we found!! There was a guy selling the usual old stuff but on the floor being kicked around almost was a pile of about 15 pencil sketches of men and women, some are ladies in frocks, skirts etc but the majority are m/f nudes!!! We were looking through them pulling out the odd one or two but the guy approached us and offered us the lot for £15!! We snapped his hand off and like you these are one of our best buys. If you google her you’ll see the odd similar sketch, some have been in auction. I live in hope they’ll be worth Hughes amount….. I doubt my luck. Coincidence we’re so close too? Best wishes. Keith
Huge amounts that is!