Thrifted Recently

I'm back.

No excuses, let's just say I'm a bad blogger and I will try harder in future.

So - here's a little bit of what I've thrifted lately

One of the bargains of the year so far is this 30-piece set of Old Hall Alveston cutlery by Robert Welch. 

This is a true classic, winning a Design Centre Award in 1965. Coincidentally it is featured in the current (July) edition of Elle Decoration. 

I found this set bagged up in a charity shop for £2. On the same shelf was a set of Ikea cutlery for £3.

This little bird is a bit of a mystery, and I would welcome any suggestions as to the manufacturer.

It does have a maker's stamp on the bottom, but my camera is not very good at close-ups.

I'm also unsure what the holes are for, if anything.

 Any ideas? 

Another Bernard Buffet-style item, this time a small metal tray. £1 from the usually over-priced "Vintage" section of a local charity shop. 

This is the first Whitefriars I have ever found in a charity shop. 

It has a couple of tiny chips around the inner rim, but due to the way the light glows through the glass you have to look really closely to notice them. 

It doesn't match anything in my house so I'm not sure what to do with it, but I couldn't leave it in the shop for £2.

 Linking to

 

Thrifting catch-up

Just before xmas I bought this little mid-century bureau.  

It was dirty, a little bit knocked about, and it didn't have a key, which is probably why it cost me only £5.

I've given it a thorough clean and polish, my genius Dad has made a new key to fit the existing lock, and it's now the perfect telephone table/laptop desk, with added filing space so for once I have a vague idea where important paperwork is.

Love it!

One thing I particularly like is that unlike a lot of bureaux, it has a flat pull-down front, rather than a sloping one.  Not sure why this matters to me, I just think it looks a bit more elegant.

There's no makers mark or label, but the distinctive black legs made me wonder if it was a G Plan.  

A bit of Googling turned up an identical one on ebay, listed as G Plan, and with a Buy It Now price of £130.

I'm glad it's a bit knackered, as if it was in better condition I'd have to consider re-selling it, but this way I get to keep it.

On the top of the bureau is a more recent bargain - a Meakin Studiocraft coffee set in the Galaxy design.  

It's in really good condition, and cost me only £3.  
I love the shape of the coffee pot, and the pattern is one of my favourite Meakin ones.  I am really trying hard to resist buying coffee sets, but keep being tempted by lovely ones at good prices.  

Just going over to Flea Market Finds to check out everyone else's finds and add mine.

Thrift Catch-Up

Major technology melt-downs have prevented me from blogging for a while, and I still have quite a lot of thrifted loveliness to photograph and post, but for now, here's a gorgeous 1970s Melitta Stockholm coffee set.

I found this in a charity shop in a nearby town, and the logistics of getting it home safely by bus were challenging to say the least.  

A trip to the £ shop for bubble wrap, and the fruit market for a wooden crate (quite lovely in its own right) sorted the "safely" bit out.  

It was bloody heavy, though, and quite hilariously I chose the only day in living memory when the usually reliable buses were running an hour late and were absolutely packed!

I think it was worth it, though.


Linking to Thrift Share Monday and Flea Market Finds

Thriftshare

Considering it was still the school holidays here last week, I managed to have a good thrifting week.

My favourite find of the year so far - this little Hornsea Studio Planter.  I love the slightly muted colours which seem to fit in well with most of my colour schemes, and the unusual texture, which manages to be both matt and glazed at the same time.

I was attracted to this bright original watercolour, maybe because it reminded me of some of my favourite places in Northern France.

After some Googling, I was surprised to find it's a view of the Empress Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia.

I have a bit of a stationery problem.  I really love it, especially notebooks, but I can never bring myself to use them.  I don't know what I think I'm saving them for, but somehow my boring everyday scribbles don't seem worthy of such nice ones.

So, that's four more for the stash, then.

Hope everyone had a good week, looking forward to seeing everyones thrifting finds.

Linking up to Flea Market Finds  at Her Library Adventures
and
Thrift Share Monday at Apron Thrift Girl.

Thriftshare

I don't like xmas.  I'm not going to go on about it, because I know that most of the bloggers I follow love it and do it wholeheartedly, but I don't and so my favourite time of the year is just beginning.

There are many benefits to not "doing" xmas, but one I really noticed this year was that while most people were prowling the aisles of the supermarkets being super-organised with huge lists, the charity shops were almost empty.

Although I've yet to find a candle that really fits well in them, I still love these Dansk candle holders.  They sit on the window ledge halfway up my stairs, and everyone who passes them re-arranges them.  The two I bought last week will just allow more permutations.

I was attracted to this little vase, and thought the embossed pattern was very Hornsea-like.  It's stamped Withernsea Eastgate, and a bit of Googling revealed that Eastgate is just down the coast from Hornsea, and Eastgate pottery bought a lot of Hornsea's old moulds from them.

I hope everyone who celebrates xmas had a good one.

Linking up with Thrift Share Monday

Thriftshare

I seem to be finding a lot of brown items lately, but I suppose if I'm attracted to 70s stuff I'm going to have to embrace the colour brown.

This ashtray will be re-sold when I get around to doing some ebay listing.

The writing on the base, in a typical 70s font, reads: maru Trend Pacific Inc, Los Angeles Calif.

Design Isamu Kenmochi, Japan.

I really miss Habitat.  I know there are still a couple of branches in London, but I rarely go to London, and I've kind of fallen out of love with Habitat since it was bought out by Argos (ugh).

When I find Habitat stuff in charity shops I feel like I've re-discovered a long-lost friend.

These "Hennie" mugs, designed by the wonderful Hennie Haworth make me happy.

Thrifting Update

There's been a lot of wallpaper-stripping and preparation for decorating going on around here, and therefore not much thrifting.

 

Also, due to the time of the year, the charity shops are all full of hideous shiny tat (bah, humbug!).

Thrift-score number 1 is this lovely bowl by Egersund of Norway.

I especially like its bottom.

These Ravenhead Siesta glasses were impossible to resist - we had the same ones when I was a kid.

Brown is really not one of my 

favourite colours, but I had to 

buy this chopping board.  

There's no clue as to the manufacturer - Taunton Vale would be my best guess, but I haven't found a match on Google images.

Clearly "inspired" by Marimekko,though.

Any chopping board collectors out there who can help with identification?