Stanley and Roses CC41 Up-cycled Unit

"During the war"...as Uncle Albert would say, the government devised a scheme to help those who had been bombed out, or newly wed, to refurnish their homes. A catalogue with certain styles and choices of basic furniture design, made with wooden frames, drawers and handles, with lesser materials,  such as ply on the sides and backs. This cheaper range and style of furniture became known as Utility.

Each piece of furniture had the utility logo stamped onto it, known as the "Two Cheeses".  I recently purchased a cupboard off eBay. A bedroom tallboy, which originally cost £9,5,3. We paid £22:00. The varnish has seen better days and it actually looked like it had survived several wars!

Once sanded, the sides being ply were pretty bad, so out came the paint! The front of the unit has some lovely doors, which I inlaid with a map of a bombed area of London, a little nod to its history.

One of the reasons I love old furniture, is it's history. The life it lived before it came to me. Inside one of the drawers and one the back panel written in chalk are the names of a previous couple. Is it the original couple? Did this couple buy it second hand? who are Stanley and Rose from Aldershot? 

Stanley and Rose, whoever you are...your old cupboard has a new life, and takes pride of place in our front room!

The utility scheme was officially closed in 1952, the same year that furniture rationing ceased.

In a bit of a TWIST

I bought this Barley Twist table at auction some time back...its a great size for a smaller home, but my style has changed...so it had to go!

A good sand, woodworm treatment and rub down and we were ready to paint!

Have you ever painted a Barley Twist piece of furniture? It's a NIGHTMARE...especially with thick chalk paint... I used Rust-Oleum.

After more coats of paint than I care to mention and a good wax on both table top and legs it was time to move it on...so someone else can enjoy it! 

Shelf Re-vamp and Re-cycle

After taking stock of the clutter at Clutter Towers, we needed extra display space!

I had this little shelf unit in the shed and now is the time for an up-cycle and repurpose to let it shine.

As usual I was so keen, I forgot to take a before picture! Lets just say it was orange wood and filthy!

First a good clean and a coat of  Rust-Oleum chalk based paint, in Anthracite.

After two coats, old Ordnance Survey maps have been applied to the bottom of the 

shelves with Modge Podge and given a coat of Americana Decor matte varnish. 

The woodwork was given a coat of natural wax.

I hung the shelves upside down so the curved edge is at the bottom, 

from the sofa you can see the maps, much nicer than the bottom of bare shelving.

Now a place for all my twinkles!

I'm not normally a fan of painted wood, but can see the benefit when the items are just cheap and need a new lease of life. Much better than ending up in landfill.

I'm really happy with the way this turned out, so easy!

A week away - part two

Why is it a week away is never as long as a week at work?

The last day of our holiday came oh so quickly, we decided to become proper tourists and took

a trip on the " Seaton Tramway" with a strapline like "it's electric!" how could we not?

One you've paid you can go up and down the line to Colyton as many times as you like. I found myself waving a complete strangers and grinning like a mad woman. On arrival we had breakfast in the cafe (bacon and eggs butties washed down with tea!)

Seaton Tramway operates narrow gauge heritage trams between Seaton, Colyford and Colyton in East Devon's glorious Axe Valley, travelling alongside the River Axe estuary through two nature reserves and giving an unrivalled view of the abundant wading bird life.

Me trying to enjoy having my photo taken!

Our last night came soon enough and we were packing up to return home and back to the realities of work :(

Bye Bye Devon x

We stayed at Byre at Bulmoor a converted stable

Places of interest 

Seaton Tramway

Weymouth

Exeter Quayside

Lyme Regis

Auction House

Lymebay Auctions

A week away - part one

This is the first proper holiday we've had in a long time, we normally do day trips or the ocassional overnight stay in a hotel. We were rather excited! 

Our accommodation for the week was a converted stable in Musbury, which isn't far from Seaton in Devon.

On our first night we found refreshments in the Lion Hotel in Lyme Regis

Monday was peeing down with rain but we'd done a little research and found out an auction would be on when we were visiting. Lyme Bay auctions, hold one a month and have two auctions running simultaneously on two floors.  I have to say this was very dangerous and I wish we'd had a van.  I had to leave so many bargains behind!

The sun finally shone and the wind was blowing when we revisited Lyme Regis on Tuesday. A little retail therapy in Seasalt and a relax on the beach was just what the doctor ordered. We found this abandoned Sandcastle which I thought was worthy of a photo. 

Wednesday we found ourselves in Weymouth.

I love "Flying Horses" these were on the seafront in a bandstand style seating area and couldn't resist a photo.

We took a trip to Exeter's Historic Quay Side on Thursday, and once we'd finally negotiated the traffic and fairly confusing road system, we could finally relax and enjoy the craft shops , glass blower, iron monger and antique centres. 

With plenty of choice of places to eat, it was worth a visit. The more adventurous could hire bikes and kayaks, we just bought an ice-cream! 

Our adventures as always, were peppered with little pit stops!

Orla and her coffee jars

Like many others I've spent the last few weeks hunting down jars of coffee.  Why would I be doing such a thing you may well ask?! I blame social media, really I do!

Some might say I'm a marketing mans dream,  in part, I know that not to be true. Many adverts on T.V get the small print scrutiny from me, products that get 60% positive feedback compared to their usual brand, when tested on 90 people, doesn't cut the mustard and frankly don't impress.

But, here's my problem, brand my favourite coffee in Orla Kiely printed jars, in three different patterns...well that's a different matter. After seeing envying them being happily displayed in kitchens across the land, panic sets in! Will I find them before they sell out? (after all they are limited edition! )

The answer; Yes, I did an online order and got them delivered to my door.  I'm keen, but a little lazy, panic over!

It's not the first time I've had a rush to the head over a product I've seen on the Internet.
Anyone remember the hunt for the Aldi fake crochet table cloth!  Three purchased, thank you!

I like things that cheer up the ordinary tasks in life, so with that in mind here's a new one to look out for...Plastic Dolly Pegs! They grip like an all in wrestler, don't leave "wood stains" on your clothes and they come from Poundland. A whole British pound for a little updated nostalgia when hanging out your briefs, marvellous!