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| Suffer Little Children |
Heaven knows I'm miserable now, Morrissey's summed my mood up perfectly, Jon's taken some great photographs today and I've just accidentally deleted them. As we're off to the pub in a bit I'm in a bit of a panic as there's no time to take any more so, as you did ask previously, I thought I'd show you the stairs and our infamous Wall of Misery.
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| Some girls are bigger than others, there's a few grown-up ladies sneaked in amongst this lot but what difference does it make? They're all rather kitsch. |
At every jumble sale I go to there's always one of these 1960's sad faced kiddie prints left over at the end. A couple of years ago I decided to start buying them and my Wall of Misery has grown from there. None of them ever cost more than a quid and even the people selling them think I'm ready for Strangeways, our visitors are freaked out by them but I know you've all got a soft spot for them really.
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| I started something I couldn't finish, my collection's running out of wall . |
Maybe if I keep going on about them I'll generate a worldwide demand and they'll become as collectable as my Trechikoffs and Lynchs (or maybe not).
You've got to admit that they are kind of cute and definitely not as scary as the real thing.
Our "Cement Grey" paint makes the perfect austere backdrop for such frivolity.
She's my favourite, she looks particularly naughty.
I've been listening to The Smiths today. Is it just me or does recorded music always sound better on vinyl?
More of my wallpaper collection.
There is a light that never goes out, another of Jon's magical transformations.
This charming man can put his hand to anything.
Right, off for a mid-week beer or three. See you later.
Great photos, and I LOVE your Smiths references, I love that band more & more each day!
ReplyDeleteJulia @ Retro Jules
p.s. I'll be posting my 80s song post tomorrow! :P
x
I like the one of the girl with the hat & red bow holding a kitten. I remember that picture from years ago and a girl in my class looked just like her.
ReplyDeleteI love the one with the dark hair in the white dress holding a hat and flowers. The one that is your favourite is lovely too.
ReplyDelete80's music was brilliant, such a brilliant era xx
Get you, being all Chris Packham! ok, what's the strategically placed gold disc? x
ReplyDeletei love the blondie, how cute!
ReplyDeleteOMG I MUST WRITE IN ALL CAPS SO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH I LOVE YOUR WALL OF MISERY!!!!!!!! okay, i will calm down. but seriously, woman. amazing! i LOVE those paintings. and your wall papered stairs!!! and the blue bottle on teh windowsill.
ReplyDeleteAAAAH!ALL CAPS AGAIN BECAUSE I LOVE IT ALL SO MUCH!
love love your stairs with the gorgeous wallpaper.. ive even just showed the hubby and he really likes it ( which is a first of any interest on the decor front!) so can i be cheeky and copy your idea on my stairs please!!..
ReplyDeletehow did you put the wallpaper on was it just with wallpaper paste??..did you varnish over the top or anything??
i love your wall of misery its to much fun to be miserable!!..
Viv wasnt there a story about the children ?,supposedly there was a fire or something like that,if you had one ,but maybe having a lot cancels out that myth,and or you are not superstious,I love your collection it is quite unique...love Jan xx
ReplyDeleteAh fantastic, the wall of misery is always worth another visit! It's made my day seeing the one I sent you up there with the others x
ReplyDeleteP.S Is the disc one of Jons'?
ReplyDeleteDearest Vix,
ReplyDeleteI love your collection of kitschy kids. Since my life laundry I've actually been able to stick some of the ones that I've amassed though the years up on the wall too, I think they look much better as a grouping.
I definitely think that Jon should both start up "bloke blog"...the blogosphere is crying out for it! I'd love to find out about how Jon went about transforming that hairdryer & the cage into lamps. Maybe I'm just not clued up but I feel there's a distinct lack of vintage blogs like yours run by men. G should have one too, what a hoot & a half that would be...he'd be an honorary 'frocking legend' just for all the amazing threads he always sports.
When I spotted the gold disc it made me smile as Mark has just brought back a 'Blondie - Parallel Lines' one :)
Have a great evening!
Lot's of love,
Jennie
xXX
Now that is what I would call a collection; they look really eyecatching all grouped togther. But, don't you ever feel their eyes following you up the stairs at night? Especially the girl in green with the brolly - she looks like one malevolent little minx!
ReplyDeleteOh man, I love your "Wall of Misery", it's brilliant! Love all The Smiths references too, very nice. x
ReplyDeleteoh Vix...you do cheer me up! xo
ReplyDeleteThe wall of misery gave me a blast from the past! The boy in pajamas at the top, I had that picture in my bedroom in the seventies. I have to ask, who's is the gold disc and what record is it for?xx
ReplyDeleteI love the stairs with wall paper on the risers. I've loved seeing around your home, it's so....homely...i can almost smell the lush karma fragrance around the place xxx love froogs xxxx
ReplyDeleteI love those photos too.....I used to have a few in my oldest daughter room but she thought they were scary!
ReplyDeleteI had a nightie with a picture on it in the early 70's that looked a bit like a picture from your wall of misery. It said "Be nice to me, I've had a hard day." I was about 5 so the likelihood of me having a hard day was pretty slim... Sorry about your deleted photos and hopw your evening at the pub makes up for it. :) Em xx
ReplyDeleteWell, sure! Almost ANYthing grouped becomes fascinating & takes on a life of its own after awhile!
ReplyDeleteAnd how I like the wallpaper pattern on your stair risers! How brilliant of you to think of that.
Ooh, wallpaper on the stairs, cool idea. Jon's a genius, he really can turn his hand to anything can't he? Xx
ReplyDeleteNothing like the crackle of vinyl - I agree it sounded better - those were the days when opening an LP and a 12 inch meant you got something luxuriously pizza sized for your money. I love the bird cage lamp and your wall of misery always gets a chuckle.
ReplyDeleteLove the name "wall of misery" - you'll have vintage loving retro chicks making a pilgrimage to your wall :o) Loving your home :o) Enjoy your beer Scarlett x
ReplyDeleteLove the name "wall of misery" - you'll have vintage loving retro chicks making a pilgrimage to your wall :o) Loving your home :o) Enjoy your beer Scarlett x
ReplyDeleteLove your freaky wall, I was thinking I loved the blue cheeky girl best too. I can just imagine her pulling the head off that Teddy in a diva tantrum.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous.
Kandi x
You will never guess what I found in the Goodwill the other day!!!!
ReplyDeleteYou'll see it tomorrow. I couldn't believe it and think of you every single time i look at it ;)
Tee,Hee!!!
Don't feel bad, I once deleted an entire trip to my Parent's which included photos of an interview I did with a vintage accessories dealer and the owner of the antique mall! I just hung my head and went to bed. shit happens I suppose, though i was so darn miffed ;)!
Love you Vix.
Reva
Ive got a wee collection of these too!! ive not got as many, i think four or five and i only get ones with animals!! i got one from ebay, which was a pound, i forgot to read the listing and she turned out to be HUGE! i was slightly embarrased on the way home, with a large print of a kitsch girl and a kitten, the background is bright pink too, so sugary and sickly sweet! learnt my lesson. I'll have to do a post about mine too, we could get a revolution going. And yes music sounds AMAZING on vinyl! B52s for me tonight! have a good school night drink!! eeps! xxx
ReplyDeletePS,
ReplyDeleteI love your new header!!!!!
It's so glamourous!
That lady is gorgeous ;)
xXx
Reva
your house is amazing! I almost wrote mouth instead of house, wonder what you would have made of that...
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about you releasing your photos. ( that's something I would do!)
ReplyDeleteThat said I do love the ones you've chosen to share instead.
Can't understand why they would freak anyone out though.
X x
love love love the stairs
ReplyDeleteyou call it a school night are you a teacher?
and also love the print wall
andrea
I have to agree that there is something strangly endearing about them :)
ReplyDeleteWhile they are cute I would hate to be walking down the stairs when a flash of lightening lit up their faces - it would scare the life outta me lol
ReplyDeleteHahaha,brillant!!! I should have guessed,really!! Doh!
ReplyDeleteI love the wall,it's frigging fabulous!
I love you,YOU'RE frigging fabulous! Hope we get some pub pix?!
Love Helga xxxXXXxxx
Ah the miserable hall of fame! :)
ReplyDeleteFab post, can't believe you have such a collection!
xx
I hate it when anything gets accidentally deleted, but hey at least we don't have to wait a week for more photo's to be developed at Boots! Your favourite girl does look a right madam, she has the look of 'Jon Bennet Ramsey' about her - RIP.
ReplyDeleteOne line we'll never hear you say, Vix, is "I would go out tonight but I haven't got a stitch to wear".
Ah, was listening to The Smiths in the office today. A charming man put it on for me after I complained that we'd had 3 hours of Paolo Nutini. Office life! Always arguing over the temperature and the music *sigh* xx
ReplyDeleteWe Shop Therefore We Are
Hi my dear-I love these pictures and they certainly look fabulous in your chosen place too. Sorry to hear you've not been in a great mood, hope the mid week drinks cheer you up xxx
ReplyDeleteooohhh this isn't a wall of misery to me its a little wall of sunshine. I adore them i am collecting them when i see them sadly i only have 2 a boy and a girl. But i will keep looking, its been a joy to see so many in one place. Have a lovely evening and sorry about losing your other photo's, dee xx
ReplyDeleteawesome! I love the wall of misery! So creepy cool but the colors are all so happy! Adore the bird cage light your hubby made! Genius! Fantastic post as always!
ReplyDeleteI love the naughty looking little girl (that sounds so wrong written down...) and your stairs look fab! x
ReplyDeleteoh it's hellish accidentally deleting your stuff - I sympathise!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all - I LOVE what you've done with the stair risers - that looks sumptious!
Secondly - wall of misery is surprisingly uplifting! One picture would be grim, but hundreds of them are incredibly cheerful in a marvellously cheesy way! Well done on rescuing these pauvres from an ignominious end in a skip somewhere!
Ali x
Oh my gosh 'WALL OF MISERY', everything in my house now needs names as dramatic as that! That wall is seriously amazing though, i love it, i keep staring in wonder :o
ReplyDeleteHehe, loved the Smiths songs name dropping too ;)
xxxx
Anything kiddy related freaks me out a bit. Even with the kitsch value of all those pics I don't think I could live with them! I'll have your stairs and lights though ;-)
ReplyDeleteLove the collection!
ReplyDeleteWalking through TK Maxx the other day my H passed a 'sad child' painting 60s style but not original, and said "god who would buy that" and I just smiled and said 'oh you'd be suprised, theyre pretty sought after!'.
Shame about the photos. If you DONT take any more photos with that memory card there is a way of using internet programmes to get them back. Talking from experience after spending a week on holiday and deleting the whole memory card instead of 'one' photo! Now I never delete from camera lol.
Oh, oh misery... the boy next door when I was a kid used to have some of these as well as a French(?) boy peeing by a lampost. I sold that girl in the straw hat with the kitten on ebay a couple of years ago and it made about £15!! even tho the frame was damaged.
ReplyDeleteLove the birdcage shade.
You have my sympathies. The birdcage lamp is ingenious.
ReplyDeleteI love this wall more amor.great job on The Smiths references.
ReplyDeleteamazing chandelier,love your lovely wallpaper on your stairs. what a awesome idea, Jon is a master.
Hope you enjoyed your cerveza.
I too have a kitsch wall in the spare room with these bug eyed child pics. (and a fluffy dog one!)I think they are fun, not sure what guests will think though.....I too love the smiths. I'm insanely fond of hang the dj and often play that and this charming man back to back, repeatedly! x
ReplyDeleteI love your wall of gloom. It's insanely fabulous and an adorable concept. :P
ReplyDeleteYou know my heart bleeds for Moz. Every time I'm depressed, his music lifts me up. Which is odd considering he always sounds worse off than I do...or perhaps, that's the trick. ;)
I ADORE your wall of misery so much that I am working on my own! I LOOOOOOVE that amazing red wallpaper behind the stairs... and is that Jon's platinum record from his Charlatans days? OOh lala! You guys are so rock and roll! I do love all of Jon's amazing lights too - especially the hairdryer bedside lamp.
ReplyDeleteSarah xxx
i have lots of these sorts of prints. I LOVE them but the boy really despises them. Luckily we've come to a bit of a compromise so i've got a few up. Might have to take some photos!
ReplyDeleteI love this wall of misery, they are freakishly adorable and I completely get why you gravitate to them. They now have a lovely home. I collect gals with red hair being the red head I am :)
ReplyDeleteThe birdcage light is so unique, yeah Jon!!! I love the wallpaper on the stairs and make me want to do mine.
Vix you are correct records do sound better, they have a warm you can never reproduce digitally...kinda like the old tube amps.
Cheers and enjoy you beer or beers :)
I must rectify my lack-of-Smiths-on-vinyl situation. I agree with you about it sounding so much better! x
ReplyDeleteI have always liked those pics! My guy hates them. =( I need a secret room that he can't find! lol
ReplyDeleteI just love the pics of your house it's absolutely amazing EVEN YOUR STAIRWAY!
LOVE these pics. Seriously. I would put them up on my walls. Totally cute kitch. OH, and your stairs...adore. Would so do that if I didn't have a couple of the frightening monsters myself (and thus need carpeting on my stairs).
ReplyDelete"and definitely not as scary as the real thing"
too funny!! and speaking of scary real things: I had mine. And she's not scary one bit. ;-D
There's nothing quite like vinyl and I love your wallpapered stairs - very "come up and see me sometime". I could spend hours gazing at the wall of misery - and yes the real thing can be really scary sometimes:)) xoxo
ReplyDeleteWall of Misery - love it! And your new header rocks!
ReplyDeleteOh darling VV how awful deleting you poor thing!
ReplyDeleteI love that wall.I only have a few so far.I had o2 given to me years ago by my unclke and have them no longer I think one was like the boy fishing (well it rang a bell)I LOVE the gyspy/spanish girl.please will them all to me lol
Such a shame about your photos. Loved looking at your pictures tho, we had some of those, and I especially remember the little girl in pink holding a kitten with a yellow hat with red ribbon on. Happy memories :)
ReplyDeleteThose pictures really work. I love love love those stairs. How clever. Where will we see next?
ReplyDeleteI love the Smiths too! Amazing. Adrian is an avid vinyl collector and I do agree, theres something particularly special about a proper 'record' and the way it sounds!
ReplyDeleteLove your wall paper and the sad eyed kid wall...they're adorable, just the sort of thing I'd have on my wall!
Much love xxxxxxx
Huge Smiths fan too! Yes vinyl is so much better - it makes the music seem more feel if that makes any sense at all?! I love the Wall, whenever I spy one of these pictures in a charity shop I instantly think of you (but not in a stalker type way lol!) xx
ReplyDeleteLove your 'wall of misery'
ReplyDeleteIt's so different and bizarre which I adore!
I've actually got two miserable children to send to you! I hope they are good enough for the wall of misery!
I love the caged light that John has made - he's a genius! He should get that invention patented and start selling them! xxx
I read in the Fortean Times that there's one 'sad boy' who is reputed to start fires! They put it down to houses with him in (since the 60s) generally had older wiring, heating and thus a greater risk of fire rather than him actually being haunted.
ReplyDeleteHopefully that is the case - your miserable kids all look pretty harmless to me!
Music does definitely sound better on vinyl, there is a technical reason for it that I can't remember, I'm sure Jon knows though!
ReplyDeleteI love the rest of your house, but those children would give me nightmares. It's enough to put this girlfriend in a coma xx
I love your new blog banner! You look SO GLAM, which you ARE, of course.
ReplyDeleteI love Morrissey and The Smiths, too. I like Morrissey more than The Beatles even. I also love old Elton John (the music I mean--not Elton himself--although he is getting rather long in the tooth).
Love you so, Vix.
SB
Nonononono... They really freak me out, but I'm sure there are collectors out there who would give the world for your collection (especially Ms Naughty)! xxx
ReplyDeleteha ha had to laugh at the legs comment lol.
ReplyDeleteYeah I think he shows no emotion and I think he is weird and creepy not a nice guy at all. xx
Bugger! I'm sure I posted a comment earlier which is nowhere to be seen...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, it featured praise for your wall, your stairs, and your style and creativity (Jon included) and some Hand in Glove lyrics about the sun shining out of our behinds!
Let's see if this one gets posted...
and if they don't believe us noooww will they ev-ver bee-lieeve uss... ohhhh. oohhhh *morissey yodel* I really like The Smiths but funnily enough I only listen to them peripherally. Everyone that listens to vinyl loves vinyl, my mum has all these records and a record player (or two!) but I still haven't had the chance to hear that vinyl crackle first hand because it never gets sorted out!
ReplyDeleteSo excruiating to lose the pictures, I know the feeling.
At least you have your, erm, wall of misery to cheer you up haha
I love your wall, such cute pictures. One on its own would be nothing special but all together they look amazing.
ReplyDeleteMid week beer sounds like a great idea to me.
I think they'd creep me out. Some of them definitely have chuckie eyes! A nice idea though- I always feel sorry for things that are left over!
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing wall and all of them together actually make them appear like a happy family!
ReplyDeleteWow you certainly have an eye for things .. they kind of freak me out too but altogether they look amazing .. I love your stairs and the bird cage light fabulous xx
ReplyDeleteBIG Smiths fan so loved this! xxx
ReplyDeleteI love your sad-faces kiddies, they look so effective all together like that!
ReplyDeleteI've noticed some gold discs etc in your pics before - are they Jon's? Can I be ignorant and nosey - who is he?! xx
Wow the cage\light is so lovely :O
ReplyDeleteAditi,
http://mysartorialsecrets.blogspot.com/
you've made me appreciate those pics in ways no one ever did before. collecting the sad monsters and giving them a home- so sweet. I kinda like them all grouped together like that too.
ReplyDeleteWish I was drinking a beer with you!
Vix: Thanks so much for the comment, I had never heard of those tiles before and I walk over them over them every day!
ReplyDeleteI love the wallpaper on your stairs what a FANTASTIC idea! x
ReplyDeleteLove all the pictures, but even moreso the Smiths references. Morrissey is my hero. Love, love, love that man.
ReplyDeleteMy Uncle had a 'crying boy' picture on his wall and it totally freaked me out. Yours look really good together, if a little creepy.
ReplyDeleteNicki xx
Your wall is amzing! love all the frame pictures I bet is stunning to watch in real life! I have to say that I love the photo of the guitar and the smiths album! Love the Smiths.x
ReplyDeleteI do believe we all need a bit of kitsch in our lives for good balance. I really admire the fact that you collect something that is not recognized as collectable or very tasteful. The finished result is such a unique wall- but that doesn’t surprise me, your home is completely one of a kind and that’s what I love the most about it xxx
ReplyDeleteOh I love these sad eye pics. You are sooo right there ain't nothing like the crackle of a good LP. xxx
ReplyDeleteThe wall of misery is an amazing idea))) I love this sad cute girls <3
ReplyDeleteAlso - what a great and inspiring idea with bird cage! Now I want to make somethimg like this too))
LOVE LOVE LOVE YOUR BLOG!!!!!
ReplyDeleteNice use of the song titles. I LOVE your wall of misery, it's genius and I LOVE you xx
ReplyDeleteLove it, very creepy and like a bad childhood nightmare, but in a looking back fondly retro way!!
ReplyDeleteI actually love these old prints! Something about the colours and the nostalgia I feel when looking at them takes me back to my childhood when lots of homes had them. And you just don't get prints of this "quality" these days. I have the small Soulet ones you have here in my childrens' bedrooms.
ReplyDeleteI can't bring myself to buy "The Crying Boy" though - freaks me out with its "curse" history!
Oh, and with regards to deleting photos - I actually accidentally threw away all my honeymoon photos along with the camera! Those were the days of film and prints. I had put them in a carrier bag to store but must have later thought the bag contained rubbish in one of my big clear-out / clean-ups and threw them out!
ReplyDelete