The Colour Purple

It's no secret that I hate winter but rediscovering this coat almost compensates for the plummeting temperatures.

1970s jumper worn with 1970s purple lace maxi (used to belong to my friend, Nikki), vintage suede platform boots and crochet skull cap (both charity shopped), Pom-Pom trimmed tribal belt (present), Dents' cerise leather gloves in top photo (car boot sale)

What lies beneath? Don't adjust your computer screens, long-time readers, jumper-phobic Vix is wearing... a jumper! I spotted this Missoni-esque bell sleeve poking out from the £3 knitwear rail on a secondhand stall on the market. Most of the stall's stock is of the mainstream high street variety but every once in a while I spot a vintage gem, like this stunner and, funnily enough, the coat in the top photo. 

I'd mentioned sharing a few of the things I rescued from my parents' house in my last post. As we're about to redecorate I've stashed the bulkier pieces in an outbuilding until we're ready to display them in all their glory. Treasures include an Egyptian Revival fire surround with the corresponding peacock blue ceramic tiles (last seen HERE), a walnut Art Deco standard lamp (identical to THIS but when Jon's rewired it, rest assured that ours will be adorned with a far funkier lampshade) and, most excitingly, Mum's partially furnished 1930s Tri-ang doll's house (same model HERE) which I was convinced she'd given away years ago. Sadly it'll need even more restoration than The Cottage!

Here's Mr Punch the Victorian cast iron door stop. Until I googled him I'd never noticed he was taking snuff or that the dog was wearing in a top hat. Just goes to show that if you see something every day of your life you stop looking at it properly. My brother & I weren't that fussed about keeping him (we've stubbed our toes on it more often that we care to remember) but Jon loves him and as he's put his back out loading the skip and braved the spider ridden cellar and attic we thought he should have him. 

How could I not keep this 12" tall Art Nouveau Morris Ware vase? Hand-painted in all of my favourite colours, if it was a dress I'd wear it. Designed and signed by George Cartlidge for S Hancock & Sons, it was produced in Staffordshire between 1912 - 1920. Morris Ware was originally produced to compete with Moorcroft but looking at completed listings on eBay, Morris Ware seems to sell for more. Back in my misspent youth I "liberated" a couple of these encaustic tiles from a building destined for demolition, giving one to Mum and keeping the other. Along with the rest of my encaustic tile collection, it'll be put to good use when we redo the bathroom.

My brother and I found this Mid-Century Polish-made wooden ornament in a box amongst Dad's stuff, neither of us had ever seen it before, but looking at his old passport (something else we uncovered for the first time last week) for a young man from a working class family, he was very well travelled and probably brought it back as a souvenir (along with the Bitossi cat and the bronze model of Athena who both live on our mantelpiece).  

Handsome devil, wasn't he?
I wrote a blog post about my Dad's adventurous life HERE

Dad trained with the Royal Canadian Air Force. He travelled to the States on business a few times when we were kids but I didn't know he'd been in the 1950s.

Can you imagine what it was like travelling to Germany just seven years after the end of WWII? 

Remember the Victorian scrap screen I've had since I was a child? It was starting to disintegrate and look very sorry for itself but I had a brainwave. Mum had kept all my childhood books - extremely tatty as many were already old when I inherited them and I'd almost read them to death. I knew that if I sent them to a charity shop they'd end up in the bin. Why not salvage the pictures and display them somewhere they could be seen every day (as opposed to being hidden away on a dusty bookshelf)?

 There's early Twentieth Century biblical stories and fairy tales, a 1920s nursery edition of Peter Pan, Mum's wartime Alison Uttleys as well as a dilapidated Yellow Submarine paperback and my first Ladybird book from the 1960s plus some treasured greeting cards sent from family members between 1906 to 1951. I've attached them to the screen with a liberal application of PVA, stained them with  water from 10 teabags stewed overnight and will varnish them when it's all dry. 

So not too much of a hoarder, am I? Over the weekend I've managed to whittle down the endless bags of family photos & documents ranging from the Victorian era to the 1960s to a livable minimum. If I get a chance this week....the to-do list is another whopper....I've try and share a few interesting finds with you, it'll be an incentive to get them in some kind of order.

Linking with Patti & The Gang for Visible Monday.

See you soon!