Going Round The Houses

  

Friday already! Where does the time go?

On Tuesday morning I wore my £2 Vinted bargain, this midnight blue velvet military dress, originally from Monsoon, for swimming followed by breakfast in 'Spoons.

On Wednesday, for a morning of charity shopping, I wore a Indian block printed midi dress from Dilli Grey and one of my vintage Afghans (this one was bought by the original owner from a market stall in Bradford in 1975).

On Thursday for swimming, Spoons and a trip to Lidl for a £1.50 Waste Not box (pictured below) I wore a Zara maxi dress and Fly,London biker boots (both charity shopped) and my Mascob for Liberty velvet Badim jacket. The weather was absolutely rancid, the rain was relentless and it barely got light all day but at least the forecasted snow never materialised.

On Friday I wore a vintage Shubette of London peacock feather print maxi with my mum's Mongolian curly lamb coat. I was with her when she bought it  - at great expense - from the Sheepskin Shop in Walsall back in 1975. Unlike her amazing cream Afghan, this coat narrowly dodged my Dad's manic cull of her stuff after she died and I managed to rescue it from the bin in the nick of time. This was what I wore to drop another sack of donations off at the charity shop.

 

We've spent every afternoon this week doing domestic stuff (we've certainly earned tonight's rum!) My dressing table had seen better days what with the drawers constantly coming off their runners so I decided to swap it with the pitch pine Edwardian chest of drawers I'd been lugging around with me since my student days as seen below, buried under junk stuff that will come in useful one day. 

 

Structurally sound but missing a couple of handles, I remembered a box of 24 Indian ceramic hand painted knobs we'd bought for £4 in a charity shop months ago. 

Jon decided that he could repurpose the carcass of the discarded dressing table whilst I came up with a cunning plan to reuse one of the ill-fitting drawers.

The legs were saved from a mid-century table which had gone to the great scrap heap in the sky a decade ago. That's one of the ceramic knob from the boxful we bought, isn't it pretty?

Here's the chest of drawers and used-to-be-a-drawer table in situ.

Perfect for storing my nail paint and my hair accessories. Much better than the floor, where they usually live!

Charity shop karma is a thing. We've donated some good stuff this week meaning that some even better stuff came our way.

These 1960s mini dresses and belted Crimplene jacket must have belonged to the same woman. The orange and purple printed cotton maternity dress is identical to one my Mum wore when she was pregnant with me in 1966. 

There's also a West African waxed cotton bomber jacket (with the store tags still attached), a 1980s purple studded jacket, a vintage Frank Usher chiffon maxi dress, a 1960s Welsh tweed coat, a fake fur Cossack hat, a 1980s velvet trimmed pleated smock dress by Parigi, a 1970s Borg-lined sheepskin, a 1960s framed leather bag, a burn-out velvet blazer from an Amsterdam boutique, a vintage Icelandic jumper and a 1990s Italian-made purple leather coat. 

Stonecroft isn't the only house having a tidy-up this week, my Lundby Stockholm, which lives in our bedroom, got a spring clean, too. The Stockholm was introduced in 1975 and, like the more common Gothenburg (of which I've got two), it has an electrical transformer enabling the house to be lit up. The Stockholm is the only dolls house Lundby made with a removable front, making it less of a dust magnet. My model is from 1979, when the lower storey, comprising a stable block (every little girl's' dream!) was introduced. 

Saga is my alter-ego. She loves a flamboyant frock and invariably has a wine glass close at hand. You're more likely to find her sunning herself on the balcony or curled up with a book in the lounge, rarely venturing into the kitchen.

Click on the image to enlarge.

I can't tell you how much pleasure I get from opening up my Stockholm and peeping at the Lundby family enjoying their swanky pad. I recently stumbled upon a basketful of vintage Lundby furniture in a charity shop which, of course, I had to rescue (some of the older furniture is very sought after). Like our real house, my mini houses are crammed to the rafters but I'm sure I can find a way to shoehorn a bit more stuff in. 

57 years old going on 7, that's me!

Thanks for reading! Have a fab weekend and see you on the other side.