Friday 29 July 2016

There beneath the blue suburban skies

This post was going to be all about last weekend's adventures and finds but alas! it wasn't to be.
With only a couple of things found at Blender Vintage Shop to show you, and Jos having caught a kind of summer flu and thus scuppering the weekend's charity shopping and flea market plans, I was a bit at a loss for this post's theme.





As I was having the blues, I stood in front of my open wardrobe just to look at my dresses, which usually is the best therapy in the world!

Although I profess not to have a favourite colour, I was nevertheless struck by the amount of blue my wardrobe contains. In fact, a whole section of it is dedicated to nothing but blue, ranging from delicate powder blue to navy.











I am often told that blue suits me and compliments the colour of my eyes and when I see photos of myself wearing blue, I must admit that there is some truth in this.

Blue was my favourite colour as a child and I remember having a blue swimsuit and winter coat. I actually have pictures of me wearing both, but as they are in black and white, they are quite useless for the purpose of this post!






When I was three, my dad, who was a carpenter, made me a doll's wardrobe and bed, which he painted light blue. After I was done with them, they were inherited by my sister, who is ten years younger, and eventually the little wardrobe ended up in her own daughter's room.
When my niece outgrew it, I was able to rescue it from the dump just in the nick of time. It is now living in our kitchen and it is just the right size for all those small kitchen odds and ends.










The blue paint has rubbed off in places, but I just love having this chunk of childhood memory in my everyday life!

When I was six and in first grade, I had a blue dress with flower trim at the collar. This dress was made by my grandmother, Angelica the dressmaker's daughter, as indeed were most of my clothes at the time.


Hurray for school photographers, as here's a class photograph in full colour, taken in first grade, in which I am wearing the dress in question. As I'm the only girl in blue, I'm sure you will be able to pick me out immediately!

In honour of the blue theme there seemed to be going on by now, I wore blue dresses on both Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday's dress was a turquoise short-sleeved one, with a tie at the neck.

Now, turquoise is a colour I am often drawn to. However, being slightly colour blind, manifesting itself in a problem differentiating between certain shades of green and blue, turquoise is a particularly tricky one for me.


In colloquial Flemish, the colour is sometimes called apppelblauw-zeegroen, which translates as "apple blue, sea green", which in fact sums up the whole problem for me!

Sunday's dress was a sleeveless midi navy one with light blue and white spots and a pleated skirt.



I shied away from navy for many years, as it reminded me of school uniforms, which in Belgium are quite often navy blue. And I didn't even have to wear uniform at my school!

When we had new windows fitted in our kitchen two years ago, after long deliberation and many paint test pots, we chose a turquoise-y blue (see, I'm being very careful here) as the new colour for our kitchen walls.








After it was finished, I posted this photo on Facebook with the caption "Kitchen Blues".
One of my friends commented it looked more like kitchen greens. But it is blue, isn't it?

I guess he meant the dress ...

Oh, the confusion!









Apart from the walls, there are quite a few blue items on display in our kitchen, collected from flea markets and charity shops over the years.


There's a shelf containing white and blue ceramics, including a Cornishware bowl and salt shaker as well as a Blue Domino breakfast set.


The top shelf of the same unit contains a set of blue and white canisters identifying their contents in French.  On the bottom left is a Boch sugar bowl, made in Belgium, and on the right a set of vintage Pyroflam dishes, made in the Netherlands.


Dotted around the kitchen are an English-made BEL cream maker, and some vintage Tala items like this cook's measure and icing set.


This gorgeously decorated tin was used for storing Brinta, a Dutch brand of breakfast porridge.







Further tins include one from Dutch brand Verkade, which used to contain ice cream wafers and a rare Smith's Potato Crisps one.















This tin tray advertising Wright's Biscuits and picturing their famous mascot, Mischief, is a favourite, in spite of it being a little worse for wear.










I love vintage packaging and these packets of soaps and starch are part of another little collection.
Typically for Belgium, their contents are mentioned in both Flemish and French.


Finally, another blue favourite which lives in a display cabinet in our dining room.



This Heatmaster tea set, probably dating from the late 1940s or early 1950s, was bought in a charity shop in Aberaeron last year. We'd spotted it on a Saturday but didn't buy it, which we regretted by Sunday. We were lucky that it was still there when we went back for it on Monday!

Now I'm ready for a more action packed weekend, starting with a round of the charity shops tomorrow ...

30 comments:

  1. YOU have SUCH cool vintage items in your house! I LOVED seeing all your blue items! The wardrobe is a joy to behold too!!!Turquoise is my alltime favourite colour and it all stems from my dancing school and we did a dance to a song called 'Hold my hand' and every little girl had a different coloured dress.Mine was vivid turquoise and I have loved it ever since!

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    1. Thank you Kezzie! We have been collecting vintage stuff, and especially kitchenalia, for about 20 years. I guess a favourite colour often stems from an item we loved in childhood. xxx

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  2. love the look in your kitchen!! it looks cosy and inviting. i have lots of blue kitchen ware too - because lots of them are old/vintage - it seems it was a common color in the times before the refrigerator. blue looks cool to us - so even the food was not really cooled - in a blue container it had a fresh air :-)
    as has your blue dresses! wonderful the navy one with dots!!! and the light blue looks more like powder blue to me - i can´t see no green in it - maybe it is my monitor.....
    the railroad keeper has it too - its hard for him to differ blue from green and turquoise :-)
    xxxxxx

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    1. It's true that kitchens were often painted blue in the past, for exactly that reason! I love our kitchen too. No, it's definitely not your monitor, Beate, I'm still not sure about the colour of that dress ... xxx

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  3. Oh I absolutely love the little tea set! I swing between blue and green, I have a lot of both around the house and in clothes.

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    1. Thanks Gisela! Blues and greens feature quite a lot in both my wardrobe and house as well. xxx

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  4. I had a light blue kitchen years ago, but it was never decorated as nicely as yours is. How wonderful that you are able to use the cabinet every day.

    Truthfully, I can't tell blue from green easily either (or navy from black). To me, your kitchen looks blue, but your dress is definitely green.

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    1. Phew, I'm glad I'm not the only one. The kitchen used to be yellow, and people said it would feel cold if we painted it blue. They were so wrong! xxx

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  5. I had a light blue kitchen years ago, but it was never decorated as nicely as yours is. How wonderful that you are able to use the cabinet every day.

    Truthfully, I can't tell blue from green easily either (or navy from black). To me, your kitchen looks blue, but your dress is definitely green.

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  6. Your kitchen is absolutely lovely! I adore the bevy of vintage pieces you've highlighted here and that there are old school treasures throughout your abode. I've peppered ours with plenty, too, and always on the lookout for the next "must have" little piece to liven our eclectic decor up with all the more.

    Thank you for sharing some of the highlights of your beautiful blue kitchen with us.

    Many hugs, my stylish friend!
    ♥ Jessica

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    1. Thanks Jessica. I definitely love a quirky and eclectic decor. Friends sometimes call our house "the museum". Maybe I should start charging an entry fee ;-) xxx

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  7. Well, that post certainly won't give anyone the blues! I loved that little wardrobe.

    I know what you mean about navy; I felt the same way about it for years. I find tricky near-neutrals - navy, chocolate brown - easiest to deal with in luxe fabrics. No-one ever wore midnight blue velvet to school, and chocolate brown satin is a world away from frumpy. Now I wear loads of navy. But never in school uniform shapes.

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    1. I'm glad my little wardrobe is getting so much love. It even still has a little rail for hanging dolls' clothes. Brown took even longer for me to feel comfortable with, but I definitely agree that it's impossible to look frumpy in clothes when they have the right cut or when the fabric is sumptuous. xxx

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  8. Your wardrobe is so neat,please come over and organize my clothes!

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    1. I know, I'm a nerd like that ... Maybe I should make a career out of it ;-)

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  9. Your wardrobe is so neat,please come over and organize my clothes!

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  10. Hooray for the blues! I'm in love with all your kitchenalia, especially the French canisters and the little table with all your china on it - perfect! I love it that you've reclaimed your old dolls' wardrobe too xx

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    1. The little table is actually a small glass-fronted cabinet, which we found at a charity shop for € 8. The china is all 1960s, from a Belgian pottery called Boch. xxx

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  11. Your kitchen is gorgeous! I can't resist vintage kitchenalia but it's getting more and more expensive here, just as well I've run out of shelf space. Good to see a bit of Tala - made in the Black Country - just like me!
    Your wardrobe is a joy to behold. xxx
    Blue's my favourite colour, too. We'd have been in good company at school, I was always mistaken for a little boy by the colours Mum dressed me in.

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    1. I didn't know Tala was made in the Black Country, and it will now always make me think of you! Kitchenalia can indeed be quite expensive. Most of ours was collected years ago, as we too are running out of shelf space. xxx

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  12. Blue is a favorite color of mine too. I love the blue tin in particular with the dog on it and your dress

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    1. I knew you would like the tin with the dog ;-) xxx

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  13. What a wonderful idea for a post. You have some lovely vintage items here. And your wardrobe looks like a real treasure trove!

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    1. Thanks, glad I was able to turn the blues into a positive thing! xxx

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  14. What a super blog page. Your wardrobe is to die for, I wish I could have a rummage through it.
    And guess what....my sister Jill is 10 years younger than me. Another thing we have in common.
    You have some fabulous things in your kitchen too
    Lynn xxx

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    1. Thank you Lynn! If only Lancashire was closer to Belgium, so that you could come around for a rummage! And what a coincidence that we're both having sisters who are 10 years younger ... xxx

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  15. Not surprised opening your wardrobe and looking at all those frocks makes you happy. We all want to dive in! But I can't help wondering if that is the blue section, are there more dresses?! Ann, come on, 'fess up! Your secret's safe with me. Lots of lovely things in your kitchen too. What a visual treat this all is. Xxx

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    1. Ok Tania, I'll 'fess up. I guess I will not be able to keep it a secret for much longer. There ARE more dresses, MANY more dresses! In fact, I think you have just given me an idea for a future blog post ... xxx

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  16. How wonderful is that school photo! Ours were always formal in front of the huge hall windows, retro curtains drawn as a backdrop!

    Your blue polka dot dress looks so pretty. I don't have a lot of blue, I never thought it suited me, but keep getting compliments when I do. I know turquoise washes me out though xxx

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    1. That is actually the only school photo I have which was taken inside our classroom. The others were all outside, in front of the classrooms, but still quite informal. xxx

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