Sunday 19 April 2020

Treasure hunting begins at home

Hello, it's me again, your lockdown reporter from that little scrap of a country called Belgium.

You might have noticed that I upped my posting frequency in these turbulent yet quiet times. Nevertheless, same as I was pre-lockdown, I'm still lagging behind a week or so, which is why I still have to tell you about what happened in our little bubble on Easter day.

But first things first! Let's have a look at what my wardrobe insisted I wore on this sunny Sunday.



What about some red, white and blue? Well, yes please! 

The blue was mostly provided by this vintage Lee Cooper denim wrap skirt, which was a gift from my friend Ingrid last Summer. As I had been unsuccessfully trawling the charity shops for the perfect denim skirt, it couldn't have come at a better moment. The skirt came from Think Twice, and although she initially bought it for herself, she decided it would have a better home with me! 

The red, white and blue vintage top was a Think Twice find as well, while the belt, bracelets, necklace and cat brooches were charity shop finds. As were the amazing vintage style shoes!



I admit it wasn't one of my best days and at first I was at a loose end on how to spend it.  

All around us, people seemed to be having family gatherings and picnics in crowded parks, which greatly added to my feeling of unease. How can people be so careless and have so little discipline? But I'm sure you haven't come here for a rant, so why don't I show you some of Dove Cottage's treasures instead? A word of warning though: not suitable for those with minimalist tendencies!

I have been mulling over this post for a while now, as I wanted to follow the example of my fabulous fellow bloggers Beate, Veronica, Fig and Monica, who recently posted about what's on their dressing tables.


The problem is that I don't have a dressing table as such, unless you count the side table in our bedroom, on which some of my stuff is displayed. A bit of a poor excuse for a dressing table, I know, but it'll have to do for now.

The table itself is a pine one which we picked up from a DIY store when we were doing up Dove Cottage all of 21 years ago. It originally lived in our dining room where its drawer - now a jumble of assorted bits and bobs - held our best cutlery.

The mirror is 1930s and was a charity shop find, and so was the semi-circular display cabinet, which holds a mix of small treasures, including some family heirlooms.


At first, my makeshift dressing table had oodles of space for displaying things but then one of our best finds ever threw a bit of a spanner in the works in  December 2018.

It was at our monthly indoor flea market that this small chest of wooden, glass-fronted drawers made my heart beat faster. It's the kind of cabinet which was once used to display sewing threads in  haberdashery shops, and which I had been lusting after for quite some time. Most of those we'd come across until then were eye-wateringly expensive, but this one was more than affordable as its top was cracked.

The perfect storage solution for my growing collection of brooches. Well, at least some of them!

You will have probably noticed the feet with their varnished toenails which are displayed on top of the cabinet. They too were a flea market find. Made of some kind of moulded plastic, they are advertising a bygone brand of shoes.



The clothes hanger with its crocheted jacket - another gift from Ingrid - is holding two pearl necklaces which used to belong to my great aunt Josephine, while the Bakelite hair dryer, obviously for display purposes only, was found in a vintage shop in Narberth, Pembrokeshire.

Presiding over it all is a glow-in-the-dark statue of Our Lady of Lourdes. She was a charity shop find, as were the wicker sewing baskets, which I seem to have a weakness for, the biggest one holding painted wooden bangles.



But there's more! 

The redundant fireplace in our bedroom has been turned into a little storage nook, where you can see more of my collection of wicker and plastic sewing baskets, all but one - the round one on the left is my actual sewing basket - roped in for holding necklaces, bangles as well as flower clips and corsages.

The shelf came from my parental home and used to be in my childhood bedroom, while the lacy border added to it was yet another flea market find.



The Mid-Century jewellery box on its spindly legs was bought from vintage shop in Belgium's west country while on holiday. I've covered it with a small charity shopped table cloth to hide its slightly damaged top. The trays inside hold my collection of vintage clip-on earrings, spare watch straps and my great aunt's bracelet, among other things.


The two jewellery trees and the book, Charles Dickens's The Old Curiosity Shop, were charity shop finds, while the green tray and matching brush were found at a car boot sale in Cardigan. 


But there's still more to come!

Let's move across the landing to the spare room, which is the same size as our bedroom, and doubles as our study and library as well as my dressing room.



The main part of my necklaces lives here and is stored on another haberdashery shop display unit, this one originally holding zips. It came from a delightful vintage shop called Expo 58 in a town about one hour's drive from Dove Cottage.

The orange Better-Maid party dish is home to my rings, as is the treen box, which holds my more expensive fused glass ones.

The watch in its pink box is Betsey Johnson and was a gift from my ex-boss's wife.



And here is where the rest of my brooch collection is stored. The individual dark wooden drawers were given to us by one of Jos's friends, who originally used them to display his collection of coins.

The lamp, incorporating an uplighter and a reading lamp, is from the Swedish furniture shop, but we've replaced the uplighter's shade with an original 1930s glass one.




Turn around and you get a view of the mantelpiece at the other side of the room. The chimney breast is nicknamed the Wall of Heads, for obvious reasons. There's still about one third of space left if we go all the way up to the ceiling!

On the mantelpiece itself is my beloved Twiggy on the far left. She's usually wearing a hat but I took it off so that you can have a better look at her. She used to have a job displaying hats in a vintage shop, but I was able to buy her at a reasonable price when the shop closed down.



The pink glass vanity set was a gift from one of Jos's ex-colleagues, while the cat boxes are from Past Times, the same shop where we got Baby Gargoyle, who was featured in my previous post.

You would be forgiven for thinking that the dark wooden box on the right is a sewing box, but it isn't. It's a jewellery box and its shallow drawers currently hold my small collection of scarf rings picked up during my eternal search for vintage brooches.

The plaster lady displayed on top of it was a lucky find at a charity shop many years ago, and will always remain a favourite. We'd already paid for our purchases when I went back into the shop to make use of the toilet. On my way out, I found her sitting on top of a cabinet, so I had to queue at the till again, trying to convey to Jos in sign language what I was doing, as this was before we had mobile phones!



Here's the twin of my other party set, roped in for storing more bangles which, like the rings and necklaces, I tried to group by colour. 

That's mad Sybil lurking behind it. She's a hairdresser's model we found for € 0,50 in a charity shop. She's from the well-known hair and beauty brand Sibel, hence her name. And I guess I don't have to explain the mad part ...

Between the bangles and mad Sybil is a vintage hair brush and hand mirror set we bought at our charity shops' much maligned retro event back in 2016.




So, that was it. 

Back outside for a well-needed breath of fresh air and to show you a couple of details from my outfit, including the stitched Lee Cooper label on my skirt and my funky plastic ring.

I hope you'll join me again for the next episode, but in the meantime: stay safe, my dears!


49 comments:

  1. LOOOVE that outfit! its like a breeze of fresh (seaside) air!
    esp. the belt in the color of the skirt make for a very chic effect!
    thank you for joining in - its a very interesting post because you´r a collector and have many vintage things with lots of history to tell....... and: if your pensioner fond crashes, you can always make a living by selling your vintage jewelry - which will be antique by then :-D
    as for bein behind with blogging: me too. still have to post the easter hike.....
    hugs - a shipload full! xxxxx

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    1. Thank you Beate! I think my vintage Barbie dolls will be far more beneficial for my pension fund than my mostly cheapo jewellery. And I don't think I'll part with my brooch collection any time soon! xxx

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  2. Oh what a wonderful outfit with maritim touch.I miss the ocean, you bring it back 😊

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    1. Thank you Tina! I do miss the seaside too, we would have gone to Zeeland in the Easter break ... xxx

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  3. oops to fast. Very exciting to see your storage of accessoiries. So many brooches. You have all in perfekt organisation. Great.
    A very huge hug Tina

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  4. Fantastic! I love seeing your collections. I love the cat brooches too.

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  5. I really liked looking at your treasures! How nice to have necklaces from your aunt. :)

    Perla Lifestyle Blog

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  6. Gosh, at last! Someone who has as much jewellery as me. I loved looking at your collections. I am very envious of the way you store your brooches and at least you can see them when you pull out the drawers. Once the chazzas are up and running I'm looking for brooch storage...

    I also loved your collection of vintage sewing boxes and what a great storage idea for jewellery. Your collection of heads is fantastic! The two orange party dishes for bangles and rings are a genius idea.

    You certainly got some wonderful bargains in the chazzas and boot sales.

    Loved the red, white and blue outfit and those cute cat brooches. I've really enjoyed looking at your treasures, Ann - thank you.
    xxx

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    1. Thank you Vronni! It took me years to find a good solution for storing my brooches. They were in closed boxes at first, and then I used one of those cheap plastic filing units. These drawers are indeed perfect, and easy to manage! xxx

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  7. I feel so much better knowing I'm not the only ac cessories collector. You're much better organised than I!

    The embroidery on your denim skirt is giving me all sorts of ideas for ways to dress up the denim skirts in my collection.

    Stay safe and well.

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    1. Thank you Goody! Reading your and Vronni's comments make me feel so much better too :-)) xxx

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  8. Thankyou Ann for this FANTASTIC post of all your treasures. I imagine anyone coming to your home would be utterly enthralled with all this beauty and be fascinated by your stories behind so many pieces. I would probably never go home!

    Where on earth do I start!!! So much to look at! I could gloss over these for hours. Your storage and displays are fantastic, so organised and colourful. Makes it so much easier to find things. I even spied your beautiful floral bangles, I'm so jealous!

    Your collection of brooches is fascinating. Twiggy and Sybil are beautiful, as is Our Lady. Fantastic wall of heads too.

    Love your red, white and blue outfit, such classic colours together.

    Here in Melbourne, the police are now issuing hefty fines for people gathering in public places and those having parties. I 'spose they had to bring out the big guns to curtail so many selfish idiots! Have a great week.

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    1. Thank you Suzy, I'm so pleased you loved my post. We often call our house the little museum, and always joke to visitors that next time they'll have to pay. Obviously, the museum is closed for the duration :-) xxx

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  9. Love your treasures, I thought I was only serious collector lol. In Japan, they are just advising no meet ups for now. Keep safe, keep calm and carry on.

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    1. Thank you Allie, and I am so glad to hear there are other serious collectors out there :-) xxx

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  10. I love your outfit, Ann! That denim skirt is fantastic! I love that style of denim skirt with embroidery on it! I love all of your fab red, white & blue accessories too. I loved seeing your treasures too! You have so many fabulous things! I would love to play dress-up with your fabulous bangles, brooches & rings! ;) Hope you have a wonderful week ahead, Ann. Take care! XXX

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    1. Thank you Sasha! You're always welcome to come and play dress up after all this is over! xxx

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  11. Dove Cottage is like a little museum of curiosities, and I mean this as a complement. You could charge an entry fee for interested visitors. Thank you for sharing.
    Take care
    xx

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    1. Thank you Hazel! In fact, that's what we keep telling visitors ;-) xxx

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  12. With these colors you could be an American!

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    1. Ha ha, well, I don't think the Belgian colours of black, yellow and red are very flattering ... xxx

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  13. It's so lovely to hear the history behind all of your treasures, it made for a fascinating read.
    The jewellery interested me (naturally), you have some great collections.
    The red white and blue are an uplifting combination.
    Keep safe Ann and looking forward to the next post! xxx

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    1. Thank you Sally! If there's one upside to all this, it's that I now have time to appreciate all our treasures! xxx

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  14. I very much enjoyed this peek inside your home and its wonderful collections!

    How clever to put the 1930s shade on the modern lamp. I don't know why I never thought of that, what a great way to make an odd shade usable. Full lamps with base and original shade can be very expensive! X

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    1. I'm glad to enjoyed it! As for the lamp, we wanted to do the same with the reading lamp part of it, but have yet to find a shade that's not too heavy! xxx

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  15. I love the red, white and blue outfit, so fresh and Spring-like!
    What a wonderful little corner, so much colour, interest and good organisation. You're such a collector and keep it all so well, I'm embarrased of my ramshackle dressing table!
    Love those feet and all the plaster heads and I think I've probably mentioned before that i have the same orange plastic multi level tray in which I keep my Barry M nail paint!
    It appears there are selish idiots the world over, Jon had to shout at a man when he went cat food shopping earlier for leaning over him to reach something....grrr!
    Stay safe! xxx

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    1. Thank you Vix! Those multi level trays are so versatile and rather wasted I think to just be used to serve savouries at parties ... xxx

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  16. woww, I've enjoyed so much this visit to this wonderful corner, it's full of treasures!. I'm particularly in love with the party set trays which contain both your rings and bracelets (I always have a look at homeware in charities!).
    Obviously love your haberdashery display drawers, they're Fabulous Pieces and totally perfect to store your brooches. And those wicker sewing baskets! so adorable!
    I'm enjoying so much your not-minimalistic attitude!

    Wow, I almost forgot to comment on your outfit, even if I'm loving it so much!. Love this color combo and the denim skirt rocks totally (those red details!) such a fab piece. And so cute brooches and beautiful top!, you look fabulous!
    besos

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    1. Thank you so much Monica! I love coming up with unusual storage solutions. It's quite incredible what can be used if you think outside the box! I'm glad you appreciate my non-minimalist attitude :-) xxx

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  17. I really do not have a dressing table. When I saw the post at Beate's, I felt a bit sorry for me. :-( But not for long. :-) My very first pair of jeans in 1978 was Lee Cooper. I loved loved them so much I mended them again and again each time they came out of the washing machine. When I went to boarding school in 1979 I put on a bit of weight (it was about time) and the jeans didn't fit. I bought a second pair also Lee Cooper, but it was not the same at all. I still miss my first pair of jeans.

    Your clothes are always a cheer-up. Keep going!

    xxx Regula

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    1. Thank you Regula! I can understand you missing your first pair of jeans, even after all these years! xxx

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  18. Red, white and blue is fabulous on you! I adore that Lee Cooper skirt - the embroidery is a wonderful detail. 1970s, you think? I love the little cat brooches (I see you, red cat!).

    I am envious of your drawer storage unit for your brooches, but I've tried to restrain myself on buying storage for accessories as it leads to...more accessories! I am agog at all your rings! I love all these pictures - it makes me want to dig in the boxes for treasures. Do you wear your great-aunt's bracelet? It looks beautiful!

    I hope this week is finding you well, and getting a bit more used to the new "normal"! I was also disappointed in the numbers of people who tried to gather over Easter. I've been taking such pains to distance, even when I do see others in person. I just assume I am a carrier at all times, and that everyone else is!

    Hugs to you, my dear. You look beautiful!

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    1. Thank you Sheila, and yes, I do think the skirt is 1970s. The small red and white cats are in fact just one brooch! I've never worn my great aunt's bracelet, as it's rather precious, but maybe I should once in a while! xxx

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  19. Whaaaa those feet!! Ha ha ha, wonderful. I'm a very minimalistic person..... well in my interior that is. But I love to see all the treasures you have. And those rings!!! Oh and all the colorful necklaces and bracelets!! What a heaven. I never bought any accessoires pre loved other then two rings, who had to be cleaned very good by Gerben. But the next time I'm in a second hand shop, I will go on a hunt for accessoires. You inspire me hugely!

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    1. Those feet are funny, aren't they? I just love my accessories, and always look for them in charity and second hand shops. I'm glad to have inspired you! xxx

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  20. Please, feel free to rant away! I'll chime in right alongside you! It's flat out astonishing how many people we see walking up and down our street (sans masks) at almost all hours of the day and night now. We never, not even on the most glorious summer or fall days, had that much foot track pre-Covid-19. I worry particularly about the elderly people and abundance of children I see, but my concern extends to all those who are clearly out and about for non-essential reasons. As the weather heats up again, I worry that this will only multiple and that it will lead to many preventable cases (and possibly deaths even), had folks simply taken isolation and distancing more seriously. I'm not saying everyone in our town is throwing caution to the wind, of course not, but I'd sleep a whole lot better at night if more of them were home in their own beds instead of taking to the streets like it was time to go trick-or-treating on Halloween. 😹

    Okay, rant over for now. 😄

    I absolutely adored your tour. What gorgeous treasures and storage soluations you have for them. Brilliant idea to repurpose the unused fireplace area for storage. As are all of the clever and creative ways you're storing your gorgeous collections. I soooo want some coin collection boxes now for my own brooches. 😃

    Big hugs & tons of positive energy from my heart to yours, dear Ann.

    Autumn Zenith 🎃 Witchcrafted Life

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    1. I guess we all need a good rant now and then, don't we? It's true that more people seem to spend their time going on walks, which is probably because everywhere else is closed. I'd rather stay at home as much as I can, even if I do miss walking. I was in seventh heaven when Jos's friend gave me those coin collection drawers! xxx

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  21. The wrap denim skirt is fantastic. I love your blue and red top as well. Such a great look altogether.
    It was a lot of fun seeing more details from your home. I think I remember the wall of heads, but I haven't see other spots before. You're very good at storage and organizing your brooches and accessories. That was actually quite helpful to see. I need to organize my accessories as well. I live in a rather tiny apartment so there isn't much to show but I might take pics when I find the time too.

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    1. Thank you Ivana! Yes, I think I shared the wall of heads before. I really need to be organized as I've got so much stuff. It would be chaos otherwise! xxx

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  22. That is a great skirt and I really like red and blue together!

    It was so interesting seeing all your accessories and how you set them up - you have some lovely jewellery pieces and I like how much character every pic has! I have a post coming on Friday where I do a tour of my wardrobe room, now it's pretty much finished, I just have a few tweaks to make to it but I'm in no hurry at the moment to change yet, so I thought I'd share it!

    Hope that your week is going well :)

    Away From Blue

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    1. Thank you so much Mica, and I did love the tour of your wardrobe room very much. I'd love to have one of my own! xxx

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  23. I love your red, white and blue outfit, Ann! You perfectly match the Australian flag!

    Oh, and I adored a little tour of your treasures, especially the Mary figurine, sewing baskets and your Twiggy head. And a mirror from the 30s – how cool!

    The wooden drawers are perfect for your brooch collection. How I would love to try on all your brooches! X

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    1. Thank you Jess! Someone else remarked I matched the American flag, but to be honest, I'd much rather match the Australian :-) I love that Twiggy head very much, and we actually have several 1930s mirrors. You'd be having your work cut out trying on my 500 plus brooches :-) xxx

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  24. That's all very well-organised! It must make it easy to find just the right thing when you need it. Your collection of sewing boxes is lovely.

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    1. Thank you Mim, and yes, I know exactly where everything is! xxx

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  25. I had never paid attention to the cutlery in my kitchen until my grandmother pointed out why they are important. These are one of the most-often used utensils in the kitchen. Therefore, it is only natural that you need to choose the best & safe brands. Hence, I decided to compile this list of top 5 best cutlery brands in India

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