The Princess and the Wardrobe

To say I was glad the long Easter weekend finally rolled along is a bit of an understatement.

Even if the weather could have been more obliging - Spring seems to have deserted us for the time being - it was pure bliss to claim time as our own and to leave the daily grind behind for a couple of days.

Just some well needed peace and quiet, sleeping just that little bit longer and doing things at our own pace.

Apart from a flea market on Sunday, our diary was quite empty.

Which was fine by me, as I was hoping to crack on with my winter to summer wardrobe switch. So, on Friday after breakfast I retreated upstairs, followed by my trusty helper, Phoebe.

I started by removing most of my winter dresses from their hangers and making piles of them in readiness for the vacuum bags. There were decisions to be made as for the time being I am keeping some of my long-sleeved dresses in my wardrobe. After all, it isn't summer by a long way yet!

Then, out came several bags of summer frocks, all but the flimsiest high summer stuff for now.

Soon, our bed was piled high with dresses in every colour of the rainbow.

This was the time for assessment and casting a critical eye on each and every one of them.

Dresses I remember being quite snug or a little on the large side were put aside to be tried on later.












Things that do no longer make my heart sing are put into piles for charity or to be sold at a flea market this summer, and I can report that I was quite ruthless!

Those that remained (still quite enough, don't worry) were transferred to the waiting hangers, sorted by colour and put into my wardrobe.

There, that's better! Isn't it a cheerful sight? I can't wait to start wearing them.

By then, my little helper had had quite enough and decided she needed a nap.

I too took a breather at this point, and I'm giving you a break from all the frockery as well, by showing you some of the treasures that live in our bedroom.

We bought the green-frocked Art Deco lady with the birds, one of my favourite pieces ever, well over 15 years ago. The small plaster bust of the lady in the green hat was charity shopped around the same time. The vanity set, made by Belgian crystal glass manufacturer Val Saint Lambert, was charity shopped too, in 2015, and cost € 8 for eight pieces, including a bedsite water glass and carafe.

Let's continue, there's more work to be done!

The rest of the summer frocks (you didn't think that was all, did you?) were transferred to my other wardrobe in the spare room.

This wardrobe also contains skirts and suits (on the left) as well as most of my handbags, which badly needed sorting out, as I kept cramming them into every available space.

So, out they all came and believe me: there were a lot! This caused me to have a little wobble, so that I completely forgot to take photographs. In the end I managed to create some kind of order, so that I will now be able to find things more easily.

Our spare room, which is quite big - the same size as our bedroom - doubles as a study, library, archive, dressing room, boudoir and extra wardrobe space. Because of the colour of its wallpaper it is known as "the blue room".

On the mantlepiece, Twiggy and Sybil share their space with various bits and bobs and the chimney breast contains an ever-growing collection of "heads". We were able to buy the 1950s lady in the white headscarf quite cheaply as she's got a bit of damage (hardly noticeable in the photo). The drawing of the lady in the big hat contains real dried flowers and came from a flea market, while the 1960s wooden wall plaque was charity shopped.

I was quite sweaty after all the hauling around with bags full of clothes, so I changed into one of my newly unearthed short sleeved dresses. This one was uncomfortably snug last time I wore it, so I was very pleased to find it wearable again, which is nothing short of a miracle.

Though probably not for long, as we had coffee and a very indulgent cake at the charity shop after dropping off two large bags of donations. Oh well, I guess I deserved that after all the hard work ...

The groovy boots were bought at the charity retro event back in March.

I wore them again on Saturday for another charity shopping trip. That morning I felt inspired to do another round of clearing and assembled no less than five bags of jackets, tops and skirts I have fallen out of love with.

The skirt, which I found at the back of a shelf, was bought new from a cheap high street shop many years ago. I combined it with a 100% polyester short-sleeved green jumper from Think Twice. Apart from the boots and the handbag, this is the only vintage I was wearing. The tweed jacket was once bought in the sales, but for some reason it has hardly been worn, while I've had the spotty scarf for so long that I can't remember where it came from.

I was going to be good and not buy anything at the charity shop, but when I saw these amazing shoes for € 5, I knew it was futile to try and resist ...

Sugar and spice and all things nice

Alas, my much longed for Christmas break is now well and truly over. And what have we done? One thing is for certain: we did not do nothing. How do you do nothing, to quote  A. A. Milne, or rather: Pooh, once again? I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that.

We didn't make the mistake of making too many plans. Instead, we took each day as it came.

On one of our charity shopping trips, we picked up this slightly damaged
plaster bust of St. Rita, patroness of the Impossible Cases. I guess that's us alright!

Obviously, some charity shopping was done, and on the sunny days, we went for short (and one slightly longer) walks, topping up the Vitamin D levels.

The only thing which we'd more or less planned was a visit to Expo 58, a treasure trove of a vintage shop.

About an hour's drive from Dove Cottage, it is a little bit out of our way, so we do not go there as often as we would like to.

In fact, our last visit was almost exactly a year ago. Then, we came home with two fabulous 1950s cocktail chairs, to replace our old and worn out Ikea airmchairs. As you can see, Phoebe took to them immediately, so that we now have to keep the seats covered with throws. So much for having original 1950s furniture ...

It was an utterly grey and somewhat foggy day, and entering the shop was like stepping into an altogether different world. In fact, our eyes had some trouble adjusting to so much vintage loveliness.

There is so much to see and choose from: vintage tins, retro vases, old suitcases, china, enamelware and assorted kitchenalia, well-remembered childhood toys, small pieces of furniture, decorative frames with or without sepia family photographs, ...  The list really is endless!

There's even a small selection of vintage clothing and textiles.

After browsing the well-stocked shelves and the bigger items taking up every available floor space, my eyes alighted on a small wall cupboard with ceramic drawers for storing kitchen staples and spices.

Can you see it, hidden behind the dusty mirror, with the poor weasel on top?










Although it was looking a bit shabby and the drawers were quite filthy, with its two little rounded doors with painted glass panes it was exactly the thing to appeal to me.

Here's a closer look, weasel and all ...

Although Jos was quite taken with it too, we soon realized we didn't have any wall space left in our kitchen.

With heavy hearts, we had just decided to leave it behind, when we heard another couple expressing their interest and discussing its merits with Stefanie, the shop's owner.

Our hearts sank even further so, when the couple eventually walked away, we wasted no further time and bought it. And no, the weasel didn't come home with us ...

The next day, another foul and murky one, was spent cleaning it up and restoring it to at least some of its former glory.

As it had probably spent its final years not in a kitchen but in a shed, it literally took hours to wash the ingrained dirt from the ceramic drawers.

Squeaky clean and shiny, it is now taking pride of place in our hallway, at the bottom of the stairs.

The big drawers used to hold, clockwise from top left: sugar (suiker), rice (rijst), flour (bloem), coffee, chicory (bitterpeen) and vermicelli.

For those not familiar with what is meant by "chicory", cichorei or "bitterpeen" in Flemish: these are the ground and roasted roots of a plant related to the vegetable chicory (endives), which is used as a coffee substitute.

Although not as popular as it used to be, it is sometimes added to coffee, originally to make coffee supplies last longer, and drinking coffee a lot cheaper.

Here's a vintage ad for Belgium's most popular brand of "cichorei", which is still going strong today, and which is still being used at Dove Cottage!












The smaller drawers used to hold spices: pepper, bay leaves, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon and mace.

Before I bore you to death with the little cupboard, we did find a couple of other things at Expo 58 as well.

Very fittingly, there's this little viewer with a reel of slides showing images of ... Expo 58, the Brussels World Fair of the same year.

And what about this Atomium souvenir spoon, still in its original box?

Another addition to our collection of vintage Emsa kitchenware. But what is it for? I haven't been able to find out, so any suggestions are welcome!

Finally, how could I forget "Bobby", the vintage draught excluder dog?

He has come in really useful these last couple of days!

Jos also made a last minute buy, but that will be for another post ...

Stormy weather

What a miserable week!

Autumn has entered its nasty stage and we were treated to foggy days with solid grey skies and relentless rain.

Just stepping outside and waiting at the traffic lights was a hazard as it's no fun being splashed by cars carelessly driving through puddles at full speed. Wet umbrellas on crowded rush-hour buses aren't much fun either.

Then, work was full on this week and added to that it was my turn to succumb to a cold, resulting in much sniffling, blocked sinuses, watery eyes and a lingering headache.

My outfit:

Warm tweedy coat and beret from Think Twice
'Tamaris' boots from Oxfam

Dress from Think Twice
Cardigan and tights: retail
Brooch: flea market
Beads: charity shopped













But enough with the moaning!

This is actually the perfect weather for staying inside and ejoying some creature comforts.
We even did some minor home improvements.

Finally, we have caught up with modern age and bought a LED TV.

We've had our old TV for 25 years and although it was still in good working order, we had some vouchers which were about to expire.

Before

Here in Belgium, each year most employees are getting a certain amount of so-called 'eco-cheques', which can be spent only on 'green products', including energy-efficient devices. Over the years, we already spent them on a new fridge, freezer and washing machine. Not bad, eh?

After

We also replaced our 20 year old pine cabinet, with something more appropriate for Dove Cottage's sitting room.

This wonderful piece of furniture is radiogram cabinet with its record player hidden in the bottom drawer. It's a Mandello de Luxe 2 from Grundig and dates back to 1968.

Jos fell in love with its shiny dark brown veneer when he spotted it at our neighbour's a couple of years ago.

Imagine our delight when about a month or so ago, our neighbour gave it to us for free!














It even still has all the instructions manuals.

Due to lack of space, and to get rid of any lingering smells, it spent some time in our garage. Now, after a good clean, it is taking pride of place in our sitting room.

 And what a difference it makes!

With its dark, shiny exterior, it's not easy to photograph properly, though.

While a storm is raging outside, I am leaving you now with some further impressions of our little sitting room, which really comes into its own this time of year.

Now bring on some coffee and cake, please!