Archive for the ‘around the house’ Category

Star buy!

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

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vintage Seth Thomas starburst clock

This wonderful vintage starburst clock was our ‘star buy’ at yesterday’s auction.

Also referred to as sunburst clocks, this one has a brushed metal face with a radial pattern of wooden star/sun rays.

vintage Seth Thomas starburst clock

Produced by the very good maker Seth Thomas in the 1960s, it wasn’t cheap – but it’s a great example. The condition is superb and it’s keeping perfect time.

vintage Seth Thomas starburst clock on our bedroom wall

The clock seems very happy in our bedroom. We know we shouldn’t be keeping shop stock, but it won’t do any harm to look at it for a while.

The modern, stylised shape and brushed metal is softened by the warm wood, providing a great link between old & new when going for that eclectic look.

vintage Metamec starburst clock

We already have an example of this type of clock in our top floor lounge/bedroom.

detail of vintage Metamec starburst clock

It dates from the same period, but this one is made by Metamec.

vintage Metamec starburst clock on our upstairs lounge stone wall

This one was also bought as shop stock – two years ago!!

Sounds of the 60s

Monday, November 22nd, 2010

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vintage 1960s Garrard radiogram in teak cabinet

On the same day we bought our vintage Anglepoise lamp, we bought this fabulous 1960s radiogram.

vintage 1960s Garrard radiogram in teak cabinet with lid up showing record player

We’d actually  been on the look out for an amplifier to go with a record deck we had – but suddenly, as bidding was about to stop at £30, we couldn’t resist this beauty!

detail from vintage 1960s Garrard radiogram in teak cabinet showing push button controls

It’s a Garrard Dynatron – radio, record player and speakers – housed in a teak cabinet.

vintage 1960s Garrard radiogram in teak cabinet

Not only does will it provide music in  lounge – we think it’s a great looking piece of furniture. Streamlined & good proportions, it fits the space exactly – the teak is a lovely warm colour too.

vintage Garrard radiogram showing soft close lid vintage Garrard radiogram showing soft close lid vintage Garrard radiogram showing soft close lid

Justin was very impressed with this particular feature… the slow, soft-close lid – no danger of records jumping.

vintage 1960s Garrard radiogram in teak cabinet

And most importantly – it sounds good too!

Take a seat!

Friday, August 13th, 2010

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vintage leatherette Art Deco 3-piece suite

We’re super-pleased with this purchase we made on Thursday. We’ve been on the hunt for a club chair for some time…

vintage leatherette Art Deco 3-piece suite

…then not only did we get a club chair, we got two club chairs… and a matching 2-seater sofa!!

It’s an original 1930s Art Deco suite, re-upholstered in the 1960s in a tan leatherette. Fantastic shape, comfortable with lovely stud detailing.

And a little extra… the lady who sold it says it was re-covered in the same leatherette as was used for Concorde. We’re trying to track down some old photos from the plane or Concorde airport lounge interior.

vintage leatherette Art Deco 3-piece suite

Fudge approves – and has made himself very much at home!

vintage leatherette Art Deco 3-piece suite

It’s found a home in our top floor bedroom/lounge. We spent the entire day re-arranging everything to accommodate it.

vintage leatherette Art Deco 3-piece suite

It was worth it though… there’ll be many books read in these chairs…  cups of tea /glasses of wine drunk, crackling fires watched.  We love it already!

Potato masher… we think!

Saturday, June 20th, 2009

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We often feature mid-twentieth century items in our blogs, but we also have a real passion for old country furniture.

We picked up this wonderful piece of rustic kitchenalia – we think it’s a potato masher.

Perhaps Irish in origin, although we’re not sure at this stage… a bit more research is required.  It’s a very unusual piece.

BLOG UPDATE: 22nd  June.  We now think that the object in question is actually a cheese press. The wet cheese, contained within a cloth is pressed by the wooden block, the excess liquid draining through the holes. We’re still not sure about the country of origin. British/Irish is still likely, although continental Europe is a possibility – and we were also sent pictures of a very similarly designed piece which was in a U.S. auction of farm machinery. (Thanks to Erik Schepers).

If you like cottage interiors or country furniture, these books are well worth a look:


Irish Country Furniture (Amazon UK)

Irish Country Furniture (Amazon US)


English Cottage Interiors (Amazon UK)
English Country Furniture (Amazon UK)
English Cottage Interiors (Amazon US)
English Country Furniture (Amazon US)

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Tile-tastic!

Monday, May 18th, 2009

We were out & about in Huddersfield the other day and took some photos of these amazing tiled mosaics.

They’re situated in a 1960s-built precinct development in the town centre- they really capture the era.

On the subject of tiles, we recently put this image on Flickr. It’s a 1960s tile by Platt depicting a prince on horseback with a hunting falcon – we absolutely love it! We’re planning on having it framed.

We got this vintage bird tile ready-framed which is very effective. We think it was made by Maw & Co. It reminds us of Lisa Larson in style. We bought it from Wowie Zowie in Chorlton. This shop is well worth a visit if you’re in Manchester – they have some lovely stuff, imaginatively displayed.

This large tile/plaque is indeed by Lisa Larson – she’s a real favourite of ours! It was designed for Gustavsberg of Sweden in the 1960s.

Here it is in its usual home on a shelf in our lounge.

Here’s another one of our vintage tiles in situ – this one’s Italian – it sits happily on our bathroom shelf. Here it is in close up.

The most recent addition to our little collection was picked up yesterday. It’s quite different to the others in the fact that it represents a real place – it depicts the Euromast in Rotterdam designed in the 1950s – we really like the modernist feel to it.

The final item in our burgeoning tile collection is by Kenneth Townsend. We featured it before in our Z is for… Zoo blog post.

The lion is an early piece from his Menagerie range. Hopefully we’ll be able to find some of his other animals to fill our shelves!

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