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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

And most importantly – it sounds good too!

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

…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.

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

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

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!

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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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!

Whilst we were out walking this Easter weekend we came across a patch of lovely young stinging nettles…

…ideal for making our first nettle soup of the year. Fortunately we had some gloves & a bag with us.

It was delicious with crusty bread!

Here’s our recipe if you’d like to try it out for yourself:

Nettle soup
•    1 medium onion
•    couple of sticks of celery
•    1 small leek
•    1 tablespoons vegetable oil
•    1 large knob of butter
•    1 vegetable stock cubes
•    4 pints of water
•    4 medium potatoes peeled & chopped
•    large bowl/standard-sized plastic carrier bag-full of nettle leaves (use tips & young leaves)

1.    Roughly chop onion, celery & leek
2.    Put in large, thick-bottomed saucepan
3.    Sweat over gentle heat in vegetable oil & butter for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally
4.    Add water & potatoes to the saucepan
5.    Crumble stock cube into saucepan
6.    Bring to the boil & simmer for 1/2 hour
7.    Add nettle leaves & simmer for a further 20 minutes
8.    Blend & pass through a sieve
9.    Season with salt & black pepper to taste
10.  Add a splash of cream to finish (optional)

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We’ve just been featured in the December issue of ‘Your Home‘.

Initially, the magazine asked us for one or two product shots of items from the H is for Home website. This escalated to a full house feature.

A couple of months ago, a photographer and his assistant spent a whole day taking shots around our house.

We’re very happy with the results, they’ve used a lot of the photos and the article is spread over six whole pages!

If you’d like to be able to read the feature properly we’ve scanned larger versions of each of the pages:

Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6

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We’re taking a look at utensils this week – those useful, kitchen tools from the humble wooden spoon to the wonderfully named kitchemajig.

No kitchen should be without a wooden spoon  – preferably a few.

They come in a wide variety of sizes, have multiple uses, they don’t scratch pots & pans… and also develop a lovely character over years of use.

We keep ours in this lovely, old wooden rack…

… another potful next to the stove…

…and still more hanging from this ancient iron well hook.

It’s useful having them close at hand wherever we happen to be working in the kitchen. There’s always the perfect spoon for a particular job.

This one has such a wonderful patina that it’s now been retired from general use and sits happily on a shelf enjoying its life of leisure… with a pair of child’s antique wooden clogs for company!

Of course kitchen tools don’t stop with the wooden spoon… there are palette knives, ladles, forks, fish slices, whisks etc, etc, etc.

Some utensils are multi-functional like the aforementioned kitchemajig…

…others have very specific uses such as the tomato slicer, butter curler and pastry blender.

Do rolling pins count as utensils?

We think they probably do – made from wood, pottery, marble, or in the case of this Pyrex example, glass.

The heyday for utensils – well our favourite era at least – was the 1950s & 60s. Names such as Skyline, Prestige & Tala.

Chrome & stainless steel tools mounted on lovely painted wooden handles available in a rainbow of colours.

They’re a great way of adding a vintage touch to an otherwise contemporary kitchen. They look good in sets of the same colour…

…or mixed & matched.

We picked up this wonderful set recently – boxed and with its original hanging rack. One small problem though, someone was obviously in desperate need of the lipped, oval spoon… and removed it.

We’re now on a quest for a 50-year-old lipped spoon, in pristine condition, in the right colours – no easy task!

We’ve got boxes full of coffee services short of one cup, storage jars waiting for matching lids and cutlery sets missing the odd knife or teaspoon. It’s all a matter of keeping your eyes open and being patient.

We’re currently relishing reading through a huge pile of 1950s/60 Ideal Home magazines, they’re full of fantastic ads for furniture, fabrics and housewares, including the odd one for kitchen utensils…

…like these for Tala and Prestige.

By coincidence, just as we were writing this post, we sold this lovely Prestige set with their classic 1950s, diamond-patterned handles.

If you manage to find one that you love, a kitchen utensil is of those wonderful items that can give you a little bit of pleasure every time you use it – have you got a favourite?

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This week’s blog is a small homage to a glorious colour. O just had to be for orange.

We are big fans, and judging by our popular photos on Flickr and items that always sell well on H is for Home, so are a lot of you out there.

Orange has the wonderful ability to look warm & cosy in the winter or lively & fresh in the summer.

Orange objects really catch the eye. It enables them to shout loudly in a collection of other brightly coloured pieces.

Alternatively, it’s perfect as a highlight colour within a muted decor or against natural materials.

We’ve given a few chairs the orange treatment!

We did a G is for Garden a couple of months ago having just planted out some annuals. Our French marigolds are doing well in the sunshine & showers.

Till next week! x

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Probably our favourite room in the house. We love spending time in here – cooking, chatting or having a big mug of tea after a long dog walk.

We have the main wall painted a zingy tangerine. It’s bright & lively in the summer but also gives a warm cosy feel when the nights draw in. We used to have it painted a fresh apple green but this felt a bit cold in the winter, so we had to get the brushes back out.

The orange also works well with the stainless steel and various shades within the stone tiled splash-back.

The centre of the room is filled with a large, old, beech baker’s table which serves as our main seating & eating area – also a very useful extra work surface.

On the opposite wall to the work units & cooker is a stone fireplace. This would once have housed the original kitchen range.

The chimney has not gone to waste however, with the cast iron stove chuffing away on chilly nights. On the ceiling above this stove we have a slatted drying rack – perfect for hanging washing on cold, rainy days.
The graphic 1960′s street scene is by artist Ken Law… and on the stone ledge sit various vintage pottery plates including Poole and Royal Copenhagen. Mixing old & new is a recurring theme throughout our house.

We like the blend of rustic pieces such as the baker’s table, butcher’s block and spoon rack with the modern stainless steel and downlighting.

Both being former chefs, we like to fill the kitchen with practical (and preferably good looking) equipment.

Objects from the 1950s, 60s & 70s seem to fit in well, helping to tie it all together.

Vintage kitchen enamel and ceramics are a particular passion of ours – pots, pans, storage jars etc. Hornsea, Denby, Cathrineholm, Rorstrand, Figgjo Flint, Arabia, Dansk Designs, Le Creuset are just a few of the names we look for…

and then there are the cookbooks … don’t get us started on those!

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