Posts Tagged ‘enamel’

My Little Flour!

Friday, September 21st, 2012

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small vintage green enamel flour container with green painted wooden handled scoop

Justin thought this post should be called “My Little Flour”. I think “Flour Power” is a MUCH better title!

What we did agree on, was that this was the sweetest little vintage enamel flour bin we’ve ever seen – complete with a lovely little scoop too. It’s full of charm and just the thing for all you home bakers out there!

small vintage green enamel flour container with green painted wooden handled scoop

We’re currently mulling over a sage green or orange inspired kitchen when we redecorate. The fate of this bin will depend on the outcome of that debate. Having said that, it will probably go in either!

P.S. Anyone watching The Great British Bake Off at the moment? It’s one of Adelle’s favourites. You could just see it sitting on one of the shelves in the background!

Forthcoming Attractions: Early May 2012

Friday, May 4th, 2012

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vintage orange enamel Cathrineholm "Lotus" kettle with vintage orange floral patterned apron and orange floral print Staffordshire Pottery mug

There isn’t the usual number of items in this Forthcoming Attractions post. It’s just that they really summed up the last few days. We had a magazine photoshoot on Wednesday chez H is for Home. The groovy flower-power apron represents the hours of cleaning we had to do before they arrived – and the fabulous Cathrineholm kettle represents the endless cups of tea that kept us going! It’s not that we live in a dirty house or anything, but there’s a constant battle against coal dust & dog fur.

Both items will be hitting the shop soon – and a further post about the photoshoot will follow very shortly too!

Fine Finel Find!

Friday, April 20th, 2012

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detailed view of red, vintage Finel enamel mug decorated with repeating bird pattern

Perhaps ‘find’ is too strong a word – more a patient track down. We’ve long coveted this particular enamel mug designed by Kaj Franck for Finel.

red, vintage Finel enamel mug decorated with repeating bird pattern

We’ve been holding out for a really good example, in pristine condition. Our wait ended this week when we won the bidding on a well-known auction website. We just love the stylised birds and fiery colours – it really is a stunner!

view of the base of a red, vintage Finel enamel mug decorated with repeating bird pattern

Finel is responsible for some fantastic pieces of enamelware.

red, vintage Finel enamel kettle

Great designers such as the aforementioned Kaj Franck, Seppo Mallat and Antti Nurmesniemi worked for the company.

detailed view of a red, vintage Finel enamel kettle

Their pieces are decorative, functional & well made.

large, vintage Finel enamel bowl decorated with mushroom pattern

We have quite a few pieces dotted around the house including cups, teapots & bowls.

detailed view of a large, vintage Finel enamel bowl decorated with mushroom pattern

This bowl is decorated with a fabulous mushroom design. It was probably intended for the kitchen or dining table, but ours seems to have adopted the role of tea light storage container!

collection of blue vintage Finel enamel bowl decorated with circles in a square pattern

We also like to keep examples for sale in the shop. We currently have one of the teapot/kettles shown above. Also, this lovely set of bowls – perfect for serving starters, salads, curries, desserts – anything really! It consists of one large bowl with the geometric circle/grid design and six smaller bowls in the same vibrant blue.

detailed view of a collection of blue vintage Finel enamel bowl decorated with circles in a square pattern

One more design that still eludes us is the repeating red & white heart shape one – but we’re keeping our eyes peeled!

Forthcoming Attractions: Early April 2012

Monday, April 9th, 2012

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vintage Lena & Al Eklund tin coasters and vintage jigsaw with hey diddle diddle nursery rhyme illustration

We’ve assembled some new items that we’ve picked up recently. They’re all arranged on a lovely vintage kitchenette – itself a recent auction purchase.

vintage Lena & Al Eklund tin coasters and vintage jigsaw with hey diddle diddle nursery rhyme illustration

We often put these kitchenettes in our antiques centre shop – they’re good sellers and an added advantage is that they’re great for displaying lots of other items whilst they wait for someone to give them a good home. They require varying amounts of work when we buy them – a good wash usually – then painting, fresh lining paper etc. This one’s had its thorough wash, but apart from that, it’s good to go. We like its caramel colour and daisy patterned paper.

pair of vintage perpetual calendars

Moving onto the smaller items – two perpetual calendars to start with – one wooden, one red-orange plastic. Both probably dating from the 1970s. Perfect for the home office desk or shelf.

TG Green Domino spotted cream jug and vintage Worcester Ware coffee tin

Also sitting on the upper shelves are this pottery jug & coffee tin – slightly earlier in vintage – both 1950s/60s.  The jug was produced by T G Green and is from the ‘Domino’ range – we like the colour and simple polka dot design – ideal as a milk jug or for displaying cut flowers.

vintage Worcester Ware coffee tin

The coffee tin was produced by Worcester Ware. They made some lovely metalware items around this time – storage tins, placemats, serving trays, waste paper bins and so on.

set of vintage Lena & Al Eklund tin coasters

Sticking with the metalware theme, we have this very vibrant set of coasters. These were designed by Lena & Al Eklund and produced by Launds Lonborg of Denmark. Are they fruit trees or flowers?

vintage jigsaw with hey diddle diddle nursery rhyme illustration

Next to the coasters on the main photo is this fabulous children’s wooden jigsaw. It features the nursery rhyme, ‘Hey diddle, diddle’. It was made by Arrow Games Ltd and we guess it dates from the 1960s. We love the illustration – it is signed by the artist ‘Hutchings’ although we haven’t established a first name yet – perhaps someone out there knows?

vintage Mousie Mousie party game

This sweet little party game will be of a similar age – this one produced by Spears Games. Justin says he’s got some vague memories of playing this with his Granny. Who needs an X-box when you’ve got ‘Mousie-Mousie’?

pair of vintage Thermos flasks

With summer approaching, thoughts turn to picnics, camping and trips to the beach. Colourful melamine and vintage Thermos flasks always prove popular from now until November.

pair of vintage Thermos flasks

This sweet little vase was made by Hornsea Pottery and is part of their ‘Rainbow’ range. There were lots of shapes made in this pattern – plant pots, vases, ashtrays and cruet sets.

vintage saucepan on atomic wire pan stand

To the left of the main photo is this tall pan stand – the red ‘atomic’ ball feet are a nice touch. On it sits a set of three aluminium saucepans with teak handles – they’re totally unused and  have a great stylised flower design in eye-catching orange & blue.

various vintage enamel kitchenalia items

We always make sure we have a selection of enamelware in stock. Its always popular as it gives a vintage feel to the most modern of kitchens, without breaking the bank!.

Fair Finds

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

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selection of antique & vintage homewares bought at Lincoln Show

We made the trip to Lincoln Antiques and Home Fair on Monday. Our alarm was set for 5.30am, so it was quite an early start in the cold and the dark. Add in a few hours driving and you have to hope that the effort will be worthwhile.

selection of antique & vintage homewares bought at Lincoln Show including a bolt of vintage 1950s fabric, set of sky blue Czech enamel containers, circular Nymolle pottery plaques designed by Bjorn Wiinblad, trio, vintage Marks and Spencer blue and purple floral curtains of fat lava West German vases and antique 18th/19th century wooden pie/bread peel

Fortunately it was – and we picked up some very nice pieces – some favourites are shown here. It’s mainly vintage, mid 20th century stuff; but we couldn’t resist a couple of country antiques too, such as this beautiful 18th century bowl and bread/pie oven peel.

selection of antique & vintage homewares bought at Lincoln Show with antique 18th/19th century turned wooden bowl highlighted

We bought quite a few West German ‘fat lava’ pots, concentrating on bold reds & oranges. Their prices are certainly on the rise. Other ceramics included the wall plaques designed by Bjorn Wiinblad for Nymolle of Denmark. Each one represents a month of the year and features a loving couple’s story – from courtship to parenthood. We like the whimsical, folk art design and we’ve actually got a set on our kitchen wall.

selection of antique & vintage homewares bought at Lincoln Show highlighting a set of 1950s teak coasters in a matching lidded holder

A slightly more recent piece of wood was to be found in the shape of this 1950s/60s teak coaster set. We’re not sure who the maker is, but it’s got real quality to it – it’s very Scandinavian and has a gorgeous, warm colour.  There was no shortage of enamelware to be found – we plumped for this set of graduated blue kitchen pots – the largest has an impressive 18 litre capacity!

selection of antique & vintage homewares bought at Lincoln Show

The sewing box dates from the 1960s and is made of a plastic weave material. Some people call in Dandycord – which we think was a trade name or brand of PVC flooring. The same material was used in the manufacture of these sewing boxes. You also see chairs, plant pot holders, magazine racks etc from the same period made from it. We were given a real flash of flower power colour when we lifted the lid!  Equally bold & bright were the lovely little teatowel and this absolutely stunning roll of unused 1950s fabric, with it’s classic vase design & period colour combination of yellow, red, grey, black & blue.

It’s always tempting to stay in a warm bed, but we’re glad that we didn’t when we look back at this haul!