jun, 11th - kempton park antiques.....

day 1209 / 308:

at the crack of dawn, spurred on by the idea that everyone else was already snapping up the good stuff, we woke the girls (it doesn't happen this way around very often), quickly got dressed and headed out the door to the Sunbury Antiques Market at Kempton Park Racecourse. it happens every second and fourth Tuesday of the month and shuts up shop at around noon so you have to get there before breakfast or wait for the bargains at closing time.

i have wanted to visit this market for years. it was reinforced by Louise back on day 561 and yet still, we haven't managed to get ourselves down there. but with two chairs to collect from a dealer, we had a great excuse to get our act together and of course........we were Completely Blown Away. all the vintage stores that we visit in London now pale into insignificance against this market.....especially when I also get a chance to do a little bit of light haggling too.

there was so much to see and so much that we could have bought......as Louise advised, the one food option isn't the best so I would highly recommend taking along your own and also leaving the kids at home, so that you can linger at stalls, digging around for treasure.

on top of the two chairs we went down to collect, we were looking for storage for The House.....of course instead of storage, we came home with an old marmalade jar (£3), a beautiful, leather, trunk suitcase (to use as Limi and Claya's dress-up box), a striped blazer for A and an old Imperial Typewriter (£30).....but we now have a great excuse to visit again in two weeks time.

jun, 4th - best kids toys in the world, part II.....

day 1202 / 301:

when Limi was younger, i wrote about the world's best baby toys {see day 250}, this past weekend proved again, that sometimes, it's the simple things that are still the best. we bought Limi her own watering can and with the added outside tap, she was in toddler heaven. Claya, on the other hand, loved playing in the empty bbq box.......neither 'toy' lit up, made a noise or were brightly coloured but they were the best toys by far this weekend....and into the week (we may be living with a bbq box for a long time to come).

p.s these are close-ups as the garden is still very much work in progress.....and the grass rug is from Limi's old room and there to soften the concrete for a crawling Claya....we didn't have a garden in the Shoebox but Limi still had her own patch of grass to play on.

may, 28th - style with substance.....

day 1195 / 294:

the joy of moving is that we have more space......in the Shoebox many of our treasures had been boxed and put away.....but now, we have the joy of digging them out and finding the right spot for them.....we are slowing getting there.....

i have also been trawling auction sites (ebay, you old friend) to find gems (storage mainly). things that just need a good sanding, lick of paint or repurposing......not only do we have a tiny budget for furnishing the new house but i also want to find things that we will happily take into a future.....i keep coming back to this book above and the idea of finding things that are stylish, yet have substance. i think that this means different things for different people but for me it's things that are: tactile; full of history; timeless and generally, i'm a sucker for handcrafted.

this week, i've painted a sweet old wardrobe to put in the girls room, convinced the local auction house to give away two old lampshades (perfect for stripping) and asked our genius (and very reasonable) electrician to change some of the plastic hanging lights to silk flex and metal ceiling roses (it makes such a difference). i also found this collection of vintage bobbins that were paid for with my coin purse and yet make me so very happy...the wood feels wonderful and they make great drumming sticks for Claya. 

now, just to find a battered, wooden table that can seat ten but still fit down the narrow Victorian stairs.....