Hove Actually

I've been a very busy bee since last posting properly in October 2012. From getting a part time job and wedding planning; to building my online Vintage Crockery [watch this space] business and making a hell of a lot of picnic hampers; not forgetting spending time with my rather wonderful family. Suffice to say, life has become a bit hectic.

My love for all things vintage is probably now verging on an obsession. Constantly searching for interesting pieces to upcycle and reuse, quirky goodies to add to our rather eclectic house, or just some good ol' inspiration.

Last week, my hunt led me to the rather wonderful Belle's Vintage Boot Fair in Hove (Actually), Sussex. A mixture between a table top wedding fair with rather fabulous vendors peddling their vintage wares. My favourite of these, I captured for your viewing pleasures. Enjoy...

Belle's beautiful bug

Vintage-Events vintage props

Various Stalls

Rockin' Mark Viss

The genius of Doris Loves' Temporary Tattoo Station

Recent Thrifty Puchases

I spend most Sunday's browsing car boot sales, I check out the charity shops at least once a week and I try as much as possible to peruse flea markets and street markets.

As a result, our house is filling up nicely with quirky pieces, I'm finding many items to upcycle and gift to friends and family, and after summer I shall be launching into a new business venture concerning all things Thrifty. Watch this space....

Some of my recent purchases include:

Pretty plates - £2

Picnic hamper - £5

Old map - £1.50

Gorgeous lace doilies - £4 for 12

Adidas bag - £1

Selection of glassware - £1.80

Wooden cutlery tray - £1

 

Our Thrifty House Purchases

Since moving 150 miles, myself and my better half have spent a large proportion of our time scouring flea markets, car boot sales and antique fairs looking for the perfect vintage (and cheap) accessories for our home. Here are some of our beautiful finds:

Left to right: a printing block tray £15, an old clarinet case £5, a 'Camp Coffee' box £15, an old trunk from WWII free, 2 bird seed bags £6, a painted fruit box £10 and a glimpse of our new kitchen table £90

Most of these items we already owned, but we bought the  pair of chairs (dating from the 1950's) from eBay for £52

We bought four apple crates for £20 each to use as kitchen shelves to display our favourite items of crockery. We lined them with vintage fabric, courtesy of my mother's fabric trunk!

The colander belonged to my late Gran. But with a broken handle, we up-cycled it to make this Ikea lamp a bit more 'us'

Possibly the best £17 we have spent so far. A beautiful set of vintage kitchen steps. With such high ceilings it is making reaching up for high up items a whole lot easier...

Budget Cath Kidston Wallpaper

 I LOVE all things Cath Kidston, but I find a lot of her products to be quite expensive. But panic not! A British wallpaper company, Eden, make a range of purse friendly wallpapers called Millie which have a charming likeness to some of Cath Kidston's most sought after designs, but for over half the price!

There are several websites that stock these style-savvy designs. One of my favourites, wallpapersandborders.co.uk sell the above featured Red/Cream Rose Millie Flower for an amazingly thrifty £10.99 per roll. It would make a beautiful vintage feature in any room. For fans of the floral look, I've found that Focus DIY sell a variety Millie wallpapers, including Millie Blue, which features small red roses on a sky blue background.

The Thrift-Queen also recommends the website wallpaperdirect, which sell a few varieties of Millie wallpaper. Specifically, they do an exact copy of Cath Kidston's now discontinued blue polka dot wallpaper, Blue Spot for £15.99 per roll. So now there is no excuse not to have beautiful rooms on a budget.

Vintage Thrift

This photo is taken from a wedding I went to last year. I'm wearing a dress from Vivien Of Holloway, my favourite shop in London. They stock a range of fabulous style savvy clothes and accessories that'd transform anyone into a real vintage starlet.

Their beautiful dresses cost upwards of £59, depending on which style you are after. The red dress I'm wearing, for example, usually sells for £79. However, I bought my dress from the 'seconds' rail and it cost a mere £10. Thrift-Queen heaven! It had a small hole in the back of it, which is barely noticeable once I sewed it up. And I got myself an absolute bargain, saving £69! Highly recommendable for classic items of clothing that'll never go out of fashion. It is, however, worth a visit to the store to be measured as their sizes come up small.