Sweet dreams............................

I wonder whose cherished baby slept under this divine lace, organza and silk crib confection...........

It came from a local chateau when treasures from their attics were offered for sale by our local historical society. (see the blog titled "No Easter Bunny" in the blog history for details and pictures). I wonder whether.........

...... the baby slept in a nursery tended by a nurse maids.

Such delicate pleats and frills and delicious soft blue silk. I wonder exactly who was that cherished chateau baby and what did their future hold for them?
I shall be listing this delicious confection of silk and lace for sale on my auction site later this week.
A demain...............

Too many armoires is never enough!!!

We were working on the 'salle de bains' today which is now almost ready for painting. " I'm sure we won't have enough space for your armoires" Mark commented,  as he dismantled yet another for storage. Thank heavens that most 19th century armoires can be dismantled and be packed flat!!!
Too many armoires? Excuse me!!! That`s as bad as saying too many pairs of shoes or too many lipsticks!  When all our renovations are finished I know that each armoire will have a home....... and I have some gorgeous ones just waiting for a little dab of  shabby chic powdery paint!

I also have a passion (or is that an addiction !) for old window shutters and  wonderful old doors with fabulous grilles often seen in bourgeoisie houses. I have been bringing some home when I can and stashing them in the barn. There always seems to be either a door or a pair of period shutters in the back of the car to add to the ever-growing collection.  When I see them for sale I cannot bear not to buy them just in case I hit a shutter fammine just when I need them! At least Mark doesn`t seem to have noticed my stockpile!!!!

I can already see that the 'salle de bains' is going to be my favourite room in our 'petit chateau'. We have fitted wonderful old 1920s persienne shutters on the inside of the windows rather than use blinds or drapes.  Persiennes are the gorgeous wooden multi-folding type - just like a folding screen with each having two folds on each side. They have a quirkly metal locking bar that lifts and falls into place to keep the shutters closed tightly together. I love them closed just as much as I love them when folded back against the wall!!

Mark has spent weeks carefully fitting some pretty wooden panelling around the bottom half of the salle de bains that we had rescued from an old closed down restaurant.  It looks as if it has always been here for ever.
And so to colours schemes. The room is to be soft old cream and pale ivory white with touches of very pale eau de nil green. All very vintage that will team up well with some old lace and gentle florals. A bit of a boudoir room I suppose!
                                             And my latest find that I simply adore is....

...this shabby chic bird cage which I plan to transform into a quirky wall cupboard for bath towels. I explained to Mark just how I wanted the shelf fitted and as I walked away he said, "oh - by the way, we seem to have too many shutters and doors". Looks like I`ve been rumbled!!!!!

I'll keep you updated with progress.

a la prochaine.....

Service will be resumed.............................asap!!!

Well that`s it! Following on from yesterday I went out this morning and bought a new camera so service is resumed!! Finally here are the 19th century tole angels I keep waffling on about.................

I have listed them all for sale.....................

But of course I am keeping one for myself............

Can you imagine a Christmas tree just dripping with them.............

I am going to hang mine in the window to catch the sunlight.  They really made my day!!!!

What made your day today?

Photo-finish? !!!!!

Had a telephone call with my good friend Bunny back in the Uk this morning and she told me she was delighted with her new camera. I remember thinking how long it has taken me to get to grips with the camera I bought last November and all these months later I am finally happy with the photographs for my auctions.
After a morning of packaging the lastest sales from my Ebay site we set off for the post office and decided to go via a couple of brocantes and to take in a coffee on the way. I popped the camera in my pocket just in case anything caught my eye.
We were delighted to find that La Maison one of our favourite cafes has re-opened.............

The charming new owners have added some beautiful period touches..............

....beautiful old gilded mirrors........

.....and some really quirky tables made from old wooden advertising crates. What a fabulous idea!

After a  quick coffee and a gateau we set off for the nearest brocante and oh! what a find!!!! A batch of delicious 19th century tole cherubs and kneeling angels. I was absolutely loop the loop as they are just divine!!!!!

After the post office visit I couldn`t wait to get home and photograph the angels for my blog. I took the camera from my pocket , switched it on ...............and nothing......just a fuzzy screen. Try as I might it refused to show willing to work and the display screen was lined and frozen.

Why oh why when I just get used to a camera does it give up? I know my cameras have to work hard taking the photographs for my auctions but this one was less than 6 months old!!!!

So needless to say I cannot manage without it so early tomorrow morning I will zip off to buy another. Hopefully I can find one the same make so I won`t have to go through the learning process again.

Hopefully I can show you the cherubs and angels tomorrow!!

A la prochaine...................

A cut in hours !!

The battered old antique clock case stood amongst the rubbish pile adjacent to the car park - a pile where the owner of the brocante always dumps odd bits of wood from broken furniture and unwanted bed frames which he periodically set fire to rather than take it all to the local "dechetterie" (rubbish) dump. I was so excited. The old grandfather clock case no longer had its top section  and the bottom was damaged, but it was the wonderful 'fat' middle section which had a tiny bevelled glass panel in the door that I wanted. I knew it would make a perfect little wall cupcoard.

We went in to ask the price but the young appentice said that the owner was out. He accompanied us out to the rubbish pile and said the case could be 20 euros. Parfait - and we handed over the money.

I knew that Mark could cut away the damaged section leaving me the 'fat' middle cupboard which I could already see painted in Gustavian grey. We carried the case to the car but no matter how we tried it was simply too long to fit inside. We decided to ask whether there was a saw inside the shop which we could borrow to cut it down to the section we needed, intending to discard the damaged base back on the rubbish pile. The apprentice found us an old saw and left us to it.

Mark quickly got to work and the base was almost sawn through  when the apprentice came running out .   "Madame..Monsieur.......Non, non, non. Arretez, arretez!!"  We  looked at him in suprise. Looking very embarrassed he started to explain  that the owner had just phoned to say that he had left the clock case by the rubbish pile ready to be carried indoors - and that he was on his way back to the shop with the clock's top section and its movement in his car!!!

So the worried apprentice returned our money and carried the almost sawn-in-half clock case into the shop.

I never did find out what happened when the owner returned and whether  they did manage to repair the base again to sell the clock? Nor for that matter did I get my 'fat' middle wall cupboard after all, but what we do always have a good laugh each we reminisce about the visit!

Finally,  good news following on from yesterday's blog and my worries over our kitten's little op. Well, my fears and concerns were unfounded! As you will see from the photograph, below, Charles Le Baron du Breuil is very much recovered today - and has even been helping me photograph my latest treasures for my auction site.

Eunuch at the chateau..............

I have been a nervous wreck all day long.........................

Because poor little Charles the Baron du Breuil.......................

................ has been at the vets all day long becoming a Eunuch.........................

He has been through so much already with having been dumped in a ditch by some heartless toad when he was injured and too small to have left his mother.  Then having to lose his back leg when it would not heal and all the vets visits and injections that followed. And now this just when he thought life was calm and wonderful...................................
I hope he will forgive me!!!!

Cher Gaston...........................

Cher Gaston,
I write to you in English because I know that your lovely wife understands English very well - and will sympathetically translate this to you with great care!!!


Firstly my dear friend and neighbour I must thank you for leaving your farm at such short notice to come over and become my male model. I realised that only you would be able to fit into and wear this gorgeous antique uniform which I wanted to list for sale on my auction site.

Secondly..  thank you for bringing your own pink tights! What an inspiration! Perfect for the job  but they have left us quite non plussed....................how can a Normandy farmer lay his hands on pink tights at a moments notice?


And then I must also thank you for posing so vigourously and creating some fabulous Milan catwalk poses!!! The onlookers did wonder whether you had done this sort of thing earlier in your life?

And my grateful thanks for your patience when all the spectators realised that even you, the sveltest of all us, were unable to do up the button flies and waistband  - and stood with your hands in such a way as to disguise your obvious abundance of Normandie veg.


And last - but by no means least -  I thank you for the screams of laughter you created as you strutted around the garden in full character.


My dearest Gaston.....................you truly are a unique man! [although the pink tights do still give me cause for concern!].


I have no doubt that some top modelling agency will now snap you up for London fashion week - and perhaps the next time we see you will be when you are on the arm of Naomi Campbell wearing some amazing Vivienne Westwood creation.


Or perhaps, as normal,(n!) we will see you pass our gates (as we do each and every morning without fail) sitting on your tractor, your old black beret slanted over one eye, a Gitaine in your lips and your old blue farm overalls patched and darned.


Having now seen you all togged out, I am not quite sure which Gaston I actually prefer! You and your lovely wife, Genevieve, must have such fun!!


A very big  "merci" to you!!!   And nice to see the large cowshed you're having built near your house is coming along nicely!
A bientot
xxxxx

Tickled pink..................................

It must be Spring at last! The first batch of swallows have started to return,  swooping in and out of the barns, the garden is full of wild primrose and the magnolia trees are in full blossom.
I have just looked at my stock to list next week and realise that I appear to have subconsciously truffled out a hoard of pale pink treasures without realising I was doing it........so it MUST be Spring!!
But oooooooh la la - they are all divine......!!

The softest pale pink silk 19th century corset top............

......pink ribbons and trims in the softest hues......................

.....divine vintage corsage flowers in velvet and silk.............

....and rose pink evening gloves with a tiny jewel trim.

Plus a whole array of 1930s lingerie lace in the palest of pinks to rich rose colour..............

....and gentle old handworked creamy tea-coloured collars and cuffs to co-ordinate. I  also have the most divine roll of 1930s corset satin that has never been used.

So that`s it; Spring has sprungen!!     if you don`t keep a close eye on me I will be shredding newspapers in a corner to make a nest!!!

A la prochaine............

L`Epicerie Parisienne............

How I adore this beautiful 'Epicerie' in the local market town of Bricquebec. I have passed it many times on trips to the town's regular Monday morning produce market, with its stalls winding their way down the central cobbled street. Today I stopped outside to take a few photographs only for the charming lady owner to come out moments later and invite me inside to take more photographs.

The proud owners of this wonderful shop are Monsieur and Madame Lenoir ...............

..........and they have every right to be proud! It is a wonderful building that has been lovingly restored and filled with amazing period pieces all carefully chosen so as to mix with the original features that were already in place. Entering the shop is like stepping back in time.

If someone had happened to walk in  wearing a bustle and bonnet it would not have looked out of place! The choice of produce is amazing, the quality first class. Wonderful wine cellars, fabulous delicatessen and groceries. The fruit and vegetables come from local producers and couldn`t be any fresher! But best of all is the range of fromage................

.......now this is what I call fromage!!!!!

The wine cellars are stocked with a stunning choice.......

.....and tucked away in a tiny back room is this exquisite 19th century church window.....how I'd love to own it!!!!

I can`t think of anywhere better to shop; its such a pleasure.

So..... when you visit Normandie you simply have to take a trip to this amazing store:
                                               L`Epicerie Parisienne
                                                           6 Rue Armand Leveel
                                                           BRICQUEBEC
                                                           www.epicerie-parisienne.com

But do call me first so you can take my shopping list too!

No Easter bunny....................

I had the choice of two brocantes to visit yesterday. One had been advertised as a couturiers` brocante,  the other a sale of vintage clothing. Last year the vintage clothing sale hadn`t been too good so we decided to start at the couturier event. We set off expecting it to be knitting needles and dress patterns but WOW...... as soon as I entered the hall I knew I was going to be able to buy. I almost felt that panic of where should I run to first as I scanned the stands and saw some divine treasures for sale!!!! I thought I knew most of the antique textile sellers in the region but there were many  faces I didn't recognize. Advertised as just a small "salle de fetes" village hall sale - the first time such an event had been organised in that town - but which turned out to be simply amazing, the stands brimming over with old textiles, trims, ribbons, buttons, lace and frou frou fripperies. This is what it must be like in textile heaven..............

The hall began to fill up with other textile buyers. Quick...quick....quick.....panic....!!!!!!!

So as it got busier I just got my head down and did what I do best...truffle for treasures!

One very sweet lady was selling the contents of an old lingerie shop, her stand full of  beautiful vintage soft pink confections, all from the 1930s. She had a wonderful roll of  satin for corset-making, rose pink lingerie lace and ribbon trims, runs of tiny hooks and eyes on rose linen. Needless to say I almost cleaned her out! The goods are simply divine - and to find so much in one place was quite rare. Poor Mark had to keep humping huge bags of delights back out to the car!

By the time we finally left the hall it was so packed with visitors that you could hardly move.

We set off  for what I believed would be simply a cursory visit to the clothing sale which was held in village sports hall, more to stop and have a coffee and to say 'bonjour' to everyone rather than expecting to find anything.  But what a surprise! We walked in to find the hall virtually silent but with tables full of gorgeous 19th century costumes and textiles. The organiser, who is a member of the local historical (hysterical!) society, had managed to raid the attic of a local chateau. So under much less pressure than at the first venue we sauntered from table to table - and bought even more divine items................

The volunteers from the 'society' who were manning the stands told me that I had missed some amazing old coats that had belonged to the former Marquis himself. But, do you know what? I can`t be in two places at once can I? It was just wonderful to wander at my own pace without the panic of other textile dealers on my tail!

I bought some amazing old "boucherie" (butchers) shirts dating from the 1930s, some stunning corsetted costume pieces and some quirky monogrammed sleeves that were made and kept in stock at the chateau to be added to the footmens' coats.  Later , after filling more bags to the brim, we sat with the volunteer ladies for a cafe and homemade cake -  and I can`t think of a better way to spend an Easter Lundi.

So after my little illness last year and my hospital stay I cannot eat chocolat anymore; and believe me, I was THAT chocoholic!! If there was 'chocolat' within a  3 mile radius I could hear it whispering to me! I could easily have been frogmarched to a 'chocoholics anonymous' meeting where I would have stood up and confessed: " My name is Shirley Wells - and I am a chocoholic". So the Easter bunny didn`t visit me this year.....................

Or did he?!!!!!! Perhaps he sent his brother - the brocanting bunny?

I shall not be blogging for the next couple of days whilst I make a quick trip back to England. 'A la prochaine.......................!!!'