Why I love Vintage

Petals the Pony a Mastercraft Scotland Creation

I do. I love old and interesting. I find new yawn worthy and boring but more than that I find it doesn’t hold up to the test of time or the test of my family.

I find new doesn’t last these days. Most of the time. This is bad news with such a boisterous bunch using what’s in the house so I find another to buy older stuff.

The lovely creature above is Petals the pony. there is some heated debate as to whether petals is a he or a she but one thing is for sure Petals is TOUGH.

S/he is made mid century by Mastercraft in Scotland and I think it is made from old fighter planes (possibly, citation needed!) and although we bought it as a wacky ornament (albeit a large, beaten up and rather expensive ornament) we found our children love it and use it too. Luckily Petals is up for this with a very stern solid riding action (yes s/he moves under rider power, you move the pedals up and down- it’s pretty scary for me but the children adore it). A modern ride-on would have been in the bin a long time ago sadly. I am not sure why they are so destructive but until this phase passes I am not buying susceptible toys!

Another child proof vintage but is our Formica kitchen table setting, the seat upholstery is getting worse for wear but the table and the chairs themselves are going strong (you see the green of this table in many of my photos so you will get sick of seeing it!). I don’t mind paying for Vintage as it gives us good hard-wearing products as well as adding atmosphere to our interior decorating (is that what it is when we put all the things we like in our house? Let’s say it is!).

There are so many other benefits, not least the minimising environmental impact by not using up more resources and stopping things going to landfill as well as the act that buying vintage sees more money go to small family businesses rather than large multinationals which my have dubious working conditions for their overseas factory workers and a lot of new furniture is made with compressed board which is not only not durable (especially if it gets wet – like a Mogwai) but it could be made with weird glue which can outgas at you (also like a Mogwai? Our cat looks like some sort of gremlin and he definitely outgases!).

Do you have some great durable vintage pieces? Did you buy them or inherit? What benefits have you found?

Bodging

Gratuitous cat photo- he is in the Chicken yard!

Today I decided to finally remove a knackered old chest of drawers from the boys room. The poor thing had been in situ when we moved into our previous house and had been repaired several times by us. It was a pretty cheap bit of pine furniture to start with.

Not being one to throw things away I started to imagine a chicken shelter and with the able assistance of my lovely husband and a couple of other spare drawers we turned it on it’s side, popped a perch at the top, a platform to catch droppings and a drawer at the bottom as a nesting box. Oh don’t forget the *ahem* beautifully rustic ramp we have made.

mmm Scrappy, but useable!

 It goes well with the nest made from a TV cabinet the boys were too rough with. An egg has already been laid! The shelter is made from some pieces of cut down water tank we found behind a shed at our place. It’s perhaps not the most elegant of chicken houses but we bodged it for free and it will keep them warm and dry. It remains to be seen if the perch will ever get used though!

Don’t they look lovely now they have feathers!

Re-purposing Running Riot…

I have been having fun finding “non traditional” objects to grow plants in. 

I found a perfectly good galvanised bucket on the side of the road- well, it wasn’t so good as a bucket because it had holes punched in the bottom but it started me on a rampage of repurposing. It has basil growing well now and was quickly joined by  an olive oil tin with mint and an old mixing bowl which had a crack in the glaze which has had some drainage holes drilled and is supposed to be growing chillies but seems to have silverbeet instead(!?).

Having our regular “lunch out” we spotted some giant olive tins behind a patisserie so lovely husband popped his head into the kitchen window and asked if we could have them- they are now either side of the door with pansies and marigolds growing in them.  

I have also planted a lemon tree in the drum from an old tumble dryer- I think it is a lovely thing, all stainless steel and shiny and even had holes at the bottom already. I have already turned a couple of wide tyres inside out and made successful little gardens in them. 

I can’t wait to find some more things to repurpose- at the moment nothing is safe as long as I can figure out how to get reasonable drainage there could be a plant in almost anything! Special mention must go to my long suffering husband who is very supportive of my mad ideas and pulls apart tumble dryers, drills very difficult holes in bowls and asks for tins for me!

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