a house in the hills

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Whats Doing this Week

This week's find was a lovely vintage white crochet cloth. It's very fine work and very large and a bargain at 3.99

WHAT WAS I THINKING !!!!!! I'm trying to pack my huge line collection from my ar

moire...I've filled 3 huge cartons and still going....

We are about 70% boxed up but the kitchen contents is going to be a huge job, and I'm starting to feel the stress.

Too many dinner sets I don't use...too many crystal bowls...

Mr VL bought a couple of presents for me from the home ware sales to cheer me up

(Loving glass floats at the moment) He found this gorgeous verdigris covered candelabra all crusty and cobwebby

Checkout Sascha's expression watching us box up stuff!

Linking up with :

A Treasured Past
Apron Thrift Girl
The Dedicated House

A Living Space
Knick of Time
French Country Cottage
Ivy and Elephants
Common Ground
The Colorado Lady
Shabby Art Boutique
The Thrifty Groove
Chic on a Shoestring
Old Time Farmhouse
Country Farm Home
My Romantic Home
Sir thrift-a-lot
Rose Vignettes

Rooted in Thyme
My Charmed Home
Blackbird Has Spoken
Elizabeth & Co
The North End Loft
Finding Fabulous

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Garage Sale Score

An early morning supermarket shopping trip came to a screeching of brakes yesterday when I spotted a garage sale ....so glad we stopped ( Mr VL hates them!) I spied a big plastic bag of linen ( I can spot filet crochet from a 100 miles away!) Grabbed it without looking inside . Lots of serviettes that I don't want, quite a few stained tablecloths which I'll soak and some beautiful pieces like the gorgeous old pillowcase. Cost me $8.... BARGAIN !!!

I have never found a vintage flower frog before, and this was $2....I think these people thought I was a bit demented!!

On Wednesday at the Salvos I picked up a vintage silver case with nice engine turned finish for 5.95

A Royal Albert Old Country Roses dish for 3.99

And from a vintage home ware shop called Éclat Bazzar sale I fell in love with this little darling...he's going under one of my glass domes in the new house. The shop had him in a nest under an expensive Victorian shaped dome...awwww

Anyway I'm off to do heaps of soaking and see what I can retrieve of my linen haul!

Linking up with :

A Treasured Past
Apron Thrift Girl
The Dedicated House

Rooted in Thyme
My Charmed Home
Blackbird Has Spoken
Elizabeth & Co

The North End Loft

Sunday, June 23, 2013

5 Weeks and Counting

Only 5 weeks to go before we move to our rural retreat and the packing is a pain at the moment .I have started with china and crystal...more on that next week

I probably shouldn't be snooping around op shops but...I did visit the Salvo's and the Animal Welfare during the week

An ironstone tureen for my collection for $3

A little aqua tinted industrial style vase for $1

My find of the week was a Carter's Antique Price Guide fro 1986. I have never seen one in an op shop before , only collectable bookstores as they appreciate in value.

I saw this for $3.99 and is worth about $150-170

We were driving around yesterday and saw a gorgeous home ware/gift shop with 70% off . There were heaps of people squeezed in grabbing stuff and Mr VL grabbed 2 items ...a lovely tall carved candlestick and a cute tea light holder. I would have loved 2 of the candlesticks

One hour after this "butter wouldn't melt in my mouth" pic Sascha stole a bunch of grapes out of the fruit bowl and rolled them all around the family room ARGGHHH

Linking up with :

A Treasured Past
Apron Thrift Girl
The Dedicated House

Rooted in Thyme
My Charmed Home
Blackbird Has Spoken
Elizabeth & Co

Sunday, June 16, 2013

More Vintage Luggage!

I have been searching for a while for a vintage hatbox to store some of my girlie treasures....

compacts, perfume bottles,evening bags...they are all sooo expensive.

I found this just in time before moving in a small shop and haggled it right down.

It's from the 50's and sits nicely on top of my first box

A Salvo's find....I spotted a sugar bowl for $1.99 which was close to my precious Royal Winton "Summertime"teapot. The teapot was one of my first finds in an Antique shop on a trip to Melbourne as a newlywed a long, long time ago and cost me $25. It's now worth around $600/700 and is going to wrapped very carefully!

The sugar bowl is probably 1950/60's as it has a Made in Japan mark and is quite a good match

Linking up with :

A Treasured Past
Apron Thrift Girl
The Dedicated House

Rooted in Thyme
My Charmed Home
Blackbird Has Spoken
Elizabeth & Co

Sunday, June 9, 2013

A Well Timed Find

Most of my week has been spent researching storage solutions for the new house. We spent 4 hours at the IKEA sale.....what a mad house that was. Bought tons of stuff which is has stay boxed for moving day.....DARN!!!!

I have been searching the op shops and the local second hand market for storage too and I was thrilled to find this large solid cane linen basket for a teeny tiny price. I LOVE IT!!!! I put 8 quilts in it easily and will look great in the new guest room which has a coastal colour scheme.

The icing on the cake is I have just found the same range of baskets in a magazine this morning ....$359 ...YIKES ...and YAY. I'm thinking of stencilling some numbers on it.

I am still grabbing vintage Tupperware when I find it and throwing out all my modern plastic ones

This set was only $8

I have a nice collections of shells and I bought this bowl at the Freedom sale for half price for the bathroom

I gave this table a second coat of white paint and a light distress (originally an ugly brown)and cost only $5 ,all ready for the gorgeous IKEA industrial nickle-plated table lamp we bought

Linking up with :

A Treasured Past
Apron Thrift Girl
The Dedicated House

Rooted in Thyme
My Charmed Home
Blackbird Has Spoken
Elizabeth & Co

Sunday, June 2, 2013

New Thrift Finds and a New Life

This week my Salvo rummage was very cheap because the Manager was away and she tends to overprice items these days , and I was first in the shop

For just under $20 I bought

A new RM Williams shirt ( RRP $120 )

4 books including a fabulous cookbook from the UK

A brand new oversized clock ( RRP $50)

A vintage milk glass comport

We have bought a mortgage free house in the Adelaide Hills in a tiny town of only 700 people called Gumeracha , one of the earliest in South Australia.
It is a big change for me as I'm a real townie . The property is on the top of a crest and overlooks AMAZING views, but the inside of the house is going to be a long term project,

and doesn't have the storage for all my treasures .

So I will have lots to show you as we progress...good lord.... the light fittings and the colour of the walls...ARRGGGHHH

The garden is half an acre so we are going to have chooks, and we are going to expand the already espaliered fruit trees and include berries and veg.

Mr VL is in heaven as he has bought from the owners a ride on John Deere mower for the huge expanse of lawns. He is dying to start landscaping with autumn trees, pink roses and wisteria around the back

deck. He's hoping to make the garden a real showpiece as landscaping is his profession.

The front has the biggest gum tree in the universe with a bird nesting box, but we can't wait to pull out those scraggy roses along the front verandah

These are a few pics from the previous owners real estate advert.They were taken in summer,so the hills view in our backyard would now be green.