French sofa & Textiles in Devon

A NEW ARRIVAL IN OUR HOME - A FRENCH SOFA:
In my previous post (thank you for all the lovely comments!), I mentioned that we had just acquired a piece of furniture for our lounge. Well this is it, a French sofa.


The French Sofa comes from Niki's beautiful shop, Nostalgia at No 1 in Shepton Mallet, Somerset. We have not yet decided if it will stay where it is now or if it should go by the window opposite. It is will need to be countryfied a bit to blend in better with my existing style. I will show you what I mean in a future post.
There is also another sofa to fit in the room, a two seater. That one will be the more "practical" one.

TEXTILES IN DEVON - DONNA FLOWER'S OPEN DAYS EVENT:
Yesterday, Alan and I went to North Devon for the day.

Donna was having an open day event at her beautiful house in Abbotsham. It was a glorious day, it felt like summer. Lovely blue skies and it felt very hot!




Railway sign on the gate that leads to the house and garden


We arrived in the afternoon and it was clear that much of Donna's stock had been bought over the past three days. Although there was still plenty to look at and buy.


Donna gave us a lovely warm welcome and showed us around the rooms filled with textiles, clothes, shoes etc... Alan went off to take photos whilst I got stuck in to the business of looking for things to take back home with me.


























Gorgeous kitchen!









Anyone for refreshments in the garden?


A peak at what I bought



I had to have this pretty little pinny!


After leaving Donna's house, we drove to Clovelly which isn't far from Abbotsham. We had both been there before some time ago. Our first stop was at Clovelly Court Gardens. I was so enchanted by these gardens! More about that in my next post.

I hope that you are all having a great weekend!


A bientôt!

Isabelle X

Painting update & Textile deliveries

I had hoped to post sooner but other things took over. I've had a few deliveries this week. As many of you probably know by now, I love textiles (vintage mostly)


This 1950's Italian Riviera fabric, I really love! I bought it online from Donna. The colours and design are so beautiful. It captures a time when the Italian & French Riviera were so much more glamorous and chic than they are now.


Bought on Ebay

Discontinued Laura Ashley fabric, so pretty and fresh.

Onto the lounge now...
This used to be Alan's office, in that little area under the stairs. However, a few months ago we decided that it would be nice to get rid of the desk & for Alan to share my workroom/office upstairs. This would make the lounge free from work related things and a good place to relax. It was not esthetically pleasing either to be honest... as I'm sure you'll agree... Not very vintage looking....

So we cleared everything out back in August/September


Looking better already!
And this is what we did to it last weekend..

After... much better.
The next job is to make that area look pretty and cosy. This weekend I'll get on to that and will hopefully finish that corner.


Sneak peek at painting in progress... I had to repaint it as the first time around the paint came out darker than I had expected..I am yet to find the backing that I like. Still looking for that perfect wallpaper or fabric... I will post the finished result as soon as it is all finished!

Have a lovely Valentine's day on Sunday!

A bientôt!

Isabelle X

Fabulous FABRICS!

On one of my recent posts, I mentioned that I had bought some fabric from Donna Flower. A few days later, my parcels arrived. The presentation is always so neat and pretty.

You can always rely on Donna's website for a fantastic selection of vintage fabrics! It is no surprise, that Cath Kidston has mentioned Donna as being a supplier of antique & vintage fabrics in her latest book SEW!.

I was very disappointed not to have been able to attend Donna's Open house event recently but these parcels made up for it in some way.

I like a wide variety of textiles, old and new. My absolute favourites are vintage ones, especially dating from the 1930's, 40's & 50's.

PARCEL ONE



1950's Abstract Floral Cotton


1950's French Floral Fabric (So beautiful!)

PARCEL TWO







1950's Purple Rose Velvet Fabric (Photo doesn't really do it justice!)




1940's Bloomsbury Style Floral Fabric (Love it!)




1940's fabric Red Roses on Blue


1950's Stylised Floral Fabric (Really love the design)

Other textiles obtained recently. I acquired some discontinued sample books - Cath Kidston and Baer & Ingram full of fabric and wallpaper samples.




From Cath Kidston book


From Baer & Ingram book

There were also a couple of Ebay purchases

Liberty Tana Lawn Fabric "Felicite"


Cath Kidston fabric


Yellow and grey vintage sheets

I hope that you are all enjoying the half term holidays what ever you are up to! No school runs or getting packed lunches ready for a while ;-))


A bientôt!

Isabelle x