The Arrival of Gladys (or chair wars)

 Once upon a time many moons ago on a grey Saturday afternoon in a hot and frankly overcrowded village jumble sale I happened upon a little white glass cup with orange and pink flowers. Well my pretty you are coming home with me I said (hopefully not outloud!) and I handed over 20p. I was happy with my purchase because being white glass pyrex it reminded me of the wonderful Fireking collections I kept seeing in the homes of US bloggers. 

 For many weeks I thought it was a lone item. Unmarked I knew nothing of its French heritage. Until that is, sulking after a lengthy dental appointment I wandered into an unknown charity shop and I spied 3 more cups and a bowl. The bowl was marked Arcopal....and then the hunt was on.

My boys were instructed only to make coffee's and teas in the "white stuff" because it just tastes better. Friends and neighbours watched agast as the collection grew. Some mocked the lowly origins of the mugs as a free give away with Mobil petrol. Others declared a passing nostalgic affection as they remembered their mums and nans having some way back then.

But I still though that I was alone with my obcession.....

until a fellow Arcopal lover SimoneRetro asked me to join an Arcopal Flickr group no less.

 Oh my. I could never have imagined that there were so many fabulous patterns. 

NanaOdile

 Arcopal truly was something to be celebrated.

And then one day oggling over the latest fab dabby dozy creation from the crochet Queen of the North -Emma Lamb- I saw that Emma too had fallen under Arcopal's spell.

Emma Lamb's thrifty ditsy jug

 One thing led to another and Emma and I did a deal. The outcome of which is more lovely that I could have dreamt. Gladys has come to live with us. 

Being greedy and impatient I ripped her out of her beatifully packaged packaging before taking any pictures of the lovely papers and twine. But oh - the plumptiousness of the wool and the attention to detail is so perfect. 

 Look at the little label and the hand embroidered tag.

 I am pleased to report that Gladys received a very warm reception from all. If I'm honest a little too warm. Stern words have stopped furry big and furry small from wiping their beards, sitting on etc. I have had less luck in resolving what might best be described as chair wars!

 Where does she look best? 

 On the tulip Saarinen chair in the kitchen? 

 On the Ercol in the lobby? 

 Or in the funny pink factory chair in my workroom?

Please will you let me know your thoughts. 

Gladys deserves to stay put and make herself comfy. Thank you Emma.

 

Colour trending and old wives tales

Remember the one about "blue and green should never be seen without yellow in between."

Well we are big fans of that particular colour trio so it is with a small whoop that I read in this months interiors style bible -Elle Decor- that they are the colours that "most keenly represent the mood of the moment". OH my goodness says I. And why is that? Well apparently "blue exudes calm and peace, yellow liveliness and energy and green optimism and excitement that growth is possible".

Crikey I hadn't reckoned on the science behind it. I've just been admiring the bluetits in the garden (and sadly the kitchen floor thanks to horrid killer cat -Ja Ja Binx).

Photo courtesy Ron's Wildlife Photogrpahy Blog

T'was enough to make me dive into the barkcloth stash and pull out a fine blue/green combo fabric scrap big enough for a handful of barkcloth button brooches.

Remember the old nursery rhyme?

"What are little boys made of?

Frogs and snails

And puppy-dogs' tails,

That's what little boys are made of.

What are little girls made of?

Sugar and spice

And everything nice,

That's what little girls are made of."

Well it doesn't get much "nicer" than this puppy dogs tail and my boy's mighty fine too!

And yes observant readers will spot that is a highback Ercol chair and the exciting bit is my mate plans to paint it ( colour tbc) and recover in some Folly&Glee barkcloth.

Make over, make new- it's easy to do.

Connie Con-Tact is so right - sticky back plastic is great for giving you a lift as well as your home.....

..or at least it can be.  Apartment Therapy and Design Sponge have both blogged excellent round ups in the past of what's available in stores (in the US) today. Some of it seems a bit grim. Its the vintage stuff that I love - the patterns from the 1960s were amazing.

I've been collecting original pieces for a couple of years now. It started with the kitchen shelves. We would love to remodel the kitchen at some point (who wouldn't) but as that's not an option right now it seemed like the shelves were going to have to get a paint job like all the other cabinets. Being so close to the hob they get grimy easy so I tried a temporary piece of contact paper and it was so easy to wipe clean it's still there several months later. It seemed silly to stop there so you see the rather crazy results below. The shelves are certainly a cheery sight for bleary eyes on grey mornings.

 You already saw our paper organizer files covered in assorted contact papers but I'm afraid that is not the end of the story. I found evidence in the hallway with telephone directories hiding in a box filed covered in Pucci inspired 1970s fablon. (The furry one says why keep the directories at all cos you can look everything up on the interweb. Gotta point cos then I could get rid of that naff hall stand.)

 ...and I fear there are plans for this gorgeous roll on vintage French paper to soon be in the bedroom. 

Alas I may be saved from completely covering the house because seems like its getting harder and harder to find. You can still score some great vintage rolls for sale on Etsy. Try searching the vintage section for fablon, contact paper or adhesive shelf liner.

1. summer flowers manufactured by Adorn from pumpkintruck 2. gold Kwik Cover from JenniesJunque 3. set of 3 vintage samples from lovenestdesign

4. cute fruit print from BluePrintVintage

I haven't found a Flickr group of sticky back plastic lovers yet? Anyone know of one or want to set one up with me? I did find a few pictures with a couple of inspired ideas of what to do with your precious roll once you find it.

1. faux bois parcels at bugsandfishesbylupin 2. Go Gay from strangebehaviour 3. magnetic mushroom noticeboard from vintage pleasure

I'd love to hear if you get sticking. Any one wanna swap contact paper samples?