Get the Look: Vintage Collections

Justin and Adelle from the online retailer H is for Home have a beautiful home. Styled with an eclectic mix of retro with antiques and collectables, it has been featured in many magazines. It also appears throughout the 60s/70s chapter of our book: Style Your Modern  Vintage Home.

Last year disaster struck and their ground floor was flooded. This meant that the porch, sitting room, kitchen diner and pantry was ruined…even the garden was affected. Water reached 4 feet outside the house and 2 feet inside. Imagine losing your mid century furniture…it’s not like you can go to Ikea and replace like for like is it?

Since then, they have rebuilt,replastered,  repainted  and rebought. Adelle describes the experience: “We can’t say we enjoyed any aspect of the experience really, but there were a few positives. The first is the community spirit amongst neighbours and offers of help from complete strangers. In relation to the house, it was good to have a complete redecoration whilst the rooms were empty. Also, it gave us an opportunity to have a rethink about furniture positioning and thin out our possessions a bit. As you unpack the boxes you can stand back and say “right, there’s enough on that shelf now”.”

Now, they really have amazing possessions! Their collections of items whether they be West German pottery or antique spoons are out on show in really clever ways. We wanted to share some of our favourites with you!

First up is the spare room where Adelle’s handbag collection is proudly hung on the wall. We loved this so much it got a whole double page spread in the book, as well as me stealing the idea in my room.

Their other spare room has a wooden frame above the bed with mugs hanging from it. We love this room; the mixture of the orange retro bedspread contrasting with the old wooden chest and metal bed just shows that you don’t have to be a slave to an era for design to work.

Displaying unusual collections such as these spoons on the wall, really brightens up a plain wall and adds interest which is a real talking point.

Often these 1960s kitchen units are filled with 1940s enamel bakeware. However, here you can see the large ceramic Lord Nelson storage jars which have a real retro feel alongside all their baking utensils. If I had these I too would be showing them off. (Note to Mr YVL: I want these for Christmas!)

Who needs a coat cupboard when you have a collection of Welsh tweed capes and jackets. The colours tie in with the overall themes throughout the house and the textures add an extra dimension.

When you collect haberdashery a set of small drawers keeps you organised as well as being a beautiful piece of furniture. For ideas on how to restore metal filing cabinets check out our book.

I’ve been after a Kenneth Townsend tile for sometime: I love the way Justin and Adelle use them instead of pictures. Hang them on the wall or prop them up on  a shelf instead of a photo frame. Even stacks of vintage Penguin books with their orange spines replace the space where a vase could have been. Tie this in with orange Whitefriars glass…I’m sure you will agree their design led retro items are stylish and make you green (or orange) with envy!

Finally here are the shelves that you can imagine them both standing back and deciding where to place everything. THeir love of colour is apparent with the orange and blue themes running through. Rather than fill the shelves with books alone they have broken up the space with CathrineHolm bowls, Scandinavian ceramics next to the very British wooden toys.

How do you display your collections? Please send any photos into us as we would love to feature them here on our Get The Look blog. Email yourvintagelife@hotmail.com.

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COMPETITION TIME!!

Fancy winning a basket crammed full of vintage haberdashery?Metal zippers, bright cottons, patterns, braiding, metal poppers, hook and eyes and even a wooden darning mushroom?

What you have to do: Just follow our blog! This can be done by subscribing via the actual blog or by following via BlogLovin (see links on side of the Your Vintage Life blog web page) – If you use BlogLovin please send us a quick message on FB or twitter to let us know your details – and voila, you are entered in the competition! Feel free to comment on the blogs and/or share the completion with your friends and family through social media… The competition will run to Monday 30th September and the winner will be notified the following week. Good luck!