Play The Vintage Way!

Your Vintage Life will be launching a new shop category this week to coincide with our latest article in Vintage Life Nostalgia magazine. It is called “Play the Vintage way” and gives you some inspiring ideas on how to create a vintage nursery or playroom.

Your Vintage Playroom has 6 sub categories: Nursery, Toys, Books, Storage, Learning and Games.

Nursery is full of pretty vintage treasures to help create a real sense of innocence.

Ceramics to line your shelves with Peter Rabbit, Holly Hobby and Love Is on….in years gone by christening presents were displayed for many years which is a great idea to bring back.  There are bowls, bells, vases and christening mugs all in pretty pastel colours.

We also have a great range of vintage styled hand knitted baby blankets: in bright colours as well as pastels. We have one of these for our little girl which always gets admired when she has it in her pram. I love the fact that no two are the same and are hand-made.

There are some great 1950s nursery curtains too. These are called ABC and were designed by Frieda Clowes in the 1950s. They are covered in letters with kitsch characters all over: pirates, kittens and toy soldiers. They are great for either a boy or girl which is perfect if you don’t know what you’re having! We also have fab 1970s Paddington curtains which really remind me of my childhood!

The Toy section is full of toys from the 1950s through to the 1980s. Chad Valley humming tops, Mettype metal typewriters, Fisher Price drums and a horse ride on are our personal favourites! The ride on toys look great sitting in the corner of a nursery, or as my 2 year old is currently proving, are great for riding up and down the hall!

We even have hand crafted vintage skittles dating from the early part of the 20th century.

Vintage children’s Books are great for your little one but also look great on a shelf in their original dust covers. We have 1950s early edition Ladybird books, Beatrix Potters and 1970s original Mr Men.

I personally love the ladybird book’s illustrations with 1950’s ladies in swing dresses and a kelly bag slung over their arms. However, you must all remember that some of them aren’t very modern in their thinking: Mummy seems to be always doing the washing up with Daddy reading the paper in the background!

The Storage section has vintage tins with bright pictures on to store pens or chalk in and blanket boxes for your clothes or toys.

These are great for nurseries as well as playrooms.

Learning has games which will teach your little ones something. We have a rare 1940s Essex sewing machine complete with instructions, a 1950s weaving loom and a 1970s Fisher Price activity centre. Our little girl has one of these attached to her cot. She loves playing with it in the morning, enjoying the squeakers, dials, twisty buttons, mirror and ringers. They are made so well and have already lasted for generations.

There are lots more in this section which will give your playroom that nostalgic feel as well as stimulate.

Finally, Games has board games that you can all play together as a family. Housey Housey, Lotto, Snakes and Ladders all come in their original 1960s boxes. Our favourite is a magnetic 1950s Pin the tail on the donkey!

So, exciting times ahead for us here as well as for your little ones! We will publish the article next week on the blog and then we can all start to play the vintage way!