My Vintage Friend

I'd like to introduce you to my friend Delia. Delia is a friend I miss very much in England. I have known Delia for many many years and we have always enjoyed 'rummaging' and 'playing house' together so I asked her to write a feature for my blog about her vintage style. I guess this post is somewhat indulgent for me as it comes at a time when I find myself particularly missing my dear vintage friend.

Over to you lovely friend............

Hi my name is Delia. I live in Somerset in England with my two boys age 13 and 9 and my ginger cat Timmy. My love for anything old has always been with me but as the boys have got older I have found more time and freedom to explore this passion further. I love to explore charity shops, junk shops, car boot sales and yes dare I say it Ebay. I love the fact that I can actually afford the delights I find; makes my tummy dance and my face smile and gives me that 'little girl in a cake shop' feeling knowing I can have what I see.

In the past 18 months my love for the 1950’s has really taken off. Inspired by watching Grease with my friends during sleepovers. I loved the dresses, the freedom of the swing skirts, the colours and patterns, the excitement and the rock and roll music. The whole girly girl lifestyle where girls are girls and boys are boys. Just call me an old romantic.

I love to mix old and new things. As long as I love it and it gives me that tingle in my toes then I think there will be a home somewhere for it with me. My real passion in the past few months has been 1950’s kitchenware and oh my goodness I have found some real treasures. As I push open the charity shop door I get so excited when I walk inside, not knowing what old delights I will find and of course as the saying goes “someones rubbish is someone else’s treasure”. That’s so true.

I have found great crockery, vases, cups, glasses and also pillow cases which I am turning into cushions covers. My first find was a red formica kitchen table which was hiding away in a friends garage. Then along came two kitchen chairs which I found in a junk shop in Wales. They are just the cutest dinning set. I only paid £2.00 for them. Now that’s what I call a bargain ;-) I rubbed them down and they look amazing.  Then a friend gave me his mums old 1950’s kitchen stools which had been covered in fabric. When I took it off I was jumping up and down because underneath was the original red and yellow vinyl. The first night the boys and I sat down I said "I wonder what family owned these and what they had to eat" and of course I used our 1960’s dinner plates and 1950’s drinking glasses.

My other little pleasure is 1950’s drinking glasses they are so slender and colourful but my cabinet is full and I really must stop buying them now. I get so much pleasure from knowing that someone else loved these things. One of my pride and joys is a red domino tea set that my partner gave me for Christmas. I opened the box and just kept unwrapping it, it really was like a lucky dip full of plates, cups, saucers, a milk jug and a sugar bowl...... and well my eyes nearly popped out of my head ;-)

..............lovely, thanks sweetie xxx