Below is a snippet of the beautiful interiors created by a clever Scottish lass, Rosie Brown.  I really love her style!  You can see more at Papa Stour.

Papa Stour is also an online shop of everything beautiful that’s handcrafted in Scotland.  Seeing as my roots hark back to Glasgow, I do feel an additionally strong affinity to do a wee spot of online shopping…

Alison

Earlier I blogged about our future renovation plans and my dream kitchen space.  I’ve also blogged about this gorgeous loft space, which still remains a source of inspiration.

A major part of our renovations would be building into our roof space…the staircase built next to the living room out the back, with probably a cathedral ceiling, then upstairs, our parents’ retreat.  A loft-style bedroom, big bathroom, a study space and a small balcony that will overlook the branches of our pin oak tree… or if built at the other end of the house, the balcony would catch all the northerly sun.

Anyway back to the bedroom!  The space I envisage would have lots of white, lots of wood using the existing roof beams, and sloping ceilings.  We’d put in a few windows down the side of the house, built into the roof. Skylights, too.  Lots of light.  Below are some gorgeous examples… my pick is fifth from the top.  What’s your favourite?

Alison

Images credit

None of the images below are related, but all of them appeal to me.  My kind of places.

A quick upload, because these are too pretty to be sitting on my desktop any longer..

Alison

Even though I sell vintage and I’m aware of the prices vintage items attract at the moment, as a buyer, I can at times feel disillusioned.  Sometimes if I’m at a vintage market or browing Etsy, I see prices on things I can’t quite fathom.  Of course it’s supply and demand, and the demand for certain styles of vintage, eg. retro and industrial, is so high, retail prices are reflecting that.

However, does that mean you’d pay $140 for a weathered Pepsi crate?  Of course for anyone who’s buying vintage, there’s always a level of emotion involved in the purchase, which can mean the price of something becomes less relevant.

It’s a bit like bananas…although without the emotion. (Unless you’re really into bananas.)  Remember a few months ago when bananas were $10, $11 a kilo here.  How could you forget – they were ludicrously expensive!

Now they’re around $3 a kilo, and yippee, it’s banana cake all around again in our house.  I never question buying bananas now.  I did question it at $11 a kilo, though.  In the same way I question what I feel are over-priced vintage pieces.  Is it worth it?  Do I need it enough?  Do I love it enough?  Will I find similar again? Could I find the same at a market cheaper?

As a retailer of vintage, and as more people sell vintage and thus the wider the availability, I’m conscious of (what I’m sure is) this customer mindset.

The point I’m trying to make (bananas probably weren’t the best analogy) is that if I can be turned off a beautiful vintage piece because I feel it’s too expensive – me, who adores vintage – are we as sellers being a little too greedy?  I have a good general knowledge of what things cost to buy, and the mark up on some pieces I see is extraordinary.

Personally, I don’t set things at extraordinary prices.  If something sells at auction for an extraordinary amount, ok, the demand was there.  And I understand sellers that have a physical retail space wear overheads that I don’t.  But I think we also have to be careful to remember our customers aren’t naive:  the more popular vintage becomes, the more that’s bought and sold, the more aware we need to be.

Alison

Thought I’d share a few of this weekend’s market finds with you..to be added to my Etsy shop this week!  A fairly varied range as you can see.. from this industrial sign, to some lovely vintage books.  I really love finding children’s books in particular at the moment.  Hope you had a wonderful weekend!  Alison

This book teaches about manners in such a fun way, I’m tempted to keep it for my kids!

I love the bright & happy cover of this 50′s collectable annual..

More vintage books…I couldn’t resist this little Snoopy book – so colourful!

English and pretty..

A tiny silk coin purse made in Italy…

And a real treasure, a copy of John Milton’s Paradise Lost, published in 1815..

Pinterest aside, another good way to while away half an hour with a cup of tea is browsing through Treasuries on Etsy.  I’m always surprised by the number of people I meet who love vintage pieces, yet have never discovered Etsy!  It’s a treasure-trove of vintage items from all over the world.  I love it… and a good way of exploring the vast array of items on Etsy is through the member-created treasuries.

Treasuries focusing on one or two colours are often created on Etsy.  Lately, I’ve seen a lot of mint green treasuries being created.  I love vintage shades of mint green (I even blogged about another shade here), so when I came across these speckled Duperite spoons I loved their colour..

So far this spoon set has been featured in thirteen different treasuries on Etsy (and Pinterest)!  You can have a look at these beautifully curated treasuries here…  And here’s some more mint-green prettiness that caught my eye..

If I ever had my own shop….perfection!

 Images credit

Happy (belated) Easter – hope the Easter bunny was good to you!  We had more chocolate eggs enter our house than ever before..a little crazy..so I’m craving fresh veges more than usual now.  Speaking of crazy, I organized an egg hunt here last week for a dozen kids – it was complete madness! – but lots of fun.

As it’s now school holidays, I’m not getting much work done from home, but such is life..  I’ll be listing more items next week once school returns and our schedules return to normal.  I’m grateful though that despite slowing down over Easter, I’ve been selling quite a lot through my Etsy shop.  Thank you to those in the US, Canada, Australia and Sweden who have stopped by recently and found something they loved!

Before I go, here are some lovely shots of a beautifully styled vintage home in the Blue Mountains region in NSW, Australia…

Alison

Thank you to here for images

Here are  a few photos from our visit to Queenscliff last week..you can see why I love this town with its beautiful old buildings.

There’s homes ranging from the Victorian era through to 1960′s weatherboard seaside cottages..we stayed in a lovely 1930′s cottage.

Definitely a place worth staying for a weekend.

Alison

Hello!  I’m feeling refreshed after a long weekend away in Queenscliff…I just love that town.  My boys had a lovely time at the Thomas the Tank Engine day out.  In fact my (quite artistic) eldest won first prize in the colouring in competition.. we were so proud of him, he got to spend $50 on train toys as his prize, so he was over the moon!

I came back to find this little vintage teacup candle waiting for me, which I’d purchased via Etsy.  Excuse the hurried Instagram pic.  I just love it!  I may have found (yet another) vintage obsession – tea cup candles. I might have to learn how to make them myself, I love them so much.  In the meantime, though, there are always shops like Laurie’s where I can get my fix.

Thank you Laurie!

Alison

We’re heading off tomorrow to a little seaside town called Queenscliff for a short break.  Granted we do live near the bay…but Queenscliff is on the opposite side of the bay here in Melbourne.

It feels like the first quarter of this year has just flown by… it will be nice to have a few quiet days away, just myself, my husband and our two boys.  My eldest has finished his first term of ‘big school’, and was certainly more tired than usual too this week.  It’s been a big adjustment for him, but he’s done so well.  Hubby has been working ridiculously hard in his new job for the last couple of months, I have been busy building my vintage business, early mornings at the markets, and filling orders.  My youngest little man has, admittedly, had the most relaxed schedule of all of us..as he should.. but already this year has achieved some big milestones!

Queenscliff is a beautiful town with a lot of history and I hope to take some good photos while we’re there.  There’s a big steam train event on which the boys will love (me too, actually!)  I’m going to try and avoid looking at any vintage shops or markets while I’m there, though..  I feel I need to have a few days break away and come back all fresh and re-inspired!

Hope you have a Happy Easter, and enjoy some downtime, without the daily morning rush!

If you’ve found yourself here via my eBay or Etsy stores, please note I’ll be shipping orders again on Tuesday, 3rd April.  Items will be available for collection from that day on, too.

Alison