My entire Le Creuset collection - Vintage, Retro and New!

This morning I decided to tackle one of my least favourite household chores, cleaning the tops of the cupboards and shelves in my kitchen. As I hauled down my various bits and pieces of Le Creuset cookware I thought I'd do a little photoshoot and share my collection :-)

I thought I'd start with some new pieces to my collection...

A cast iron 2 quart pumpkin shaped casserole, bought online from the USA.

A red 2 quart cast iron heart shaped casserole bought on Amazon UK.

An Antique Rose pink heart shaped cast iron casserole. These were made in a limited number and only available in Japan so you have no idea how I stalked eBay until I found a brand new one in the USA and cajoled the seller into shipping to Australia :-)

A cast iron doufeu, another ebay purchase, I really scored on this one! The seller just put something like "cast iron vintage pot" as the description, including the word doufeu would have set the price soaring, I got it for $34 including postage!!

A lovely cast iron terrine - another Amazon UK purchase (before they stopped shipping homewares to Australia :-(

I think most of my other cast iron pieces have been shared on the blog before but here's a recap...

Various vintage pieces in the flame colour including an awesome retro Cousances casserole (Cousances were Le Creuset's main competitor before they bought them out in the 1950s).

My Enzo Mari designed Mama cast iron baking dish.

       

       

Various scallop handled gratin dishes.

Various pots and frying pans including my prized Enzo Mari designed white cast iron pots, a steal at a market a few years ago and used daily ever since :-)

My beloved French ovens in Teal and Coastal blue, different shapes and sizes for different meals, the huge 28cm teal casserole is perfect for cooking in bulk, bought from John Lewis and Amazon in the UK.

I adore this teal shallow casserole and use it for various casseroles and pasta bakes, bought on Amazon UK.

My absolute favourite find of all time is this turquoise Raymond Loewy designed retro coquelle, $15 at a car boot market.

Another Raymond Loewy coquelle, the shallower size - $65 including postage on eBay, the seller didn't put "Raymond Loewy" in the description, score!

I have also collected some bits and pieces from Le Creuset's stoneware collection, the orange mini-casseroles were a gift from my little sis, I got the turquoise heart shaped mini casseroles and mixing jug in Ireland, the pink bowl was another Amazon purchase and the salt crock and utensil jar are from Myer and David Jones.

So here it is in all its glory, in one photo, all my cast iron pieces together...  

 Some more gratuitous group shots...

 And finally my little stoneware collection...

OK so all in all it's a BIG collection, but it's not really hoarding if you use it EVERY day, is it?

Tropical

I often find that my mood or the weather can totally affect what I end up bringing home with me from a market or rummage sale. On a gloomy cloudy day I often bring home dark teals and blues and heavy wooden homewares or on days where I am in a fantastic mood I bring home bright cheery retro items. Today for example is a beautiful sunny day here in Sydney, it's the second last day of Winter and 25 degrees celsius! I visited a church sale this morning and it was only when I got home a while ago that I realised my purchases have a definite tropical outdoorsy feel to match the fabulous sunny weather :-)

I love French shopping baskets, they are very in style at the moment and can cost a lot, this one was $3.

This cute hurricane lantern was $1, it will look fab on our deck!

I can never turn down a gorgeous jar, I have been looking to find one big enough to fill with fairy lights and leave outside on our porch, this is perfect - $2!

I usually don't even bother opening picnic baskets to look inside anymore having found they are usually pretty nasty but the cute compact size of this one drew my interest, it's in fab condition and I love the palm tree motif on the fabric, so tropical! And only $2!

You know what's going to happen to this raw pine little key cabinet don't you? Yes, it's going to get a good old coat of Duck Egg blue paint and a cute new handle :-) It cost $2.

My boys have outgrown some of the cutie vintage items I bought when they were younger but no boy is too big for a boat - $2.

This bamboo trivet was $1!

Cute little wire home scene - 50 cents.

I bought 6 of these love heart wire hangers in varying sizes for 50 cents each.

And what have all these finds been sitting on for their photoshoot? This fab cane side table was $2!!! I put all my other stuff in it and lugged it home on the train and bus, well worth the effort.

So including the brand new black leather Kindle case ($2) and three Mr. Men books I also bought (50 cents each) my entire spend was only $22!!!

Now to hide all my stuff and hope that since it's been so long since my last post my hubbie doesn't bother reading my blog anymore. But I hope someone out there still does :-)

My type...

At our local bi-annual flea market last Saturday, I happened upon yet another typewriter I couldn't resist. Even though I thought I'd broken the habit, done a clearout and vowed not to buy anymore, how could I resist this beauty?

A "Brother Deluxe" in the most delicious duck egg blue colour with beautiful art deco logo and font, sigh...

When I asked the seller how much she wanted for it she replied "$30", inwardly I was saying "yes!!!" but stood there thinking about having to carry it on into the city where I was going to meet friends...

The seller saw me hesitating and said "I'll take $20"! Deal done! Yes I did have to haul it on into the city on the train where I was going for a girls' weekend but I went straight to the hotel we were staying at and left my bags there, so no worries!

Thought I may as well recap on my little collection (much smaller than it used to be thanks to eBay :-)

Olivetti Studio 44.

Imperial 200.

Olivetti Lettera 32.

Hmm, I guess when it comes to vintage typewriters I definitely have a type :-)

Cane and Able

Last year, when we were still living in our previous house, I spotted a neighbour putting out some weathered old cane chairs for council cleanup. 

I wandered over to chat and saw that even though they needed a lot of TLC they had a really beautiful design and I would be able to make them look fab with some work! So with my neighbour's help I hauled them back to our front verandah...

...where they remained for several months in their unloved condition. Then we moved house and refurbishing chairs was the last thing on my mind in the midst of a busy move. But finally, last month after pondering whether to stain or paint them and much time spent stalking the internet to find the perfect large cushions to fit the seats I finally gave them a makeover!

Voila!

I decided on a dark stain and gloss and am so happy with the result! The large cushions on the base are Scythia floor cushions by Kas Australia. The other cushions are temporary until I find some I love.

I have put the chairs in a lovely little sunroom area beside our kitchen, it looks out on the front deck and gets beautiful light during the day. It's a great spot to curl up in front of the wood stove or to watch the boys while they're playing out on the deck.

Even in a house full of boys...

... a girl's still entitled to a little pink, right?

Sorry, I couldn't resist...

Turkish Delight

Look at the gorgeous bowls and dishes I bought today at Target!!!

Aren't they lovely? I think turquoise and purple look so gorgeous and exotic together. But as I stashed them in my shopping basket something was nagging at the back of my mind, they were familiar somehow. Then when I laid them on my table to photograph them I was getting serious deja vu...

Bingo! I remembered this fab image I had pinned on Pinterest AGES ago...

Image from the ever-fabulous Decor8 blog

Spooky or what? ;-) Pinterest has crawled into my subconscious...

Seriously though, I LOVE them! The pieces pictured above are beautifully hand-crafted in Turkey but I'm still happy with my little "Made in China" collection :-)