Close, but no cigar...

Last year I posted rather excitedly about some beautiful Noritake dinnerware I had found, a complete dinner service for 4 and demitasse coffee set for 6.

Well, ever since I have been hoping to come across some more pieces of the same dinner service so I could have a complete set for 8.

Alas, I have had no luck on this front but have found another very lovely, quite similar set that I think will do the trick!

Not a match by any means, the Noritake plates are a lighter baby blue with pink flowers, whereas this set (marked "Saraband by Ridgway, Staffordshire, Made in England) are a deeper, duck egg blue with white and pink flowers.

But don't they look pretty side by side? I'm thinking alternating designs laid out on a table of 8 would look gorgeous, hmmm, maybe we'll have sit down dinner parties again when the kids are grown up. Meanwhile our entertaining efforts mainly consist of bbqs where kids outnumber the adults big time!

You may have noticed my recent little flurry of posts. I have been trying to regain some momentum in my blogging after a lazy year so expect lots more news and finds from me! But for now, school breaks up for 2 weeks holidays this afternoon and no kid-free time = no blogging so see you all in a couple of weeks :-)

Acapulco

Today I thought I would share my Villeroy & Boch Acapulco collection with you...

Yep, that's it. One little tiny bowl (pictured from 3 different angles to show the full pattern).

Despite being totally in love with this design and being constantly on the lookout for pieces, the sum total of my collection is this single little bowl. Tragic isn't it?

Oh well, it will make it all the more exciting and rewarding when one day I stumble across a complete Acapulco dinner service for $30 at a car boot market (I can dream can't I?)...

Oooh!

Oh my, look what I just stumbled upon on Flickr...

A fabulous retro fondue pot which matches one of my favourite casseroles!

You know what this means don't you?

I shall not rest easy until I have one of these in my kitchen!

I sourced it back to a very lovely vintage blog, if only I could speak German...

Billy

A few weeks ago one of the mums at the preschool my 2 younger boys go to sent out an email with a list of furniture, toys, appliances etc her family were selling before their big move to Dubai. Unfortunately somebody else was quicker off the mark than me and snaffled a white Expedit the same size as my dark one and a pine bookcase, BUT I did get in first on a set of Ikea Billy bookcases, yay!!!

I bought 2 wide bookcases and one narrow for a grand total of $70! These would have cost $227 altogether new and the best bit is that they very kindly delivered them to us and they were fully built so no assembly required, yay! They fit so perfectly in this space in the study they actually look like built-ins.

I got straight to work making them "nice" with all my husband's books and some of my vintage "things". As you can see I kept it "man style" with mostly wooden and industrial items (I did sneak one of my typewriters onto the bottom shelf, you may notice it if you look carefully :-)

It's great for all of the books that were stuffed away in boxes and the vintage items that were hidden away in cupboards to finally have a home. See that pink book? It's called "The Speed Reading Book" by Tony Buzan, my husband has yet to finish reading it ;-)

Retrolicious

Look what the postman delivered yesterday!

Isn't it FABULOUS?!?

I spotted it online last week, my hubbie was out for the evening playing soccer and I was aimlessly perusing eBay when I stumbled upon it.

I love the atomic retro wing handles!

It's a heavy cast iron enamelled casserole, made by Cousances, I've mentioned them before, a French rival of Le Creuset who bought them out in the 1950s.

The great thing is that while Cousances is very collectible, the seller didn't mention the make in the title, which means that people searching under "Cousances" wouldn't have found it, so I snapped it up for $40 (hubbie, if you're reading this, I love you very, very much ;-). Yes, that is more than I usually pay for a casserole but I have NEVER seen this style before, I have googled and googled and still nothing, so I knew if I didn't buy it I would totally regret it and obsess in the future about finding another.

If anybody out there has the same one or knows anything about the style or date it was made I'd really like to hear from you :-)

Those Clever People...

Calling all Aussies! Have you seen the new Ikea ad???

Can you see me???

I'm the one in the pale green jumper and jeans behind the guy who runs into the fence!

I had better explain how I found myself running through fields and housing estates, screaming and holding a blue kiddies chair over my head :-)

A couple of months ago I got an email from Ikea which they sent to members of Ikea Family (their loyalty card scheme). It asked if I would like to be in their next ad (Would I???) and if so, to email my details and a photo back to them. I didn't expect to hear anything back but a few weeks later I got a message to say I was one of the lucky ones who had been chosen :-)

It was a really fun morning (apart from the 6am start and freezing cold), we were given a lovely brekkie, met a lot of fun people and got an Ikea gift card for our "hard work".

I love the result, I think it's a really funny ad (so do my boys) and was very excited to be able to see myself in the final cut, even if it is only from behind, I'm really enjoying my 0.015 seconds of fame!

Hanging Around

I am constantly moving things around in my kitchen, depending on my mood or the season I have different things on display all the time. This can lead to some lovely things ending up in piles while new favourites take their place on my limited shelf space.

I thought this little pile of pots deserved better than to be left in a heap like this...

So they now have a lovely new home thanks to a recent eBay find...

I spotted one of these on a website a good while back and couldn't find one here in Australia for ages, eventually I saw a couple on eBay but they went for a LOT so I decided to spread my wings and have a look overseas. I was very fortunate to be the only bidder on an eBay UK auction (Le Creuset is a lot more common and less ridiculously priced over there) and won this fab Le Creuset chrome pot stand.

It has space for 4 pots/pans, 3 lids and a casserole, perfect!

I have kept my collection of cast iron cookware to reds/oranges, aqua and cream, they just look so gorgeous together.

Now they are within easy reach for regular use instead of hiding away in a dark cupboard :-)

My tip for Aussies looking to find items like this that are rare here? Go directly to the UK, USA and France eBay sites, do your search, if you find what you're looking for contact the seller and ask them if they would be willing to post to Australia. Often the answer is yes, and even taking in postage costs you can end up saving a lot! I bought this for 7 pounds sterling / about $11 plus $20 postage whereas they were selling for over 60 dollars here plus postage :-)