Fall for a Vintage Autumn

Can you believe we are almost in October! The summer has slipped by and suddenly the nights are getting chilly and the leaves are starting to turn, Autumn is definitely on its way!

One of the things I love about autumn is getting the house ready for cozy nights in by the fire with a hot chocolate. With this in mind on a recent treasure hunt we have got some lovely new stock in that will really help you welcome the autumn into your home!

In our etsy store https://www.etsy.com/shop/VintiqueTree/ we have curated a special section of goodies that we think sum up the season perfectly, 'Falling for a Vintage Autumn'. Here are a few of our favourites below!

Happy Autumn!

For the love of french furniture

As promised, and better late than never I wanted to do a post on the French furniture I photographed when I visited France in the spring time.  As the owner of Vintique Tree and because I have a serious thing about furniture, especially upholstery the interiors of the French Chateaus' we visited were of huge interest.  I thought that the furniture and upholstery in the French houses was much more accessible than in the country houses of Britain, here everything is roped off at a distance, whereas you can really get up close and feel the age of the French pieces! Or at least I could. I love seeing a warn chair or the patina on wood, I really wish I could get the history of what the furniture has seen by just touching it!

I like the simplicity of English furniture, the majority being carved clean straight lines, but I can't compare it to the curves and flamboyancy of the French furniture. From the stunning carved sideboards that take up a whole wall  to the crazy amount of braid they put on their upholstery, it just wins hands down in my eyes!

Anyway enough gushing, here are just some of the few favourites I took whilst visiting:

Selling at Europe's largest antiques and Collectors fair - IACF Newark

Newark is around an hours drive from home and is Europe's largest antiques and collectors fair. I can honestly say even though it has been going for years, before I got into the antiques business I had no idea what I had been missing out on!

Even if you are not a dealer or collector, there are so many things to see and buy to make your house unique and stand out from the crowd. You can pick up furniture for half the cost of the big retail stores, and the furniture is better made and has a history you just cannot find on the high street!

The Vintique Tree stall was full of treasures and finds from our sourcing trips but by the end of the fair a lot of our things had found new homes!

Treasure hunting at the antiques fairs

It was a busy week last week of selling, sourcing and very early mornings! When the alarm goes off at 3.15am all you want to do is snuggle back under the duvet but I must admit, I love watching the sun come up with the anticipation of wondering what you are going to sell/find!

First up was Malvern Antiques and Flea Market, this fair is a great day out with plenty to see and buy, from trinkets for a couple of quid to fine antiques. Depending on the weather this fair is HUGE, and you need to get there super early as not queue to get in, one customer told me it had taken them half an hour to get in!

We were selling at Malvern this time, and when we arrived around 5.30am the fog was thick and swirling, but it didnt take long for the sun to come out, stock always looks nicer in the sunshine!

Here are a few snaps from the Malvern Flea, iphone pictures sorry!

Then we packed all up and Tuesday was treasure hunting at Lincoln show ground.  This fair is another two dayer, The first day is trade and costs £20 to get in, there are a lot more stalls on the Monday compared to the Tuesday. It costs £5 to get in on the second day, but there is still so many stalls to look at so we definitely thought it was worth the visit!

Then finally I got all loaded up again and spent two days selling at Europe's largest antiques fair in Newark Lincolnshire, this is a fantastic day out, but really you need to spend the two days there to make sure you see everything! I have featured this fair in a separate blog I took a lot of pictures!!

A Vintage Easter Lunch

To feed our hungry friends on our wallpapering workshop we put on a full vintage style lunch, with dainty finger sandwiches and home made cake, with enough food to feed a army we enjoy the fruits of our labour on our wallpapering workshop and across the rest of the easter weekend! I must admit the cake didn't last two days though, oops. 

p.s the flowers are out of my garden!