Friday 31 January 2014

French Fashion: Promod

Do you like French fashion but find brands like Compton des Cotonniers too pricey?  I felt I needed an injection of French style the other day, so headed to Promod, which is in selected Debenhams and also available online.

Last year I met the manager of the Cardiff range at a little reception for bloggers, and all of us were impressed with the prices, but more importantly the quality.  Some of the line is quite quintessentially French, lots of greys, blacks and whites, but there's also a folky edge to some of the range, and some glitzy numbers too.  Many items have lovely embellishments or details, such as beading, piped edges, embroidery or laser cuts, and this attention to detail doesn't always come across on the website.  Many of their jumpers have a touch of cashmere, angora or wool, rather than being plain acrylic as you often get with the lower price point, and the cut of the clothes has obviously been paid attention to.  I am fairly picky when it comes to fabrics and quality, as I rarely buy things brand new these days, but the other night I found myself excitedly heading to the changing room with an armful of clothes to try on.  It helped that the items were all heavily discounted in the sale - you'll also find discounts of up to 71% online if you aren't anywhere near Cardiff, or their other shops within Debenhams at Manchester, Glasgow and London Oxford Street.


Wednesday 29 January 2014

My New Favourite Perfume: Fleur de Figuier

Absolutely ages ago I picked up a sample of one of Roger & Gallet's perfumes, 'Fleur de Figuier'.



The other day I used it for the first time, and I was absolutely intoxicated by this elegant fragrance!  I found myself drifting away to somewhere warm and heavy with scent.  It's described as follows:

Monday 27 January 2014

Where to Find Me

There is a veritable web of social media these days, so let me guide you through the sites I use.

Avenue 57
This is a website where ordinary women upload their everyday outfits.  I like this website because there's a spread of styles, ages, sizes and body shapes, and there's a very encouraging atmosphere where everyone looks for positives.  I've tried a few daily outfit websites, but this one suits me best, as a lot of the others have a very young demographic and the fashions can be a bit outlandish in a Japanese street-style way!  You'll see on this website that I don't wear top to toe vintage everyday, but often mix vintage with modern.  I'm also following the "New Year, New You Style Challenge" set by Modern Mummy, so that makes it a bit more fun too! Find me here.
 

Bloglovin
I'm pretty new to this site but I hope to build up a bit more of a profile on here.  I do like the ease of reading others' blogs through it, much easier than through Blogger, as you can categorise things.  Click here to see my Bloglovin profile.

Facebook
I don't have a 'page' for my blog, but I have a profile as Porcelina, and you can find it here.

Goodreads
I find this site a real godsend for keeping track of my reading.  Before, I was using a little alphabetised notebook that was quite the mess of scribbles, and I could never recall which Agatha Christie's I'd read.
I am on the site as Porcelina, and am a member of the Vintage Book Group.  I'd love to find some more people to connect with on here, as I love discussing a good book.

Google+
I'm relatively new to this too, and am not sure I completely understand how it works!  If you use it, please link up to me here.

Pinterest
I use Pinterest to load pictures from my blog, from outfit posts to home decor, but I also use it as a personal scrapbook of inspiration for interiors, outfits, food and more.  If this interests you, then you can find me on Pinterest here.

Twitter
Finally, you can find my Twitter account here.  Again, it's relatively new, but I have started using it a bit more and enjoy linking up to other style bloggers on this site.

Do you use any sites not mentioned here?  What would you recommend?  Do let me know, I feel I'm a bit of a novice in this area!

Friday 24 January 2014

Outfit: Rosie the Riveter Style!

The other week on my day off, there was serious work to be done around the house, so I dressed for it.  The dungarees were borrowed off a family member once and never returned (oops!), the Western shirt is from a thrift store in Texas ($1) and the bandana was from New Look.


Wednesday 22 January 2014

Quickfire Questions with Angel Adoree of the Vintage Patisserie


I recently reviewed Angel Adoree's third book, The Vintage Sweets Book (click here to read my review) and approached Angel to answer a few quick questions for me.  Founder of the Vintage Patisserie, a particularly creative and high quality tea party business, Angel has gone on to create a strong brand with her books.


The fabulous Angel Adoree
Photo credit: The Vintage Patisserie



Three quick questions and their answers:

1.    Was creating 'The Vintage Sweets Book' a labour of love or did you ever become fed up with making sweets?

Gosh no…You can’t write a book or run a business without full dedication, love and passion for your subject!  I never tire from creating and never get fed up with making… it’s my vice!

2.    What sweet recipe from your book should the complete novice start with?

There is a whole chapter at the start of the book called ‘Sweet Beginnings’.  This is of course where you should start!  Simple recipes including Turkish Delight, Parma Violets, Fudge.. many which don’t even require a sugar thermometer!

3.    What can we expect from your next book?

This is a hard one as this is the third and probably final book in this series.  I’ve shared all my secrets now on Tea Parties and sweet things!  And unless I can make something amazing I won’t do it! I’m about to have another baby in a couple of months, so I’m taking some time being a mum and working on a new project called “Angel Adores”.  So watch this space.. I’ll be back and when I do it will be with a bang!!


I for one will definitely be watching this space and longing for Angel to bring out a cocktail book!

Monday 20 January 2014

Table Restoration: Changing Wood Colour

You'll have to excuse another post about our 1930's house and our attempts at furniture!  It's so expensive to buy brand new of any quality, so therefore much of our time is spent drawing out plans, looking at antique furniture in charity shops and car boot sales, and talking about what type of wax polish would give the best finish!  We are completely obsessed, and it doesn't help that we're both perfectionists, ditherers and that there's not much left in the budget.

If you too have a dislike for modern, mass-produced, plastic coated furniture, this might interest you.

When we bought our dining room table, we loved the shape (the curves echo our bay window) and the size, but we didn't like the colour.  It was a sort of 1970's teak colour, which wouldn't have suited our dining room.  Then we happened to buy a set of 6 chairs, which were a sort of mahogany or rosewood, and we knew we just had to try and get them to match.




How do you get a teak table to match mahogany chairs?!

Here's how...

Firstly, you can't have sky high expectations.  We spoke to some professional furniture restorers whilst researching techniques, and even they can't guarantee a 100% colour match.  But you can get it in the same general tone, and match how light or dark it is.

Secondly, the better quality products you use, the better the finish will be.  We used products from Fiddes, which are excellent quality, and though pricey, a little goes a long way.  Their experts in store are very knowledgeable and helpful.

Step 1: Sanding back the surface
A finished piece of furniture can have many layers of wax, varnish, sealant, polish and such like on its surface, and these all need to be stripped off so that you can apply new layers.  For a large piece of furniture you will need to use some power tools, such as a rotary sander attached to a drill, or a belt sander.  Be very careful - a lot of furniture that looks like solid wood, is actually a 'veneer', where a thin layer of proper wood is simply glued onto a base made of MDF or chipboard, or something else cheap and unattractive looking.  The picture below shows the table with the two end sections sanded, and the middle yet to be done (so it's the orginal orangey colour).



Step 2: Prepare your surface
The freshly sanded surface will have lots of tiny 'bits' attached to it.  You'll need to wipe down the entire table by hand with a damp cloth.

Step 3: Stain your wood
The choice of stain doesn't have to be exact, think of it as a 'foundation', or a colour wash that an artist would apply to a canvas first before adding other colours.  It's a base coat.  We used Fiddes Wood Dye in 'Walnut', which is applied with a cloth.  After we'd stained our table, it was terrifyingly dark.  We hadn't yet bought any wax or other finishing products, and I'm glad, because we were able to look at the dark colour and decide then 'it's not got enough brown or red in it', and then we could go out and buy a wax with brown and red in it for step 5.

Step 4: Glaze your wood
We used Fiddes Clear Glaze, which was brushed on, and the excess wiped off with a cloth so that no brush marks remained.  This step adds extra durability to surfaces that are subject to wear and tear, like floors, tables etc.  We chose a satin finish, but it's available also in gloss and matt.

Step 5: Wax your wood
A fine wire wool is used to work the wax into the table, and you then buff the surface with a cloth afterwards.  We used Fiddes Supreme Wax in 'Cherry'.  The wax can be built up in layers, so if you have a piece of furniture with a few chips and scratches, the wax can help fill them and give a better finish.  There's also a colourless 'mellow' wax available if you don't want to add any additional colour to your wood.



As you can see, this kind of thing takes a lot of man hours, but it really does give a lovely new lease of life to something that was a perfectly good piece of furniture, but didn't quite fit the 'colour scheme'.


So, in total, here's what we spent:
Dining table = £10
Set of 6 chairs = £40
Fiddes wood stain =£13.01
Fiddes glaze = £15.39
Fiddes wax polish = £7.85

We have used tiny amounts of the dye, glaze and polish - they will go on to restore many more items of furniture.  So let's generously overestimate that we've used a fifth of all these products, that's only £7.25 to refinish a lovely table!  Total cost about £57.25 for the table and chairs we wanted.

I'll leave you with some pictures on the finished result, we're really pleased with it!  The top photo shows the table extended, you'll notice that the middle section is ever so slightly darker - this is because that section was initially darker when we started out, there will always be little quirks like that.

Can you spot the odd-one-out chair?





Have any of you attempted to upcycle any furniture?

Thursday 16 January 2014

Thrifty Food Tips for January

January is all about trying not to spend money for me.  No matter how hard I try, there's always a slight overspend in December, and of course there's overindulgence too.  So, some good old-fashioned principles of make do and mend can equally be applied to food, to help us through this tough month.  Let's look to the leaflets produced by Britain's Ministry of Food in WWII for inspiration.  I'm lucky enough to have found a few of these original leaflets at car boot sales, and I have a couple of books detailing wartime recipes also.  The main points that I have gathered from these that we can put into practice now are:

1. Use what you've got.
This means reaching into the dark recesses of cupboards and using that half used bag of risotto rice that's been there for a year.  Any small amounts of grains and pulses, like cous cous, pearl barley, rice, lentils etc. are ideal to be chucked into a stew or soup to help make it more of a meal.  A great way to use them up rather than to have to buy another packet of the item to have enough to base a whole meal on.

2. Don't let it go to waste.
We had far too many lemons, limes and plums left over after Christmas and there was no way we were going to get through them all, so I made lemon curd, plum jam and preserved lemons (for use in Morroccan cooking).  The plum jam was a bit of a disaster, it's overcooked so it's as thick as tar, and the only way to use it is on opening a pot, to add a tablespoon of boiling water and stir it in to loosen it.  At least it won't be wasted, and it tastes nice.  For old-fashioned jams and chutneys you can't go wrong using Mrs Beeton's book, a vintage classic that never fails.



3.  Make Your Own
Buying things like jars of ready made pasta sauce is uneconomical, and unhealthy.  There was a bit of a controversy in the UK last year I recall about the amount of added salt and sugar in celebrity chef pasta sauces.  A simple pasta sauce can be whipped up with chopped tomatoes or passata, a bit of onion, any herbs you have handy, and it could also be reduced down to make a pizza topping.  For an improvised pizza base, use a flatbread or tortilla.  Making things like pizza yourself also gives you much more control over how much fat you add to it - you can use reduced fat cheese yourself, or just use much less, adding more veggies on top instead.

4.  Grow Your Own
Even if you live in a flat with no garden, you can still grow hardy herbs like rosemary and thyme in a pot.  They're almost impossible to kill (believe me, I'm not at all green-fingered) and so easy to get started - just take a cutting from a friend or family member's plant and pop it in a pot with some compost, it will get going in no time.  Growing fruit and vegetables involves a bit more skill and effort, but you can start with easy things like radishes and rocket.

5.  Repurpose Leftovers
Kids didn't eat all their veggies at Sunday dinner?  Don't waste them, pop them in a tupperware and the next day you can add them to a salad for a light lunch at work, or save them until evening and pop them in a curry, stir fry or stew.

I don't think that these kind of principles necessarily mean much more effort, but it does require a bit more thinking, planning and being creative.  I've spent far longer than normal looking up recipes on the BBC Good Food website, but that's not a bad thing.  I've learnt many more recipes based on vegetables in season at this time of year, like red and white cabbages, and so far this month I really have spent much less on food that what I would do normally.

Do you have any thrifty food tips for the winter months?

Monday 13 January 2014

Fever 'Maison' Dress - Styled Vintage & Modern

I was incredibly excited to receive the 'Maison' dress in purple from London clothing brand Fever for review.  The dropped waist, pleat skirt and delicious plummy colour screamed 1920s to me, and I couldn't wait to style it.  Pop over to their website to have a look at the full range of gorgeous items they have on offer, many currently on sale.

From the vintage themed 'Heritage' collection, the 'Maison' dress is made from a lovely, swingy weight crepe fabric and is lined.  The back has a half zip, and is exposed, (which isn't to my taste generally, but it's not too bad on this garment).  The length is just 1920's perfect on me, sitting on the knee, and it's a lovely loose fit.  A dropped waist is notoriously difficult for all but the willowiest of figures to carry off, and I was keen to see how the dress looked on a modern, hourglass figure.

For the outdoors photos, I've had to wait for a sunny day to get some decent lighting and do this lovely dress justice, and we were lucky enough this last weekend to be blessed with a day of blue skies and sunshine from dawn to dusk.  I've showed the dress styled in three ways.  First, a 1920's evening look.  Second, a 1920's day look.  And finally, a modern day look.  I've not tried to be historically accurate in creating the 1920's looks, so other items of clothing are from various eras and are just intended to help create a style.

So, here are the results - one dress, three ways!  I hope you enjoy the photos.

Look One: 1920's Evening

1920s Gatsby style dress

Friday 10 January 2014

Book Review: The Vintage Sweets Book

I was so excited to be sent Angel Adoree's latest offering, The Vintage Sweets Book, for review.  Owner of The Vintage Patisserie, I already have her first two books, The Vintage Tea Party, and The Vintage Tea Party Year, and was intrigued at what delights she'd come up with this time around.  The book I was sent is in a 'mini' version, half the size of the first two books, but it still delivers a spectacular visual feast.

 
 
In the past I've attempted, and more often than not failed, at making some sweets, such as fudge, cinder toffee, and peppermint creams, and I was pleased to see that rather than diving straight into the recipes, Adoree takes the trouble to explain the science behind sweet making, describing in detail the different stages sugar passes through as it's heated and manipulated.  The equipment needed is also outlined, and if on flicking through the book you wonder something along the lines of 'Where on earth do I find violet syrup?', there's also a section on sourcing your ingredients, with a few handy stockists listed.  In my mind, the only omission in the behind-the-scenes section is information on gelatine alternatives, as it's not mentioned at all that sweets with gelatine in are not suitable for vegetarians.  It would be perhaps helpful to hear about some gelatine alternatives that are good quality, as I know they do vary.

Wednesday 8 January 2014

What I Got for Christmas!

I'm a bit late in sharing this, but I had some wonderful gifts this year.  First of all was this Lindy Bop dress - I've always wanted an American diner type dress, and this fits the bill!  I love the heart shaped buttons, aren't they cute?  I hope the weather improves soon, so I can wear it.  We've had more hail, gales, and sideways rain.



I also had some great books - cook books, a Miss Marple short story collection, and a Ginger Rogers biography.  Still on the cooking theme, I had a lovely glass cakestand, and it's not pictured, but a cast iron Le Creuset type oven dish (at the time of photographing, it was in the oven containing a beef and red wine casserole!).  Other treats included Rose hand cream, Sailor Jerry's rum, 'The Artist' (which I am yet to see) and some gardening bits.


What treats did you all get for Christmas?

Monday 6 January 2014

1930s House Original Features

Happy New Year everyone, I hope this year is kind to you all.  I'm long overdue in sharing some pictures of some of the original features left in my 1935 house.  We're lucky to have these features preserved, as in the 1970s a lot of work was done to the house in the form of an extension, an avocado toilet suite, feature wall with knick-knack shelves and lots of artexing.  I'll save photos of those delights for later, when I can show 'before' and 'after' our rennovations.

To anyone interested in 1930s homes in the UK, I can't recommend The 1930s House Manual by Ian Rock enough.  It was invaluable when we were looking at our property, as it helped us understand a few things that our surveyor's report said, and helped allay some of our fears about old features and their potential dangers.  It also helped us to visualise some of the things we will be trying to achieve as we 'undo' some of the 1970s work and take it back to a more traditional and authentic finish.

First of all, our entrance hall.  Apparently in the 1930s, large entrance halls were popular as it helped you impress visitors - an idea of how social standing was important to people at the time.  The stair panelling is original, and in the book I read that - and saw visual evidence of - quite outlandish colour schemes in greens, reds and yellows.  I wonder if ours was ever bright and clashing, or if our previous owners just kept it neutral?  Our hallway is currently carpeted, but the original parquet is preserved underneath.

1930s house original features

The original parquet flooring is also in the dining room, and is under the carpet in our living room.  The blocks are in a herringbone pattern, approx 3" by 8", and apparently oak was commonly used at the time our house was built.  We can't be sure what wood it is - my other half thinks it might be pine, but that's quite a soft wood so I'm not convinced that it would have been used for the flooring.  Interjection by other half leaning over my laptop - I've just been told that 'pitched pine' is hard-wearing and used a lot as flooring, so there's my theory out the window!!


As well as the parquet, our dining room has a beautiful bay window.  Curves were very popular in the 1930s, especially with the Art Deco aesthetic, and a bay window really does introduce a lot of light into a room and open it up.

 
Stained glass portholes are another common feature of 1930s homes.  On the inside, ours is in the under-stairs cupboard, a shame really to have the feature tucked away!  But at night, with the light on in the cupboard, the glass looks beautiful as you approach our doorway.  The glass is leaded, and with age, the whole panel can start to bow slightly.


The lovely black and white tiled floor of our under-stairs cupboard.  Excuse the mess!


Upstairs in one of the bedrooms, the original 1930s linen cupboards are present.  Today, the boiler is in one half, but we still have the rest of the space to fill up with towels and sheets.


Two of our bedrooms have the orginal panelled ceilings.  The book was very helpful in explaining that the panels would be made of fibreboard, which was good to know because our surveyor wasn't 100% sure what they were made of, and if they'd been made later could have contained harmful asbestos.  Knowing that they were the original panels, we could identify that they were perfectly safe.  (I have to say, our estate agent mentioned that we'd probably 'want to change those', but then she thought the house was from the 1960s!).


Finally, upstairs all of the original doors, and possibly the original handles, are all present and correct.  The doors have 'rising butt' hinges, which means that as the door swings open, the whole door rises slightly in order for the door to smoothly rise over the carpet.  Downstairs, 4 of the original doors have been replaced with 1970's ones, the ones with a veneer over a hollow centre filled with what looks like corrugated cardboard.  They are on the list for replacing.


There are some more features that are hidden away a little - I have peeked behind our electric fire in the lounge to see a glimpse of some original 1930's tiles, but most are cracked or missing.

I wonder what else we will discover as we embark on our DIY projects?  If you are interested in seeing more 1930's interiors, you might like this post that features authentic 1930's decoration and furnishings at a museum.

What is your favourite feature of a 1930's house?  Do you like the style??

Saturday 4 January 2014

Afternoon Tea Review: The Angel Abergavenny's Festive Tea

I couldn't resist another trip to The Angel in Abergavenny this December, for another one of their exceptionally good afternoon teas.  The last time I visited was in November 2012, and you can read about it in my review here.  This time, I wanted to review their Christmas afternoon tea, which promised festive delicacies and a setting as warming as mulled wine.  The price for their festive afternoon tea is currently £19.80 per person.

The Angel Abergavenny Afternoon Tea Review


Ambience 5/5
We managed to get seated in the lovely little sitting room just off reception again.  It's quieter than being in the main dining room or the ballroom that they use at particularly busy times, and you get to lounge on sofas and have a bit more of a relaxed time.  The festive decorations were fairly subtle, but charming, and they even had some kind of vessel filled with water and spices, with a flame burning underneath, sending the most wonderful smell of cloves and such into the air.



Crockery 4/5
An assortment of vintage crockery is used, but your party will always have a matching set of cup, saucer, and plate - they don't do the shabby-chic mismatched look.  It's all very smart.  The cakestands also have vintage china plates on them, but the teapots are mysteriously chinese themed ones, the heavy metal ones that I could barely lift, let alone any of the elderly ladies that come for tea.



Cake 5/5
Yes, there is cake.  But there is also a fabulous selection of patisserie, and mini dessert delights.  On this visit, we had mini raspberry trifles, freshly baked warm scones, profiteroles, rum babas, fruit tartlets, and of course, no festive afternoon tea would be complete without mini mince pies, stollen, yule log and fruit cake.  Part of the joy of not being able to finish all the cake is taking it home in the lovely white gift boxes marked proudly with 'The Angel' on a sticker.



Sandwiches 5/5
I swear that these get nicer each time I visit.  On this occasion, we had egg mayonnaise, salmon, cheese and a particularly delicious festive turkey sandwich complete with cranberry sauce and stuffing.  They do the sandwiches properly - fresh bread, crusts removed, just the right amount of filling.  I could have eaten a whole cakestand's worth of these, never mind the cake!

The Tea 5/5
My sister and I tried the Christmas Blend, the description of which is pictured below.  It did indeed go well with the selection of cakes, but I do love spiced black teas generally.  If that doesn't sound like your thing, The Angel has an extensive tea menu, including green, herbal and rooibos teas.  My mother went for a coffee as she doesn't drink tea, and said it was really good.



Service 4/5
Service was attentive, efficient, and polite.  Mysteriously, as the clock struck 5, the visits stopped, and that's when we actually needed somebody to box up our uneaten treats and gives us the bill.  So I am sorry to dock a point on this one!


Overall 5/5
It's worth the money, you won't be disappointed.  Now that the festivies are over and we face the long stretch of dark winter through January and February, The Angel is a good cosy spot to hole up on a rainy and dull afternoon over the winter, even in you don't go for afternoon tea, pop in for a coffee or a cocktail.  You can't help but feel cheery in the lovely interior, especially if you can grab a spot in the bar when they have the real fire lit.  Abergavenny is lovely for a potter around as well.  It's gone a bit posh recently with the addition of some nice looking home and gift shops, and there's always something going on in the market hall.  Don't worry though, there's still a good selection of charity shops if that's more your thing!

Have you ever been to The Angel?  Or do you have somewhere that you keep going back to, time after time, for a good afternoon tea?

Wednesday 1 January 2014

Welcome 2014! A 1930s Inspired NYE Look

For our first New Year's Eve in the 1930's house, it seemed fitting for me to do a bit of a 1930's look!  I did a faux bob in my hair (great tutorials on Youtube, have a browse), donned a gown and a faux fur shrug, and I was ready for pink champagne, a buffet and some games.  It was just the two of us, but it was a lovely evening.

1930s inspired NYE outfit
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