Vintage Hunting- memories from our Big Old House in the English Countryside {smile}

Morning All....

As Spring hits here by the beaches, my thoughts are wandering to English springtimes from our *other life*.

I've been reading over some of my *living abroad* posts.
My thoughts from our big old Country house in the UK...

I'm just so, so happy to have written them, and to have shared them here-this to me is the essence of blogging.
Being in the moment...recalling the experiences...recording them...sharing them and looking back at them.

I'd love you to grab a cup of tea, and to travel back with me to where a part of my heart will always lie...our English village.

This was written in August two years ago...AND just for the record, I still love this *I-can-spot-mum-a-vintage-treasure-a-mile-of-no-worries-kid*...

E.N.J.O.Y xx
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vintage potato basket love & my thrift-hunting perfect kid...

mooorning....
this is what i'm shouting up to my babies all snuggled upstairs in their beds, windows open listening to the british summer rain...
so...mooorning across the countryside & globe to you lot...

i have a lovely story, with a wee make-over thrown in for y'all today...
i don't know if you have sons or daughters or not...
or if you just *borrow* little ones when you need an excuse to...you know...see Toy Story 3 over the hols...or to buy the giant sized pop corn *for-the-kids* ;) at the movies...
but i have both...& my boy just keeps on giving...
Sol is a well-trained-vintage-spotting-kid...
he spotted these two little gems at 50 paces in our village market last week...

potato picking baskets...
i'd alluded to them many times round the garden table...
i'd mentioned many times the one frenchy potato picking basket i had seen at a vintage shop up the road...
i thought no-one was listening...
well i was wrong...big time!
the kid was listening...
we were heading up to the weekly farmers market in our village square...
it's getting bigger & more varied as summer rolls on...
not that we gave two hoots about the blocks of farm butter or endless strawberries when we spotted these gorgeous things...

he bolted raced calmly up to the vintagey stall & nabbed those babies...
one over each arm...& grinned at me...
i honestly didn't care how much they were- he was so delighted with himself i would've paid anything...
{just for the record Ritchie honey- not really anything!}
the one i had been lusting over *up-the-road* was £50...that's a lot of potatoes!!
i readied myself...spotted the line at the bank...& nearly fell over when she said that he could have them both for £15...!

the kid is a up-cycling-make-mum-delightfully-happy-vintage-spotting-genius!
look at these lovelies....!

but...yellow is probably my least fave house colour & whilst i love red...it's just not me...
i lived with them like this for the weekend...
i moved them around & talked myself into the virtues of yellow & red sitting alongside our mix match of loved goodies...
but it wouldn't last...& again the genius kid suggested i paint them white...
i seriously love this trained up boy...
& then, to nail the decision, i came across this stuff...
Painter's Touch - multi purpose spray paint in *heirloom white*...{check it out here- Rust-oleum}

it is heaven & convenience in a aerosol can...
it's instant...consistent & perfect for fiddly jobs like old wire potato picking baskets...
i am buying shares in the company...
how brilliant is this stuff!!
you can spray wood, metal , ceramics- virtually anything...
it's my new household drug of choice...

the gals beds are up soon...
black to white wrought iron...
then that lovely little steel-legged school desk in the playroom...
those rotten photo frames tossed in a  box in my sewing room...
there is no stopping me...
all thanks to my gorgeous boy!

what d'ya think?
don't you adore a story of love, family, potato baskets & awesome time-saving spray paint...
a little make-over encouraged by a soccer-scooter-skateboard-park-mad-10-year-old-kid...
it made my day!

so...
next time you see a perfectly shaped-hideous coloured jug at a market...
grab it...& spray the little treasure...
stash that wicker basket -it's too easy to paint now...
throw that stool in the boot...
they can all be changed to perfectly vintaged & lovely in 10 minutes tops...

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I love reading over old blog posts from our time abroad.

This place has become my online diary of the time we spent exploring the world with our kids- it makes me so happy that we trusted ourselves to follow a dream...our shared dream to work and live abroad with our children at ages that they would recall, and love in their own way, the entire experience.

Happy Monday...

Melissa x