OLD STUFF

 

This is a selection of stuff from recent brocantes.

Some of it is old, some not so old.

On the day of our own village brocante the weather was terrible so there were not many stall holders.  This was good news for the lady holding a "vide maison" where people could browse indoors so she had a steady stream of customers.  She said this set of playing card stainless steel dishes had been a wedding present.  Guessing her age I would say they were probably from the 1970's.  I bought them as a gift for some friends who occasionally hold card tournaments.

She also said her house was for sale, or would be once she had cleared out all the stuff (there was a lot of it).  I gave her my number as it could be exactly the kind of small house we're looking for.

This pretty set of espresso cups came from the brocante at Neuilly-le-Brignon.  When I got them home two of them were chipped so I swapped them for some I had already.  It was still a bargain for 2€.

This unusual chandelier came from the brocante restaurant in Pleumartin, the one where everything is for sale, including the dishes you eat off and the chairs and tables you sit at.

It took me a while to find some candles slim enough to fit in it.

This pretty dish is probably fairly modern but it's proved very handy for serving bread or a few biscuits.  A bargain at 1€. 

I got these Pyrex cups from the vide grenier at Le Grand-Pressigny, perfect to supplement my collection of small cups to serve chocolate mousse or lemon posset.  They remind me of the glass cups and saucers that were used to serve coffee in the coffee shops that were all the rage when I was a teenager in the 1960's.

This pretty green plant pot holder looked as though it had never been used.  In fact the price label was still on the bottom of it.  Although the price was not legible I bet it cost a lot more than the 1€ I paid for it.  The pineapple plant is a recent purchase from Ikea.

A TABLE EXTENSION

Two tables end to end to seat ten people.

When we bought our first house in France it was a tiny place but perfect as a second home or "holiday home".  We struggled to find furniture for it in France and soon realised that we could end up spending much of our actual holidays trying to furnish it. 

Over our first winter of owning the little house we collected furniture for it in the UK, sofas from Ikea, flatpack bedroom furniture and a lovely oak dining set in the January sales including a four seat table that would extend to six.  We hired a van and transported the lot across the channel at Easter 2008, picking up extra beds for the second bedroom and cramming them into the van on the way through France.

After a few years we downsized in the UK in order to upsize in France. The new UK house was much smaller and very little of our existing furniture would physically fit into it so we brought it all to France.  This included our dining table, sideboard and four chairs, meaning that we now have two dining sets in France.  

"Casual dining" in the kitchen.

The old UK table works well in the kitchen where Nick refers to it as "casual dining" and the oak set from the little house lives in the dining end of our living room where it serves as "formal dining" and comfortably seats six.  It’s a solution that has worked well for years and we really like it.  

As our circle of friends has grown we have been entertained by people who have the ability to throw large dinner parties or lunches where they could seat eight, ten or even more people.  We're not talking posh château dining, but people who have the room to fit in a big old table, or multiple small tables, and a random collection of chairs.  

After a while I began to wonder if we could do larger gatherings ourselves.  Our dining table seats six comfortably and we found that by putting the kitchen table at the end of it we could seat ten.  The only problem was that to get the kitchen table into the dining room we had to heave it out of the house through the kitchen door and back in through the middle door as it would not physically fit through the door between the two rooms!

It was heavy work, adding a lot of time to the hosting of any dinner party and in fact we missed having the kitchen table into the kitchen for food prep so we had to come up with another solution.  

One extension to seat an extra two people.

When we bought this house the large bedroom was also being used as an office.  There was a desk made from a couple of lengths of fairly sturdy kitchen worktop which we saved when we dismantled the office.  Having a huge barn enables us to save a mountain of stuff that might come in handy later!

Two extensions to seat an extra four people.

Nick created two extensions, one for each end of our oak table, using sections of the old office worktop, each supported by three tubular legs from Ikea.  They fit onto the table using clamps which can't be seen when the extensions are not in use.  With one extension the table seats eight with ample elbow room.  With two extensions we can seat ten.  If only the room itself was bigger we could add a third and seat another two!  

The worktop is not pretty and obviously I need a long tablecloth to hide all the joins but it works really well.  Luckily we already had enough chairs!  

Sets of matching or at least reasonably similar dinnerware are often on sale at local brocantes or vide greniers and we have accumulated a fair stash of it over the years.  The original set of six plates we bought from Ikea in 2008 has been boosted by acquiring extras from brocantes and fortunately we also have plenty of room in the barn to store it all!  We rarely pay more than two or three euros for a set of plates, bowls or whatever, the bonus being that we now have enough to afford to break a few!  Luckily mismatched crockery and glassware are still very much "in vogue".

The table in the foreground (there is a step down into the "dining room") is a side table that normally lives at the far end of the room and we bring it forward when we have a big dinner party.  It's perfect for serving dishes and plates.  It was a UK charity shop purchase a few years ago (pre Brexit when it we could bring such things freely).  I remember thinking it would probably come in handy at some point and with a coat of paint and a lick of varnish it's just the job!

OLD STUFF

 

The brocante season is under way.  (A brocante being a street market for junk, antiques or bric-a-brac.)  At the one I visited most recently, on an unusually warm and sunny day, I came away with a nice little haul.  Total spend 4.50€.

The little terracotta plant holders were 50 cents each.  (Useful for growing on my collection of spider plant babies, the mother of them being a brocante purchase a few years ago.) They are actually quite new and two of them still had price labels of 3.99€ on the bottom.  

The tall glass jug will come in handy as a vase for tall flowers and foliage and was 1€. 

The enamel bowl was the most expensive item, 2€.  I suppose that word has got round that tatty old enamel items are much sought after by the fans of "shabby chic". 

I bought the bowl because it makes a perfect liner for our bird bath which is otherwise difficult to keep clean.  The bath part is very heavy and not easily lifted for cleaning out.  In the summer it becomes unpleasant with algae, dead insects and bird poo very rapidly.  

I can now lift out the basin, clean it and refill it very quickly and easily.  Daily if necessary.  The little birds already seem to love it.

A TALE OF TWO CAKE STANDS.

When we first looked at the little house at the foot of the château in Le Grand-Pressigny, the agent said that he thought the owner would want to leave all the contents.  We said that we sincerely hoped not as we wouldn’t want any of it – but I did rather like the cake stand that was on the table.

When we looked at the little house for the second time, just three days later, the agent offered me the cake stand.  I declined, as it wasn’t his to give away and taking it would have felt like stealing.  We made an offer on the house and the process of buying was put in motion.

When we finally got the keys to the house it was completely empty,thankfully.   Everything was gone, including light fittings, shower curtain, in fact everything that could possibly be removed.  Including the cake stand.

We thought that the old lady had probably got a firm of house clearance people in and it occurred to me that one day some of it might turn up at a local brocante or vide-grenier, possibly even the cake stand.

May is the first big month for such events and there are several every weekend.  My brother had just arrived for his holiday with us on Saturday so on Sunday we set off to do a tour of some of the brocantes.  First call was to the one in Loches.

It was a nice one, not too big and plenty of quality items for sale at affordable prices.   With the sun shining and the bars and cafés open, we were having a nice time.

Then I saw it.  The cake stand.

I recognised it immediately and swooped.  I was pretty sure it was the same one and when back home I looked through the old photo files that we took when house hunting to be sure I was right.  It had only taken me nine years to find it!