Little Wins and Rewards
I do not know where this particular habit started from, possibly when I was in my teens and started earning pocket money from babysitting etc. However any spare pennies would often go towards a treat, something nice whether that was something needed, a splurge, something to eat a new book. Equally if the money was needed to be spent on day to day items it would be. However, I always treated any bonus monies as a treat and an opportunity to add something I might not otherwise had even more the better if it was a treat something that arose unexpectedly. Birthday money, vouchers anything like that always went to something nice, something special that would hold memories of the people who gave the gift. My Dad's side of the family are born storytellers and a lot of family traditions and stories have been passed on in that way. When I can do so these days I do tend to do the same - it is my choice with birthday money, Christmas money etc. This is one way I have managed to accumulate so many beautiful pieces. I love collecting things, curating items and blending them together. I just love good quality beautiful items but I do not like paying through the nose for things. Life teaches you that one.
Every so often I treat myself to a £1 scratch card, and save up the tickets if there are any winnings and then go and exchange them. Today I turned £12 of winnings in, and went to the Charity shop. There was not much in there, today well there was a lot of stuff in there just not what I was interested in. However, I did come across this beauty for £10 which I thought was an excellent price as it is quite a big sized pitcher jug. This will join my Cottageware Biscuit Barrell which sits centre stage on my other Dresser. The exact replica of this jug is also up on Ebay at the moment for £25. Not that I am selling it is just nice to know. For me that is a "win-win" situation, as the cards were little wins for me, and helped raise much needed funds for a local charity and which gave me another piece for my jigsaw puzzle of a collection.
For those of you not aware, I have been fascinated by Price Kensington Cottageware since I was very young. My Aunty (actually a cousin - my Nan and her Mum were sisters) had a particularly lovely home. Her mother owned Wellingore Hall which was filled with antiques and turned into flats for RAF staff as well as for professional people. Aunty had in her very large flat (which was originally the kitchen wing of the Hall which had been sub-divided a large kitchen/diner, lounge, bathroom, small pantry, and three bedrooms) a large Ercol Pine Elm table and six chairs with the long tall slatted backs (this was in the 1960s) when Ercol furniture made a particular mark. Her furniture was light coloured.
Similar to this:
Aunty also had a sideboard. Very similar to the picture below. It was unusual as it had a wooden sliding lock to open the cupboards below. There was also shelving which sat above the sideboard as well as a couple of fireside chairs and a settee.
On the shelving and away from little fingers was her collection of Price Kensington Cottageware which consisted of cups saucers, tea plates and a few other pieces. It looked beautiful and indeed her home was exceptionally beautiful with lots of beautiful antiques. At home I had been taught to respect lovely items and we were not children who went to touch things automatically; we did learn to appreciate them though. Aunty's home was indeed lovingly curated and always had a lot of style and elegance. I think all my family members had lovely taste and I grew up visiting the various homes, all of them different but all of them having something special in them as well as being filled with a lot of love and warmth.
I do have a growing collection of Price Kensington Cottageware in boxes in various parts of the house. I have several other pieces including a cheese dish/butter dish, a couple of tea pots, a sugar dish, small milk jug, medium sized milk jug, the biscuit barrel have already mentioned. There are six tea plates as well. No tea cups or coffee cups as yet though. I think there are a few other bits as well.
On the furniture front, I have also been accumulating one or two pieces of furniture as I have been going along. I have two 6ft pine Welsh Dressers and a corner Dresser in the dining room, which need some TLC at some point i.e. they both need stripping, repairing in places and some sort of finish being put on to protect the wood.
I want to learn about how to do this myself. I have never worked with wood like this before and have no idea where to start. I have had all three Dressers about 46 years. I also have a large dining table and six chairs which I have had about 35 years., which also need TLC. The dream for me has always been to have the Dressers in a large Farmhouse style kitchen along with the table and chairs. I also have an Ercol three tier Pine/Ash Tea Trolley which I bought a few years ago. I got it at a really good price. All components/foundation pieces to try and bring my dreams into reality somewhere down the line. Pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
Still working on things.
Catch you soon.
Pattypan
x
What a lovely jug. A shame you can't have all your pieces out on display together, instead of in storage.
ReplyDeleteIf you put up photos of your dressers, I may be able to help advise on their restoration, as I helped Keith or watched him refurbing antiques down the years. To rub down you will need 000 grade steel wool, to remove old/flaking varnish. Then depending on what wood they are, an appropriate coloured wax polish (we always used Briwax, though I was advised to try Fiddes wax last year, and that is very good too).
Hi BB, it is a lovely jug and I am well pleased with it. I do have the Biscuit Barrel house with handle on the other Dresser and may well keep the jug out to balance it up on the shelf. Every so often I do pick a few new things out to put up so things look a little differently. I have bought some vintage vases just lately but am not going to put these out as these were a little pricier. I will take some photos of the Dressers during the week and send them. Both Dressers are Pine and there is bleaching of the wood in places and scratch marks from cat claws. I do not know how the Dressers were finished whether with oil or with a varnish but it has gone very patchy. They were very smooth and shiny but not shiny shiny when they were originally were bought. Am not good with things like this. However I do love these Dressers. Thank youxx
DeleteP.S. Forgot to mention that after rubbing down the old varnish etc, I get some Turps and rub over the woodwork with the wire wool again, always working WITH the grain and not across it, and that cleans up any grimy areas.
ReplyDeleteThank you xx
DeleteI love the way you spend your treat money and have just looked up Wellingore Hall, as I had never heard of it. That is a very impressive building! No wonder your auntie's flat made a big impression on you.
ReplyDeleteI think the habit stems from the fact that money was tight when I was growing up and so any gift of money or surprise money was always considered carefully especially as the money was hard won by those giving it. The habit has stuck in any event. I just love beautiful stuff. Wellingore Hall sat in proper Park Land with a big estate when Great Aunty Kit bought it. It was going to be demolished. She was a bit of an entrepreneur a woman in a man's world. She saved the Hall by turning it into private accommodation. It was a lovely place to be and I used to love it when a tenant had left and a flat used to be turfed out redcorated etc. The Hall had its own library, ornate plasterwork ceiling on the walls and on the ceilings with gold leaf finish. The Hall sits at the brow of a Hill and goes down into farmland and a sloped valley that encompassed woods and a lake. The Horses used to be kept in the Park when they had them. Eventually the land was turned over to growing cereal crops and then you had the harvest and then the baling and then the burning of the stubble when it was allowed. It was a magnificent sight to see. Also had its own chapel, and large Square Block Stables where I also spent a lot of time as my cousin had horses and I was always with her when she was at home. I was always accompanied and it was a beautiful peaceful place. From the age of about three I spent a week every summer at Aunty's home - it was the highlight of the summer for me. My G Aunt's husband was always present and I got on very well with him although in those days children were seen but not heard but he always made a fuss of me whenever I went and I also had a little child's chair in his kitchen to sit out of the way when aunty was cooking. Uncle had a Flat connected to my Aunty's flat and the whole family used to gather midday for cooked dinner in Uncle's Flat. Happy days and lovely people. I just used to love going there. My Aunty's husband Uncle J also did a lot of the repair work to the Hall. Even after the Hall was sold on to a seed company after G Uncle's passing he was commissioned to restore the ballroom for public functions. Uncle J was a Master Cabinet Maker and his work was beautiful. When I was little there was a big greenhouse on the front of the Hall a big white Victorian style one which ran from Great Aunty's flat straight into her lounge/sitting area. That has I understand been demolished over time. Also a very large walled kitchen garden which produced all the family's veggies, and soft fruit. G Uncle also had his aviaries as well. He was a member of the Caged Bird Society and there were always exotic birds for me to see when I went to visit as a child. Outside G Uncles Flat was also a very large pond in which he kept goldfish. The big pond then ran down the hill through a series of little cascading ponds where I used to paddle on a hot summers day. There were of course Gnomes dotted around the ponds as G Uncle was quite partial to them. Even though it is 50 odd years or so since the last visit it is as fresh in my memory as if I was only there yesterday. A very happy time. I am blessed to have known and be part of it even though only in a minute way. There was also the Handyman Joe. He had been a soldier in the war and had been hit by a mine resulting in shell shock. He had episodes where the shock would be so violent in him and what he had experienced and seen that he sometimes got volatile with stress and panic. My G Uncle seemed to understand him somehow and used to be able to calm him. He was a man of few words but he was always okay with me. Funny things we remember. There has so far been nowhere quite like Wellingore for me. Very happy days.
DeleteWhat lovely memories. It sounds quite a magical place, like something out of the sort of books I really enjoy. Thank you for taking the time to tell me about it. x
DeleteI have the match of your pitcher - it is a cheese/butter covered plate. The top part is the cottage in the exact colours as yours. It was a wedding present to my parents and I got it after mom died. The cottage has broken in half but I have the two pieces and have always meant to have it fixed.
ReplyDeleteI too try to buy myself a treat with "found money" - I try to be sensible and if it is a large amount then I do try to spend it wisely - but even a small treat is lovely.
Hi Margie, Snap then its official we are twins. I just saw it and loved it. I have several other pieces in storage. However I confess to having been a bit naughty in the past couple of days as I have managed to source some coffee mugs and saucers (5) and what I believe is a water pitcher at not too bad a price. I have tea plates, saucers, a Cheese/Butter dish, a sugar bowl, teapot, some other jugs in a box somewhere. I do intend to get the Coffee Pot as well to go with the coffee mugs. Have drawn in the horns now for a little bit as I can easily get carried away. Take care xx
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