Crochet Details

There's a mini revival of crochet happening in my home since a "care package" arrived from my Mum.  Check out the golden yellow tablecloth and orange doilies Mum pulled out of the moth balls and sent through the mail to spruce up my tables.  What beautiful colours!  Mum couldn't even buy that golden yellow colour at Spotlight to mend the tablecloth.  My Nanna was an avid knitter and crocheter, but so few people are skilled at crochet anymore.  I would love to order a retro throw rug from her, but unfortunately she is not here to help out.  I'm keeping my eye on eBay for someone else's Nanna's handiwork, in the yellow/orange/brown pallet hopefully.


Shopper's notes:

Coffee table, $275, purchased from Southern Bazaar, Inverloch, see http://southernbazaar.com.au/gallery/

Teak bowl on kitchen table $25, purchased from Lost & Found Market, Perry St, Collingwood, see http://www.lostandfoundmarket.com.au/

Teak platter on coffee table, $10, purchased from Collectable Antiques, Thompson Ave, Cowes.

Luxury Shag Rug 160x230cm in Beige Mix, $99, purchased from http://www.catchoftheday.com.au/

Sleepy Hollow Chair

Just a few hours after we arrived back from Singapore I bought the most fantastic chair.  It really proves you have to act quick sometimes, or the best finds will be snapped up.  I had slept a few hours, then woke to do my obsessive routine of checking my eBay searches on my iPhone.  I was really just half awake and very tired from being on a plane all night.  I quickly found a chair just listed by one of the sellers I follow, that really caught my eye.  It looked cool, kind of unusual, with a bit of honest wear, but not too much, and was the right look and colour for where I wanted to place it.  It was called a "Sleepy Hollow chair".  I had seen another chair advertised using this name previously, but knew nothing about the design, who produces them, where, their value, etc.  Knowing that this was probably not a good time to make a decision regarding a chair, I decided to open my laptop and vaguely made a search about Sleepy Hollow chairs.  Not much, a couple of pictures in ads, a definition, very little info.  According to Dictionary.com: 

Sleepy Hollow chair

noun U.S. Furniture .

an armchair of the mid-19th century, sometimes on rockers, having a single piece forming a high upholstered back and a concave upholstered seat.

The seller also had a picture of the chair on her Facebook page and after looking at the photos and listing a couple of times I had decided I really liked this chair.  I thought I should wait until the next day when I had a chance to properly rest, to have clear mind and see if I still liked it before I bought it.  Except, it was a Buy It Now item, I also knew the seller had a lot of followers and very reasonable prices, and the ad stated it was rare and a bargain, so I anticipated that it might only be minutes before someone else bought it.  It was probably now or never... So, I pressed "Buy It Now".  "I think I may have just bought a chair" I told my partner.  He laughed.  SO very like me.  I put a message on the Facebook photo:  "It's mine!"  I sent an email about picking up the chair.  Then I put my laptop on the floor, rolled over and went back to sleep.

Sleepy Hollow chair: $349.

When I went to the shop to pickup my chair, Mrs Secondhand, aka. Tracey, said she had so many enquiries about the chair after I bought it, especially from dealers.  Phew, lucky I acted on inpulse!  She had even sold it to me cheaper than it was marked in the store.  When you sit in the chair it's super comfy.  And it looks so fantastic too!  I love the usedness of it, the unique shape, the fact that it was a bargain, and that for once, I was lucky.

Mrs Secondhand is online: http://www.mrssecondhand.com.au/

on Facebook:  mrs.secondhand

and eBay:  mrs.seconhand1

and Gumtree: mrs.secondhand

and in Brunswick Thurs, Sat, Sun: 11 Ann Street, Brunswick 3056.

Singapore

We spent 10 days in Singapore recently.  Before leaving, I had looked up all the suggested locations to find antiques and collectables, wrote down some addresses and instructions on the train stops and bus numbers to catch.  It all looked promising.  However, reality was a little different.  We spent many hours sight seeing, immersing ourselves in Singaporean history and culture and visiting tourist attractions.  That was fun.  We also spent many hours LOOKING FOR interesting things to buy.  Unfortunately, very little came out of it.  Most Asian antiques are very expensive and the retro finds were very very rare.  On a few occasions we found the anticiated shop, only to find it was closed, with no opening hours on the door.  Due to much building and development works, some places had moved out.  The struggle to find places was too hot and frustrating to call it fun.  This did lead us into some interesting places though, off the beaten track and into the regular lives of Singaporeans.  That part I did enjoy.

For people heading to Singapore, who want to see some antiques, two places I can recommend visiting are Chinatown (there are a couple of shops filled with Asian antiques, hidden behind the cheap tourist stuff on tables), and Tanglin Mall at the Tanglin Road end of Orchard Road (just don't go on a Sunday or too early in the morning).  It seems retro has been tossed out for new shiny expensive objects in Singapore.  We did see a couple of gift shops that are using copies of retro objects and making them into something else, like a box brownie camera that is a clock.  (See http://www.thewrightgift.com/products.php for examples).  I don't like the idea of changing objects like that because I appreciate their original design and functionality and I like the history of different items.  But I do like that it exposes a different set of people to the objects, other than just the retro/vintage collectors like me. 

In an interior design store, I also saw natural objects (like a sand dollar or a reproduction skull) placed on an industrial style base or stand, to create a decorative piece.  That style of thing I found very arty and very intriguing.  It's like spotlighting a piece of nature and putting it in your living room for everyone to appreciate it's beauty and uniqueness and to be inspired by it.  One other notable find, although I had no chance of being able to afford it, was a funky wall piece featuring a comic picture made entirely of lego.  This was in a shop where you had to walk over a beautiful fish pond with coi to reach the displays.  It's called John Erdos Home, on Dempsey Road (http://www.johnerdos.com.sg/)  The artist who makes the lego pieces is called Eugene Tan.  Very cool.