News — Vintage

ROUND ROBIN NEWS - WHAT A TIME WE'VE HAD...

Where has the year gone? I know one thing though, it has gone very fast indeed, I don't know how you feel, but it has simply whizzed past and 2017 is nearly upon us.

First things first, we would love to thank you for your support and friendship this year. We had a super afternoon for our family, friends and customers, with chilled Prosecco, warmed Mince pies, delicious Sausage rolls and cheese straws and a great time was had by all! 

 

Christmas Flowers in the Vintage Boutique 

At this moment in time, whilst it is relatively quiet, John and I are busy with our Annual Refurbishment programme. This year, it is The Craft School that is getting a 'makeover'. We are painting the floor and walls, having a little move around, and giving an area over to a 'Wet' area - we are upcycling more and more furniture, which is brilliant for you, us and the environment too. This area will be for more furniture refurbishment, cleaning, and polishing and floristry activities! So watch this space for more news. 

 

The Craft School gets a lick of paint!

We also said goodbye to our trusted van, which we loved in a funny sort of way, we think. It got us through our our two or three years and we have now taken the plunge and bought another second hand van, which is a little more reliable, and doesn't drink quite as much Diesel. It does mean that we can that we can go to France and around Europe and England with more confidence!  

Which in turns means that our Boutique will be full to the brim with exciting finds and lovely treasures! Another reason why The Craft School is being painted and being moved around, so we have a great prep area for our goodies when they are brought back for The Vintage Boutique!

 

The French Brocantes!

It leaves me to say, that 2017 is nearly upon us, and we have lots to be excited about. There will be some events happening here at Lovingly Made, and changes and tweaks along the way to make way for more beautiful Preloved Vintage and Contemporary Furniture, in the main Boutique and in the smaller back grey Studio once again. The Polybarn will be having a good sort out too this month, so look out for some changes in there too - I think John and I are going to be very busy and exciting busy.  The Craft School is also seeing some exciting new classes too!

We wish you all a prosperous, healthy and happy 2017, 7 is a lucky number...

Best wishes, 
Trixie and John and Charlie, our best friend, meet and greet dog...x

WHAT A FABULOUS SUMMER!

What an absolutely fabulous Summer we all had - and I think we are all still lucky to still have some September sunshine still promised for this week. I really don't know where July and August went, I do know it went in a flash!

John and I sneaked off at the beginning of July for a few days to Stockholm and found a fabulous vintage flea market, which of course, we couldn't resist!

Flea Market in Stockholm

After coming back, we gradually moved into 'School's out' mode which we thought would give us some time to re-organise our Courtyard. We have had a great Summer, where customers have sorted out our Courtyard for us, buying all our lovely benches, vintage chairs, tables and beautiful arbours and gardenalia!

Also this Summer, we were very lucky to have Kerry from Teddy Pig Creative www.teddpigcreative.com who came and had a wonderful photo shoot here in our Vintage Courtyard. She left us a couple of beautiful photographs and you can truly see why she is a photographer and why I am not! Take a look at her website and her work, she is so talented and be inspired!

Teddy Pig Creative

It has been a lovely July and August and we have been showered with sunshine and we were so lucky that our Strawberry Afternoon Tea for Breast Cancer Care was another one of those lovely sunny afternoons too. It was a truly wonderful end to the Summer and we were so lucky with the weather as the following day, our British sunshine turned to pouring rain!

We truly cannot thank you enough for your support, be it cakes, be it coming to the event, be it your donations!

AND, big, huge thanks to Lesley, who again organised, delegated, arranged, sorted, with efficiency and a smile, the catering tea department; Jane, Connie and Sue. Connie who came up from Brighton on her day off from nursing too, bless you. 

Some of our ladies enjoying their Afternoon Tea!

We welcome Jane, who has come to help us in our Boutique and jumped in at the very, very deep end at the Strawberry Tea, thank you so much for slicing and slicing and not managing to cut anything but cake - all day!

 

Cakes, cakes and more cakes

All in all, we have had a really successful Summer, lots of lovely customers, returning and new, we welcome you all. We have had lots of vintage furniture going to all sorts of lovely sunny places, from East Grinstead, Reigate, Oxford, Hertfordshire, Suffolk, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Scotland, London, Cornwall, Exeter and Somerset to name just a few and some making it to my garden - but only a few pieces otherwise none of it would make it to the Boutique!

We truly hope you have had a lovely summer, enjoyed the warmth of sun on your face be it at the end of the day, after a long day at work or sneaked a coffee in the garden! Talking of sneaking away, John and I will be away from the Boutique on Saturday 24th September as we will be travelling home from France from our buying trip. Upside we will be OPEN on Sunday 25th!

So, see you all very soon, here's hoping the sun will shine on until the end of September!

We would love to see you soon in the Boutique.
With best wishes,
Trixie and John
x

INVESTING  IN VINTAGE FURNITURE...

Buying Vintage Furniture is our passion here at Lovingly Made.  Each piece we buy is an investment piece for your home, that will look as beautiful now as it will in 30, 50, 70 years times.  

Why?  

Because they are all made with glorious style, with a certain panache, top end quality, with materials that were made to last the test of time and with skilled craftmanship. 

Antique French Dresser Drawer with beautiful Craftmanship

It can feel like taking a 'deep gulp of air' when making that step to purchase that 'investment piece' of vintage furniture. The important part of this decision, is to remember is that quality vintage pieces don't loose their value over time. Mainly because their designs and their style continue to mature and evolve with time, thus gaining value.

They are beautifully unique and those special one-offs that your family and friends will gravitate to. As soon as they come into your home they will say: "where did you get that from?"...

Vintage French Marble Tables with stunning turned legs

Today we are seeing a marked increase with our customers thinking of their 'vintage furniture purchase', as they would be buying a piece of artwork or something as equally precious in their lives.

They really appreciate their piece of vintage furniture both as a utility piece, that they can use practically but see it as something that is also an investment in their homes too.

Beautifully Painted Vintage Dresser now in a new home! 

We would like to think that there are some positive reasons that sum up why investing in vintage furniture is such a great investment:

• It is ultimately made with true craftsmanship
• It is unique in its making and genuine natural materials
• Each piece will tell you its own vintage historical beautiful story
• It will evolve increasingly, both in its beauty and value
• You will fall in love with it more and more each day, which is a perfect place to start with a piece of furniture that you will look at and use every day in your home...
• It is an individual as you are, it is not mass produced, it is personal to you, it is inspirational and loved

We have regular collections of vintage furniture, curios, emporia, gardenalia, arrive from France and English markets and endeavour to pop onto the website as quickly as we can. Our Instagram and Facebook pages are always a great place to see regular updates too.

We hope that you will enjoy looking through our garden and home pages here and perhaps we will see you in our Vintage Boutique very soon. If you are in Sussex, pop over and see our collections of investment pieces, which we know you will love and will look beautiful in your home.

OUR VINTAGE FURNITURE IN YOUR HOME

It is our greatest pleasure to see our preloved vintage furniture in your home.  We handpick our preloved vintage and contemporary pieces of furniture, emporia, gardenalia, always with you in our hearts and mind.

It is our warmest moments then, to see our vintage furniture in your home.

 

Stunning Vintage Pine Buffet

This stunning French Vintage Pine Buffet, fitted into the space required within an inch! The owner is delighted as it is being used to store material and sewing equipment, so all beautifully put away and the buffet looks beautiful as a piece of furniture in the study room too.

On the left of this buffet are two items that this lovely lady has made with us in our Craft School,  a "Dilly" bag and "Etuile" box, and on the right hand side, a beautiful glass lantern from our home collection within our Vintage Boutique. So many reasons to come along to see us!

Stunning Vintage Orchard Ladder and Vintage Bench in Sussex

These two items of beautiful vintage gardenalia are now sitting proudly in a quite famous home in Sussex (sadly I can't say where), but they are being so well looked after! The orchard ladder will certainly being used for picking apples and pears this summer and I am certain copious cups of tea will be drunk, sitting comfortably on this lovely bench after a hard day's work in the huge vegetable garden!

Refurbished vintage tin box on one of our beautiful vintage elm stools

Recently I was asked to clean and refurbish this delightful tin Victorian box with the most exquisite hand painted writing on it.  It had been used by a shoe maker, who kept all his shoe making tools inside, and upon each of his children growing out of their pair of shoes, he would either make them bigger with inserting a piece of leather or smaller to fit a younger sibling.  What a beautiful story.  The vintage elm stool just set the whole scene off together.

So, from making a sewing box, to refurbishing old tin boxes, to gathering apples from trees, to sitting comfortably, we think we have most things covered. Why not pop over and see what we can do for you!

We would love to see you.
With best wishes,
Trixie and John
x

LOVE THE THRILL OF THE FURNITURE FIND

John and I love the thrill of finding, looking for, seeing potential in, preloved vintage furniture and all the other gorgeous curios, collectables and homewares that can literally transform 'a room' into 'your room'.

The early morning start - loving the thrill of what we might find...

Your home is as individual as you are. Preloved vintage furniture gives you the ultimate in being individual and so too, being able to continue with its history too. Knowing that someone else has used a piece of furniture before me, is what I love most.  The history, the age, the signs of wear with weathered smooth indents on handles, the marks and chips on tables and on chair seats, gives me a warm glow.

 

Stunning vintage find, beautifully made by Craftsmen...

The thrill is hunting down of a great piece of preloved vintage furniture; that piece that is just right as soon as you see it. It can be heart-stopping stuff. What is also so thrilling, is knowing that you have bought a piece of furniture which has been beautifully made, sometimes bespoke, usually of higher quality materials and been looked after. You are merely the custodian of the piece, knowing that because it is vintage, it will carry on being so and you are also giving it more life and love.

Remembering all the time, that when you choose to buy preloved vintage or contemporary furniture, you are able to buy excellent quality at an affordable price; you are often able to buy a much better quality product than you would be able to afford otherwise. Its a win-win! 

I so love the thrill of finding something unique...

So join us in the love and thrill of the chase in finding and buying unique vintage furniture, a piece of history, beautifully made and with so much more love to give you and your home.

See you in the Boutique shop very soon,
Best wishes
Trixie & John x