News

 MARCH - SPRING INTO SUNDAY TIME CHANGES AND MOTHER'S DAY

Our Opening Hours Have Changed!

It's March - so we are thinking...
The month of Spring - Spring Cleaning and most importantly Mother's Day!

So let's get a Spring in our step with 3 top tips for Spring Cleaning!

We all know that you would love to know those top 6 cleaning tips so your home is in tip top Spring Clean ship shape condition for when your Mum comes around for Sunday lunch or indeed you might be taken out for lunch!

Spring Cleaning Top Tips

1) Cleaning those windows. To start, dip your sponge into a bucket

of warm water and a few drops of mild washing up liquid. Wet your window; rub dirt away. Dampen squeegee; starting at an upper corner, draw it down pane from top to bottom. Repeat, overlapping strokes and wiping rubber edge with sponge after each stroke.

2) Once or twice a year, you might find the need to clean your wooden or metal blinds. Here is how! Wipe wooden blinds with a few drops of gentle wood cleaner on a nearly dry sponge. Metal or Aluminum blinds can be washed outdoors: Place them on an old sheet on a slanted surface, and scrub with water and a noncorrosive cleaner. Use a hose to rinse well, and then dry the blinds really, really dry with a towel to prevent rust.

3) Now this is a good one - You should replace the batteries in your smoke detectors every six months. Use the day you set your clocks back as a reminder, and this will be a good reminder and you will be happier too! Change the batteries again in spring, when you set your clocks ahead.

What does your mum mean to  you?

Mothering Sunday 

Having read and read a lot on this, I can only come to the simple conclusion, that there is a lot of evidence of historical and religious reasons why we celebrate Mothering Sunday.

Mother's Day, or Mothering Sunday, is to me, quite simply a day to show our love, gratitude, thanks and appreciation to our wonderful, kind, generous, wonderful mums everywhere, if we are lucky enough to have one, through our acts of kindness. However we can, as simple as they are, be it a telephone call, a visit, a cup of tea, a kiss, a hand hold, a bunch of flowers or something which is so precious, TIME...

Mother's Day both have different origins; although they represent the same meaning, they originated very differently. We all celebrate the day but very few people actually know its origin. The original meaning of Mothering Sunday and Mother's Day can seem a little lost in these days of commercial present pushing by the media, so why not give the simplest gift of all, your time, a hug, a kiss, a chat - I know that is what I would LOVE THE MOST...x

If you would like to read a more factual article, then this is an interesting article from The Daily Telegraph "The true origins of Mothering Sunday"

Enjoy your month of time changing with us this March.

We look forward to seeing you here in our Vintage Boutique, our Vintage Workshop and our Courtyard...
Lots of Lovingly Made Love,
John & Trixie - and Charlie of course, our meet and greet dog and best friend...
x

FEBRUARY - THIS IS THE MONTH OF LOVE

• February is one of our favourite months of the year, especially as it is the month of Love! Subscribers to our VIP Newsletter will be enjoying their discount code this month too.
• With February being the month of love, we are thinking about Building your Perfect Bedroom and together with why 'Sleep is so important'.
• We are also delighted to announce our new "Vintage Workshop", our fabulous new Boutique shop for more Vintage furniture shopping!

 BUILDING YOUR PERFECT BEDROOM



Building Your Perfect Bedroom... (housetohome.co.uk)

Thinking about your perfect bedroom, well, from the moment you walk into your bedroom, you need to feel relaxed. First things first, lighting. Fit some low wattage bulbs, and the magic will instantly start. Your eyes will be soothed.

You can never have enough cushions, blankets, quilts, wooden domed trunks, throws, embroidery, empty frames, and mirrors can instantly add incredible space, colour and personality to your room. Think textures, think colour, think different types of wood, painted, French, English, they add character, depth and warmth.

Your bedroom needs to be the place where you can escape the hustle, the busy hectic part of your day, the time to relax, unwind, chill, to read, to truly be yourself or yourselves -think about this room carefully. It is your sanctuary. Candles, music, books and lots of love...x

Think textures, think colour...

You can then think about the furniture you can add to you bedroom that can give you the storage you need to make you feel settled and organised, a great way to feel in control of your sanctuary room.

Bedside cabinets are a great place to pop your glasses and bedside reading book, or cup of warm milk or hot chocolate. Not to bring your laptop. A definite no! No 'screen time' at least half hour before sleep time.

Chest of drawers are a great storage solution for jumpers, teeshirts, lingerie and getting sorted here, sorts out so many clothing issues! 

A worthy note is the revolution in 'the perfect bedroom', is that sleep is the new power house!

WHY SLEEP IS SO IMPORTANT

"We are in the midst of a sleep deprivation crisis", writes Arianna Huffington, the co-founder and editor in chief of The Huffington Post. Such an interesting piece, and  I really found the article an enlightening read and perhaps we can all transform our lives, one night at a time.

She writes how we need to redefine our success through our well-being, her thoughts and discussion is the how the backbone of sleep being our gateway of to a more fulfilling way of living and how it can transform our lives.

Why sleep is so important...

The results are amazing to read, how sleep must be seen as not time wasted, but time so well spent in our lives. how important it is to our well being.

Today we are so fast-paced, looking at our mobile phones at approximately 100-150 times a day without even knowing it, looking at computers, laptops, always connected, connected some how to something, not giving ourselves time, not giving ourselves permission to stop, forgetting to give ourselves a good night’s sleep.

The Sleep Revolution  sounds a big alarm bell to tell us to listen to our bodies, to actually wake us up to go to sleep, have a good nights sleep, enjoy sleep, it truly can transform your life, make us feel so much better about ourselves, it gives us energy for the next day, to literally face the day. YOU choose, a good nights sleep, quite literally, the old addage 'SLEEP on it' makes it oh so much better in the morning, doesn't it?

NEW VINTAGE BOUTIQUE SHOPPING SPACE

Introducing

"THE VINTAGE WORKSHOP BOUTIQUE"

  

The Vintage Workshop Boutique is opening...

We are delighted to let you know that we are opening our new Vintage Workshop Boutique space, to accommodate more of our lovely vintage furniture as poor Charlie is feeling the squeeze! The Vintage Workshop Boutique is opening 'softly' over the next few weeks or so.

Within our collections will be Vintage French finds, Vintage foxed mirrors, weathered and worn English Elm and Oak chairs and tables and dressers with faded charm. Littered amongst them will be copious carefully hand picked unique emporia that John and I will be looking for far and wide over the next weeks and months or so.

 

Vintage Treasures arriving soon... 

We are very humbled and grateful to you all for your support, and the continued requests that we have for the preloved vintage and contemporary furniture that we have here at Lovingly Made. 

The Vintage Workshop will also be an area that Trixie will continue to work in showing you how she cleans, restores, waxes and paints furniture. She is joined by Carol on a Saturday and sometimes we are fortunate enough to have her a weekday or two!

The Vintage Workshop where we will also be showing you how we clean, restore, polish and paint...

As Spring approaches with every day, we will be looking towards the Courtyard area, with lots of developments, vintage buys, interesting curios and fabulous finds for your garden.

Enjoy your month of love with us.
We look forward to seeing you here in our Vintage Boutique, our Vintage Workshop and our Courtyard...
Lots of Lovingly Made Love,
John & Trixie - and Charlie of course
x

 

 February - the month of love...

JANUARY - WORKING ON THE WORKSHOP!

The Workshop 

It is really hard to believe how long we've been using The Workshop and how many classes we have had in it too! It really was about time that we gave our lovely Workshop a lovely 'lick of paint' All sounded a great idea, but it meant a lot of hard work ahead. Not that John or I are afraid of hard work!

Some of the Classes in The Workshop

So, John and I need to pack every single item away, from needles to tables, to bunting to twinkly lights - John loved that job! All packed away, it was then, we realised jut how much the room had served us so well. It really has had some footfall, and John is going to work out how many classes we have had over the last 5 years!

    

Getting to work with paint

John started off with painting the floor, which did take the longest time and was the hardest part as it was a really tough paint to apply - being non-slip specialised paint!

I then snuck in and got the really exciting job of 'cutting in' - oh deep joy! and applying Hammerite paint to the sink metal area. Lovely job again! 

We then waited for everything to dry properly when the weather was at its coldest (of course it would be!), and then the fabulous job of putting everything back again!

But we have got there and it does look great and we have had a chance to re-think The Workshop and are going to use some of the space as an additional Vintage Furniture Boutique space too - as we are able to open our Workshop room doors to our Customers too look, touch, feel some more of our glorious Vintage furniture...

We hope you love the Workshop as much as we do - some interesting classes coming soon, some beginners Floristry and starters Furniture Painting classes too...

Our 'Drop In Hobby Club's' - Thursday's Knit & Knatter is always popular and Friday's Fabric Friday is a lovely way to come and sew and sew and sew - 10.15/12.45 - join us - (follow this link)

 

 

The Workshop

We look forward to seeing you at Lovingly Made, be it in The Workshop or in our lovely Vintage Boutique, either way, the coffee is on!

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

 

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