Waterlilies

I love the Art Nouveau pattern of that antique curtain... Waterlilies & wavelets

When the brocante comes to you...

This morning was not an usual Monday morning... 



Normally, on Monday morning, I am preparing parcels for the post office, taking pictures of newly found treasures or even sometimes making some home-maintenance... 

Monday morning, I guess that you all know that feeling: too close to the end of the previous weekend and too far from the next one... But today was different. 




Today, Brocante came to me! Yes, this is what happens when you have friends who have friends getting rid of old stuff because they are down-sizing their home.

A heap of antique linen and a nice batch of antique belt buckle... all originated from France were delivered to my door at 10 o'clock this morning. There is lot to tell about that provenience: family heirloom, industrial wealthy Victorians, a chateau in the heart of Alsace, a mansion in Uccle (the most luxurious part of Brussels) , boxes stored in a attic since 30 years... and me, standing there arms wide open !!! 

I promise to tell you more about the chateau and the boxes a little later. Nice stories behind all this but it is now so late and I am exhausted after that stunning Monday...

And yes, I almost forgot to show you what I found yesterday: a pretty antique album and a beautiful advertising card from a shop in my beloved Brussels!!!

Heaven on a lampshade

These latest days had been so dull and the weather so unkind for outdoor activities that my departure for the brocante on Wednesday was a real impulse. I had to go to the brocante and once I arrived at Brussels, I rushed to the flea market under the darkest sky praying that I will be able to reach it before the next shower...

My first purchase was the white bisque angel and it worked as the best keepsake! Not only have I been able to walk "dry" through the entire brocante but I also found gorgeous antique textile...

Among my other purchases and like music to my hears: Silk curtains with passementerie trim... Velvet & brocade antique doily with gold metallic trim... boudoir cushion... and a huge antique lampshade...












And what a lampshade!!! I feel like I have been staring at it since Wednesday!
Timeworn, faded, torn apart, it probably have all the detracts you might imagine (except that it is very clean and doesn't smell like musty old thing) but what I can only see for my part are the handpainted roses, the gold metallic trim and that faded blue velvet... That Color!!! Look at that Color!!! I am sure that Heaven is from that same color !

I am too bohemian for my Love...

Probably one of the things I like the most in my "job"... being able to combine items from the most recent Brocante haul together and immediately get a picture that instantly suits my "aristocratic-bohemian" colorful taste...

Adorable antique lamp (complete) and pretty silk doily in faded shabby chic colors found on the same day, at the same fair but on different stalls. Weren't these born to meet?!?

#NEVERTOOSHABBY

Prometteurs de Beaux Jours & Garden update...

I'll begin this post with some news about "the-only-sweet-pea-in-the-garden... If you follow my Facebook page, you might remember that this harsh winter only spared a single one of my Autumn-seedlings Sweet-Peas... Here is a pic of the proud survivor a few weeks ago. I love to sow a few Sweet-Pea in autumn as they usually start flowering by May the next year, so a few months before the ones sown in March-April. And it's never too early for this:

but "Quelle Horreur!!!" yesterday morning when I discovered the poor fellow... a slug, an horrible slug had made its way to the Little! and almost ate a pair of leaves! "Non Madame, this can't go on like this!! Leave him alone!" ... so he is now surrounded by a circle of sand, surrounded by a circle of crushed egg shells (thank you Jacob for that trick!) surrounded by a circle of ashes surrounded by a circle of copper and I am seriously considering digging a moat around all this! I want my early flowers!


Far from this war, in a corner of Gabrielles'garden, are appearing all these beautiful "Prometteurs de Beaux Jours"... Galanthus, Eranthis, Helleborus... promises of better days.

Gabrielle utilisait souvent l'expression "prometteurs de beaux jours"... mais pas tout à fait dans ce sens-ci. La sagesse paysanne manie bien l'ironie. Le prometteur n'est pas des plus honnêtes et les "Beaux Jours" finissent toujours pas arriver...
Pas d'ironie avec ces prometteurs-ci! Rien d'ambigu ni d'hasardeux. Aux perce-neiges succèdent toujours le printemps, les groseillers sanguins et les phorsythias...
Mes "Prometteurs de Beaux Jours" ne mentent jamais.

Rummaging...

Today I have been rummaging through boxes filled with antique textiles I bought from a Brussels bourgeoise home. One of the boxes contains only samples of home fabric and the piece here above was among them. A printed silk with moss roses & bindweed pattern. Edwardian I think. 

I also have been rummaging through the old photo box... and I found these summer memories! Hydrandea Annabel in my favorite vases.

 

Some excuses...

I owe you excuses... a few... a lot... a heap! I cannot believe it's already more than a full year that I did not write to you. To be honnest, sometimes I was simply speechless, exhausted and with nothing in mind to share. But most of the time, I was working on my new shop. So you got it! I did not gave up treasures hunting, I even doubled the time I used to spend on the Brocante. And so, as there are only 24 hours a day, I left the blog aside. And I must confess I also left the Garden aside. This at some time completely broke my heart but I new it wasn't for ever and only for a limited time. So... Keeping this is mind, I tried to work as good as possible and the second shop was born.He is now growing well and I feel the need to be back here and next to my roses. I also found a group of Roses lover on FB, full of very interesting peoples and enthousiasts who made me realized I was missing something by letting the garden fallow. But this is all over. I am back. For good! And as January is not yet over, I can still wish you the very best of the very best for the 11 coming months. Thank you.