The Vintage Home Show

After all my worrying about the future, I did what many of us lucky enough to be able to, do: rang my mum. And things are looking much rosier. I have plans and ideas and, most importantly, a sense of optimism again. So that's the end of that.

Moving on... Today we went to the Vintage Home Show at Victoria Baths in Manchester (more on the baths in a later post). I was more interested in getting inspiration than buying things. Which was just as well. There were lots of lovely objets and fabrics and furniture to be had; most were high quality and I didn't spot any reproductions masquerading as originals (not that I'm an expert or anything).

Of course, any self-respecting vintage fair wouldn't be complete without some 'Home Maker' crockery - I think it was originally sold in Woolworths. I love the black and white graphics.

Speaking of which - this was one of my favourite stalls (just beyond the pottery jars). Everything was in monochrome and there was a very elegant, silver screen feel to it: framed prints, perfume bottles... the items hadn't been collected as much as curated. And being an ex-museum bod I know all about that. Sort of.

Another stall I loved. They had lots of mid-century fabrics with graphic prints. Some had been framed. Others were available in large pieces so you could take them home and get creative. To be honest, they were so expensive I'd be terrified of letting myself and my sewing machine anywhere near.

Yellow chair, cheery cushion.

I'm pretty sure we had something similar to the blue vase (centre row, far right) when I was growing up. It's one of those things which disappeared to who knows where but I could now picture sitting in the bedroom windows in this house.

I don't really know what 'vintage' means in terms of era. Mid-20th century seems to be about right. There wasn't anything there today from before the 1930s or after the 1970s. And when people refer to things dating from the 1980s as 'vintage' - well, that makes me feel very old.

Some things were prettier than others. The lamp may be vintage but let's face it, it's a bit ugly. Interesting how the handkerchief vases are fashionable again.

We had a good time. While I like a bit of retro in the house I'm not sure I could go the whole hog. I'd probably spend my time worrying about the wiring on the lamps or something. But it was fun to take the camera.

Oh, and on a completely unrelated note, Joe slept soundly in his own room last night (judging by the snores coming from the baby monitor). All is well with the world.