just browsing..

I'm always searching eBay for retro furniture and I have just fell in love <3 ....
This is so perfect! In my 1Bed, 1Bath, I want a lounge chair and have contemplated buying one of those Eames style replicas one day. But always wanting something more unique (and cheaper) I always look for alternatives.   
And O.M.G I know this wont be everyones' taste but this is definitely mine for a lounge chair. 
Love-boat style seat, perfectly buttoned and tucked and a strange mustard tan

Photo belongs to  gezelligdesigns


Gezellig designs is a well established team who source all these amazing mid-century design classics and provide them with a little TLC and bring them back to life. And they start auctions on ebay at ridiculous low prices with no reserves! 
This chair would be the perfect spot to read a book or knit. 
So now I just have to win the chair.. start reading more and learn how to knit!

pop up tea room

  Last year, a friend and I were going to a festival and realised it will be the same day as my friends 21st! NOT good! So we had to do something nice for her before we left.  A vintage tea party theme was pretty and easy and I knew my friend would it.  Plus were craving scones and clotted cream since our trip to Devon a couple months before. So me and a friend set out to impress with a few hand made decorations and we hijacked my friends parents conservatory, which was the perfect setting as it displayed a collection of tea pots and a little country size welsh dresser. I am gutted I didn't take more pictures but I only had my camera phone!


I made the 3 place mats that together read 'After Noon Tea', matching napkin/cutlery ties and the bunting that I put her name on. The bunting was great, I knew she would love it for her bedroom after.  We collected mint from the garden to make Pimms and it looked so decorative in the jug.

In the tea cups I place these little cupcake lip balms and in the Pimms glass a huge fresh strawberry, those touches worked perfectly. My friend made a shaky glass and plate balancing cake-stand that display her home-made lemon muffins perfectly.


I found the tea cup and saucers, the tea pot, milk jug and sugar bowl all from a charity shop for less than a fiver.


It was so perfect! I went to collect my friend from her house round the corner and when we returned my friend was playing old 40s tunes like a little pre-war tea room.  She loved it! I think we were off the hook..


We ate;

• Home-made Fruit scones (so easy to make
• Clotted cream & Jam
• Lemon muffins
• Crusty fresh bread
• Herby cous cous with chicken

We drank;

• Pimms with mint, cucumber, orange and strawberries. 
• Earl and Lady grey tea

YUM x

read and write..

  As I mentioned before, I spend a lot of time foraging around charity shops and eBay and these are two of my favourite finds (at the moment). 

  This beautiful Remington Typewriter was found through gumtree and was my first purchase through the site. I loved the creamy white colour and it still has its case + original instructions. It cost me £10 which was quite a splurge for me but the guy dropped it round for free and it was working and came with new ribbons too!  As soon as I saw it, I instantly had 20 ideas of what I can use it for (which I'l do a post about some day), but until then it would look great on my desk or on top of a bookcase. 

 One day I was browsing a charity shop that specialises in furniture and I saw this.  At first I thought it was kinda ugly but practical and thought I'll just paint it to brighten it up. Then I really looked at it and started loving everything about it. Its very mid-century modern and completely solid and compact enough to hide in a corner or alcove. I loved the glass sliding doors, that looked original and perfect condition. I picked it up for £15 and it got delivered to my place for £5 which is great value for such a decent piece of furniture!  Right now its in my bedroom, storing books and odd bits I pick up. But when I find my 1 Bed, 1 Bath I'm not sure what it will hold.

1 Bed, 1 Bath

 After 3 years of being at university and having my own space, I can no longer stand being confined to my old bedroom (and look at the state of it!).
 I do not have enough space for all my clothes, kitchen ware, furniture and all the other great rubbish I keep collecting. Plus everyone else in the house is pretty sick of it too! I need to get out and spread my hoarding wings! 


I've been searching for months and most things I just cant afford.  I've looked down the house share route, but most resemble poor student living and I can't go back. I just want a clean kitchen, a working bathroom and a place to chill with my friends that's not sitting on my bed. I'm happy to have a flat mate but balancing two worlds can always be difficult. 

The 1 Bed, 1 Bath Challenge is on. It doesn't have to be big, but the more space for the money the better. I like to cook so place for a dining table is important but it doesn't have to be an 8 seater, 2 would do. I have to learn how to budget, how not spend above my means, how to compromise and to be able to furnish a place with minimum cash.  Once I have found my perfect place, I will being showing the whole journey; from the bare walls, to what I put within them!

retro living books

Like many others I love vintage and retro home style. For my future place I'll be going for mid century modern masculine pad combined with the retro house-wife chic. These are some of my favourite books that I am always flicking through for inspiration and resourceful ideas.

My favourite book is Mid-Century Modern by Bradley Quinn.  Its a summery of all the most influential design creations of the 50-70s. It has great pictures and detail of Textiles, metal work, furniture and home design layouts.

 I love retro prints; the use of colour and non-uniformed shapes seems brave and more modern then what you  find in a lot of work today.

 I love the long wood table top with the metal legs (below). I have bought a long metal white dining table myself because it was a bargain for £5 and I thought I could add a plywood top to it, but thats another project for another day. Problem is I have to find a flat that can fit a 6 seater table, that is within my budget. I'd be lucky!

Metal ware..

I want a 50s sideboard just like that in the background. They are easily found in 2nd hand furniture shops, obviously some better than others but they go for only £20-40. But I'm holding back til I know what size I can go for!

 Now, this book is so informative, so clever and must have been quite controversial for its time. It was first published in 1956 a time when women were mainly the wife and home maker and it acknowleged the thousands of young women out there who were Living Alone and were loving their indepedence.

This book tells you how to make the most of a small space.  Ingenious ways of creating rooms with in rooms but having space, how to place a bed in a living room and disguise unsightly T.Vs.  My favourite chapters have to be Vary Your Meals As You Would Your Dress and Hospitality: Men And All That.  

This is one of my favourite ideas; using an old door, 4 legs and a few handmade cushions and make your self a little entertaining seat. Love the idea of the little cupboard  used a drink cabinet. I may have to try this!

This book is one of my proudest finds, I found it in a book shop in Leicester that has been around for years and years absolutely rammed with books.  It was tucked away in the art section. Its tilted 'Decorative Art in Modern Interiors 1966/67'.  This range of books covers many years and I've seen some books going for £60 on eBay. So I will try to look after this!

I do love a task lamp and I love the look of an oversized industrial style pendant over a dining table.

Beautiful textiles used for chairs, quilts and rugs.

 I want that lounge chair (bottom right), it would be great in a muted lime green.

These magazines I found on eBay, they were published in 1956 and 57.  They are full of  DIYs, modern machines for the home, dress making and love stories.

And just like now a days they were full of adverts but a lot more interesting to read. 

dining chairs: before and after

I was looking in magazines and high street stores for the perfect dining table set that I could imagine me and my friends sitting round eating lots and lots of food.  Plus Chairs have to be my favourite bit of furniture, the variety and different styles of them always attract me. But WOAH, I did not know your average dining chair costs about £70?! When I said to my mum "did you know chairs can cost that much" she just said "Yes, the ones we sit on are £100 each!". I could not believe this. Is this normal? Do people just accept this? I could not imagine paying a months rent on a few chairs. Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate designers work and realise something things have to be priced so.  However, I also know how people treat there things as disposable when a new thing comes along and I take advantage of that!


 Right now, what is making me happy are my fresh faced dining chairs. I didn't do a lot to them, it was simply a bit of fabric over the old seats, but suddenly they feel like they have some personality!  I found these chairs on eBay (one of my many sources) they were for local pick up and i got 6 chairs and one huge oval wood dining table for £21. How cheap is that?! And I've sold the solid wood table to get my money back.


They are not the prettiest, but I saw the potential, i loved the high backs, the Danish feel to the legs and the extra wide-bottomed seats that suit a girl like me...


Before

After

I love the brightness of the print and how the size of the print means you get different  parts of the fabric over the 4 seats. The fabric is from the ANNOMOA range at IKEA and cost £5.10 per metre and I used about 1.3m for these 4 chairs.  I was considering painting the frames in a bright colour, but i think the wood works. Plus I am planning to set them with a crisp white IKEA MELLTORP dining table i got for £5 so want to keep things simple!

 

I love graphic bird prints and the block colour style really works for these 60s mid-century dining chairs.
BTW i will start taking better pics when i get used to my camera and stop making things in the middle of the night!

What's to come?

Well since I have been dreaming house for a while and collecting from 2nd hand shops, car boots and charity shops for even longer! I definitely have a lot to share with you already and in the next few weeks I will be uploading all my projects and finds so far and try to get everything updated!


Some things to expect from JunkFool over the next few weeks

• My Car boot finds 
• Home and Interior design inspiration
• Cooking and new recipes
• Ikea haul and what I will be doing with the items!
• Charity shop treasures
• My favourite Bloggers
• DIY attempts
• Re-purposing items
• Organising a tea party inspired wedding reception
• and Decorating my new place (when its all confirmed)!

So here I am...

...I have finally done it! I have been wanting to start a blog for probably a year now.  Inspired by so many others that I've been following for a while but I will talk about them another time.
Also I promise all post will not be as long, but since this is an introduction..


First, a little about me, I'm Cherelle, 22 years old and I grew up in Leicester, UK. I graduated from Leeds university July 2010 and then moved back home.  I have a degree in psychology and I'm one of the lucky few that managed to get a job pretty quickly so now I am nursing assistant .  I am learning so much from the job but being in such a fast-pace clinical environment 40hours a week made me want a hobby to break up the drama.


During school I did textiles, art and design and technology and I loved them all and I was pretty good at it but not so much so that I thought I could go anywhere career wise. But to switch off from work I found I started working on all those creative projects I used to enjoy. I had the sewing machine out again, I have redecorated my teenage bedroom into something a little more grown up and now I'm on an obsessive streak of hoarding every bit of furniture and home furnishings I can get my hands on with the intention of it soon all moving into my own place.


 Getting my own place is pretty important to me.  I would love a little 1 bed flat, full of homely things I love that I could enjoy with friends and family.  I'm so grateful to have my modest salary which I can spend on what I choose but I don't go out much and I don't have a car or a designer fashion habit.  All I find myself buying are plates, tea cups and bookcases and even recently a sofa 'opps' (which I will remind you I don't have my own place yet). This could become a pretty expensive habit, if all these things were brand new.  However you'll always find me in every charity shop and 2nd hand furniture store and the bargain/ex-display corner in Ikea!


Most things just need a little TLC or DIY treatment! And don't mind painting a chair I only paid £3 for!  My family do not understand my obsession and just think my room is looking like a junk shop. I love home styling and interiors, pretty much anything domestic! I love to cook and love the idea of entertaining friends around a dining table with good food and having a real comfy sofa to watch a film on after.


So this is what my blog will be about, trying to be a resourceful homemaker. I would eventually like to have a place that is very personal but also stylish and affordable which relies on having a bit of creativity. My DIY skills are basic but I'm always learning and I have a good imagination! 


I wont pretend I'm doing anything new to many other Bloggers out there and their amazing sites I love.  However i wanted to get involved! This is my take, my ideas, other peoples ideas i love, my projects and my inspiration that I want to share with you all who enjoy collecting 'junk' like me!


Welcome x