White O'Morn Cottage

Porcelain Art Deco style Pin

I recently came across this wonderful vintage art deco style brooch.  Looks so old from the front tha it could be from the 20's / 30's but has a modern looking catch at the back (could have been repaired, I suppose) I can't decide what era it is from.  I need to do some more research.  I think she has a flapper twenties look to her. Her face is porcelain and her lacy collar is fabric. She looks a little sad and has a hand painted face.  Frilly lace and ribbon collar and tiny hat pin in her cloche hat. Two inches tall. Quite beautiful...

Update...8/2/08 Sold through my website

www.vintageretrolingerie.com

click to enlarge

Rodeo Cats Line Dancing Weekend

Just spent a fabulous few days dancing the night away in Kilkenny courtesy of Ray Cahill and the Rodeo Cats line dancing club. We danced till dawn and not an E tab in sight!

Pictured here enjoying a glass of Vino Callapso are left to right: Nuala Too, the Real Nuala and a Right Nuala

Must say a special hello to fellow dancers : The Nualas, The Bosanova Babes, the Queen of the South (and her father) various Germans and of course - to Ray...thanks for the dance!

Vintage for the Home

I have collected just so much stuff for my little country cottage that it would need an extension to hold it all! I have picked out some stuff that I can bring myself to part with so if you like the shabby chic, country cottage look then check out these pieces. Prices include shipping worldwide.

Large elegant Aynsley China vase.

Design is called...What else? ...Cottage Garden.  features cottage flowers and butterflies. Comes with original box. Perfect for any cottage decor room. 9" tall. Very faint crack in the glaze, but this does not go all the way through and can only be seen on close inspection and turning it upside down! Looks great on the windowsill filled with wildflowers collected from the fields.

• £15 sterling inc. shipping

Vintage Shabby Chic Light Shade

• 

  This is a wonderful 40's / 50's plastic ceiling lamp shade. I had to buy two but only needed one so this one is for sale for just £9 inc. shipping. It can be found on the Vintage Home Accessories on my website www.vintageretrolingerie.com
• More items  and photos to follow

Dogs Leave Paw Prints on Your Heart

This is Tiny.  I saw her on a website for rescued animals and fell in love. She should not have been alive. She arrived at the rescue centre in an appalling state...hairless with sores, her nails curled under digging into her paws, so skinny and sick she was unable to drink water or eat. The man who brought her in had stolen her from her "home" to give her a chance at life.

She was not a young dog - so she had suffered for years like this. The vet wanted to put her down straight away but Tiny had found her angel in Helena ,who just happened to be there that day. Helena took her home to Ash Elm Rescue Centre in Wicklow, Ireland. She smeared ice cream, and dropped water on to her tongue. She then gave her what she had never experienced before. ...love and cuddles.

Tiny came back from the brink and a few weeks later she looked like she would make it. The picture in the top left hand corner is her after weeks of intensive care. Those loving arms in the photo are Helena's. This is the picture I saw on the website and crumpled completely. Love at first site.

Three months later and Tiny had blossomed into the cutest little dog ever. My husband and sons doted on her and she loved her new life. Here is her after picture 

Just a year later she developed cancer and passed away but her story is not one with a sad ending. She had 15 months of wonderful life that she might never have known at all, and so did we....and she left a big paw print on our hearts. 

Cottage Bathroom Before and After

1. Hi, here are some pics of my bathroom both before and after.
3. This was quite a challenge. Even the toilet and hand basin had to be replaced as they were cracked and unusable.  Problem was, having just bought the cottage we were skint! So we had to go to plan B....

Here in Ireland we are lucky to have a couple of freecycle sites called www.jumbletown.ie  and dublinwaste.ie - where people who want to give away something, rather than dumping it, can put it online. That's where the new toilet and handbasin came from.

(Special thanks to Tony Doran of Portmarnock who supplied the lovely vintage style toilet and handbasin!)

The lovely cast iron bath was found locally - in a ditch. The flooring was left over from my sister's living room (just two inches to spare!)  The doors of the hotpress came from the Old Schoolhouse, Aughawillan. This is the schoolhouse featured in John McGahern's bestseller "Memoirs"

The curtains and bits and pieces that finish it off came from flea markets, thrift shops, or gifts from friends and relatives. The only thing new was the tin of paint for the panelling and the panelling which we put up ourselves. Total cost? approx €30.  I love the finished look and it has a close to zero carbon footprint. How green is that?

Sexual Elegance is.....

Sexual Elegance is....a term coined by Alfred Hitchcock about movie star Grace Kelly(pictured here at her wedding) Here are a few examples to get you thinking.  Please feel free to send me more!

*A bare thigh is fine - but a glimpse of thigh through a slit in a long skirt is Sexually Elegant

                                                      *Flipflops are comfy  - but peep toe shoes are S.E.

                                           *Nakedness is fine too -but wrap it in a folds of sheer filmy chiffon to get S.E!.

visit www.vintageretrolingerie.com ....the home of S.E.!

Dream Cottage Photos

In 2006 I was lucky enough to realise my lifelong    dream of a tiny cottage in the country.  Here are some of my favourite photographs of it.  I will be posting some before and after pics soon.

Website Design Genius Teeda

Not many people are lucky enough to have their own website designed for them by one of the best web designers around - who just happens to be their sister! Not only designed but optimized to the nth degree too.

My site is called Silver Screen Vintage and sells vintage and retro lingerie and clothing. This is to say thanks a million for a fabulous site, hours of work, advice, and encouragement. Hats off to you Teeda!...love ya' ...Pam

If you want to see what this super designer, SEO, sister and genius can do -http;//www.vintageretrolingerie.com ...here is the link

Vintage Schiaparrelli Bridal Peignoir & Nightgown

I have finally given in and put my favourite designer Schiapparelli bridal set up for sale. Why? Because the nightgown does not fit me anymore! The peignoir does - but I am very reluctant to split them up. So both have to go together. They have been a set for about fifty years or sixty years (1940/50's) so it would be a shame to hold on to it. I will console myself by buying another (larger) set.  I have included a pic of the great lady taken about the thirties.

                          Elsa Schiaparelli, htttp://www.vintageretrolingerie.com  

Thrift Shop Finds

Went hunting today in my favourite charity (thrift) shop in Dublin and found the following treasures for my dream holiday cottage in rural Ireland...

Vintage dusky pink rosebud tablecloth, vintage ivory embroidered tablecloth,"Flowers of Ireland" glass paperwieght, a fabulous rose patterned piece of fabric and a beautiful handcrafted wooden heart. The fabric will be refashioned into chair covers. The heart will go on the deep window sill that is great for displaying beautiful things!

I think I will give my sister, Angie, the lovely paperweight for her converted schoolhouse in Aughawillan to put on her windowsill - as the children used to put the wildflowers on it when it was a school. Here is a photo of it as it is today.  I have set up a blog for this lovely house at http://whitemorn.typepad.com/the_old_schoolhouse

More finds: wonderful engraved Irish harp and shamrocks jar, wonderful handmade and handpainted pin (signed "Flannel Flowers by Whitcher", vintage filligree earrings, vintage Butler & Wilson earrings and a very shabby chic vintage 50's bunny Easter egg holder. Phew!