Thrilled to my Tiny Little Tootsies!

Vintage steps - complete with paint-splashes

A day off for Alec last Friday - so a day off for me as well. I had planned a visit to two or three antique shops during the past week, but they had not happened, so when A asked for suggestions, I turned away from the recent surfeit of garden visits to suggest a trip northward, into Oxfordshire, to Haynes of East Challow - a reclamation yard/second hand furniture store and seller of all things DIY and blokey that I have visited for thirty years. (It assuages my guilt, Dear Reader, to have at least one part of the venue where poor A does not have to trail around, arms dangling, doing his best to look interested in my weird, wonderful and totally obscure interests!!) I've not visited for a couple of years, so was delighted to find the furniture barn packed to the gunwales with all qualities of old furniture, from beautiful Georgian bookcases to ratty office furniture.

My eye settled on half a dozen pieces which would be 'just perfect' - but (fortunately) I now drive a much smaller car than the people carrier of past days, so 'Restrain and reconsider' was my very motto - which I did. In the end I purchased just two items - both of which I love to my clodhopping size sevens!!

Item one was a very fragile looking step ladder. As is my luck, one of the few items without a price label - so I asked the proprietor (in another part of the yard) 'how much?' She asked me to identify it and almost immediately told me that it was part of their working equipment, so 'not for sale'. Then just a few minutes later, she asked me again - 'where was it?' - went to look, and came back saying, 'no not used by us' and I could buy it for £15.00. I was both relieved to know that nobody did actually risk life and limb by climbing an item that did not look as if it would support a four year old - but also tickled pink that I had found something I had been looking for for ages - a ladder on which to display my houseplants!

Item two is also garden oriented - a lovely, hand-thrown terracotta pot, which someone has 'artistically' (NOT!!) - painted with black paint. Fortunately, that is coming off with much soaking and scrubbing with a wire brush (bought in the DIY and tools shed on A's advice) - a little paint left behind will be no problem (makes it look rather 'Etruscan', I think) and I will have added one more interesting item to the garden landscape.

Elbow grease, hot water, wire scrubber

Getting there!

Many of my Internet friends seem to have the same propensity for seeking out quirky 'bits and bobs' for next to nothing. Fran Redondowriter does the same on the other side of the planet - different 'stuff' but the same sense of fun, discovery, and inherent call to creativity that the discovered items hold for both of us. I hope everyone reading this has a call to some form of exploration, discovery and creativity today - whether it be in your garden, kitchen, art-room, or science lab. It's what lifts us out of mere existence and makes us more fully human, isn't it? and we can all be, I think, at least a little happier as a result..

(This post is the first I will be sharing on Rebecca's Sunday 'Postcards from Paradise' at  her ever-creative and inspiring Recuerda mi Corazon. Why not pop over there to see other blog posters who are sharing a little bit of their own Paradise today?)

Comments

[Gina]

Roz, the ladder is gorgeous. I've wanted such a long for ages but now we simply don't have the room. And I LOVE the way the pot looks after your attention.

[Ardi]

Delightful day for you and what wonderful finds. Love the pot after its scrubbing. And the ladder does a fine job of displaying your plants.

[Jamie]

Love it!

[rebecca]

dear roz,
a warm welcome to postcards from paradise;
a bit of sacred in every ordinary, and certainly you have hit pay dirt! loving your handy ladder, stairway to floral heaven! and the black patina on the terracotta pot? definitely the most charming detail.
is there anything more satisfying then discovering something life has long ago cast away and giving it a charming new purpose in live?
can't wait to see what possess you within the week and has you hungry to share more!

[Darla]

Don't know what else was there but you sure came away with two great pieces. The ladder makes such a great plant display and the new pot, after much work, looks like something found in a museum.

Darla

[Lisa at Greenbow]

It would be paradise cruising an antique shop and finding these wonderful items. Happy Day.

[Paula Hagar]

That ladder is truly PERFECT for your plants! What a find, Roz. Love it.

[Fran aka Redondowriter]

Roz, it is so good to have you post at Postcards and hope you visit again tomorrow (or today for you--I know it's 6 a.m. there) for Mornings With Mary. And thanks for mentioning my name. I love your ladder and your pot--and how everything turned out. I so hope to visit Autumn Cottage one day, as you know. I have a rickety old ladder up on my deck--and now I'm thinking.

[Banker's niece seeks perfection]

Size seven feet is not clodhopping - mine are eight and a half! You're right though about those objects we all search for. My treasures are CLOTHES (new or old) which can be altered, customised, used to alter other clothes etc etc. Such fun and so satisfying. (And very necessary when you're five foot ten inches like I am.)

[Margaret R Lambert]

Dear Roz, my first look at a non-medical screen in nearly two wees, and I am so pleased to see your new additions as well as another look at Houghton Hall. I always alike something to add height, and the ladder is perfect!! Such a treat to see after days in hospital!