Our wonderful Christmas Event, Arundel Notebooks, Arundel Eccentrics Workshops and if Victorian Chests of Drawers could talk
Good Morning from Arundel.
A beautiful crisp
& sunny November morning.
Forgive this little bit of nonsense, but imagine,
if you would,
that furniture could talk.
Yes, Yes, I know.
Utter drivel,
but humour me...ha ha.
" I was made in a joiners shop in London, in Victorian England.
The year was around 1860, from what I recall,
although, dahlings, that was over 150 years ago,
so you will forgive me if my memory has dimmed a little, over time.
I was made out of pine,
which was relatively cheap,
in those days,
and thus, early
on in life I was stained
to look like a slightly posher,
more expensive,
wood.
I survived two world wars, relatively unscathed,
tucked away in a country cottage, away from most of the action.
At that time I was looked after pretty well, dahlings,
and painted repeatedly over the years,
when I began to look a little down at heel and scuffed.
Then in the 1960's I was put together with another
pine chest of drawers of about the same vintage,
as we looked very much like a pair.
Our owners did some very odd things to us,dahlings,
although I assume it might have been something
to do with the very strange styles that were around at that time.
We were painted in this ghastly pink paint and then someone
stuck dreadful plastic stuff on top of both of us.
Formica, I think they called it.
The humiliation of it.
Apparently, dahlings, it was all the rage at that time,
although we could never quite understand the appeal.
As if that were not embarrassing enough,
we were turned out of the house
and into a large shed, where,
for the next few years,
we had old tools thrown into our once
resplendent drawers.
I tell you dahlings, we were at the end of our tether.
I know one shouldn't wish people to,
you know,
pass on,
but it was our saving grace, when that happened.
The whole house was emptied by a van load of people
who called themselves, I believe,
"House Clearance."
That's what was written on the
side of the contraption they shoved us all into.
One way or another,
we ended up standing outside in the wet and freezing cold,
on an old airfield...... car boot sale,
I think they called it dahlings.
At least we were still together, that was something..
That's when our luck changed
and Nass found us and took us home.
Oh! into the warm and dry.
Thats when his wife,
an Arundel Eccentric, dahling,
(strange name for a wife)
anyway,
that's when she took us in hand.
She cleaned us up, as we had all manner of stains and dreadful stuff all over us,
from our days in the tool shed.
Took off the dreadful mismatched handles, that we both had on......
That awful formica stuff, was scraped off after many hours of work.
Then, joy of joys, dahlings, we had several new coats of paint .
One evening, we saw them both cutting out all these buttefrlies
out of paper,
Victorian images, we were told.
We wondered what on earth they were for and speculated all night on that one.
Then dahlings,
Brenda, the
Arundel Eccentric woman,
spent the entire following day sticking them all on to us.
Oh! the joy of all that attention after so many years of neglect.
NEW HANDLES...
we both leapt for joy,
figuratively speaking dahling,
as anyone knows
chests of drawers can't do that by themselves.
After that she put layers and layers of varnishes and ageing stuff on,
so it looked like the work had been done 100 years ago.......
I'm telling you dahlings the sheer joy of it all.
Then, the most amazing
thing happened to us.
We were displayed beautifully with other
Arundel Eccentrics and Nass Interiors
antique furniture
in their Victorian Brewery showroom.
Dahlings, it was like going home
One day a gentleman, with an accent
we really had never heard in our lives,
American, I am told,
came into the warehouse and
and said how much he
loved the pair of chests of drawers.
The joy, dahlings...........
After all the overhaul,
we really did look like a pair after all.
This gentleman had us shipped to the New World.
Although we were desperately sorry to leave
our temporary home in Arundel,
we are now standing side by side
in a very smart shop, or store,
I think they call it here.
As we look out at the hustle and bustle,
we are overcome with emotion
at the good fortune that change our lives
and set us on a new path,
hopefully, for the next 150 years, dahlings.
We overheard our address from one of the shopgirls,
and although we didn't quite catch
the name of the shop or the number,
we distinctly heard
( yes, dahlings, we CAN still hear, you know)
the address was somewhere
on 5th Avenue?
in
New York?
Do you know it?
Is it a good address?
Anyway, one new thing we have both
learnt over here dahlings, is
" Have a nice day y'all"
Arundel Eccentrics Workshops
here is a little about our workshops.
We also have gift cards.
Bear with me...I need to update my website with all our new stock and also details of the workshops.
Oh! not enough hours in the day
But you can always email me, if you are interested.
our Christmas event
We had a busy couple of days at my chum Allie Bond's place
and a Christmas event that was packed out on Friday night.
Here are some of Allie's beautiful pieces
You just could not move.....
It was fun
and I'd like to say a huge thank you to all the friends who came along to support us
 |
| some of my canvases ...I still have a few left and they will be at the Arundel by Candlelight on my stand in Arundel square |
Gwen, an Arundel friend, I have known since I first came here many years ago...
makes bags from vintage fabric...they are gorgeous
Gwen will be on a stand in Tarrant Street at the Arundel by Candlelight.
Linda, makes these super pieces out of driftwood....
We had a fabulous couple of days and when it was quiet,
we talked about everything under the sun.
So, thanks
to everyone that supported us...and spent their money, I might add.
Thanks to the Bond family for letting us take over your house.
And thanks girls, for the company, and the marvellous chats of the past two days.
Ha Ha..better than therapy.
I stilll have a few Arundel notebooks that will be on my stand at Arundel by Candlelight
They are £10 each
Also have Arundel Christmas Cards that will be on the same stand..
They are £1 each...or 15 for £10.
have a great day
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