Antique Chests & Arundel this weekend

Good Morning

from

Arundel Eccentrics

Sunny one here in Arundel, Sussex.

Farmers market tomorrow in Arundel

Its always the third Saturday of the month.

Will someone please tell me where the time goes?

Ford car boot sale is on as usual tomorrow morning.

Just outside Arundel,

its on the old airfield down at Ford.

This bread is gorgeous

You will find just about everything down there.

It tends to be really buzzy first thing.

Dealers come from all over

 the place to buy and sell.

If you've never been it's

 a great way to spend

Saturday morning.

I am so busy at the moment 

I haven't had a chance to go on one of 

my Arundel walks.

Lets have a little meander............

We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful town.

..........and no Arundel tourist board aren't paying me....but maybe they should LOL

King Street Arundel, where many of the houses were built by Napoleonic prisoners of war.

Ever had tea here?
When my English friend Stella comes back each year from Kentucky its the first place she wants to go.
We have a lovely English afternoon tea and catch up on all our news.

Victorian Chests of drawers

Upcycled and ready for the next 100 years.

I thought you might be

 interested to see what we 

get up to with our 

19th century chests of drawers.

 

For many years, it seems to have 

 been  stripped pine, or brown,

that was all the rage, 

in antique and vintage,

 chests of drawers.

These are still 

immensely popular with some folk............. 

 These days, though, many people are looking 

for something a bit different,

lets say, a little quirky.

They still want antique,

but with a little more,

as the French say, 

" Je ne sais quoi "

 That's hopefully,
 what we add to our 

19th century chests.

We take antique, 
mostly 19th century chests,

that are looking a little

down at heel......

such as this pair of sad looking specimens,
 which came complete with fablon........

and we turned them into....

this

you look a lot happier..  hey guys?

 We paint them

before lovingly

 decorating them with,

mostly decoupage.

It's now, 
apparently,
 called
"Upcycling" 

 some of our chests of drawers have been gracing pages in very smart interiors magazines..

as well as some extremely, posh shops

 sometimes we paint them all over...

This was in red tartan

Occasionally, we gild them,

and then decorate 

with decoupage.....

I know,I know,

completely bonkers 

aren't they?

People love them..or not,

but they never ignore them... ha ha

I once had a large stand

 in an antique centre in

Arundel High Street,

( now an Italian Restaurant)

when a woman in her early 20's, and her

 extremely well heeled mother, came in.

"Oh, look Mummy, isn't it gorgeous?"

"Dahling, I think its absolutely hideous,"
Mummy replied, in a very haughty, plummy, accent

They then proceeded to have a 
huge debate,
 right in front 
of me,
 as to the merits, (or not,)
of my chest of drawers.

Ha ha

Never ignored though.......

We mostly, (but not solely) 
work to supply trade,
and these have ended up in some 

extremely smart stores,

in New York and other 

large US cities,

London,

and Paris. 

It takes us many hours of cutting out the

 Victorian, copy right free images.

We age them down,

 so they look as if they were decorated

 over 100 years ago.

silver gilt swallows on a black chest of drawers

this chest has begun a new life and is now residing in the Laguna Hills in California ...ha ha

This lovely chest of drawers,

 I cannot take credit for,

my lovely, Aunty B hand painted it.

It's a Noah's Ark design

which of course,

the Victorians loved.

I love the butterflies and moths.

This chest came out of

Osborne House 

on the Isle of Wight.

You know, where

Queen Victoria used to 

escape to for her hols.

Although it has a 

Queen Victoria stamp on the back,

I can't guarantee she

 kept her cami-knickers in it.

LOL

The most popular of all  our 

19th century chests, are the black and fish.

I am not sure why they work so well, 

but they do always wind up looking extremely smart.

These have featured in a few magazines.

Vintage sheet music 

on a 

Victorian 
Chest of drawers

This was a vintage screen we found at auction.

We decorated it with music on one side,

and black and dragonflies on the other.

There really is no end to our eccentricity..ha ha 

This is another Fabulous, Aunty B 

painted chest of drawers.

I Sooooo wish I could paint like her.

This chest of drawers went off to a

 new life in the US, a few years ago.

It's now living by the ocean in Carolina.....
wish I was.......
no, not really,
just a holiday there for a
 few months would be great.

We will be open tomorrow 11-4

Many apologies to our regulars ,
as we have only been open 
by appointment for several months.

We hope to change that very soon.

Have a great day.

www.arundeleccentrics.com