Live the Pooh way

Very Vintage and Right Retro!

Long live Vintage! Roll on retro!

I love this next quote! If life was as easy as walking around being vintagy and fabulous everyday! Something to aim for then!

I love vintage stuff. I love the past. I love browsing around vintage stores and looking on Pinterest at vintage rooms with vintage decor. I am a very nostalgic person and this love of revisiting my past childhood and teens probably helps to fuel my love of vintage and retro. I love telling, and listening to stories about the past. I love 'Remember When ...' sessions. Events, people, music just coke flooding back and are so clear in my mind.

I love remembering the decor and the fashions of the past. It reminds me of places and hoyses I was very happy visiting as I was growing up. Certain things, especially perfume scents will bring back lovely memories of people. The best one is my mum in her favourite Chanel no 5. I was allowed other perfumes but I kbew ti veer away from this little beauty of a bottle. Other reminders are her Charlie perfume and Vanderbilt.

The list is endless for past perfumes: Lou Lou, Paris, Anais Anais being a few. I loved the exclamation perfume. Perfumes used to come with a body lotion, especially when ordering from Avon!

I do love vintage perfumes and body products. My friends' Pretty Little Treat Company sells beautiful beauty products with a vintage theme to their packaging. The hand creams and lip balms are my fave and I love the smell of sherbet lemon, lavendar and sweet violet, lovely scents that take me back to my childhood.

I often spot some furniture or a mirror in an antique shop and comment my grandparents or aunts and uncles had the same. It's a lovely link to the past that we can only ever go back to in our memories and conversations. It would be lovely if this quote came true.

Just what is vintage though? And retro?
When I typed both into Pinterest, I was flooded with fab pictures. Too many in fact! This quote made me laugh.

When I think of retro, it's old. Maybe even the 90s now! Vintage is just older. I am very old school; a traditionalist, just like my dad. I've always shied away from new things. My motto are kind of-
There's nothing wrong with this!
If it's broke, why fix it?
I'm thinking back to the 'good old days where we took our dresses to be rehemmed, our shoes to be reheeled and our electric appliances to be mended. My dad especially bought quality and traditional. I loved our old Morris Minors and our Traveller.

I was one of those teachers who was still hugging her beloved blackboard as it was being loaded into the skip, chalk all over her clothes. I was the same teacher who struggled with the new Smartboard too. In the same way, I've held out to get a modern kindle, holding on to the beloved books with their paper pages. I loved my old typewriter, then word processor and I'd write my blog on that if I could!

I suppose it is best to look at different areas of vintage and retro. I must start with furniture and decor. I love the idea of restoring something to its old use, the idea of it being loved again.

I have so many pictures from Pinterest, I've picked my fave to create a Vintage/Retro collage!

I love the turquoise colours with the orange. These remind me of the vintage cafe, Matamalde on the Square in Wakefield. This is a fab place to eat and their afternoon tea is fab. The furniture is an eclectic mix of old tables and chairs, even pews. They sell the Annie Sloan paint here. I'd love this renovated cupboard in my house.

These ideas from Pinterest for creating drinks cabinets are marvellous.

My favourite, however, has to be this old television. Imagine that in your living room!

Look at the fab, bright colours and patterns here! They are bringing back so many fantastic memories!

The wallpaper, lamps and cushions make me think of the fab Orla Keily designer who began designing bags and purses in block colours and retro patterns, moving on to decor and crockery. I absolutely love these I found on Pinterest.

Another amazing place to visit if you love vintage furniture and decor is the lovely Vintage Collective at Gilroyd. If you love vintage and retro, a visit here is a must! My sister in law and I kept saying, if only we had more room to house such gorgeous things. The indoor planters were gorgeous.

We could have spent all day here, browsing at the different units and oohing and aahing at everything! These photos I took do not do it justice. You need to go and see for yourselves!

I was reminded of this lovely place by the owners of my fave cafe HAVE it, who have all sorts of gorgeous things on their walls from here. I love their wall of vintage/retro paintings from Vintage Collective.

HAVE it have a gorgeous vintage/retro shop in the back full of wonderful things! They display and sell these beautiful macrami wall gangings and plant holders made by Wall Hangings. They come in fab colours and look great.

These made me think of the fab retro Orla Keily range of plant pots and holders.

Nickynackynoonah Painted Furniture and Knicknacks at Thryburgh is also a business I have followed on Facebook. It has a unit at the Vintage Collective and has wonderful furniture and vintage stuff galore! As shown in these Facebook pictures.

They posted a fab list of things furniture restorers need to do, other than just paint it, adding the delivery of the item too! This lengthy list just shows how much hard work My friend Zoe, and everyone put into restoring furniture.

When you are thinking of something, lots of posts come up and I have found so many other fab little businesses on Facebook. One is this wonderful business called Angie's Shabby Chic Makes. She restores old furniture and makes them ready to be removed again. I can remember those old dressing tables with the big mirrors. Beautiful.

Another is The Budget Decorator. What a unique idea to use the ends of these vintage suitcases as shelves! Very clever and so effective!

This moves us nicely to crockery and glasses. Again, there were so many photos to choose from on Pinterest, so I've chosen a few.

I do buy bits and bobs, mainly retro coffee pots and coffee sets. Now HAVE it coffee shop is here, I am trying my best to not succumb to the call of the pots, but I am really struggling! I am the woman who hides a bag of 'more cups and saucers' from her hubby, rather than a new top or a new handbag! HAVE it's wonderful shop has gorgeous pots, vases, jugs and coffee/tea sets that I just don't know what to choose from! I've bought the yellow pair of cups and saucers and need to go back for the others!

I absolutely love collecting pots and I am potty for pots! I love Carlton ware, Wade and Poole in particular but also anything that catches my eye. I go for creams and browns or blues and greens. These Carlton ware are gorgeous. I have the cream and brown but now want to collect the blues too!

I find much of my pottery at the Elsecar and Cawthorne Antique Centres. These are amazing places and I never have enough time to look around them! Wentworth Antique Centre and the Emporium are also fab. There are so many amazing places, I may need to write another blog to cover them all! These places all have lovely cafes too. The Pantry at Elsecar is very vintage and the decor, crockery and cutlery all lovely. It really is like stepping back in time.

I am also a new customer at Locked in Time Dodworth. There is a little cafe with fab coffee and cake and their upstairs part? I was in Pottery heaven! I reached the top of the stairs and just stood there gaping! There was one room filled to the brim with tea/coffee sets and if that wasn't enough, this room led to another! Brilliant!

My sister in law are both potty for pots and vases and love Wakefield so when we are there, we visit both Wakefield Hospice Shops for tea and coffee sets or anything else vintage and fabulous! The Barnsley Hospice shops also have very good pots for sale. I visited one of the Wakefield shops recently and there were about six retro coffee pots for sale. I bought one and thought I'd come back for another. Big mistake!

I like to have my pots and sets as decorative for a bit but mostly, we then use them. Life is too short!

I am becoming a teapot lover too and look out for quirky ones in the Antique Centres. One of my fave modern shops, that pay homage to vintage is Oliver Bonas and they do fab, vintage teapots like this one.

Some of my fave vintage stuff is jewellery.
I love to think about the life of the piece of jewellery before I was wearing it. I love it when the ring comes in its little ring box still.

These Art Deco rings are so amazing. I love rings with coloured precious stones. I love the ones shaped with hearts and flowers.

Wentworth Antique centre and Elsecar Antique centre have a very good selection of antique rings I love my amethulyst ring from here. I always browse around Cawthorne Antique centre, trying beautiful rings on. The only problem though is that most of the rings are small and dainty. Not the two adjectives I'd usr to describe my fingers! I sometimes get a pair of earings as I know they will fit!
Newburgh Gallery is one of my fave places to go to find something unusual, unique, vintage and retro. The owners are so friendly and they have a wonderful collection of paintings by local artists who are very talented, including one of the owners. They have a variety of locally handmade products, including candles, pots, vases, jewellery, glassware and cards. Their Powder scarves are so soft and luxurious.

They hold vintage weekends where you could go and buy every single pot, piece of jewellery and glassware. Well. Everything in the shop really! At Christmas, the very Vintage baubles, ornaments and hanging felt animals went down a treat! I was very happy with my pots, jewellery and punchbowl and bought many of my Christmas presents from here. Every one said how gorgeous they were. These lovely weekends are also fab because you are greeted with a smile, a glass of Prosecco, or orange and a lovely mince pie or cake.

I can't blog about vintage jewellery without talking about my fave ever handmade jewellery, Brownfish Designs. The lady is so talented! She starts with fab vintage tins from all over and produces the best vintage/retro jewellery.

They are stocked all over but I mainly get mine from the Cooper Gallery, Created in Yorkshire I'm Wakefield and The Art house Cafe in Penistone. These latest pieces on her facebook are wonderful.

All of the above bring back so many fantastic memories of mine and my grandparents 70s, 80s home and I just love revisiting.
I love visiting vintage/ retro cafe and tea rooms. There are so many lovely ones. The Village Tea Rooms in Wentworth are so cosy and vintage. It definitely fits in with the vintage village. I love walking through Wentworth and always stop at the gorgeous Paradise Square, waiting for Miss Marple to come out of one of the cottages. I love the feel of stepping back in time when we step into this little tea room, take a seat and order scrumptious cake and a cafetierre.

They posted a picture of the garden outside which looks idyllic too. You can just see it on this montage they put on Facebook.

All their yummy buns, scones and cakes are handmade. Again, shown on this lovely facebook page montage. Which one would you choose?

Another vintage/retro place to visit is the wonderful dog friendly Zorro Lounge. When I first went here in Glossop, I couldn't stop staring at everything from the tables and chairs, ornate mirrors and lighting to the pictures hanging on the wall. It is a chain and we now visit the one at Fox Valley. It does not feel like a chain though and we love everything about it.

We love all the different retro table and chair decors and the food and drink is wonderful.

I've been recommended a few groovy places to visit in Sheffield by my friend who has just moved there. I now have a long list of amazing places I need to visit. My faves to go to first are Marmadukes and The Rude Shipyard. Marmadukes looks fab and I love the retro winding staircase. The cakes look really good too!

The Rude Shipyard is dog friendly and serves vegan and gluten free food. The cakes and buns look so yummy!

I need a full day in Sheffield when I go as there are some lovely vintage gift shops, including the wonderful Bird's Yard shop. I keep seeing fab stuff for sale on their Facebook and I love cacti so love this montage.

Returning to Oliver Bonas which is a modern shop but their designs are very vintage. Their decor is gorgeously vintage.

My sister in law and I love this shop for everything but their quirky jewellery especially. The colours, shapes and patterns are ace. We love the chunky, painted wooden jewellery so much.

They also sell groovy ring holders in quirky shapes with lovely patterns.

I looked on Pinterest for ideas for vintage afternoon teas and found these two lovely pictures.

These remind me of the gorgeous Dulcie Butterfly Tea Rooms in Boston Spa that I follow on Facebook and aim to visit soon. I love the floral, pastel, vintage feel of this lovely place. They sell gluten free buns and cakes and hold tea parties for children and adults.

I love the East Coast and I've also been recommended a cafe and B&B called Dotty's in Staithes.  I was sold straight away when I saw the photos of this wonderfully vintage place to stay.

Further afield is one of mine, and my sister in law's all time faves, The Rockpool in St Ives. This was one of the best surprise vintage cafes I have ever visited. You get out of your car, walk around to the front and stop in wonder! The most gorgeous, sparkling green sea greets you! We enjoyed such a lovely afternoon, sitting in the sun, overlooking the rockpool, sharing afternoon tea and cocktails.

I follow The Rockpool and imagine I'm back there. I loved this recent post showing a turmeric drink, which is supposed to be good for you. Just look at that rockpool and sea!

There are so many wonderful vintage/retro places to visit and friends and family who go away, for the day, weekend, fortnight or even longer, are sharing their photos and experiences with me. One of the furthest places was my friend who has just visited New York and had afternoon tea, not breakfast, at Tiffanys! Wow! I love turquoise so loved these photos she sent me! Very retro!

My fave picture is the one where my friend made a ring out of one of the chocolates! Very clever!

So. I think, no matter where you, near or far, even across the Atlantic, you can't beat a bit of vintage/ retro to make you feel fabulous!