Hi everyone. Last week was manically busy - working hard but also very exciting as I bought my first ever grown-up camera - a DSLR !! I've had a compact Panasonic Lumix for 11 years which I've used to take all the photos, including those on my blog, and frankly it's a pretty amazing little camera. It's never let me down and the quality of the photos is superb. I'd prefer to buy another Panasonic as they have the most fantastic Leica lenses but they don't (yet) make DSLRs, just Bridge cameras. In the DSLR range there are really only two brands to consider, Canon and Nikon, and from what I understand you are either a Canon person or a Nikon person. I'm neither, I remain brand agnostic and am more influenced by price and reviews. I ended up buying a Nikon (D5500) so I guess I'm now a Nikon girl!! So I've been stalking my new camera for four days now as it sits on the kitchen table, quite intimidated by it. I've managed to charge it and take a couple of pics but that's about it. I need to bite the bullet, read the manual and start to use it. Enough of that, this blog post is supposed to be about collecting items so here goes!
Do you have a passion for a particular type of item and are amassing a collection? For example, a type of china, all things "owl" related, teddy bears (hope not!), glassware, mirrors ....... the list is endless.
Some people collect a certain type of china. The photos below are the home of a florist who (obviously) collects Wade china vases. She has cleverly, to great effect, made a feature of them in a living room and also in one of the bathrooms.
By nature I'm neither a hoarder nor a collector but I do adore mirrors and have over 15 mirrors in my home so technically that could class me as a collector, no?! Recently I've developed a love of small vintage tins and whenever I see one that I like, I buy it. Currently I only have six tins and I don't plan to avidly search them out just to add to the collection as and when I find them. I usually pick them up in junk shops, second hand shops or markets and the rustier the better. I've never parted with more than £22 for a tin and that's in a shop; if I am at a market or junk shop I can buy them for a couple of quid.
I'm all for collecting items but I think it's really important to display them in such a way that they become part of your interior styling, rather than just build up a clutter of them on a shelf to gather dust or in a cupboard where you can't see them. I'm also very practical by nature and a time management freak so I use most of these vintage tins for storing useful items like pen, paper, reading glasses, TV remote, stapler, post-its etc. The pretty tin on the pile of books (makeshift side table!) next to the chair I sit in to watch TV is particularly useful. Means I don't have to get up to find a pen and paper if I suddenly have a brain wave which often happens when I'm watching some mind-numblingly boring programme on TV! And being of a certain age where my eye sight is no longer perfect, if I can fit a pair of glasses in the tin all the better so they are strategically placed in each room, hidden in a tin where possible, so out of sight.
Here are the vintage tins I currently have. They may not appeal to everyone but I love the age of them, the old-fashioned design and subtle colours. The larger ones are old biscuit tins. They certainly don't make such beautiful biscuit tins these days, do they? Anyway, here are my tins and how I've used them as part of my interior styling.
I'd love to hear about what items you are passionate about and that you collect - what quantities you have, how you store or display them, where you find them to buy etc. Do let me know and I'm sure my subscribers would enjoy reading about your collections. I'd also love to get some feedback from you as to what topics you'd like me to cover in my blog.