Vintage Cutlery

When I turned 21, my parents presented me with a perfectly adequate cutlery set. I can’t remember how many pieces it has, but believe me when I say that there were more types of spoons in there than I have fingers on my hand.

That being the case, I feel horribly ungrateful about the fact that now that I hvae ordered my new super cool dinner set (currently on sale at Peters of Kensington!) that I would really like some vintage cutlery to go with it. Or at least vintage styled cutlery.

While we were on honeymoon in Paris I found what I thought was the perfect set. Sitting at the breakfast table I stared at the markings on it, determined to remember it long enough to go back to our room and write it down so I could find it again.

Except I didn’t.

So I have resorted to searching for “baroque cutlery” on the interweb, and astonishingly there are some beautiful pieces out there. I have no idea how I’ve lived in ignorance for this long!

When I first chose all the accessories for my table (candle sticks, salt and pepper shakers, napkin rings) I decided to go with silver, because (or so I reasoned) all cutlery is silver, and if I have cold accessories, it’ll never be possible for everything to match.

But I was wrong!
Check out this lovely set from
overstock.com

Crown Royal Gold Cutlery Set

I think this set is my favourite

Mason Luxe Baroque Cutlery

from overstock.com

I’m also loving this mismatched look from Anthropologie

Anthropologie “Rediscovered Flatware”

But I’m worried it’ll be too much with mismatched dinner sets. And it’s quite pricey at $36/single person set. But if you’re after some vintage cutlery that’s also quirky, it’s a great idea!

Along the same lines is this set

Personalised Vintage Silverware

from Napastyle. They have a collection of mismatched vintage cutlery that they can send you in 20, 40 or 80 piece sets. And they can monogram it. I’m loving this idea!

And finally, there’s these

Baroque Cutlery

From Smarty Had a Party. They’re beautiful! But disposable (or should that read “and disposable” for when one doesn’t want to have to do the dishes after a dinner party?)

And just as a side note, does anyone know when and why they started calling it “flatware” rather than “cutlery”? I’m not quite sure I understand the reasoning!

Part of me wishes that I’d DIYed all the reception stuff (I’m still loving barn weddings. And outdoor receptions, with tables and chairs randomly placed in forested green areas.) Then I would have had an excuse to buy at least some of this vintage cutlery…

Wash on Monday

I seem to be in a constant battle with the house regarding general tidiness. (I suspect, at heart, I was designed to be surrounded by thousands of servants). I started ‘spring cleaning’ the house more than two years ago in an attempt to get it in some sort of order after we moved and only half heartedly unpacked.

Well, two years on all the rooms (bar my study) have been unpacked and sorted, and now it just remains to go back and tidy and put away in all the rooms before I begin the attempt to keep the house clean (which sounds like just as much work, to be honest).

As a result, I’ve decided to adapt the good old saying:
Wash on Monday
Iron on Tuesday
Mend on Wednesday
Shop on Thursday
Clean on Friday
Bake on Saturday
Rest on Sunday

Unfortunately, if we used Monday as washing day no one would have clean work/school clothes to start the week. So instead, I think my saying will go:

Wash on Sunday
Garden on Monday
Rest on Tuesday
Mend on Wednesday
Shop on Thursday
Clean on Friday
Bake on Saturday

Do you think I’ll have any luck doing it this way?
And how would you have to organise the poem to fit your life?

Living Life on the Edge

There seems to be a lot of emphasis on online wedding planning/blogging/DIY sites to make your wedding (and sometimes your life!) be unique and different – and often cuttting edge.

The upside to this is that your likely to have a memorable wedding that you truly love. The downside, is that things are often difficult to source.

Often things that started out as being different and quirky (such as cake pops or photobooths) become a trend, and everyone jumps on board. And that’s ok, I’m not saying that you should only do things to be different, and by that point it’s easy to find suppliers. But when you’re the first person to think of it? Well then it’s darn hard.

I know I had to scrap a few of my earlier ideas (and oddly enough, which I’m glad I didn’t end up with) because it was just Too Hard. Finding large amounts of buttons at an affordable price? Almost impossible. Mason jars in Australia? Non-existent. Becoming a millionaire? Didn’t happen.

So what do you do when planning on the edge makes your plans impossible? I wish I had an answer for that. For me, I ended up changing things. For others, they’ve ended up going into the wedding planning business themselves and becoming suppliers of whatever it was they wanted. Others pay a fortune to make it happen.

But, since the end of the wedding I have discovered it’s not just wedding things that seem to be hard to source! I came across these super-cute Christmas decorations the other day:

And I loved them. I instantly decided to change my decoration approach for Christmas. Again. (I do this every year, even though every year I vow that I won’t). But they were too expensive to buy enough of, so I decided to DIY them.

I found a supplier of mdf shapes on ebay at a GREAT price, and all that was left to do was to source red polka dot paper. How hard could that be?

Apparently very hard. If I live in the UK it’s no worries – Handy Hippo has plenty of card at a fairly decent price – but shipping to Australia is over $50. Ouch.

If I wanted a different colour, I’d be fine. I can find pink and white polka dot paper, green and white, blue and white, black and white! But red and white, no way.

I’m still trying to find a way around this problem, and I’ll be sure to let you know if and when I do. But in the meantime, I wanted to let you know that if you’re finding it hard living life on the edge? Well then, I hear you.