One mans junk is another mans treasure

I live not far from a town with an amazing huge Junk shop and over the years we have become friends with the wonderful owner Stephane. Yesterday we began with a DIY shop for dark oak stain for the staircase and hall floor and some wire to make a future chandelier. I also bought a new soldering iron to replace my crappy Chinese one, safer! We then went to a charity store called Emmaus, they are all over France and are generally really cheap places to buy. My huge late 17th century oak wardrobe came from there for 40 euros and almost all my china, some chairs, boutis bedspreads and frames. I bought some good frames yesterday for the wood as I needed some moldings for the future fireplace and this is a good cheap way of working. I bought these metal bangles there as when straighened they will made great decorative trim. I also found some green opaline coffee cups from the 50's, I tend to collect these. Everything came to about 10 euros. We then went to our famous Junk shop and there I found these two plates. I love pink Willow pattern and its hard to find. The blue soup plate I will use as all my china is a mix of whatever I like and find. I Don't have a dishwasher so its all hand washed. I picked up this great Eiffel Tower bottle with a bakelite stopper from the 30's / 40's, this piece of mini lace trim and this lace collar. The small wood box is from the 19 th century and holds a diamond cutter and snapper for glass cutting and has the name of the owner Inside, 'Gontier'. It's a special piece and I love old tools. I also found a huge fibre glass tray printed with pears from the 50's which is too big to show but serves as a drainer in my kitchen. Stephane gave me this piece of green vintage curtain, unusual to find green! and this large piece of really old mattress ticking still covered in straw where it was saved from an old bed! It will make great pillow backings or cover a chair. I made a loose cover for my wing chair with the last piece he gave me. I also bought the innards of a small alarm clock and had great fun taking it appart for the pieces to make a tiny scientific instument for my Library in Ramsay House. Another project. This all came to 10 euros again so a good day and a cheap day! Finally I bought a gorgeous antique desk that belonged to a jeweller. I had seen it ages ago and couldn't figure out where to put it but decided to replace my actual desk ( found in the street and painted ) with this antique one. I am going to pick it up next weekend and will take a photo then. I paid 150 euros, a gift as it wasn't the price on the label. We love this shop for the fun of picking through and the jokes and conversations about life. I helped Stephane out with a camera crew one day for the English show 'Escape to the Chateau' where they filmed a Young English couple looking for things for their chateau. The couple who host the show live near me in their chateau and we often bump into each other in the charity shops. This is a lot of bla bla but thought that I would share my day with the three people who read this ! hahaha !! 

 The photo doesn't do justice to this gorgeous lace trim.

 Stephane also gave me these Lacquer trays which as you can see are not yet cleaned ! Sorry. I will use them to store mini projects, makes putting them aside easy.

 Here I add a photo of my wonderful wardrobe ( late 17th early 18th c ) bought for 40 euros 2 years ago and delivered by three strong men as contrary to most wardrobes it does not come appart ! Its very solid and heavy and inside the shelves are really thick and there are drawers with wrought iron handles. It's full of dvd's and mercury balls and my collection of as yet unframed early 20th century architectural drawings! It should contain my collection of vintage fabrics and curtains but its way too big and heavy to go upstairs and if I move houses I will have to think about this piece if I want to keep it. The carving you can see on top is just a piece of antique carving that I plonked there and forgot about! I hope that you enjoy this, it was a good fun day to spend with friends. To thank my friends who took me there and who regularly take care of my dogs, I bought them a gorgeous antique dining table/desk and a 40's folding screen covered in wonderful dark red crushed velvet! yummy!