I spent this week staying at mum and dad's place to get my back fixed, and while I was there I took a trip to Lismore with my good friend Alisha and her mum to hit up the op shops and have a little catch up. I must say, I am impressed with this haul, and equally impressed with the whopping $17 total that these items (including the double bedspread which I used as a backdrop) came to.
The floral mugs are bone china and were only 50c each, as were the Noritake tea cups. Anyone who knows me will know I am a total tea snob - very particular about the tea I drink, the way it's made and what it's served in. I won't drink tea out of anything that isn't bone china and these mugs are the perfect, pretty way to consume large amounts of tea in the winter months (which I am starting to sorely anticipate). The bed spread is currently covering my ugly lounge, until I either find a chenille spread for it, or get a new one. It brightens the room up nicely, having cream on the lounge. I love it.
The divided dish was a practical find which will get tonnes of use, and the other dish is marked "Fire King" and I absolutely love it! Not sure if it will stay in the kitchen or find it's way as storage in the sewing room yet, but the pattern in beautiful. I realised today that none of my "pyrex" is actually pyrex, but I totally don't care because they're so pretty and practical.
While I was at my parents' place, mum cleaned out her cupboards and gave me a tonne of antique serving ware and other tidbits that she doesn't want anymore. I swear it was better than Christmas, and I'll post a bit about it when it's all unpacked, because it's just so awesome! So many beautiful things which were totally off-limits when I was a little girl are finally mine, and I'm so excited to have visitors over and pull it all out. She even gave me two small Doulton plates, which is a big deal for mum, because she collects it and my dad bought her these plates when they lived in Toowoomba, which basically kick-started her collection. I feel so lucky to have grown up in a house which was filled with antiques, because it has really fostered my love for it all. I think it can go either way when you grow up in a house like ours - you either love and embrace it, or hate and shun it. I'm so glad that I fell in love with it, and I attribute my passion for history to this antique-filled upbringing. I always loved hearing the stories behind the things mum and dad found and collected, and I think that was my first real exposure to "history".
Have you had any recent thrifty finds that blew your mind? Or perhaps some exciting hand-me-downs, like I received from mum?
