waving cats and thrifty-whimsy

 hello again everyone! inspired (as always) by artemis of the jUnkaholic blog, i thought i'd do a little post on the joys of thrifting, car boot sales, charity shops and loveable junk.


life in corsica (the sun! the sea!) is brilliant, and i'm not left wanting for much - but a couple of charity shops. now, this isn't just a sleepy seaside village thing, this is a corsica-wide thing. bastia, the largest town/city in the north of corsica has one charity shop, le croix rouge, open 4 days out of 7, til noon. pretty frustrating for a gal who can't physically get to the city within those time scales! (trains here take a good 3 hours to travel less than 100km. they have to go slowly in case of livestock on the tracks, i kid  you not.)


bastia also has itself a flea market in the citadel on a sunday, which disperses instantaneously at the slightest hint of rain. so i have content myself with daydreaming about returning to edinburgh and aberdeen. perusing sites like weheartit.com, theselby.com, and lovemeagain.com for amazing ideas about how to reuse and display thrifty whimsy finds keeps me in check, however.

the above is just lovely - i'm a huge fan of little memories pegged out along twine like washing. prior to departing from scotland, i gave my room a mammoth rearranging session, including pegging some favourite polaroids, old greetings cards (look in your local antiques store for these), sketches, and other paper memories along some silver tiger wire. it transforms a lot of potential mess into a beautiful display. and is it just me, or does the above scream wong kar wai??

i don't care how, but i'm finding or making myself a copy of the above and hanging it in my hallway. it's brilliant. (thank you, mr. selby!)

i positively adore the above, taken from weheartit. something about the mucha collage, black joe's juice grapes, and old frames is just so appealing. whilst the above looks a little discordant, clustering pictures and artwork on your walls would be a beautiful focal point. found a great frame but no picture? easy. spray the frame gold and hang it on your wall as a statement in itself until you find the perfect thing to put inside.


discordance is not always a bad thing though! below is a shot taken from the selby. found something whilst antiquing? stick it up on the wall. it doesn't have to match anything. to someone who prefers old over new, this would be a great way of keeping in touch with precious memories as part of your every day. 

la rosa campsite and hotel are both located in whitby, north yorkshire. if there was ever a perfect example of how things can be re-used to best effect, it would be this campsite and hotel. both lovingly tended, the hotel rooms and caravans are bedecked with second-hand jewels - creating a wonderful eccentric environment in which to enjoy a break away from the world.

the campsite, in their words is "a fantasy land full of nostalgia, romance and all things kitsch, camp and bohemian. There are vintage and classic caravans including chrome Roma's full of etched glass, a converted truck with woodburner and a tipi. Each van is furnished in keeping with it's theme and includes funky decorations, vintage fabrics and kitsch items chosen to make you smile."

who wouldn't want to spend a weekend somewhere like that? but if the idea of camping just doesn't appeal to those of you who hate the cold, can't stand midges, and suffer from hayfever, then the hotel provides the same experience from the shores of historic whitby. the hotel is the very establishment frequented by mr. lewis carroll. the rooms are "more boudoir than boutique" and are themed and decorated in accordance. between the stormy shores of whitby, the mad hatter's tea room, and the hugely atmospheric hotel, it would surely be an unforgettable stay.

but don't take my word for it! go and have a look at the link above. i'm hoping come april that my boy and i will be able to experience it for ourselves. (start preparing for photographic meltdown now.)

i was hoping for more photo and less ramble, but i seem to have defied my purpose! hope you don't mind the burbling - i'll be back to do more of it soon. but what about you lot? are you thrifters? answers on a postcard 

fig 1. 
an extremely bad photo of a couple of postcards...