Home is where the many, many vintage tea-cups are

Kitchenalia ground zero

I’m fascinated by people’s homes – the personal touches, family photos, and how they (usually) reflect a particular era or trend in interior design. Sometimes it’s only when you look back on an old photo of how your living room used to be you think “Wow!” or perhaps “Woah!”. My Mum’s former council house is a chaotic, eclectic time-warp, which makes it harder to pinpoint in time. It’s bonkers.

Mum with (some of) her French linen

When my Mum develops an interest in something, she really goes for it. There was the vintage sewing patterns phase  – some gorgeous designs spanning 1940s to 1980s from which she hand-made some wonderful outfits. She collected enough to acquire duplicates of duplicates, it got wild.  Then there was the kitchenalia. I spent ages searching for a lovely 1950s syrup dispenser for her one Christmas, only to learn she already had four. Her current passion is French linen, particularly bedding and delicate towels.

Cruet set (on formica)

There are a lot of flowers in many forms – on cups, in pictures, and fake ones in vases (with flowers on them). There are vintage-inspired tea and cake shops in Leeds that look like my Mum’s kitchen, it’s weird.

At some point this vintage boom has to implode, right? But in the meantime my Mum will keep picking up bargains from car boot sales. If your eyes can handle a full set of pictures, check out my gallery.