Lots and Lots of Very Old Stuff

A very lovely gentlemen approached me yesterday while I was seated or rather collapsed on my stand at the annual Brisbane Antique Fair. After a nightmarish week and a half of preparation for the fair as well as carrying out all the other squillions of necessary jobs that have to be done every day, I was slumped gasping and wondering where my social, home and personal life had disappeared to! This very lovely gentlemen walked up to me and politely informed me that for avid followers of my blog, it had in the last week been looking rather bare and would I please quickly update it. So an apology for my tardiness in keeping you all up to date!
Now it's Saturday morning at the fair and there are people every which way you turn so writing this is only happening in between chats, and as such so far has taken me 4 hours.Nick arrived (last minute as always) on Thursday afternoon so it was a mad panic to have everything set up before the opening night. With his ute loaded to the hilt with antiques and fabrics, one dealer remarked on how Nick insisted on doing everything himself - what's a delivery truck???!!!! But... at least it keeps things interesting oh daddy dear.

Opening night got off to a great start
and my very talented, budding photographer boyfriend Damien kindly ran around like a madman taking photos for me. (The bad shots like this one are all mine).

The hits of the night were the ever popular Easter European Bench Seat, the unusual French painted mirror and of course the beautiful Famille Rose vases and Garden Seats.

Fabrics were also popular, particularly my three absolute favourites which I'm using at the moment to re-upholster some gorgeous gold leaf carved French chairs. The embroidery and detail in these is absolutely out of this world.

A peruse around the fair turned up some really interesting goodies which I will post next week as right now I have to deliver some chairs.

Have a wonderful weekend!

King Size Beds Can be Antiques!

Thought I would post today about a misconception that seems to be making its way around antique and interior design circles in Brisbane and has done so for some time. I have fielded this question a number of times over the phone recently from curious customers and thought best to put the record straight to all of you who are interested and avid antique buyers.

It seems there is a belief that king size beds were not made in earlier centuries, and that large beds are therefore not genuine antiques. This is totally incorrect. Very large beds have been made for centuries now and one of the best examples for those that have not heard of it is 'The Great Bed of Ware' , a massive 3m wide, oak four poster bed which was made in 1590, and housed in the White Hart Inn in Ware, England and was designed to sleep up to 15 people at once.

It's certainly true that large antique beds are scarce relative to the number of antique double beds around, but it is totally incorrect to say there are none. Here are a couple of photos of genuine 19th century beds that we have in our shop, queens and kings and of course... the giant Bed of Ware!