wonderful recycled English potting shed

During my recent antiques buying trip in the UK, I found this wonderfully recycled potting shed at the back of an antiques store in Sussex.  I couldn't help but take (many!) pictures as I instantly fell in love.  I think it shows that with a wee bit of imagination and clever recycling you can make something great out of almost worthless objects...

The walls are made from old fruit crates and the old door is missing glass.  But hey, it is a potting shed, not a house!  So who cares?

I love the old cart as well, potted with seedlings.  We bought a really sweet cart on the trip, I will try and remember to post a picture next time.  Actually, it almost didn't fit into the load as it was most awkward.  Luckily it was one of the last items to go in, I would have been sad to leave it behind.

Vintage garden tools are hung from the crate walls. 

I love stacks of vintage terracotta pots, as you may know if you have seen our garden room at the store.  Again, this shelf is made from recycled crates, perfect for air and water flow. 

I have always wanted a potting shed.  I once posted about the sophisticated potting shed in the film "It's Complicated" (click here for previous post) but I prefer this recycled version.  And you know what?  I have always wanted a little potting shed and now I am starting to think it may not be such a dream after all...

french antiques at cote provence in melbourne and a find for me!

I have just returned from a little break in Melbourne and am excited to share some of my images. The first few days were filled with deliveries for the store but once I got my work out of the way I decided to find inspiration at one of my favourite stores in Melbourne, Cote Provence (www.coteprovence.com.au). Whilst the shop front of Cote Provence is beautiful, I am actually more in love with the back of the shop, above, with its French doors opening to a brick courtyard. Here is where you will find tin tubs, watering cans, garden pots and the like.

Inside the store one can find French copper on shelving, and French grape picking baskets.

The owners cleverly mix old and new, usually utilitarian objects like these scrubbing brushes, above.

More copper to warm the heart.

They had some of these gorgeous little silver hotel ware dishes for serving. They seemed quite art deco in style, so they probably date from the 1920s. The silver platter is fantastic, too.

For the linen lover, the upstairs of the shop is filled with embroidered bed linens, both old and new, such as these pillow shams, above. How dreamy!

Vintage French shelving (I covet these shelves, terribly, you must know) displaying more French linen.

Look at this gorgeous embroidered pillow in the French basket. I almost want to change my name to suit the monogram!

This French iron day bed was downstairs, it is set up to suit a little girl's room. I love the red and beige linens together, and the checked bolster cushions work well against the iron.

Pigeon shelves filled with bits and pieces, including classic French enamel street numbers.

More rustic linens downstairs, with texture you can see!

French jars with original old tags inside.

A French oyster basket covering chemist's bottles makes a nice display.

A rack with many vintage French tea towels, these make the perfect gift especially at Christmas time, I think. They also make unique small table cloths or place mats.

I adore these blue drawers...a perfect way to store (or lose?) all your bits and pieces.

Now for my find. Later in the day I happened upon this English iron and glass garden terrarium on wheels! I once saw such a contraption on one of my overseas buying trips, but I felt it was a bit fragile to get home in the shipment. I sadly walked away at the time. So I couldn't believe my eyes when I came across this one, it honestly felt like it was meant to be! You must excuse the terrible image, I was so excited that I had to take a photo as it was loaded into the van. Here is a better photo...

On home soil in Tasmania. I can't wait to use it! Both of the angled roof parts open up and can be propped open for ventilation or for watering, or they can be flipped right over. It also has 2 fold down handles at the other end so that you can pick it up and wheel it around. I feel like a child at Christmas! Can you all see why I am so excited?

spring gardening

This antique garden cloche was one of the treasures I found earlier in the year on a buying trip. It came from the Yorkshire dales area of the UK. I am using it to help protect basil seedlings. It is a bit too early to plant basil here in Tasmania, it is not warm enough. I am hoping that the cloche will give create enough warmth to make the basil grow! This is my dibber - the handiest tool I own, and my light weight watering can.

Rocket is growing well at the moment. The slate label was a Christmas present last year. These are available at Karen Wagner's store in Hobart. If you are like me and love gardening, visit Karen's blog here.

You may have seen these antique French garden tiles in a previous post. Oh well, you didn't see my garlic and rhubarb planted in the bed, did you? Purple garlic grows very well here in Tasmania. Plant on the shortest day of the year and harvest on the longest day of the year, or so they say. I followed this method last year and it worked for me.

I am a tad worried about my broccoli, they are not sprouting or flowering at this stage and they have been in for a few months now. I am trying to be patient but it is difficult. Advice anyone?

My bay tree is flowering at the moment, attracting much needed bees to the vegetable garden.

Tarragon and purple sage in a wire work planter against the fence with another slate marker for the Tarragon. The slate markers are very handy if you ask someone unfamiliar with herbs to go picking. I am speaking from experience, it is easy to end up with parsley when you asked for mint!

This is my trusty daisy weeder which is vying for the title of handiest garden tool. And it is coming in at a very close second. I will be on the hunt for these for the store on my next buying trip as they work very well with daisies in the lawn.

And lastly, a weeping cherry tree in the front yard and a bee at work! As worldwide bee numbers decline with the possibility of extinction, we should all be happy when we see these beautiful little creatures in our gardens.

more Cotswolds shopping including the famous Highgrove store!

In an antique shop in the Cotswolds town of Tetbury I fell in love with the large American decoy duck in the above image. I also liked the vintage ticking mattresses folded in the background, and the French armchair at the front. Upstairs in the same store, the blue painted bench was a standout. And check out the size of the wire egg basket...I think it is suitable for ostrich eggs!

A French baker's stand with vintage bread baskets. The local florist, Twig, is perhaps my favourite florist I have ever found. It is unique and ever-changing. The chequered wooden flooring makes a wonderful backdrop for greenery.

A romantic French carved and caned bed in another antiques store.

A Gustavian bench seat. We found a similar bench seat at a fair on the trip...image to come.

A collection of white ceramics on a rustic table...

An an interesting sculpture made from vintage garden tools...

As you may know by now, I do have a current obsession with large terracotta pots, the more the better as they look great grouped together. I have found a number of these so far on my travels.

On the corner of the main street in Tetbury there is a store called Highgrove which I had not seen before. All profits go towards the Princes Charities Foundation, which makes me feel better about the fudge that I bought...for charity after all! I was taken with their store displays which incorporate vintage garden tools...

A French orchard ladder in Highgrove is used as a display shelf.

I bought these super long elm benches as I loved the figuring of the timber in the seats and also the length. And they are very sturdy, too.

our antique buying trip begins...with an enormous antique trade fair!

We have finally touched down in the UK for our antique buying trip. And we start the hunting and gathering with a large antique trade fair. Perfect for gathering up all those pieces that we love to find...mixing bowls, watering cans, quality English tools. It was a perfect sunny day here which meant everyone was in a good mood and happy to bargain.

English garden tools are displayed in a row. I found a few Brades branded tools, known here for quality and durability.

Stone garden dogs keep guard over the frantic action.

A cute little tricycle and a lovely wagon on one of the outside stands.

Child's play...a farm yard set of animals and a barn on another stand.

And on the same stand, a bookcase filled with apothecary bottles. Mostly clear with the odd rare green one thrown into the mix.

Large gilded pub letters are displayed on the grass. This stand also specialised in lanterns.

Patience paid off when I found this French iron day bed from a French dealer. Luckily for me it folds up so it fitted into our van. Which, by the way was already filling with smaller objects, baskets, tools and the like. I love these day beds, they are very romantic and are becoming increasingly hard to find. This piece topped off my buying day and I was pretty pleased with myself!

As we were leaving the fair, I snapped a picture of these tee pee structures. I assumed they were wigwams for growing peas etc. But the dealer informed me that they were made in 1928 from aluminium and thousands of them spanned the width of the River Severn to catch salmon. Now of course he sells them as wigwams to grow peas upon...