Things I like....

Hi everyone-hope you've all had a good week. I've just seen that people have left me some kind comments, so I shall attempt again to try and visit you all, although please bear with me as Blogger is barely letting me log in!

The little French gilt salon chair is my latest find-I bought it yesterday, and already the fabric has been replaced (badly by me, as you can see) with a scrap of my favourite grey 'Sophia' by Kate Forman. It's such a pretty, delicate chair-I'm amazed the cane bergere seat is still so strong. It's at that lovely stage of wear where you can just see the red peeping through in places under the gold leaf gilding, which is all worn smooth with age. Best of all it was reduced to £23 in a local antique shop!!! I couldn't believe the price-normally antique giltwood furniture is a lot more expensive than that! I think that's my favourite type of furniture-pretty gilt or grey French and Gustavian stuff, the more distressed the better. What I always think is funny is that the reproduction copies of it are always so much more expensive than the originals!

Saying that though, the reproduction radiator cabinet is something I'm coveting and trying to talk the OH around to liking. I have looked for antique ones but they are few and far between. We have the ugliest radiator in our bedroom-and it's so visible as it's been put on the chimney breast wall where the old fireplace would have been. Feasibly, I can see why it's been put there-there isn't really anywhere else it could go, but I hate it. I wince everytime I look at it.

The OH says he is going to make a cover for it, but I really love the one in the photo. They come in different sizes and colours, and I know the OH could repaint it grey and distress it and make it look like a real French antique one. But he thinks it's a waste of money and is too fancy for our bedroom, as we're not after all living in a French chateau-just a terraced house!! I'm still working on him though-don't you think it looks good with my new chair......

Lastly, I love these charcoal drawings by Degas-the background colours are so gorgeous. They remind me of sugared almonds or French Fancies. I prefer his charcoal sketches to his finished paintings anyday. Wouldn't they look lovely in shabby gilt frames or just pinned up on the wall? Another project to be done...