The dolls house and other snippets

As promised, here's a photo of my 1950s dolls house. It's made of plywood and is quite heavy. I took this photo while it was still in the back of the car. As you can see, years in Mum's garage following an attempt to replace rusty windows in the 70s hasn't done much for its health. However, as soon as I have some time to spare it is going to be revamped, redecorated, its chimney pot will be replaced and it will have replacement windows! Somewhere I have boxes of furniture dating from my era and Hannah's. Once upon a time it had fireplaces and working lights. I haven't shown you the inside as there's nothing to see. I need to replace the dividing walls and basically start from scratch. How we could have let it get into such a sad state I don't know. I feel very guilty, but I'm sure it will look lovely again ... in time!

And what about this for a 1960s knitted bathroom mat? Another thing lurking in the bottom of the wardrobe.

I wish there were more hours in each day so that I could give my unit at the Antiques Centre a good overhaul and rearrange my stock. It was my duty day today but we were quite busy so I didn't manage to get much done. I think I'll pop in again tomorrow to give it a quick tidy. I also need to do the window. The front door of the shop is flanked by two large display windows and I dress one of them. I started to clear the old display today but we were quite busy this afternoon so I didn't manage to create a new window by the end of the day. I must do that tomorrow, otherwise our shop front will look very sad. I think it will be colour coordinated this time and I have a feeling it will be turquoise. I usually go round everyone's pitches looking for inspiration and when something 'leaps out' at me I base the window around that one item. There is a brass lamp with a bright turquoise glass shade (not to everyone's taste, but it makes a statement!) and I realise there are a lot of turquoise/greeny-blue items dotted around in other people's cabinets and pitches. It will certainly make a change from the Christmassy reds and greens that have been the theme for both windows over the last few weeks.

I took a few photos while I was there, but the light wasn't very good, so I'm not sure whether they'll be good enough to show you.

But what do you think of this? It's an embroidered satin and silk wedding kneeler in its original delivery box dated 1902, which I bought from another dealer about a month after the engagement was announced. I came across it yesterday when I was rummaging through the store. It's fabulous, and will definitely be a part of the wedding ceremony.

It's been a long day today and I feel ready to put my feet up, so I'll leave you to browse!