Vintage Celebrations

Whether you are celebrating a birthday, anniversary, hen party, baby shower, childs birthday or even a fundraising event, why not celebrate with a vintage style tea party.

Start by sending out your invitations, you could do these by customising some inexpensive notelets with lace or little buttons and handwrite the details inside yourself.

Next have a mooch around some charity shops for some lace tablecloths or fabric you could hem (cheat with wonder web!).

vintage tableware from two birds home accessories

Put together a selection of pretty plates, cups and saucers and teapots. You could buy these or just borrow from friends and family, the more of a selection of designs and patterns the better as this creates an interesting and eclectic effect. There are even companies that hire out vintage china tableware for such occasions.

Next the important bit THE FOOD! Make a selection of sandwiches with traditional fillings such as egg and cress, smoked salmon and cream cheese, cucumber etc, these will look fab cut into delicate triangles and arranged on little lace doileys. Complete the look with pretty pastel cupcakes, Battenberg slices and of course good old Victoria sponge always goes down a treat!  It’s a must that the cakes are arranged on pretty 2 or 3 tier cake stands to perfect the theme.

Last but not least the beverages

Depending on the occasion, you could offer traditional tea, Earl Grey or Herbal teas or if you are feeling naughty why not serve wine out of teapots into cups and saucers, thats  guaranteed to cause a stir (for over 18's only of course, soft drinks for kids work well too:)).

Give this a try it’s so much fun, you will never fail to raise a smile or if for charity a pound or two!!!

Two Birds Home Accessories and Gifts are a UK Online boutique specialising in Vintage Tableware and other Vintage Style Home Accessories and Gifts. Visit our website to see our range of products.

Shabby Chic - How to Get a Classy Shabby Chic Effect to Your House

Shabby Chic is usually a expression that is now widely applied for stylish household decor. But how will we acquire an elegant and classy theme without your house looking worn and tired?

shabby chic wooden heart

In recent years we have observed a huge increase in the appeal of vintage style and design interiors and more and more people are now using 'shabby chic' in every day terms when talking about interior design and decoration.

So where did this term 'shabby chic' come from? The style developed from the old English Country house style and the older French look and has now developed into its own particular style of themed decor.

The two important words here are of course 'shabby' and 'chic' words which have distinctive meaning. Shabby meaning worn out, frayed or threadbare and 'chic' that means stylish, elegant and fashionable.

So how do we achieve that 'antique design and style' look without our homes appearing worn and uncared for?

Furniture is a good place to start out with plenty of options. Many retailers now sell lovely distressed looking furniture such as coffee tables or side tables made from wood and painted normally in white or pastel colours, occasionally plain and sometimes with a design embellished into the wood.

Then there's the home accessories that are available and many of our popular decor items for example photo frames, hanging decorations and clocks all come in varying vintage style designs and at differing price ranges.

Something comforting about that 'Shabby Chic Vintage Decor'

So why is this design so popular? Well there's always something friendly and comforting about a home that is decorated in this style with a real vintage feel and the theme can be adopted for many rooms in the home including the kitchen area, bedroom, conservatory and needless to say the lounge or living rooms.

The emphasis of countless households would be the living room and hall in which we have a tendency to find plenty of shabby chic items like coffee tables, photo frames and wall decorations all offering a pale painted finish which has been lightly distressed.

So where else is preferred for these vintage style gifts. Many homes will have shabby chic furniture or decor items in their conservatory and one of the favourites is the shabby chic garden bench with some beautiful shabby chic photo frames or candlesticks to carry the distressed theme throughout.

You will find lots of vintage style home accessories that endorse this distressed look and you don't have to spend large amounts of money to get a gorgeous authentic vintage style look around your home. A number of online stores offer gorgeous shabby chic home accessories and you should shop around as on-line shops or retailers can offer substantial savings when comparing to high street retailers.

So, think about vintage home style furniture, decor and home accessories and see your own home develop into a classy vintage style elegant and chic yet warm and loving place to live with soft furnishings, light coloured fabrics, distressed style furniture and some unique accessories to obtain that ever popular shabby chic style effect.


Two Birds Home Accessories and Gifts are a UK Online boutique specialising in Shabby Chic Home Accessories. Visit our website to see our range of products. Our styles range from the Vintage to the Shabby chic, from the Elegant to the Contemporary. Our hand picked selection of beautiful home decor, homeware & retro home accessories gifts & products will suit every-ones style and budget.

New Stock on the Block

Its this time of year when everything seems to come alive, the garden, summer events invitations, booking holidays and the arrival of new stock for Two Birds.

We have some pretty new items coming in towards the end of the week from a new supplier, it probably sounds a bit sad but I get so excited, its like Crimbo all over again:)

Im really looking forward to showing off the new products on our Website and at the Home Parties we have booked and always get so proud when we always get such positive feedback on everything.

Keep your eyes peeled and let me know your thoughts.

Revamp!

If you are like me and you cant bare to see old dowdy furniture go to the tip, then do what i do - revamp!!!!!!!!!!!! Remove the old handles and give the furniture a gentle rub down.  The next step is to choose your colour, flat matt emulsion paint works really well on wood, Crown fashion for walls is a lovely thick paint ( I love the shade called Sidewalk its a lovely grey/taupe colour). Give your furniture two coats of paint. When dry attach your new knobs, I love the clear crystal ones best, you could also line drawers and cupboards with pretty wallpaper. These perfect the look and there you have yourself a new piece of furniture that would give Laura Ashley a run for her money:).


Groups of glass candle holders and jars can look really effective on your newly refurbished furniture. Take a look at the antique glass hurricane lamp in our candle holders and lanterns category  http://www.twobirdshomeaccessories.co.uk/antique-silver-glass-hurricane-lamp.html 

Stylish memories

I love old family photos, especially black and white ones. I took some vintage style frames and bought some pretty wrapping paper,  find the recycled hand made papers in your local card shops, you may pay a little more for these but they have some fantastic designs. Cut to size your paper to fit into the frame and then mount your smaller photo onto the paper and you have yourself an eye-catching piece. Team together with vintage mirrors and hearts to give a narrow hallway or landing a focal point. Happy memories every time you pass.



 

When it gets to this time of year and the bulbs in the garden start to emerge and the sun shines

When it gets to this time of year and the bulbs in the garden start to emerge and the sun shines (showing every spec of dust in the house) my thoughts turn to spring, my favourite season of the year. I have even bought some no doubt forced daffodil stems from the supermarket to see me through until the daffodils outside make an appearance. Keep an eye out for our own new spring additions on the new arrivals category and with Valentines day and Mothers day just around the corner we have lots of pretty heart accessories and some gorgeous gifts for all the fab mums out there!

A place for everything and everything has its place

We are well and truly into January and our new year resolutions are starting to fizzle out and the diet is definitely calling for a chunk of chocolate or two (sorry but the one square of good 70% dark chocolate just doesn’t cut it against a good old bar of dairy milk or galaxy).

Over the Christmas break I had grand illusions of clearing all the wardrobes and store cupboards in the home spending my spare time being totally ruthless only keeping clothes I had worn in the last 6 months and giving the mounds of toiletries, gift bags, shoes, bags etc to a well deserving cause. The clothes I am keeping will be arranged in colour order and all remaining shoes neatly arranged in transparent labelled boxes................Yes you’ve guessed it, none of the above has yet been put into practice, but one day soon ;)

If you too feel like a bit of de cluttering, check out the cute little storage boxes in the new arrivals category, they are great at £11.95 and look funky too, in a bright retro style and superb for hiding away those little bits and pieces, creating a more organised and orderly room. The cute little owl hooks at £1.95 are perfect for hanging up belts or necklaces and look out for the cute little sewing/nic nac boxes arriving in the next couple of days. The Vintage cream heart memo holders £8.50, are great for keeping all your pretty hanging decorations in one place, creating an effective display at the same time. 

Happy organising