The Chazzing Diaries Pt 1

Chazzing is a phrase coined by the lovely Emma Kate over at Paint and Style.

This is how Emma Kate describes herself:

'I'm Emma Kate. I'm a paint nerd, a decorative painter and a serial decorator. I live in a picturesque market town in Hertfordshire, England. I have a passion for frugal living, upcycling vintage furniture, home decor, DIY and secondhand shopping.'

But she's so much more than that!

Emma Kate blogs about her beautiful home, the things she has found and the things she has restored.  She also blogs in an accessible way talking you through the things she does and really making you believe that you could do it too.

Emma Kate also talks about her life, her family and her naughty cat Bad Bobby who often photo bombs her creations.

Anyway, Emma Kate hasn't been around much for a while (where you been Emma Kate??) but I still pop over all the time for inspiration.

So, CHAZZING!

Well, my interpretation of it is hunting down an eclectic mix of stuff from car boots, friends sheds, antiques markets , Ebay and second hand shops etc and filling your home with them and it's a love that Emma Kate and I share.

I will at some point do that Bathroom reveal which, although all the actual work has now been done (except I think I really need to give the floor a bit more attention, has yet to have everything put into place but SD has promised me that will be this week!

Meanwhile I thought I'd share the finds that have made there way into the cabinet in my front room.

This cabinet has to have been THE best buy EVER!

I bought it on Ebay a few months ago for the princely sum of £26!!!  Seriously, it's been fully restored and painted and the oak top waxed, I love it!

It sat empty for a while but over the weekend I played around with the things that I have collected and started to fill it up.

Things may change over time as I gather other stuff and mainly I think it's going to be filled with kitchenalia.

As you can see, one side it propped up with coasters under the feet.  This isn't because the cabinet is wonky but rather that my floor is!  The floor in this corner of the room like almost every floor and doorway in my house falls away.  SD had the woodwork guy at the school he works in make two wooden props which I have painted grey to match the cupboard and they will sit under the feet and hopefully yo wont even notice them.

The back of the cabinet is papered with a lovely silvery grey paper with an iridescent shine.

On the top shelf are a couple of my antique/retro jelly moulds.  One a standard blamange shaped one and one a tiny, single serve bunny mould.  As well as that I have two beer bottles that SD's Dad dug out of the hedge at the farm (I have many more bottles that I will show at a later date).  The bottles are a dark green glass and the embossed writing on then says, 'W Hancock & Sons Wiveliscombe.

A little bit of research found this information on the Hancocks Brewery:

'Wiveliscombe was famous for its brewery built in 1807 by William Hancock. The Hancock family exercised a huge influence on the town for many decades. The men of the family were fanatical in their enthusiasm for rugby. Wiveliscombe Rugby Club was founded in 1872 largely due to the Hancocks, The family were determined to ensure the club was successful and brought into the town many well-known people solely on the strength of their ability to play rugby. Seven of the ten Hancock sons played rugby for Somerset. One, Frank Ernest, captained Wales and another Phillip Froude played for England.

In the 1920s the brewery provided one of the main sources of employment still being run by Hancock after the amalgamation with Arnolds of Taunton in 1927. Its demise is poignantly catalogued by Ivor Burston in his book Wiveliscombe "Bits and Pieces" 1955 -Sad Days were in store for Wiveliscombe for Arnolds and Hancocks were bought out by Ushers of Trowbridge and many changes were made, eventually Watneys bought out Ushers, the brewery closed and with a number of employees moved to Rowbarton, Taunton. This was indeed the end of an era and many think Wiveliscombe was never the same"

The shelf also holds this:

 Picked up at our local Antiques market for a few pounds.  I love that it still has it's original instructions with it!


You can also see my old herb cutter just like my Grandmother used to have that I found in an Antiques shop in Lyme Regis:

The second shelf has a few of my glass jell moulds and a set of Coca Cola salt and pepper shakers.  The salt and paper set aren't old but that's the beauty of Chazzing in my eyes.  I wanted an eclectic mix of old and new and to just have things that seemed to fit as far as I'm concerned.

Again, on the third shelf, that radio is in fact a biscuit tin that SD was given at Christmas filled with lovely biscuits.  It's brand new but has a retro look that I like.  SD doesn't really think it has a place here and has promised me one of the real retro radios he has to replace it with at some point but for now I think it looks just fine.

On the left is one of my best finds.  An old icing set in it's original box:

It was clearly sent to someone as a gift for Christmas and still has the original festive paper inside the box.

The writing on the box is faded and has disappeared in places but in the top left hand corner it says 'Rayners Dispensing Opticians and, one the right, under where is says fragile you can see part of the address it was sent to, something Road and then dmouth (perhaps Sidmouth?), Devon.

On the left was another find at out local antiques market, a Spongs slicer:

Again, what appears to be a complete set in it's original box:

With instructions

Very similar to one I recall my Grandmother having and possibly from the 60'S.

The bottom shelf is a mix of things:

A retro style mug that says 'Chick Flicks - making guy suffer since 1954' - a couple more jelly moulds including a large rabbit one and a retro style oxo tin from the 80's.

And that's it for now, I'm still playing with stuff and deciding what I want in it and no doubt there will be other finds in the future but for now I'm pretty happy with my cabinet and my chazzing!