Mrs Antil’s Apartment loves Vintage Suitcases

Hello, fairy long time not blog…sniff. But it’s ok, because there are lots of things to say and hopefully some of it will not be ramblings from my brain but also things that make sense, set your imagnatons aflutter (good word) and encourage you in your vintage dreams of old finds.

I have a spare room that really should be my creative space and my study/libarary space but it’s actually where I have piles of things and bags and boxes of things from pretty materials, doillies and vintage materials from my first fair to things found and wanted for my next fair, which I wish gets to happen fairly soon, there is a freezer which I secretly long to keep for a place that I can really call me own (something I own maybe, although I do love where I live now I dream of an ancient small cottage with a meadow full of wild flowers and a horse and cart along with sheep, cows, ducks, chickens, dogs, cats, a stream, a pond, butterflies, birds, hedgehogs etc…I could go on). If this actually came true then I’d probably like a 1950s freezer but there you go, my love of old things, vintage and collecting to a certain extent runs alongside hoarding, keeping things and being one for clutter and bits rather than declutter and minimalism.

I think it’s possible to have a good amount of clutter and to be organised and no where things are whilst also having leanings towards imagination, great imagination, stories, meaning, keeping things that make you happy, that you love, that are sentimental and that you are very attached to in a way that not everyone may understand.

So, as part two of my decluttering venture and adventure, I have bought storage boxes of a plain or pretty kind – I have decorated any of tha plain kind with old wall paper, pretty papers, magazine cuttings and sweet stickers etc.

I have also bought some pretty and/or second hand magazine racks as I have had a fascination since I was a child with magazines. I have analysed and reanalysed this and I also know how mainstream magazines are put together from ideas, features list planning to editorial contributions from PRs, deadlines, through to writing, production, editing….and so on.

I understand that some editorial is near to rubbish and some journalism is so hot it’s great and fantastic and to be respected.

I don’t buy as man magazines as I used to, and I try not to be dragged in by promises to change your life in three seconds. I ignore the bullshit for the inspiring. Magazines that I love are old, second hand, and the new and now closed including: Scarlet, Oh Comely, Vintage Life, Homes & Antiques, Country Life, Psychologies and I used to love Glamour, I still thinks it’s good but I prefer specific areas of interest. Even though it’s unlikely I’ll ever be able to afford anything in Vogue, if I come across any issue of interest or impact then it will find a new home with me. I also like the Stylist from Evening Standard (London) as it’s free on the train but living in Caterham I can’t always gets a copy as it’s hot hot hot hottie!!!

Anyhoo, mags have new homes in magazine racks, paper wor in folders and boxes, and the pretty material things from and for my vintage fair ar to live in a vintage Antler suitcase that I found in the Queen Elizabeth Foundation charity shop in Caterham Valley. I saw it on a shelf. I am not usually attracted to the colour mustard but the suitcase looked old and mich loved and I thought ‘you are the suitcase for me’. It was £5 and the lady in the shop said it was vintage (I knew this but was happy she knew that too) but she also said it was about 100 years old, as someone had told her. I don’t think it’s 100 years old although I’d be happy to be wrong. My first instinct was 70s, but I don’t mind what it’s age is. I am going to gently clean it and then my table clothes, vintage dresses and other materials will live in their for now, in their vintage home.

I love old suitcases and vanity cases. I am so sad that I don’t have the white vanity case with a red lining that was my Mum’s and that she let me use as suitcase as a five year old girl. It was and probably still is the most glamorous thing I have ever had the honour to be given, and I don’t have it. I think it got left in the loft of my childhood home in Forest Hill. I imagine it had been cleared out and I can only dream that one day we may find each ther again. It’s sad but it fuels my love of all that is precious and wonderful and old. And it will always be in my heart and connect me to my Mum in childhood.

I would love to hear about your suitcases and vanity cases or hat boxes,satchels and handbags, to hear what you love.

I will take a picture of the mustard suitcase once I have given it a clean and a hug.

Vintage love to you,

Anita in Mrs Antil’s Apartment.