Country Living UK Vintage Bookazine No. 3

I HAVE A CONFESSION TO MAKE. I’m a collector. Not just a part-time accumulator, but a full-on, obsessed hunter-gatherer. I’ve always loved the satisfaction of amassing favourite things and displaying them in groups so they look their best. As a child, it was books, comics and anything to do with Snoopy. Then it became pre-loved clothes, jewellery and vintage bags. For the past 20 years, I have collected mirrors, vintage tins, ceramics (Susie Cooper, Fifties’ Homemaker and Poole Pottery), French jam jars, Bakelite teapots, buttons, vintage fabric, chairs… the list goes on. And I don’t think I’ll ever tire of adding to it. As you might imagine, stepping inside my home can often feel like going back in time. In parts, it looks like a vintage emporium – and it’s not…

THE KEY ELEMENTS FREEHAND PAINTWORK lets you create one-off patterns on all available surfaces, including walls, doors and fireplaces. For ideas, visit Charleston, the Sussex base of the Bloomsbury Group (charleston.org.uk). CELEBRATE THE CREATIVE with hand-printed wallpapers, hand-painted ceramics, handwoven rugs and wall hangings that bring the individuality of the maker’s touch. THINK CUBIST, taking inspiration from the energetic, abstract shapes of early 20th-century art and its rich colours – earthy green, plum and ochre, vivid orange, turquoise and jade. TRANSFORM AND UPCYCLE by renovating junkshop furniture, repurposing discarded crates as side tables and wall cabinets, and improvising shelves from planks laid on stacks of bricks. BLOOMSBURY ORIGINALS evoke instant atmosphere. See Charleston Shop for fabrics using original Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell prints and Cressida Bell for a new generation of lampshades by Vanessa’s…

Sponge printing has been around since at least 2,000BC but it was the Victorians – with their love of mass production – who we associate with this simple, rustic decoration. The technique became popular in the 19th century. It was a cheap way of getting pattern onto crude pottery – the bowls, jugs and plates destined for working-class families – and was a cottage industry, often done by small children and women who were working from home. Ironically, for such a humble ceramic, spongeware is now hugely sought after – thanks in part to recent revivals by manufacturers such as Emma Bridgewater and Nicholas Mosse, whose early examples have become collectible in their own right. Pre-1900 pots tend to command big money, but there is still a rich seam of 20th-century British…

Based in a former potato shed surrounded by fields near the Suffolk coast, The Barn isn’t the kind of place you just stumble across, but the vintage and artisan homeware emporium is well worth the special trip. Owner Tony Knights set it up in 2015 and created the interior with old timbers, doors and pieces of corrugated tin to reflect its rural location and stock. In his workshop nearby, Tony crafts one-off pieces of furniture, from kitchen units to garden tables, out of reclaimed materials, and likes to incorporate old fixtures and fittings where possible, including handles, brackets and hinges from salvage yards, boot sales and via builders who are demolishing period properties. His favourite handmade piece was a seat he once created out of an old wooden boat that…

The Dower House is full of carpets, chairs, reading lights and books galoreWith its vibrant colour palette, the country home exudes warmth and cheer…

Tiles are fantastically robust. It’s perhaps no surprise that of all the items that turn up on archaeological digs, it’s floor and wall ceramics and pottery that always stand the test of time. Reclaimed tiles lend instant personality to a space – they’re tough enough to withstand decades of use but come imbued with rustic character and mellowness. Individual decorative tiles make excellent pot stands, coasters and wall art, but many people are heading down the reclamation route for entire projects. Whether it’s a salvaged encaustic floor or mix-and-match splashback, reclaimed tiles have a blend of rich colour and traditional design that adds warmth and vintage nostalgia to any space. And there’s a huge variety to choose from, fortunately – from reclaimed Spanish tiles, with their chalky Mediterranean hues, to vivid,…