Vaucluse Dreamer

OK it’s not quite the title that usually draws readers, but I thought this afternoon’s trip was worth sharing.

Since moving in I’ve been busy trying to find nice pieces of furniture for the house and needless to say I don’t want to spend a fortune. My theory is that any penny saved on basic furniture can be spent on more unique and quirky pieces that I really want to buy, like this lamp I found yesterday made out of a huge old coffee grinder! 

When we moved in our new neighbour suggested we might like a trip to the local tip’s recycling centre, which opens its gates to the public every Wednesday afternoon and on the first Friday of each month. So we made a date & this afternoon she joined me & we headed into town, although to be honest I wasn’t sure what it would be like.

The first thing I noticed was that we had to park some distance away as it was already busy and Claudie pointed out that the ‘brocanteurs’ always arrived early to pick up the best bargains and she was right, a number of pieces were already marked with a ‘Vendu’ label.

Undeterred we started browsing, faced with everything you could need from garden furniture to jam jars and everything in between. It was actually quite similar to viewing day at our local auctioneers in Devon and I soon noticed a few bits that ( with a coat of paint) would be perfect for the house.

To buy anything was a very simple process – I sought out one of the chaps wearing the ‘recycle’ shirt, who wrote down the ‘lot number’ for each item on a piece of paper and handed it to me. He immediately added a ‘Vendu’ label to the item, effectively stopping anyone else trying to buy it, allowing us to carry on browsing in comfort.

There wasn’t much you couldn’t get there, from some lovely antique pieces like those below

….. To used plastic garden pots, but there seemed to be buyers looking at everything.

After a good look round I settled on 4 rush-seated chairs, a heavy cupboard (perfect to put the coffee-mill lamp on!!) and a lovely old chest with big iron hinges, which will make a perfect coffee-table for the front room (I’d been looking at similar ones on Sunday for over 100€)

So to the cost – I’d been told it was cheap, but even I hadn’t thought the prices would be as low as they were. The chairs were 14€ each , the cupboard 22€ and the chest 24€ – a total of 102€! 

To pay it was simply a case of taking the piece of paper to the till, where the items were updated on the computer & pay – they even took cards!

A quick trip to drive the car down and the helpful men in the yard carried the pieces and loaded them carefully into the car. Two trips later and the pieces were back at the house & Claudie ( who I should probably point out is 79) helped me carry them all in ( and believe me the cupboard was heavy)

After all that we retired to her house for tea & Madeleines – just perfect

All I need to do now is get painting to transform the pieces ( like the bedside table I finished yesterday).

I also think I may head back to the great craft shop I found in Saignon whilst cycling this morning. There were some fantastic pieces in there and I think I saved enough this afternoon to treat us to something nice! 

In the meantime though I thought I would share this via this month’s  #AllaboutFrance 

http://www.loumessugo.com/en/blog/entry/all-about-france-link-up/