Christmas at attic. | A look around the shop!

Posted on November 23, 2018 by attic. Furniture & Fine Things

Boxes have been unpacked, stock has been displayed and shelves have been re-merchandised. Hard to believe, it’s that time of year again…

Christmas is such an important time of year to a small business like ours; more than ever in these unpredictable times! Therefore it’s vitally important to give ourselves the best chance for a good season.

We ordered a lot of our Christmas stock months ago (some of it in January and February) so we always get a little anxious when it arrives, and we start to unpack it. Is it as nice as we thought? Have the collections worked together as well as we planned? And, has what we ordered, actually turned up. Being a small retailer, sometimes what we order isn’t always what we get. The bulk of a wholesaler/makers stock can be swallowed up by much larger retailers, with what’s left, served out to the small independents. Leaving us with a diluted collection!

Anyway – all our fears were forgotten this year. In fact most of the stock we ordered was nicer than we remembered. And the things we thought wouldn’t arrive – did. Result!

So, with just over a month to go, we thought we’d take some photos of Phase 1 – and show you what we’ve been up to. We’re pretty chuffed with how the shop is looking, so we thought we’d share it with you. Hope you like it too!

We’ve photographed most of the Christmas stock, and consequently the website has been very busy this year, with nearly everything being online. So if it’s still available – it’ll be on there. Click through for links to website and product pages…

We’ve also just had in a new delivery of toiletries and skincare products from Priddy Essentials. All handmade in Rutland, England. Beautiful scents with gorgeous packaging.

These metal Christmas trees are probably our favourite product this season.

Every year we sell more and more of the beautiful decorations from Walther & Co in Denmark (probably best known for their little house lanterns) They are becoming quite the collector’s items. People come back year after year to see what’s been added to the collection…We’re open everyday now until Christmas (open Sundays 12-4pm) so do pop in and say hello if you’re near!

New Stock | New Photos | New Blog!

Posted on March 26, 2018 by attic. Furniture & Fine Things

With the advent of Instagram, and our regular email newsletters (that we send out to our subscribers) it’s been quite a while since we last posted an ACTUAL blog!

Sometimes there is much more content that we want to get across, than is possible on Instagram. We always have lots to write about – and photos to share from our travels – but it’s just finding the time!!

We’ve had a whole lot of fresh and exciting new stock arrive recently. A selection across the board, from new suppliers and makers, to new vintage pieces.

Since Christmas, we’ve looked carefully at what stock we hold, and introduced some great new ranges of products that focus on value – as well as quality. So we are pleased to say there are now alternatives to the high end ranges of toiletries, candles and frames etc.

Having recently given the shop a ‘refresh’ – we took some photos of the results, and that seemed like the perfect reason to kick-start the blog again…This little corner of the shop (above) – features our original antique hand painted ‘Hampton Hill’ sign! It originally adorned the front of the ‘Hampton Hill Dress Agency’ sometime in the early 1900s. A bit of a mystery, as no-one local to us seems to know about it or remember it. Anyway, it was offered to us a few years ago – as it was going to be thrown out!! 😱
We have a lovely new range of toiletries, handmade in Yorkshire, and beautifully packaged.

Original vintage postcards (new old stock).

Also just arrived from the workshop, this beautifully stylish painted vintage sideboard/cupboard…

A new collection of seasonal scarves and bags. (Stock changes regularly)

Vintage kitchenalia – mixed with our beautiful Tierra Negra black clay cookware from Columbia. And of course some vintage industrial drawers and scales…

This lovely old painted panel was originally abandoned in the shop garden, when we first started the business nearly 20 years ago. Not everyone’s cup of tea – but we just loved the faded patina and flakey paint. We loved it then and we love it now. Great backdrop for photos!Brilliant quality, men’s shaving/grooming products from LA:Bruket in Sweden…Brand new range of classic, great value, black framed photo frames. Made In England.There’s a good collection of faux plants and flowers in at a the moment – mixed with some lovely original vintage pieces…These pots are a favourite of ours. ‘Whitestone’ rose and cactus flowerpots. They make any plants look that little bit more special! Also just arrived – a new delivery of our reclaimed frames – made from salvaged timber from South Africa…

We are trying to grow our ‘gifts for gardeners’ section this year, with a selection of books, toiletries for gardeners – and garden tools etc…And it won’t be long before we open our shop garden again, for the Spring/Summer season. Beautiful and useful vintage garden accessories, plants and one-off decorative pieces…

So if you’re local to us, do stop by and have a look at what we’ve been up to. We’re always grateful for your visit!

New Grand Illusions Vintage Paint.

Posted on July 12, 2014 by attic. Furniture & Fine Things

Well it’s been a while but after much ado going on behind the scenes we’re back blogging, with many posts lined up, so keep your eye out. If you can’t keep an eye out, watch this space…..Grand Illusions Vintage Paint.

For those local to us, you will be familiar with the Grand Illusions shop that was in St Margarets for nearly 20 years, a few miles down the road from us. For those who don’t know, Grand Illusions Founders, Nick and David were early pioneers of the French Painted Furniture style we are all so familiar with now. They introduced their own paint range back in the mid 90s, to compliment their increasing range of French Style Furniture. They also ran very successful furniture painting courses from their little shop in SW London. Excitingly for us – and hopefully you – they have now relaunched their paint…Grand Illusions ‘VINTAGE PAINT’ is a unique, flat and chalky matt paint, and is designed to recreate the buttermilk paints of the 18th and 19th Century. Nick and David originally worked with an antique restorer to get the right blend and finish. Inspired by an authentic Nordic-French colour palette, these wonderful paint colours are ideal for painting furniture (or mirrors, picture frames, or walls) And we should know – we have tried a lot of different brands over the years! To give you more of an idea of the finish and differences in the colours, we have painted all the colours on to picture frames in the furniture shop, so you can get an exact idea of the finish….. and mix and match if you need to.Having been restoring, refinishing and repainting certain vintage furniture pieces as a business since 1999, it somehow seemed fitting that Grand Illusions have asked us to be the stockists for this part of SW London (their “old hunting ground”) Somewhat serendipitously as it turns out. They approached us, just as we were about to start stocking paint (by another brand) and the various consumables that go with it – i.e. brushes, wire wool, waxes etc. We will now be using Vintage Paint for all our painting projects in the shop from now on. We will be posting pictures of the finished results as and when we have finished them.

Christmas at attic.

Posted on November 30, 2013 by attic. Furniture & Fine Things

We thought you might like to see our new Christmas window display. We’re really rather pleased with it…..Some of the regular visits to our site (and this blog!) and various social media, may have noticed that we haven’t been very active in this last few months, Here’s a quick update on our year…We’ve actually been incredibly busy behind the scenes, setting ourselves up for the future with a new integrated till/ epos system and a better functioning website, that will be updated regularly!! There will also be some new things happening with the website over the next few months so we’ll keep you updated…. It’s actually been a year of ups and downs. The loss of a close family member to cancer in the first half of the year was difficult to say the least. That tends to put things into perspective. We’ve also had challenges with our website, stemming from unforeseen incompatibility issues, that have caused a lot of work – but we’ve also been shown the most incredible generosity of spirit (and time!) by certain people. One step back – two steps forward and all that…. Encouragingly though, our business in general, has had some incredible recognition from across the globe – so we must be doing something right!Anyway, we’re getting back on track and we’ve been busy getting the shops ready for Christmas. They are now jam packed with seasonal stock, gifts, decorations and inspiration. We’re taking new product shots as we speak, so new stock will also be added to the website this week.

attic by night……And by the way, in case you are wondering – the mystical figures in the window are called Santos dolls. We bought them in New York last year. They are replicas of figurines found in churches and holy places in South America (and parts of Europe) in the 17th and 18th century. Not for sale i’m afraid, display only – sorry!

Quintessance, Paris.

Posted on November 18, 2012 by attic. Furniture & Fine Things

While on our last buying trip to Paris in September, we stumbled upon the most intriguing and inspiring of places….. With no name on the outside, no business cards, no obvious signs of staff working there, we left somewhat mystified about where and what exactly we had just visited. All we knew was that it was quite breathtaking. And very, very inspiring….Only after returning home and looking up the address did we discover that it is called QUINTESSENCE…..Essentially it is a 650 square meters concept store created by Ludovic Messager, Interior designer and Antiques dealer. From what we can gather, this gallery style environment is used mainly as a showcase for the eclectic display, visual merchanding and interiors style of it’s creator.Some of the worlds most innovative and respected retailers and designers have come to this ‘house of curiosities’ to commission interiors projects. ABC New York, Anthropologie, Ralph Lauren, John Varvatos to name a few.You have to be careful in Paris when taking pictures in shops or boutiques. A lot of the owners/proprietors don’t like it at all. But they were kind enough to let us take pictures, in fact we got the nod from the man himself, Monsieur Messager. This is just a selection….

Trick or Treat?

Posted on October 31, 2012 by attic. Furniture & Fine Things

Spooky goings on down down at our shops in Hampton Hill…….We thought it was about time we made an effort and got in the ‘Spirit’ of all things Halloween and so decorated the windows in an appropriately scary manner.We made good use of display domes, skull soaps and script wrapping paper. Not to mention old chemist’s labels, steel bank boxes and apothecary bottles. Oh and a large can of frighteningly good Spider’s web spray!

Vintage Industrial.

Posted on October 21, 2012 by attic. Furniture & Fine Things

Here’s a few things we’ve been working on recently in the attic workshop – and now for sale in the shop……here.We’ve been sourcing, restoring and refinishing utilitarian, vintage furniture since we started in 1999. We do it all in-house from start to finish – hand-stripping, hand-finishing and occasionally repainting.

1950’s Steel Double pedestal desk with new glass…..

Sometimes, all a piece needs is a bit of TLC, or just a clean and polish!

!930’s oak roll top desk….

There’s an immense feeling of satisfaction, when we change something that is ready for the scrap yard (in some people’s eyes) having spent many hours working on it, and turning it into something, that generally results in comments in the shop, such as “Where do you get all this stuff”. Well, that would be telling wouldn’t it…..

!940’s steel filing cabinets with brass fittings….

1950s Plan Chest coffee table….

Collection of early 1900s deed boxes….

!930s Oak tambour front cabinet & Anglepoise lamp….

Reclaimed timber pigeon holes…..

All these pieces are on our website. Check them out here….www.discoverattic.com

Merci.

Posted on September 16, 2012 by attic. Furniture & Fine Things

If you’re looking for inspiration in Paris, then Merci, on Boulevard Beaumarchais on the edge of the Marais, is always worth a visit…The brainchild of Marie-France Cohen & her husband (founders of children’s brand Bonpoint) Merci is a concept store, that since opening in 2009, has in a few short years, gained quite a reputation amongst interiors & lifestyle journalists and bloggers. And with good reason!Set in an old factory, set back from the main road (sorry Boulevard!) Merci has 15,000 sq ft of the very best in contemporary furniture, lighting & accessories, mixed with exquisite vintage & antique pieces…There is also a whole floor of exclusive designer clothing and accessories, with many pieces designed exclusively for Merci, by Stella McCartney, Paul Smith and Isabel Marant – to name a few. There is also a library/café where you can slow down and maybe browse or buy the books while you sip your green tea! It’s also worth mentioning that Merci donates all it’s profits to Women’s foundations in Madagascar. But the thing that stands Merci apart, is the innovative visual merchandising and displays that are implemented throughout the store… That and the little vintage Red Fiat 500 Cinquecento that stands in the courtyard ready to greet you as you enter….Merci, indeed.

New Website Goes Live!

Posted on July 31, 2012 by attic. Furniture & Fine Things

So after nearly four months of designing, selecting, photographing, editing, uploading & writing content, our new website is now live! Here’s a few images from it. Do check it out if you get the chance. We’d love to hear what you think!

Rocks, Bullets & Spoons

Posted on March 23, 2012 by attic. Furniture & Fine Things

So, our new stock has started trickling in over the last few weeks and now Valentine’s and Mother’s Day is behind us we can start to feature some of the more exclusive things we’ve had in. The following photos are pictures of Rosy Maddison’s new jewellery. Rosy hand makes them all individually. Every piece is unique, made from ‘found’ pieces – including antique spoons and brass bullet casings (discarded from a shooting range in L.A.) All the stones used are semi precious stones, including Amethyst, Citrine, Clear Quartz, Pyrite and Black Tormelene.

Rock & Bullets Necklaces £32