UK Edition: Beautiful Things Re-Loved With Florence & Florence

Story by AmityUK, FlorenceandFlorence 
Published on September 27, 2010 in How-To

 Photo by 

Rebecca Cornell

Christine Florence has spent her life expertly re-loving second-hand items — her home is a haven for once abandoned treasures. Her daughter Annie Florence shares her passion but (being slightly impatient) realised she wanted the look for her home, now.

Together, as Florence & Florence, they specialise in finding exciting second-hand gifts and housewares, often breathing new life into them, making them modern and gorgeous.

Today they share with us the masterly tips on sourcing and re-loving second-hand items that have made their business a success.

Florence & Florence was inspired by a joint passion for saving discarded items and giving them a new lease on life. We like to call the process "re-loving": bringing pieces back to life and up-to-date. It is environmentally friendly, cost effective and allows you to create a totally unique look.

Re-Loving — Start With Smart Sourcing

All photography by Rebecca Cornell

We delight in the sourcing process — digging out things with potential from piles of dusty, broken nicknacks in jumble sales, rescuing them from waterlogged tables on rainy market days and eagerly plucking them from the shelves of charity shops across the country.

The majority of these little gems do not at this stage resemble the beautiful pieces we know they can become. Many shun the broken boxes, crumpled piles of material and blackened silver. We urge you, please don't. These discarded items often boast excellent craftsmanship and quality or have the potential to become unique and wonderful pieces.

Markets present fantastic opportunities for exciting finds. We adore Deptford Market and always leave with piles of material, gorgeous vintage crockery, beautiful old boxes and a few bundles of bone-handled, silver-plated cutlery. Cue the frantic polishing, mending and late night sewing!

Charity Shops are a constant source of undiscovered delights. Whilst it has been reported that they are receiving fewer donations these days, this simply means you may need to look a little harder and more regularly. Sourcing expeditions to smaller towns outside London often prove most fruitful.

Jumble and Car Boot Sales are perhaps the most exciting way of finding pieces to re-love. They often need a lot of work but are almost always worth the effort. It really gets the heart beating when you elbow your way in to grab something wonderful amidst a pile of odds and ends before someone else does. It can be quite a scrum and often people don’t pull punches!

Our Favourite Finds for Re-Loving

There are wonderful second-hand pieces out there to suit every taste. A few of the things we love and are always on the look out for at Florence & Florence are:

Penguin Books
A shelf of classic old penguin books looks great in both modern and vintage homes. We group them into sets which make very personal presents.

Cutlery and Candelabras
Add some glamour and style to your dinner party table. Silver-plated, bone handled cutlery is hard to find in complete sets — it’s far easier to mix and match complementary styles. An ornate candelabra adds some serious sparkle. These are often over-looked in charity shops if they are tarnished when all they need is a good polish!

Glass Cake Stands and Vintage Plates
We love to collect vintage plates to make into cakestands but the drilling is very difficult to do at home. Old glass cake stands however can be sourced in charity shops and they look wonderful piled with cakes, mince pies or even a huge bunch of grapes. We’ve found that charity shops in villages such as Olney in Buckinghamshire are particularly good for beautiful glassware.

Maps
Old maps, such as the blue cloth Bartholomew’s maps, look wonderful when framed with the front cover of the map folded into view. Red Cross book shops are often a good source of old maps.

Teacups and Tea Sets
We believe in proper tea time. It involves beautiful bone china crockery, a mixture of cake-stands, bone handled cake slices and starched linen napkins. All can be sourced second-hand, the key is the tea set. Woodsware is regularly available in charity shops and comes in beautiful pastel shades. Mix and match or keep it all yellow, blue or green. Napkins can be made yourself from re-claimed material and dyed to your desired colour.

Old Suitcases and Boxes
These are a unique and stylish storage solution. A pile of old suitcases makes a statement in a room and is great for storing linen — just pop in a lavender bag. Find an old box such as a slide or backgammon box — sand, polish or stain, fix the hinges and line with felt from your local haberdashers. This transforms them into a wonderful keepsake box for a beautiful present.

Re-Loved Fabrics
Vintage and second-hand material is abundant in charity shops and jumble sales. We love pulling out swathes of fabric from piles of duvets and scraps. From beautiful floral curtains and brocade bedspreads to garish 1960s patterned blinds, we collect fabric to re-love. Transform into bags for environmentally friendly shopping or beautiful cushions complete with vintage buttons (often found in baskets of wool and sewing equipment in charity shops). Wicker baskets can be lined and tied with ribbon to make a pretty picnic, sewing or decorative basket.

Chairs
It’s amazing how easily you can transform an otherwise uninspiring chair. Bentwood chairs (where the wood is steamed and bent into shape) look wonderful sanded or painted. We recently transformed a beautiful rocking chair with a padded seat. Look out for a heavy weight flock or brocade, unscrew the seat of the chair, stretch the material taught over the seat and staple into place on the underside. Paint the entire chair in white and when dry, screw the base back onto the chair and voilà!
 
With a bit of imagination, time and love you can put together a fantastic look for your home and make unique, special gifts for loved ones (or if you don’t have the time, Florence & Florence have done the re-loving for you!).

Further Resources

Charity Shops:
Oxfam
Cancer Research UK
Age UK
Marie Curie
All Aboard
Norwood
Red Cross
British Heart Foundation
North London Hospice
Peace Hospice

Jumble and Car Boot Sales:
Time Out Jumble Sale Guide
Car Boot Junction
CarBootSales.org
Your Booty

 

Many thanks to Annie and Christine for sharing their knowledge! 

 

 

PLEASE VOTE FOR US FOR WEBSITE OF THE YEAR!

Posted Tues 21 Sept 2010

Calling all Florence & Florence fans!

We have been nominated for The Good Web Guide's website of the year and would really love friends of Florence & Florence to show their support by voting for us.

If you could take a second to click on the link below to tell the lovely people at The Good Web Guide and the distinguished judges why you think we should win we would really appreciate it!

http://www.thegoodwebguide.co.uk/awardfeedback

Voting closes in nine days, please pass this on to your friends and if they like our website we'd love them to vote too.

THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH!

Florence & Florence

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CHRISTMAS WITH FLORENCE & FLORENCE - FAIRS AND FANTASTIC FINDS

Posted Fri 17 Sept 2010

We're getting very excited at Florence & Florence about the Country Living Magazine Christmas Fair in November. Our heads are whirling with wonderful vintage and second-hand Christmas gift ideas. Held at the Business Design Centre in London, it promises to be a fantastic day out full of unique gifts and delicious food and wine. Why not make your Christmas shopping experience a wonderful one and visit the fair from 10-14 November. We're on stand P51 so do come and say hello!

Tickets £12.50 in advance. FInd out more and order tickets please visit

www.countrylivingfair.com/xmas/

If you're one of those sensible people who gets their Christmas shopping done a nice long way before the Christmas rush, why not treat your loved ones to something special from Florence & Florence. 

Amongst our favourite gift ideas for Christmas are our old Penguin book sets and beautiful vintage maps.

Bring back fond memories by finding a gorgeous map or old Penguin guide covering an area which is special to a friend or family member. They make wonderful presents as they are or look beautiful in a frame.

Florence & Florence lovingly put together complimentary old Penguin books into sets which make fantastic and very special Christmas presents. Choose from sets such as crime and mystery, sci-fi classics (for the men in your life who are hard to buy for) or women authors to name a few.

We are also currently collecting ornate candelabras and beautiful candlesticks to add some serious glamour and sparkle to your Christmas table.

So we hope you can come to see us at the Country Living Christmas Fair but if not the website will always be stocked with our newest re-loved finds.

Florence & Florence

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RE-LOVED PICNIC SETS FROM FLORENCE & FLORENCE

Posted Sat 21 Aug 2010

We've just added four gorgeous, re-loved picnic sets to the website. All made up of a collection of vintage, re-loved pieces, gathered together in a beautiful basket lined with re-loved, re-claimed fabric. They make fantastic presents or you could just treat yourself!

Not only perfect for summer al-fresco dining, they are also wonderful to use when you are curled up by a roaring log fire in winter.

GLAMOROUS CHAMPAGNE, RE-LOVED PICNIC SET FOR FOUR -

TEA AND CAKE, RE-LOVED PICNIC SET FOR FOUR -

TEA AND CAKE, RE-LOVED PICNIC SET FOR TWO -

CHEESE AND WINE, RE-LOVED PICNIC SET -

Currently available  on the website are the sets above. Our glamorous champagne picnic set for four, tea and cake picnic set for four, tea and cake picnic set for two and our cheese and wine set for two.

Just type "picnic" in the search function at the top of the page to see all the sets together. We hope you like them, they were a lot of fun to put together and were very popular at the Spirit of Summer Fair.

Florence & Florence

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THE SPIRIT OF SUMMER FAIR EXPERIENCE!

Posted Wed 26 May 2010 

Well, the Spirit of Summer Fair at Olympia is now over, we've had time to recover and have been getting ready to launch our summer collection which will be up on the website very soon. 

The Fair was great fun and we loved getting the chance to meet lots of customers and friends of Florence & Florence so thank you for popping over to see us!

We loved our little stand so much that we were very sad to leave it at the end of the Fair. For those of you who couldn't come along we thought we'd pop in some photos below of our week at Olympia. 

  

Setting up the stand was wonderful fun, especially laying out the gorgeous, summery dining table below. We were pleased to crack open the bottle of champagne to celebrate at the end of the Fair too!

As perennial favourites, the penguin book sets and maps were immensely popular and absolutely flew off the shelves! We only have a few left so are on the hunt for more as we speak.

Visitors seemed to have a lovely time searching for their favourite areas and lots of books and maps were wrapped up by us to go straight off as presents. 

  

We launched our one-off picnic sets at the Fair and they were huge hit, everyone seemed to love them!

They consist of English bone china crockery, silver-plated cutlery, champagne glasses and glass tumblers, napkins, tablecloth and plate and glass holders made from re-loved fabric. We also add little extras such as candlesticks and cake stands depending on the theme. All brought together in a lined, re-loved basket.

Themes include champagne picnics, romantic sets for two, tea and cake sets and rustic cheese and wine sets to name a few.

For more information about the sets and to reserve yours before they go online, please click here to have a chat with us about what you are looking for.       

  

And finally, Florence & Florence enjoy a quiet moment in between frantically (but beautifully) wrapping up re-loved purchases! 

Florence & Florence

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WHERE IS EVERYTHING?!

Posted Wed 12 May 2010

Hello everyone,

You may have noticed that the Florence & Florence website is rather on the sparse side this week...

We are very sorry for this but we are exhibiting at the Spirit of Summer Fair at Olympia this week so have had to take most of our re-loved pieces to the Fair with us!

Never fear, we will be eagerly re-stocking the website as soon as we are back. We'll update our mailing list to let everyone know when everything is back to normal again. Feel free to join our mailing list if you haven't already and you'll be kept ahead of the game with the news and special offers.

If you are coming to the Spirit of Summer Fair... great! We look forward to meeting you so please do come and say hello, we're on stand B73.

www.spiritofsummerfair.co.uk

Thank you for your understanding and we look forward to re-stocking!

Florence & Florence

 

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FLORENCE & FLORENCE FAMOUS TEA CUP! FRONT COVER OF BBC HOMES & ANTIQUES MAGAZINE

 

Posted Monday 25 April 2010

Florence & Florence were delighted that our gorgeous little Sheltonian English bone china, rose-bud tea cup made the front page of BBC Homes & Antiques magazine this issue (May 2010), sitting proudly on the table beside the sofa! It's a great issue, we'd definitely recommend it.

and again inside the magazine...

The tea cup, part of an absolutely gorgeous vintage tea set, will be uploaded onto the website this week. We have only three sets available - one full tea set (£175), one full coffee set (£145) and one gorgeous little tea-trio (£38).

Photos below, they look absolutely amazing on an outdoor vintage tea-table. Each set would make a fantastic, unique wedding present or special birthday gift for a loved-one. No wonder the stylist chose them for the front cover shot!

If you would like to reserve any of the three sets please email annie@florenceandflorence.com

SET ONE: Sheltonian English bone china rose-bud tea set. £175

Florence & Florence auth. no FF/669 

SET TWO:Sheltonian English bone china rose-bud tea trio. £38

Florence & Florence auth. no FF/670

SET THREE: Sheltonian English bone china rose-bud coffee set. £145

Florence & Florence auth. no FF/668

SPECIAL OFFER

With each set you get a free pair of tickets to the Spirit of Summer Fair at Olympia, May 13 - 19 (worth £14.50 each) so do get in there quickly if you are keen and we look forward to meeting you.

Also featured was our wonderful vintage cream Antler suitcase and our vintage London postcards although these have already been snapped up!

Florence & Florence

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FLORENCE & FLORENCE "GOING UP THIS WEEK" IN GRAZIA MAGAZINE

Posted Thursday 15 April 2010

There we were, flicking through our latest copy of Grazia this week and lo and behold, one of this week's ups is Florence & Florence!

Described as "an online antiques market of one-off, pre-loved, interior treasures. We'd give everything on there a good home."

What a lovely surprise from one of our favourite magazines!

Florence & Florence

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COME AND SEE US AT THE SPIRIT OF SUMMER FAIR!

Posted Friday 9 April 2010

Hello!

We hope you all had a relaxing, chocolate-filled Easter weekend and aren't finding it too tough back at work...

If you're looking for a bit of summer inspiration  and the chance for a lovely day out, why not pop along to the Spirit of Summer Fair at Olympia on 13th- 16th May.

Florence & Florence have been selected by House & Garden magazine to exhibit and are having an absolute ball stand-designing at the moment! Come and let us know what you think, we'll be in stand B73. It will be a brilliant chance for us to meet friends of Florence & Florence in person and for you to have a good old shop.

Enjoy this refreshing event and browse this season's most diverse and desirable products from the names you love... and some you're about to discover. The food and wine is absolutely delicious too! Enjoy a Mosimann's picnic or the Harvey Nichols Foodmarket. Don't forget the lovely talks and tutorials, like corsage making with Paula Pryke.

Tickets are £14.50 for adults. You can also choose to add some brilliant extras to your ticket like delicious lunches etc. It's well worth it and we hope to see you then!

http://www.spiritofsummerfair.co.uk/

Florence & Florence       

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LAUNCH OF FLORENCE & FLORENCE!

Posted Monday 29 March 2010 

So here we are, this is the first Florence & Florence news post and the day the website is launched - hurrah! We hope you're enjoying browsing the site and that you have found some re-loved pieces that you just can't live without!

Both Florences had an absolutely brilliant time at our launch party on Wed 3 March at the Rag Factory, just off Brick Lane. Transporting everything to the Rag Factory took considerably longer than anticipated, leaving us with only a few hours to set everything up - I think it is safe to say that it was one of the most hectic days of our lives so far! But thanks to our great Florence & Florence helpers we finished just as the guests poured in at bang on 6 o'clock. Lots of bubbly and great fun followed and we were absolutely delighted with the reaction to our new brand.

The night whizzed past so we were very lucky to have photos taken by Matt Bristow from Rubber Duck Does Photography for a record of the event.

The only disappointment was that all the delicious mini-cupcakes were gone by the end - every last one! We should have been faster to grab some during the night! We've had so many comments about how yummy they were - all made by the brilliant cake maker and designer Hannah Bliss.

We are very excited about this next stage for Florence & Florence. Thank you so much for all your lovely messages, support and interest. So many of you have asked to come and see our shop which we would love when we find the perfect place! The Rag Factory was a one-night only affair so we are now trading solely from the website while we look for our ideal shop in London.

Please do join our mailing list to be kept up to date with the latest news and any Florence & Florence special offers. Until the next post...

Florence & Florence

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