new arrival...madeleine tins

 

photo from here



 

Bonjour mes amies,

 

It is a grey day here in SW France, so I have the perfect excuse to stay in the kitchen and I plan on making some madeleines and hope that they look as good as in the photo you see above.

 

 

Should you want to make some for yourself, I have two tins that have just arrived, in our online shop.

Unlike other madeleine tins that we have had in the past, these are in "as new" condition so not only will they look great in your kitchen, you can use them to make some lovely madeleines.
You can find them here, the listing is for one and we have two available.

Note the tip to getting the famous hump that appears on one side of them is to put the mixture in the fridge for an hour or so before placing in the oven.

You can a recipe for making them here which I found on this fabulous food blog called The Red Bistro.

très bonne seamine à tous, Leeann x

a fabulous find....

 



 

Bonjour mes belles,

This afternoon we bought beaucoup de livres......lots of lovely books hence Maison No. 20 is now stocked up with lots of books. 

There are a lot on Paris, so for guests that love Paris they are in for a real treat as we now have a wide selection in both English and French.

I have also a few that I will be listing on Fabulously French including this one which has lots of photos from the second empire.

The Second French Empire (French: Le Deuxième empire français) was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.

You will find it here.

amicalement from a sunny SW France, Leeann x

a few new arrivals...

Bonjour from a windy SW France,

It is blowing a gale here today and I am not sure if it is best to leave the windows open or close them. As you know I am a fan of fresh air but  this is almost too fresh for me.

I have added a couple of new items to the online shop including this lovely Napoleon III Miniature Portrait

Another new addition is the vintage painting of Saint Paul de Vence,  which is one of my favourite villages in France and the first time that I visited this particular village I thought that all villages in France were the same as this.

 

 The new item made me smile, it really is fabulous and French silver plated toothpick holder complete with escargot.....

 

 

For tea drinkers we have this fabulous antique sterling silver tea strainer or as it is called in French; passoire à thé  and this one is a beauty.

 

 

 



Note the black shadow that you see on the right of the photo is me not a spot on the tea strainer.

I have a couple of other items that I have yet to photograph including a fabulous rustic winemakers table cloth and two matching tea towels, which I will hopefully have time to photograph tomorrow.

à demain, Leeann x

Do not judge a book by it's cover...

Bonjour à toutes et tous,

We are busy sourcing stock for the shop and  I am planning to spend the morning photographing a lot of the new items.

One of the items that I have already photographed, is this antique book.

When I first saw it, I picked it up to put with the others, French Boyfriend advised that it would be best to look inside before doing so....

I opened the cover and it looked the same as the other books but at the same time I was worried as there have been a lot of normal looking books sold for thousands of euros.....hence it pays to be careful when it comes to books.

A few pages later and I realised why it was different to the other books, it is a Livre à secret which was and are still used today in France,  to hide precious items.

You will find it here. 

à plus tard, Leeann x

Mirror, Mirror...

Bonjour from a very sunny SW France,

Yesterday we went and picked up this fabulous mirror from very large house in the country.It is large and would look stunning when hung above a firerplace or simply hung on a wall. 

A friend came into the boutique this morning and said how could I sell an item like this? Unfortunately I can not keep all the lovely items that we find and my garage is full with items that I have bought with a view of using them later.....hence I am looking for a loving home for one fabulous and very French Mirror.

Speaking of the shop, it smells lovely at present as I have had a lot of new candles delivered this morning, all of which smell lovely. The new fragrances include Vanilla and White Ginger, Grapefruit and Green tea, Gerannium and Rose Petal and a new favourite  of mine; Fig and Wild Pear.

I love the packaging as the lettering on the tins has a vintage feel to it.

 

 

 

Also back in stock are best sellers Antique Rose and Linen and White Pepper. Back to the unpacking of stock I must go,

 

 à demain Leeann x

shop update...

Bonsoir mes belles,

How was your weekend? Ours was a lovely sunny one and it even involved a bit of treasure hunting.

We found a few items but not as many as we would have liked but I am sure that we will find more over the coming months as Spring is one of the nest times to be in France hunting for tresors.


Champagne buckets appeared to be the theme of the day, we bought 4 of them, including this one which is a favourite of mine.

 

 

I especially like the grape and vine detail....

One of the other's is simple but has a very modern feel to it.....

I love them as not only are they useful for champagne, they also make great vases or you can use them to store cooking utensils.

We found a couple of other items, will tell you more about them once they have been cleaned.....

Wishing you all a très bonne semaine à tous, 

Leeann x

bonjour à tous...

Bonjour mes belles,

Today has been consumed by cleaning, sound familiar? Cleaning is one of those chores where you start small and end up big. End result mop, dyson and rest of cleaning club have all had lots of lovely exercise as has the iron!

It is supposed to get very chilly here so I am in cosy mode which has involved replacing summer  bed covers with nice feather duvets so I am looking forward to a cosy night with FB as my bed is looking rather fabulous and oh so clean. There is nothing nicer than freshly washing and ironed sheets, my idea of heaven.

Unfortunately I have not had time to photograph the rest of the goodies but hope to get back to this tomorrow.

I could not resist sharing a photo of one of the new arrivals as she really is stunning and a little bit different. I love the black background as it makes her pop out at you....a picture with a difference!

Back to the domestic duties, I must go......

très bonne semaine à tous, Leeann x

week-end tresors....

 

 

Bonjour from a finally sunny SW France,

 

I am feeling particularly happy today and have been all weekend and feel that the All Blacks defeating France in Rugby on Saturday night may have played a part in this bout of extreme happiness. Needless to say French Boyfriend is not as happy as you may well imagine and I have not helped matters by talking about it......

We had a good days treasure hunting yesterday and I am in the process of updating the on-line shop this morning whilst French Boyfriend is out searching for more treasure.

One of my personal favourites, is this stunning antique holy water font which is the nicest that I have ever come across.

The detail on the metal statue is amazing, right down too the angels that appear on the font part.

A close up of the angel who is holding a water jug pointed in the direction of the holy water font....

You will find her here.

Another find was this very decorative lion door knocker which is not old but has a lovely patina that comes with time.

You will find more details here.

I am now off to take photos of the other new items, back later.

à plus tard, Leeann x

shop update...

 

Bonjour mes belles,

 

This post is a bit later than I would have liked but I have a good excuse for being late. We had a RDV to collect some furniture for the shop and unfortunately it rained this morning which was not the best of conditions for moving furniture.

 

 

First up is a set of 6 Sarreguemines Napoleon III plates which are and very decorative. They come from a local château and have been well looked after, with all in immaculate condition. I am selling them individually, they are 20 euros each and would look fabulous displayed on the wall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can find them on the new arrivals page.

 

 

Another newbie is this rocaille style candelabra, again very decorative and with only one branch it does not take up a lot of room.

 

 

This lantern was one of a pair but unfortunately the other had a panel of glass that was broken so I thought it best to leave it where it was. Collection only as I would hate to post it only to have it arrive broken.

 

 

 

This is a stunning rare vintage French original senior Officers Pompier kepi cap. Pompier is a fireman in France.You will find more détails here.

 

I am off to start dinner and as usual are running late....

à très bientôt, Leeann x

new arrivals...

Bonjour,

I hope that you had a fabulous weekend, ours was a lovely sunny and very warm one.

Meteo advises that the heat is going to stay with us all week long and I for one am not complaining as it gives me a chance to leave the windows wide open and let the house respire, before we are obliged to keep the windows closed in order to keep the warmth in.

I have added a few new items to the shop including this fabulous clock....

 a pair of candelabras painted in the same colour......

a rocaille style pot also painted to match......we have 2 of these available

 plus a very decorative vintage style clock which is in perfect working order.....

and another pair of silhouette prints.....

 

 

 

Note I have a couple of antique style quilts but have not had a chance to photograph them yet.

 

...très bonne semaine à tous, Leeann x