How To Display Antiques In A Modern Home

 This article is published in collaboration with Media Buzzer

Image Source: Unsplash

Many people assume that displaying antiques in a modern home requires a lot of space and money, but this couldn't be further from the truth. All you need is a little creativity to find ways to display your antiques tastefully, so they fit well in the modern environment within which you live. Below are some tips to help you get started, which can help turn your modern house into a home full of personality, and antiques.

Have A Plan

The first thing that you will need to do is create a plan for how you will display your antique collection. It is worth taking time to plan the display of your antiques, and the more planning you do and creative thinking, the better the result will look. You can get a lot of inspiration online and even by visiting various antique shops, giving you ideas of how you can replicate the look in your home.

Less Is More
Rather than displaying all your antiques in one room with no actual theme, you are better to show them off and create focal points in your room. You can put on display some of the best items in your home and have these on your fireplace, bookshelf or table. You will want to avoid having too much on display which can make your home seem like an antique store, and you will also want to have a theme for each room you are displaying your antiques.

Image Source: Pixabay

Give Each Room A Theme
If you have an eclectic collection of antiques, rather than displaying them all, you will want to give each room in your home a theme and try and stick with it. If you have an office or library, this can be an excellent place to display books and one of those vintage furniture for sale online. If you have kitchen-related antiques, you can consider displaying these in your kitchen. However, as there is a lot of heat and moisture in your kitchen, you will need to be careful about the antiques you have here, and it is the same with your bathroom.

Purchase An Antique Cabinet
You can also consider buying yourself an antique display cabinet which will be the perfect place to showcase your collection in your home. A search of the antique dealers in your local area will show plenty of choices when looking for a suitable cabinet. You will want to ensure that everything you display in your cabinet follows a theme to make it seem in place and at home displaying your antiques. You can select a cabinet that matches the decor of your home, and it can also be a beautiful antique in itself which makes for the ideal place to show off more antiques.

Image Source: Unsplash

With some creativity and careful planning, you can have the modern and the old embraced in your home and display your antique collection with pride. Take your time in planning your display, and do not be afraid to try new things, and with a bit of patience and luck, you can transform the way your home looks and feels. You can proudly display your antiques for everyone to enjoy who visits your house and make it feel like a loving home.

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Lockdown Favourites - The BEST waffles, Firefly Lane, Small Businesses & More

 It's been a few weeks but I'm back with another post and today it's all about my lockdown favourites! It's been such a long time since I last shared a favourites post and gone are the days where I would post them every month but there's quite a few things I've been absolutely loving over the last few weeks whilst we've been in lockdown that I wanted to talk to you about!

The BEST waffles
It's really been the little things that have got me through this latest lockdown. Saturday night date nights where we'll cook a really nice meal and watch a film (or The Masked Singer, I was obsessed). Winter walks with Bear. A special breakfast. There's been so little to look forward to that it really made me appreciate the things I probably wouldn't think much of otherwise. Last year we found this amazing cafe on one of our walks with Bear and ever since we have become regulars. I can't wait for the day we can sit inside rather than having to get takeaway but regardless the food is just incredible. Every so often we'll grab breakfast and a hot chocolate and my current fave of theirs is the waffles. Just look at them. I think about them most days.

Small Businesses
I've bought from so many small businesses since I opened Bear's Brownies and More so it felt right I share some of them with you! I think having my own small business means I've really noticed how much I was shopping with bigger companies and it's not that I've stopped completely but for Christmas and any events since, I've been shopping small and I can't see myself stopping. There are SO many amazing small businesses out there and I'd support them all if I could. I know just how much 1 sale can completely turn your day around. Some of my fave small businesses to support recently have been Molly Catherine Designs for the most beautiful bookmarks, cards, prints and notebooks. PercyandBream for homemade dog treats. We bought some for Bear's birthday recently as they can be personalised and he loved them! DragonflyByNicki for face masks, dog bandanas and more. Bear loves his Star Wars bandana that he proudly wore on his birthday walk. SunshineSurprisesUK for brilliant cards for all events. Both George and I have bought from them several times! Fab for fans of musicals, Gavin and Stacey, Schitt's Creek and Bridgerton just to name a few things. SiobhanPrints for musical prints, custom prints, stickers and more. Finally, KilnersKreations has become a go to of mine recently for Bear. They sell an amazing range of dog toys aswell as bows, treat bags and lots more.

Firefly Lane
This is a pretty new addition to Netflix and quite quickly it received so much praise online so of course I was drawn in and had to know what the hype was about. This is based on a book of the same name by Kristin Hannah and it stars Katherine Heigl and Sarah Chalke as Tully and Kate. Tully and Kate first meet when they're teenagers on Firefly Lane and quite quickly they become inseparable. This follows the ups and downs of their friendships and relationships over 30 years. I found this such an easy watch and I just hope they do another series. I loved the characters and I thought Katherine Heigl in particular was brilliant. It's easily a show you could sit and binge-watch all in one go!

Line of Duty
Another show that I've been absolutely loving is Line of Duty. We've watched it all before but in the run up to the new series which starts later this week we've re-watched from Series 2 onwards and it's been such a good distraction from everything that's been going on. I think it's one of the best dramas out there and even though I've seen all of the episodes before, it does feel like with each re-watch you discover things you didn't notice before. The cast are fab and Martin Compston, Vicky McClure and Adrian Dunbar are just amazing as Steve, Kate and Ted. I cannot wait for series 6.

Bear's Birthday
It was Bear's birthday in February and I can't quite believe he's 2 already. Of course he was completely spoilt and I went over the top in every way for him. We took him for a long walk, popped into Pets At Home where he picked a new toy and some treats and he also had presents to unwrap afterwards which he has shown very little interest in since, of course. He's definitely a spoilt pup but I don't care, he gets me through some really tough days and I genuinely don't know what we would do without him. It blows my mind how long ago it feels when we first met him at 3 weeks and now he's this 2 year old dog with the funniest/craziest personality. Just love him so much.

Mowgli Nights
As I mentioned at the start of this post, Saturday nights have become date nights at home and it's really given us something to look forward to each week. Each weekend we'll cook a really nice meal and make a bit more effort and more often than not it's ended up being something from the Mowgli Cookbook by Nisha Katona. I know I've said it so many times but we first visited Mowgli in Oxford last year and ever since I've just become obsessed with all of the food. George got me the recipe book for Christmas and we're working our way through them all. My fave so far is the Angry Chicken Rotis with spicy curry potatoes but the Butter Chicken recipe is out of this world too. I couldn't recommend the book enough if you want to try out some new meals this year. 

Taylor Swift
Finally, I have become a bit of a Taylor Swift fan girl this lockdown. I know I'm so late to the party but I've finally discovered the greatness that is Folklore and Evermore. I just didn't really give either of them a chance when they were first released, I've always loved the older stuff from Taylor but a few months ago I properly listened to all of the songs and wow. I'm pretty sure my Spotify wrapped this year will just be Taylor Swift. 

So that's some of the things that have got me through this latest (& hopefully last) lockdown! You might have noticed that blog posts are very few and far between at the moment and I am hoping to continue posting once a week but I do keep getting that niggling feeling that my time blogging is coming to an end. Opening Bear's Brownies & More has just given me something else to focus on and sometimes blogging can feel like a bit of a chore now which I don't want. I want to love it and only ever post when I want to. So, if there doesn't seem to be much of a schedule around here anymore, that's why! It's been a tough few months for all of us so maybe that's been contributing more than I realised. 

Have you found yourself struggling with blogging recently too? How have you found this lockdown?

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What I Read In February

 February was a really slow reading month for me. In January I read 6 books which I was really happy with as I'm aiming for 80 this year but in February I just couldn't be bothered. I don't know about anybody else but I've been really struggling with this lockdown. Even though I've had days where I've felt really good or weeks where I've had a lot on with Bear's Brownies and More which keeps me busy, the majority of the time I've felt quite low. I've definitely perked up since the last announcement as at least we now have a rough idea of what's hopefully happening over the next few months & I really needed that but some days it just feels never ending. Because of lockdown being so tough, I just wasn't in the mood to pick up a book most days and I didn't want to force it. So, here are my thoughts on the books I did manage to read last month.

The Housewarming by S.E. Lynes - ⭐⭐
I was in the mood for a thriller and saw this was only 99p on Kindle. I was really intrigued by the premise - a year ago Ava left her daughter in her pushchair for 5 minutes. When she came downstairs, Abi was gone and hasn't been seen since. For a year she's been convinced she's to blame but at their neighbours housewarming party, Ava discovers a secret that changes everything. I do think this started off really well and there were several characters who seemed suspicious. It soon became quite obvious though who was to blame and the suspense wasn't really there when it was all revealed towards the end. It was also just pretty sad and didn't really feel like much of a thriller.

How To Be More Paddington by Michael Bond - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I love Paddington so much. The films, books, even his Twitter account fills me with joy! This was a birthday present and I'd been saving it for a day where I knew I really needed it. It's full of little poems, illustrations and words about life, love, family and more and it's just incredibly heartwarming. I read it all in one sitting as a lot of it is illustrations but I know it will be one I keep and go back to over and over again. 

Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris - ⭐⭐⭐
I read The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris in January 2019 and it ended up being one of my favourite books that year. It was a tough read but it stuck with me. I've been meaning to read the sequel Cilka's Journey ever since it was released but I've only just got round to it. It's obviously a heartbreaking topic so I really wanted to give it my full attention and take it all in which is why it took me a while to get through. Whilst I'm glad I finally read this, I can't say it made me feel close to what The Tattooist of Auschwitz did. Books like this are always so hard to review but I just found it didn't quite flow right for me and as someone else put it on goodreads 'you could skip 3 chapters and feel like you haven't missed anything'. A bit disappointing.

The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley - ⭐⭐⭐
This was recommend quite a lot by a few book accounts I follow on Instagram recently so when it was on sale on Kindle, I bought it and hoped it would live upto expectations. It reminded me a lot of books like The Lido by Libby Page and on the whole I did enjoy this. This follows a man named Julien who writes a bit about his life in a notepad and names it the authenticity project, leaving it in a cafe for anyone to find. He hopes someone will pick it up and leave their story too and this creates a web of quirky friendships that would never have come about otherwise. I can't say I loved all the characters and Monica was definitely my favourite but it was a nice, heartwarming read.

I'm feeling a bit stuck with what books to read at the moment so if you have any recommendations please let me know! I'd love to know if you've read any of these too?

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My Post Lockdown 2021 Staycation Wishlist

 It wasn't too long ago I shared my general wishlist for city breaks in the UK so I apologise if this sounds really familiar. I'm finding this lockdown tough and one thing that does make me feel a bit brighter is planning for the future and that for me includes going on alllll the holidays post Covid/lockdown or just when we have some normality again. It's hard to put any proper plans in place cos you know everything's changing from one minute to the next and maybe this post is optimistic but I am hopeful that we might at least get from Summer onwards to enjoy this year (though let's hope it's far sooner, I am praying Spring brings better days) so there are so many places I'd love to visit. I can't see us heading abroad any time soon even once we officially can, the thought of it just makes me feel a bit anxious now but what this past year has shown me is how many beautiful places there are in the UK that I'd not appreciated enough before and some even right on our doorstep. 

Oxford
I know I seem to bang on about Oxford all the time at the minute but that's because I just absolutely adored it when we visited last year. It feels like forever ago now and I can't quite believe how 'normal' life seemed back then compared to now even though at the time there was still so much we couldn't do. What I'd give to be at that point again though! I shared a travel guide for Oxford recently so I won't go on too much but I do think this will be the first place we book a city break to once we can. It just felt like such a chilled city and we could really take our time exploring with no need to rush or pack everything in. I'd love to climb to the top of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin next time for views of the city, I want to devour everything at Mowgli again and I just want to have that walking into a hotel feeling again. It's going to feel SO good.

London
I am desperate to get back to London as soon as we can. George and I have visited loads over the past few years and now our main reason for going is to see musicals which is something I'm missing more than ever right now. I often think back to when we saw Les Mis last January for my birthday and I can't believe how long ago that feels. It's crazy how much changed in the space of a few months. We had several shows cancelled last year that I am praying we get to see this year. The Arts has been hit massively by covid and I want to support allllll the shows when they re-open. London is my happy place and it's somewhere that I found a real comfort a few years ago when my anxiety was at its worst and even though now I feel in a much better place, for me there's nowhere like it and the way I feel when I'm there. I think whenever we get to go back and whenever we get to walk back into a theatre again, is going to be very emotional! 

Whitby
The one place I want to head to this Summer is Whitby. We took Bear there for his first holiday in 2019 and we always planned to take him again this year so I really hope that can happen. He LOVES the seaside and it just makes my heart happy when I think of that holiday. I'd wanted a dog for so long and it was the first big trip we did with Bear and everything about it was perfect. You can't beat a few days away in a caravan sometimes can you? We had such a chilled few days walking around Whitby, eating much fish & chips and ice cream and Bear just had the time of his life. Let's just forget about when we let him off the lead on the beach in Scarborough and he bolted and we genuinely nearly lost him 😂

Edinburgh
One thing I look forward to every single year is the Christmas markets and 2020 definitely didn't feel the same without them. Christmas is the best time of the year but understandably there was so much we couldn't do last year which really left me feeling flat and not quite as festive as usual. Who knows where we'll all be by the end of 2021 but it's surely gotta be better than last year hasn't it? If life is back to normal then or as normal as can be then I want to get to as many Christmas markets as possible! Give me all the overpriced food and hot chocolate. We were supposed to go to Edinburgh last December & I'm just hoping we can re-book it at some point for this year. It's looks so incredibly festive and there's so much I want to see. Fingers crossed.

To be honest after the last year there are a ridiculous amount of cities I'd love to visit. Bath has been on my list for ages and it just looks gorgeous so that would be another place to consider. York is also a favourite of ours and not too far away either so it would be nice to at least get a day there at some point. Honestly, I'd be happy with anything more than a walk around the same few places. It's hard to feel positive at the moment and if you're struggling too, know you're not alone. Whilst I have to remind myself of this quite often, we are on our way out of this now and things will get better. How good is it going to feel when all of this is just a distant memory? I can't wait and I know I'll never take anything for granted again.

Where's the first place you'd like to visit this year?

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