MARCH | Second-hand things that have inspired me this month
Second-hand interiors related inspiration, recommendations and maybe a purchase or two from the past month
We’re off to Paris tomorrow (now today - I was writing this last night whilst I should have been packing). It's been a good few years - since 2018 je pense - and I can’t wait to visit again and the forecast is sun sun sun. (Has it been the best start to spring or what? Two weeks of blue skies - it’s almost too good to be true.) Not that it’s made a blind bit of difference to our French vocab skills but we’ve been working our way through Call My Agent (set in a Parisian talent agency) on Netflix and really enjoying it. Would recommend to a friend.
Before I visit anywhere I always trawl back through my screenshots where I’ve accumulated all sorts of random travel tips and references from over the years. I was sure I’d screenshotted an Instagram story from
of Retold Vintage with some Paris vintage recs (we’re talking years ago) and I managed to dig back through and find it - see below just in case you have a trip planned. Belated thank you Clare! I am desperately looking to replenish my wardrobe so you can be sure we’ll be visiting some of these spots. We’re also aiming to visit the flea markets having never made it there before - will report back.
Not Paris specific but venturing a little further north, this story in World of Interiors caught my eye. Jasper Conran writes about Jane Kasmin and her enchanting 18th-century farmhouse in Normandy. As a family friend, Jasper has been visiting the house for over 50 years and recalls idyllic holidays spent there. Most of my childhood summers were spent ferrying over to rural France, nothing quite like this, but it still felt like a nostalgic read to me.
I can’t say I’m enjoying this season of White Lotus (will it all hang in the final episode?!) but I did love Walton Goggins AD tour of his Hudson Valley house. I want to drink whiskey with Walton in front of the fire and talk about his antique and art collections. Preferably with snow falling outside. Well worth a watch.
I was thrilled to find a fellow second-hand aficionado on Substack in Hugo Beazley who sends a weekly newsletter -
- filled with items on his eBay wishlist. I haven’t been feeling very inspired to trawl eBay recently so I appreciate someone else doing the legwork, and I’m always intrigued to see what other people can unearth. Hugo, special request pour moi, please can you track down the over mantle mirror that is currently eluding me…
Back in January I bought four large oak frames on Facebook Marketplace. Really good quality - apparently they’d been professionally made for a photography exhibition about 20 years ago (so the seller told me) only to then sit in storage ever since. Thought it’d be an inexpensive way to get some more artwork up on the walls but naturally I’ve been at a total loss at what to put in them. Same old story, as much as I’d love to invest in artwork, realistically I’m looking for things that are under £100, which can be trickier to find. So far, I’ve filled one out of four frames with the painting below (eBay - £25.) An abstract nude apparently but I really just liked the colours.
Another place I spotted that does quite affordable prints, although not second-hand (who am I) is Kettle’s Yard, one of the houses that featured in last week’s newsletter. I particularly love the ones by Italo Valenti and Ben Nicholson.
Kettle’s Yard also popped up on my Instagram feed again this week, this time via House & Garden who re-shared a short film they made last year with interior designer Virginia White, for whom it has been a source of inspiration since her student days. Part of their Houses with History series. A lovely watch.
Found 5 minutes last weekend for a fleeting scout around Crystal Palace Antiques. Nothing that caught my eye this time but always worth a look. Hope you manage to get out and enjoy the sunshine this week.
R x