Boot Fair tat and a new project to tackle

On what felt like the first weekend of the summer my Matey and I decided that nothing could beat a potter around a boot fair on the hunt for things that we have never needed but inexplicably want when we see them. Add a bit of a haggle into the mix and that is one very enjoyable few hours.

Leaping out of bed (sort of) at the crack of dawn (plus a few hours) and headed towards Battersea. Now the Battersea boot fair doesn't open till 11:30 but it is worth getting there early if driving as there are some handy free parking spots just opposite. With a few hours to kill it was time for breakfast (Eggs Benedict for moi and cheese and ham croissant for my Matey. Needless to say he had the food envy as mine was clearly the better choice.) and Sunday paper reading at a handy cafe. A little amble around the park to burn it all off and to prepare for the bargain hunting.

Battersea boot fair isn't the cheapest. They have a sliding scale of £5 to get in early, £3 to get in a little later the 50p to get in much later. Trust me, it is worth every penny to get in early. When it gets to the 50p stage it is madness and almost impossible to get to a stand. Oh and the good stuff will have gone.

So what were my best buys of the day?

A muffin warmer:

What do you mean 'That's a useless piece of tat.'? It's incredibly useful when one wants to warm a muffin. It would clearly work well with a crumpet as well. After all who wants a cold crumpet?

A cutlery chest of drawers:

Now this really will be handy when converted to a straight mini chest of drawers. I plan to keep the scrappy pieces of paper and other rubbish that are currently looking messy in magazine files. The only snag is that it needs a lot of TLC to get it looking fabulous again. With an almost finished quilt, a spare room to be redecorated and the kitchen to polish off I do not have time for this. Sigh. I started last night.

The insides of the drawers came out beautifully easily but left a layer of gluey paper. I then discovered that the fronts of the drawers had been covered with a truly revolting plastic wood veneer. I suspect that it was put on to cover the sun damage on the drawers. It came off quite easily but has left a lovely sticky layer to be scraped off.

As it was getting a bit late to tackle light sanding properly and I do want to stay friendly with the neighbours I contented myself testing a few small areas to give me hope that there is something lovely underneath the layer of grime.