The old-fashioned way

Vintage finds and hand-crafted items have turned this farmhouse into a fabulous home. Sharon Dale reports.

Kirstie Allsopp has enjoyed showing the nation how to make a handmade home and now she’s turned her attention to vintage-inspired interiors.

But her efforts look paltry when compared to those of Rachelle Blondel. If vintage were a religion then she would be the high priestess and her home would be a temple, where creative crafters and lovers of wonderful old stuff would worship.

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The former fashion student has a great eye for design and an exceptional talent for breathing new life into second-hand objects.

Every inch of her Yorkshire Dales farmhouse, near Clapham, features something old or homemade. The dining room door is a colourful patchwork of old wallpaper, a dressmaker’s dummy has a new look courtesy of old crocheted placemats. A wool blanket has a fresh use after being trimmed with lace and hung behind the front door where it prevents draughts.

Her home and her creations feature in her popular blog www.tedandagnes.co.uk and in her new book co-authored with her friend, Tif Fussell, who lives in America.

Granny Chic is full of original craft ideas, upcycling projects and inspirational pictures. It reveals her life-long love of vintage, which began when, at eight years old, she bought the bottom of an old wardrobe to make into a storage box.

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“I love the character and the nostalgia of vintage. In fact, the only things new in this house are the mattresses and the dining table,” says Rachelle, who adds: “I also love making things. I got my first sewing machine when I was nine and I made a lot of my own clothes. When I got my first house I started making things for that.

“The reason for the blog and the book was to empower other people to a have a go and make something. It is so fulfilling and if you get it wrong it doesn’t matter. We’ve all got a cupboard of shame.”

Many of her skills, including knitting and sewing, were learned from her grandmother down in her native Kent.

Rachelle moved north to Yorkshire in 2000, with husband Keith, an IT expert, and their three children, Jake, 14, Tom, 11, and Violet, four. They got their beloved farmhouse two years ago after renting cottages from the Ingleborough Estate and it is on a lifetime lease.

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“We moved up here with Keith’s job. Unfortunately we jumped off the property ladder at exactly the wrong time and lost out. We’d never have been able to afford to buy this place but the Ingleborough Estate state is brilliant. The lease means there is security of tenure and the rent is reasonable because the property isn’t done up to the hilt. They’re also happy for you to redecorate.”

She stripped off the peeling wallpaper, re-painted the whole house in breathable Farrow and Ball and got rid of the carpets, which has helped to prevent damp. The kitchen cupboards weren’t to her taste so she replaced the doors with curtains. The inside of an old chest of drawers makes the perfect shelf unit and some wire shop racking makes a great place for cook books.

The furniture is from charity shops, eBay or Freecycle, whose members can find a home for items they no longer want. Other shopping haunts include vintage fairs by Saltaire-based Rose and Brown and Skipton Antiques Centre.

“My charity shop spending has reduced significantly because they have become quite expensive. When you can buy an ornament for £1 you’ll treat yourself 
but when it’s £3 you will think twice,” 
she says.

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“I love Freecycle and always try to list something of my own when I get anything from there. I got my 1960s sofa from Freecycle, from a lovely lady who had it from new. That’s another thing I love about vintage, a lot of it comes with a story.”

The fabrics she uses for crafting and for recovering her furniture are often old, though she loves Fabworks in Dewsbury for new material. They all provide a spectrum of what she calls “ugly colours”.

“I didn’t want a pretty pastel, floral look. I love grolly greens and ugly browns,” says Rachelle who has a passion for Meakin and Johnson Brothers china.

Her collection was in a glass-fronted cabinet, but has fallen victim to her constant rearranging and has been usurped by her balls of wool. She regularly reworks her favourite pieces. The sitting room sofa has been recovered three times and her pine coffee table has a new face after being topped with Fablon.

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“I’m lucky that Keith lets me get on with it. He doesn’t bat an eyelid. His work is in IT and the house is my work and my workplace,” she says.

She’s even managed to add some vintage style to the garden, where she keeps her pigs, Hilda, Bill and Ted and her chickens and bees.

Her retro caravan has been painted and renovated and is now a guest suite that doubles as playhouse for Violet.

“Visitors love it and Violet happily plays in there for ages while I am gardening,” says Rachelle, who is planning to do crafting workshops.

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“I love meeting people and there is a real resurgence in craft with a lot of young people wanting to have a go so I’m looking forward to that. It brings such a lot of pleasure.”

Granny Chic is published by Kyle Books, £16.99. Rachelle is at the Country Living Fair in Harrogate today and tomorrow.

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