If you want to revamp your home on a tight budget here are some ways to shop savvy and get the best deals on retro homewares. Plus, you could be in with a chance of winning a super-cool on-trend belly basket in my giveaway so read on to enter..!
If you’ve been following the progress of my kitchen makeover you’ll know that I’ve already spent countless hours painting cabinets, re-covering my kitchen chairs and installing a new worktop. Well today, is the fun part – the finishing touches!
I had the most exciting delivery this week – a big box of goodies from RexLondon.com – that contained all the accessories I needed for my 1950s kitchen. But, as you may already have gathered by the title of my blog, I’m a thrifty gal at heart so I rarely go shopping without good reason. And I think the best reason ever is that most of the products I added to my cart were in the sale!
You’ll often find me loitering around the ‘Offers’ section of the Rex London website because the deals there are just too good to be true. I wanted to revamp my kitchen on a tight budget and where else would I find tiny, retro ceramic espresso cups for just £1 each?! They’ll not only be used for coffee; I think they’re also the ideal size for portions of dessert, such as homemade chocolate mousse or set caramel custards. Needless to say, they went straight into my shopping basket!
As you can see, I had been sticking to a colour palette of aqua and orange in my kitchen, but when I saw this pink coffee pot my colour scheme went out of the window! Well, who can resist a pop of pink in a vintage kitchen? Hubby’s the coffee drinker in our household and he’s been making-do with instant coffee since we moved, so you can imagine how chuffed he was when I put the pot on the hob and made him a fresh espresso!
But it wasn’t all pretty kitchen accessories in my basket, I scooped this much-needed lunch bag for just £1.95 as well. I don’t mean it’s not pretty – the geometric pattern is my favourite – I mean, it’s not just staying in my kitchen. I’ve been looking for a way to bring a chilled packed-lunch with me – I mean, what’s more thrifty than taking your own sandwiches when you go out for the day – so this was the first item that I quickly clicked into my shopping basket.
Then again, having something pretty on the worktop never hurts… so when I spotted that there was over 80% off these vintage shop scales (depending on the colour you buy – the red ones are on offer at the moment) I couldn’t resist. It’s a cute kitchen accessory that’s also practical too, bonus! I picked up the floral glass storage jar for just £1.95 and added it to my collection (I’ve already got three!).
The main reason that I started shopping was because my old kitchen clock finally gave up and stopped working. It was around the time that the clocks went forwards that I noticed it wasn’t keeping time. I changed the batteries and hoped for the best. However, the second hand was just flicking back and forwards, so it’s time for it to go. I was relieved to find a wall clock in the ‘offers’ section and I love the retro styling. Just right for my 50s-diner style kitchen. 
One special item caught my eye when I landed on the homepage and that was the collection of belly baskets. I’ve seen these everywhere at the moment; they’re all over Pinterest and in interiors magazines. These ones have pompoms attached to the sides, which is such a fun decorative touch. I chose the pink one with the intention of filling it with my craft supplies in my office.
However, within a minute of unpacking it from the delivery box Cookie had already hopped inside it. It turns out that the belly basket is hers, not mine anymore! She sat it in happily grooming herself until she reluctantly got out for her dinner. I thought I’d stopped her by popping the handles inside the basket to make it into a shallow woven bowl. But you can see what happened then… Muffin curled up inside it!
So if you’ve got cats, the belly basket is not only a handy piece storage but somewhere to keep your pet too! The good news is that you can win one of these belly baskets in my blog giveaway. I’ve teamed up with Rex London to give away a colourful on-trend belly basket to one lucky winner. There are many ways to enter the competition via the Rafflecopter widget below and Rex London will collect up all the entries and announce the winner when the giveaway closes. Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Competition open to UK residents only and runs from 9th May – 4th June 2018. Giveaway entries will be collected by Rex London and a winner will be chosen at random once the competition has closed. The winner will be contacted via email by Rex London to arrange delivery of the prize.
Some items in this blog post have been gifted to me and the pink links indicate a gifted product, affiliate link or information source. All thoughts and opinions in this post are based on my own experience and I am not responsible for your experience 🙂
50 responses
Thanks for the great prize and competition. Good luck everyone!
Count me IN!
Lovely competition, thanks.
beautiful basket, I could use it for lot of different things
This is so pretty and would be so useful
Those pastel colours are lovely. And that basket wow
What a beautiful basket! Thanks for the fab giveaway!
I’ve been seeing these belly baskets everywhere at the minute and would love to have one for my house. Fingers crossed.
This would be so good! Need more storage!
Many thanks for this great giveaway. Such a lovely basket, useful and stylish.
Great for keeping all those bits I can never find
Really super
Just lovely!
wow what a fantastic basket really love it great giveaway
Love the basket, perfect for my knitting bits and bobs, love the cat picture, made me smile.
I think my cat might sit in the belly basket too and play with the pom poms
Great basket for storing my wool
Perfect! lovely in the corner of the bedroom i would imagine, although it would be a struggle to keep the cats from turning into a bed!
I love these baskets, they’re so useful and still decorative
looks fantastic
What a fab prize, would be great to store my knitting in progress – so much more stylish than a carrier bag, thanks for the chance to win!
This is such a fab idea as a cat basket!
I absolutely love the fact that your cat climbed into the basket – what a joy to see.
I’d love to win one of these, and I’m loving the bargains you’ve found doing your kitchen! The colours are ace.
What a lovely looking basket…..fingers crossed for this competition
Haha – bless Cookie. If she fits, she sits.
I love vintage and most of my home is full of eclectic boho items.
This basket is just gorgeous – thank you for the giveaway 🙂
The lunch bag is cute – perfect for work 🙂
fabtastic giveaway
this is lovely, perfect for storing craft bits n bobs x
Like the Pom Pom basket
looks fab – we could make use of it
Lovely giveaway, thank you.
Love love love the retro kitchen! I have a few vintage bits that were gifted to me years ago and although they don’t go with our current kitchen I can’t get rid because I love them so much! I’m heading over to RexLondon to look for a lunch bag for the baby’s lunch when we’re out and about! X
What a gorgeous giveaway, Thank you ans good luck everyone!
I like these Pom Pom baskets 🙂
These are all so cute. I love that espresso maker! Such a great colour!
Awww Cookie and Muffin are so cute 🙂
I am really loving the basket and the pom poms so much.
The kitchen accessories are gorgeous.
Clem x
http://www.clemloves.co.uk
What a fab basket! Great giveaway x
Gorgeous basket- what a fab competition! I love anything with a pom pom!x
Love the bright pop of colours
What a really lovely prize
I love these belly baskets! it would be perfect for my balls of wool!
I think our cat and my four year old would fight over this!
What a lovely giveaway! Thanks for the chance x
This would be a handy piece of storage.
I love the pink pom pom belly basket, it looks like my belly!
Ahh that pink coffee pot is pure paradise gorgeous girl! I absolutely love your vintage kitchen accessories; all so perfect for summer 🙂 The aqua and orange colour vibes are so divine too! I’m head over heels in love. And eeek, Muffin looks so darn cute!!! Such a cute belly basket, all the colourful cute! The sweetest giveaway, you are such a diamond! <3
Sophie | soinspo xo
I LOVE belly baskets, just entered the competition on ALL formats to improve the chances as I want/need a belly basket/s in my house.
I am definitely buying a few of those espresso cups, I need some Greek coffee/espresso cups and these are the only ones I have seen that I really, really love.
Adorable moggie included?
What a lovely prize thank you!