Having a fairytale vintage life

Sometimes, reading blogs is a frustrating hobby. All those wonderful houses, fabulous pictures and marvelous vintage collectors items for a bargain are just a bit too good to be true. Here in Holland, people are quite aware of the value of their leftovers, and websites like marktplaats.nl (similar to the American Craigslist) are filled with to-die-for vintage pieces that are priced at a level I can't afford. Let alone the thrift store. We are growing to a level here where all the good things in thrift stores are pre-selected and sold via the previous mentioned internet marketplace. A good bargain is hard to find here, and while reading all those fantastic blogs about fairytale moments of finding Eames sideshells on their sidewalks (is it raining George Nelson bubble lamps over there in the US?), we Dutchies are sighing of frustration because another dream item gets a permanent place on our Dream On List.

But, wait, what happened just the other day? Could this be true?

I read an add on our Dutch marketplace the other day just offering two lamps. No information, except for their dimensions and the fact that the smaller one had some damage. Although I learned quickly that this lamp, originally designed by Claus Bonderup and Thorsten Thorup for Fog & Morup in the late '60's, is widely copied, but I decided to go for it and send an email offering just enough to outbid another interested buyer. Luckily, my offer of 21 euro for the both was accepted and yesterday I took off to collect my new lamps.

I think I am now officially a very proud member of the fairytale world of bloggers. The smaller one is quite damaged and originally purchased at a Swedish warehouse best known for its blue and yellow stores selling furniture and meatballs, but the bigger one is, unless I am very much mistaken, the real deal. A Fog and Morup Semi in white, with a diameter of 60 cm. Unfortunately it is not marked, but all the features seem to tick the boxes.

Next week I will be a very busy girl installing both the original and fake lamp. Because I need to have quite a bit of fairytale moments more to create our dream house.