Kensington Antiques - SA 5069

One thing I am finding really interesting in Australia is the amazing antique stores that are dotted about all over the place. The furniture you can get is absolutely incredible - all solid woods and beautifully designed. They are really into their Danish designs here it would seem, and the place I visited today gets a lot of stuff sent over from Denmark.

I walked into this shop on one of my many walks last week, and it kept me amused for at least half an hour. So today I returned to Kensington Antiques.

Kensington Antiques - Buying and selling fine antiques, art and china

A selection of the wares can be found lined up outside.

Patrick, the chap who works there, was more than happy to let me document his business - and his ethos seems to be similar to my own - don't throw things away if you can find a home for them somewhere else! Patrick has a box of items which he places outside the shop for anyone to take - they are all perfectly good items, but for one reason or another they are not going to get sold in his shop. He obviously does a great deal of trade judging by the turnover of items in just a few days. There were gaps where things had been last time I visited, and new items cramming corners.

The front of the shop suggests it is a small place, but it spreads backwards to make a huge space. There are 6 rooms choked with items. The first seems to be a show piece for some of the best and most valuable things currently in the shop. A long corridor stretches from the middle of the back of the room, with 2 rooms off each side. One room is full of books, magazines, and music, another of bedroom furniture, two with lounge furniture in, and at the end of the corridor is a space on the left hosting kitchen wares and tools. At the back of the shop is another large room with yet more furniture and the overspill of kitchen related objects.

I found the front of the shop the most interesting. A cabinet full of decanters sits in the middle, and if you look closely you can see the room reflected in the top stopper of the gleaming glassware.

 

 

 

The room is reflected in the top stopper

You have to be careful as you move about the shop, as there is so much packed in, one move in the wrong direction wearing a rucksack could get very messy indeed.

The two shelves of vintage cameras caught my attention. On the top shelf was a complete Kodak polaroid camera which looked very aged. I resisted the urge to buy today - but I expect I may go back at somepoint!

You could get lost for a day just examining all the many trinkets, trying to work out what they may be. Some are more obvious than others. The badge collection was hilarious.

 

There are some excellent musical finds too. More than a few battered guitars could be found today. I bet given some attention some of them would sound top notch. Some of the records were amusing - I found an LP titled "The Beatles" with a topless woman on the front, a tamborine covering what was left of her modesty. "Strange" I thought, I don't remember that album cover! Looking closer, in tiny letters under the Beatles, was the subtext "sung by Russ Sainty with the Johnny Arthey Sound". I bet that's a cracker then.....

In another room I found some strange paper rolls in boxes. It turns out these are word rolls, used in times gone past by piano players.

I did buy one thing in the shop today. Out in the back room some brightly coloured cushions had appeared. I bought the green one to go in my new place.

This cushion will be in my new place!

And that was the end of my afternoon in Kensington Antiques, the place where time stands still.

To see the complete set of photos accompanying this blog visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexandrabone/sets/72157626213974233/with/5555092773/