One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, this is so true. When we purchased Casa Valhal it came fully furnished and it was previously a holiday home for a Norwegian couple. More recently our house was let to tenants. We have found so many items in the loft, some salvageable others beyond repair. Our loft is unfortunately outside. It’s not like the UK lofts that you access from the upstairs landing/hallway. It’s totally exposed to the elements and Portuguese wildlife including rats and mice. It also probably doesn’t help that we don’t replace the door, we just leave the doorway open for the cats to have a party or two. I’m gonna find that a whole family have moved in one day and they will claim squatters rights.

The loft has definitely become a dumping ground for everything the previous tenants did not want in the house. It’s a real shame as there are some amazing items up there but most have been destroyed over the years. Some of the items would have cost a lot of money and I am really gutted as all items that are porous and made of certain materials are ruined. There are some 100% wool rugs completely ruined and eaten by rats. Also some custom made blinds to fit our patio large windows which match the existing red curtains are completely destroyed. Most devastating is the vast arrangement of art work, some prints but some originals but all destroyed. I have managed to save a couple of prints and old frames to upcycle. Art is very subjective and although a lot of it is not to our taste there were a few pieces, one canvas in particular, which I would have loved to hang on my wall. I did try to save it but the mould won the battle. When I think about the time the artist took to create such a piece, all the beautiful colours, textures and how proud they must have been when they added their signature at the bottom of their prize piece, for it to be thrown in a loft is a crying shame. I need those guys from the BBC1 TV show ‘The Repair Shop’.

One weekend in the summer, we will take everything out of the loft and lay it onto the patio so we can see what needs to be thrown away or recycled. There is a whole manky mattress up there and a half eaten Christmas tree. There are also boxes full of shoes fit for a museum. There’s a lot of tat to be honest but I am hoping that I might find a few hidden treasures along the way apart from rat droppings. I’m not relying on any finds to secure my retirement and you won’t be seeing me on the Antiques Roadshow any time soon. This post is basically just photos of my finds and I will update regularly. 

THIS LOOKS A LOT LIKE MY SELF PORTRAIT!
Old photos of our house (Casa Valhal) which made me smile

Reading out the list below reminds me of The Generation Game, just need a cuddly toy! I have no doubt we will find one or two in due course.

X Enjoy the tat, I mean loot X

  • Telephone table
  • Telephone – excuse the dust, our cleaner ‘Teanna’ is stuck in the UK
  • Head torch – handy to use in the loft, caving or under the duvet!
  • Basket – perfect for wooden logs not ‘code brown’ logs
  • Art work (print)
  • Art work (print) I’m sure it would look better if you rotated it 90 degrees anti clockwise! but I’m not allowed – I have been told.
  • Let’s get trollied
  • Candlestick – great for candles or a decent weapon
  • 2 more chairs found which makes a grand total of 6 for 2 people! Makes for a great game of lock down musical chairs, we know how to have fun!
  • Old radio – perfect to listen to in garden or whilst painting rooms, it also has a record button to make my mixed tapes, I am not joking, this is gonna happen!
  • X3 as new Philips (walkman) personal stereos – I told my kids that this was their birthday presents this year and I will compile a mixed tape. Josh (27) is a retro geeky nerd and thought it was cool, Teanna on the other hand was a bit confused, upset and wanted to let me know it’s gonna be her big one, milestone (18)! Bless her.

The treasure hunt continues, I am hoping I may find an old Rolex or a Picasso but I very much doubt it. Now if only I needed an old Betamax or two, I’d be sorted. I need to limit hubby’s exposure time in the loft as there is quite a lot of old electrical bits and bobs in boxes and he is the biggest geeky nerd so all this shit is gonna end up inside the house, I just know it!