A Project - suggestions needed!

Hello, hello - it's very unusual for me to be writing a post in the middle of a Monday, but the snow I was talking about yesterday arrived! Somewhere between bedtime last night and the alarm this morning, a considerable sprinkle was sprunkled and here we are, with the second snow day in three weeks! It's actually very much like de ja vu... but I'm not complaining! A surprise day off is giving me time to catch up on some reports for work but also some much neglected blog posts!

So, for my project - I had been on the hunt for a new light fitting for our dining area for some time now. The current one is embarrassingly hideous and since we bought our gorgeous new/old table, I had visions of a talking piece much like this one... Well, a patient wait on Trade Me had me purchasing this little beauty last night (I went and collected it about half an hour after the auction finished, I was so excited!). It's solid brass, weighs a ton and cost me all of $29. I was quite pleased with myself :)

But, I have a quandary. I always had visions of painting it, much like my inspiration, to be a funky, colourful centre piece above the classic wood table. However, Paddy thinks we should leave it brass... I've taken some photos of the area it is to go in, and I'm after some advice from you all! So, please, impart your wisdom and taste on me - to paint or not to paint? And if so, what colour??

The old lampshade - you can see why I want to upgrade!

The new lamp shade!

To hang above the table...

Painted maybe the same colour as the chalk board?

Inspiration and Realisation

A few months ago I shared some pictures that tickled my fancy. One of them was this:

Then, on a chance trip to the Sunday market I found this:

A few coats of paint later, I made this:

Ta da! My very own chalkboard. From inspiration to realisation. You saw it here first, people!

Thrifting Finds

I have had a lovely weekend, which has involved a visit to a new GIANT op shop and a Sunday treasures market. What more could a girl want than TWO thrifting trips in one weekend! As most people, I always have variable success with my thrifting adventures, and this weekend was a good one!

Here are my finds:

Ten vintage champagne flutes.

An old bevelled frame, for which I have grand plans for.

Two vintage satchels, for Paddy's mountains of marking.

A basket, for which I also have plans for.

I love buying good secondhand; it is the most sustainable and eco-logical option. Why encourage the production of more 'things', when there is an everlasting array of wonderful treasures like these just waiting for new homes! I love looking around my house and seeing that almost everything was bought secondhand, with a purpose and after much waiting and searching. Delayed gratification is rad, and it sure keeps the crap down in our house. So next time you think you simply must have that new something-or-rather, try searching your local op shops and markets for the preloved version. It will cost a hell of a lot less, fill you with a delightful sense of accomplishment and is much better for our beautiful earth.

Bread Bin Makeover

After the success of the retro cabinet Paddy and I refurbished, I have been feeling quite paint-happy. Painting, itself, is actually very therapeutic, and turning an item from something you would walk past in a shop to something that actually catches your eye is very satisfying! I acquired this bread bin from a friend of my lovely neighbour, Sharon and thought it was dying for a make-over. Blackboard paint has been on my mind lately, so I had a dabble at integrating that into my refurbish.

Before...

One undercoat of BIN sealant.

After four coats of 'Anglaise' and three coats of blackboard paint. it's done!

Excuse the light and the corner smudge; that was me cleaning the dust off.

I'm pretty happy with the results, and now I finally have somewhere to store all the bread I make! My next task is to sew some bread bags out of thrifted cotton pillowcases. Watch this space... :)

Retro Cabinet Makeover

Paddy and I both had a few weeks off work due to the earthquake (which I will post about eventually, but I'm still not ready at the moment) and trying to keep ourselves busy was a top priority. A walk down to the local Salvation Army shop last week led to the discovery of this little beauty:

I love a good retro cabinet; we already have a similar one in our lounge. The low height and slimness of this one really appealed to me and I thought it would be a great piece to have near the dining room table, for plates, glassware etc. Especially as we are looking at installing a dishwasher in our kitchen and will likely lose the cupboard currently dedicated to those items. But, we already have a lot of wood in our house and as I'm trying to avoid the log-cabin look, I thought it would be fun to give this one a makeover! Originally I thought distressed white would look good, but then my lovely and wise neighbour (who has the most dreamy shabby chic house ever, it's adorable) pointed out that distressed isn't really the look that is developing in our wee house. So, the internet was consulted for inspiration and here is the final product:

What do you think? I'm in love! Clearly the wine collection is coming along well, but now I just need to expand on my mismatched plate and glassware collection and the look will be complete. Luckily, my neighbour has an awesome eye for all vintage treasures and is on the lookout for me. In fact, almost everything on and in the cabinet (bar the liquor) currently is due to her keen eye and regular trips to the Sallies around the corner from our houses!

So how did we do it? Well, to be honest, Paddy did almost all of the work, and I supplied the vision. First the cabinet was scrubbed down with sugar soap, and then wiped with meths, to prepare the surface. Then, all the hinges and glass/mirror were removed, and all the edges were taped to help avoid getting paint on any mirrors that could not be removed. It was primed with a coat of B.I.N primer and then two coats each of the white and the turquoise went on. To seal the paint, as we went cheap and used test pots, two coats of satin finish clear varnish was applied. Extra spots were touched up and the tape was removed. Some painted that leaked under the tape needed to be scraped off the mirror, and after a good clean, it was done!

I'm loving the retro funky feel it adds to our house! Have you ever refurbished old furniture before? How did it turn out? I would love to see other before and after photos!

48-hour Couch Covering Marathon

I've had this couch for quite a few years now; I acquired it from an old flatmate who was leaving town. It has all the merits of a good couch: comfy, squishy, fits in the space it is meant for, low enough that my feet can touch the ground when I am sitting on it (I'm rather, rather short). However, amongst all its good qualities, it also so happens to be scratchy fabric and UGLY! I skirted around this issue for a few years by covering it with a couch cover. However, this only took away the scratchy nature of the fabric, and did nothing for its appearance (the couch cover was almost as ugly as the couch itself).

So, after months and months of complaining about how ugly it actually was, my partner Paddy and I decided we were going to do something about it. Now, I am a student and we have a mortgage, so buying a new couch was not an option. And anyway, it has good bones, it just needed a facelift. We were lucky enough to acquire some fabric from a generous friend of ours (a beautiful, grey pinstripe wool- I hate to think of how much it would of cost to buy!), and a staple-gun from my parents. We were set. Enter a rainy Queen's Birthday weekend, and the beginning of our 48-hour couch covering marathon.

We started by labelling the various parts of the couch, so once disassembled, we could tell where it all went back to.

Before - the picture does not do justice to its yuckness!

Then, demolition. By demolition I mean the pain-staking removal of thousands of tiny staples from every possible crevasse of the couch.

Naked couch

It was not a good start. Spirits were low, and I was hungry. After dinner and a pep talk, work continued.

To create the pattern, we basically cut out a new piece of every old piece that came off the couch. This worked better than I expected.

The cutting process

I cut and pinned, and Paddy sewed (yes, he's a very modern man). Soon, it was shaping up, we had a back, and a front and sides.... it was 1am and we were excited.

Despite my enthusiastic labelling, the couch puzzle had its challenges. However, with a bit of sleep-deprived problem solving, we battled through and soon, the light at the end of the tunnel appeared. Or was that the sun rising...?
Fast forward through a lot of enthusiastic staple-gunning and nip-tucking, and there we have it. A brand new couch for less than $100.
We actually ran out of the grey wool pinstripe, so decided to go for a bit of flair and use a pattern. One side of the bottom cushions are pinstripe and one side patterned. It's a couch for all occasions.

Finished product, wearing its business look (right) and party-wear (left)

We are pretty gosh darn proud of ourselves! Not only did we manage to successfully recover the couch all by ourselves, we saved this couch from a trip to the dump, and saved ourselves money. What more could you want from a rainy Queen's Birthday weekend?

Next step... cushion covers.