Tools down Drinks out

After a lllllllllllllllllllllong week at work, come the weekend all I want to do is sleep-in and relax. But rooms aren't going to paint themselves so got to get up and get into it.

But once the sunsets it means tools down and drinks out!

This wine glass is a gift from a gorgeous friend, apparently this one looked like me with the crazy redhair! I love it!! 

The sun hasn't quite set yet but its girls night out tonight so I've started a bit early! Cheers everyone have a great weekend!

Craft Room/Study: A Room for Creativity

We've decided to turn our smallest room into a Craft Room/Study.

A whole room just for my creativity to flourish. I'm a lucky girl.

We've made a start ... Mr P's been sanding the floors back all day creating a dust storm while I've been sitting here dreaming of the wish list:

• Want the room to have punches of yellow and be bright and fun to bring on inspiration
• A light shade or mobile that's eye catching and dreamy (like this butterfly mobile I saw on Ish and Chi's Blog or this shell chandelier from the cool kids at Young House Love)
• Wrapping station with easy access to rolls of paper and fun quirky things to wrap pressies
• Reading corner and this is my chance to have a go at recovering a chair I've been wanting to redo
• Big strong bookcase for my many photo albums, books and mags
• Paint all the furniture white so it matches

That should do it for now but I'm sure the list will grow once its painted and I can set it up.

I've already let loose with the yellow spray paint on some baskets and frames for the room.

Stay tuned for updates!

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Tops Takeover

This week I finally finished unpacked the rest of my clothes which were 2 big boxes of slinky malinky tops. I should see it as a sign I can live without them but most I couldn't bear to part with until I've worn them at least one more time. Felt like I'd been on a shopping spree without spending a cent! So tell me are 3 drawers of tops too many? Lets do the math the piles are 2 deep, 4 across and about 7 high which means 24 piles per drawer times 3 drawers makes about 168 slinky malinky tops. When I see it like that damn that's a lot of fabric!

Ok so maybe I have a few more than just those drawers. Guess I should count what's in the wardrobe too. I have 2 hanging racks totalling 1400mm, top racks for long sleeve tops and bottom is skirts and jackets.

Plus the odd jacket (maybe a dozen) in the wardrobe in the spare bedroom. But thats it I swear. Clearly my upperbody is well and truly covered. Do your tops dominate your wardrobe as much as mine? 

Antique lovers paradise

James Street in Guildford is an antique lovers paradise. There are so many yester-year shops to browse through and just enough cafes in between for a shopping recharge coffee break! 

My lifelong friend (and Bargain-Hunting Queen) spent Saturday hunting through these antique shops with me. We stepped into a different era and wanted to know the story behind everything.... Where the tiny old bottles were found and what was inside them. How freakin long it'd take to press out the wrinkles with those solid irons (I struggle with my electric iron to do a good job!). Tupperwear doesn't even come close to the character of the old kitchen canisters (and to think I nearly turned down my Mum's retro set). The old furniture built to last many many years (no Ikea instructions included).

We browsed for hours looking at all the knicknacks, and although I only came home with some baskets and an old painting its refreshing to bring home something old instead of new, its like you've given it a new lease of life!

[Image via Jones of  Guildford]  

Midweek Musings

I've got some midweek musings to share .... Lets remember that the journey is the destination. Something to keep in mind while trying to accomplish the many things on the to do list, of course you want it all done now but lets face it, you have to enjoy the ride not just to getting to the finish line. Otherwise you'll miss all the laughs, excitement, anticipation and finally satisfaction once you've got there. That's my mid week thoughts to share! Hope everyones taking the time to enjoy life's journey ...

[Image via Photobucket]

Carded

There's so many stunning gift cards out there, shame to keep them hidden away in a drawer when you can put them in a frame and turn them into inexpensive art. Another idea I'm keen on is using an old calendar that way you can have a set of pictures to group together. Back to the card idea ... a while ago I bought some gift cards at Unwrapped, they're illustrations by local artist Ali J - I got one of a girl who got her freckles from a flower (anyone who knows me will know why!) and another of a girl with balloons that looked good to pair with it. Oh and they're redheads. Now for the frames. I hunted EVERYWHERE for some dramatic frames to really show off the cards and finally found some at good ole Kmart. The frames were starkly white so I decided to paint the outside so they really popped on the wall and left the inside white to frame the card. I mixed together some left over paints until I got a colour I liked (the main was orange from a Halloween pumpkin painting attempt gone wrong and a few of the tester pots of grey). 

From this ...

I made this ....

 

Just the thing for our freshly painted hallway .... don't you think?

Cost breakdown:

Frames, Kmart    $24

Art cards, Ali J    $8

Paint (already had)    $0

Everyone's best friend

The wretched flu got hold of me this week and I had to cancel my social plans and surround myself instead with tissues and daytime TV. Uggh.

But they say a cup of tea is everyone’s best friend so I thought a pot of honey and lemon tea may help. I made it in my gorgeous Japanese tea set (a gift from a friend with impeccable style). You can tell a good tea set when you can’t feel the heat through the cups (remember there’s no handle on these ones!)

How could that sunny yellow tea pot not make you smile?

Ahhhh yes I’m feeling much better now!

[Image my own]
 

Nature's Humour

I was making the most of the sunny (but cold!) days before the forecast rains came and washed my favourite new doona and luxurious 1000 thread count sheets and threw them on the line to dry.

 I'm sure the birds were laughing in their chirps as I approached the line to see if they were dry. Oh they were dry alright. And tainted. The birds decided to leave a few birdy poos on the sheets AND doona.

So back in the machine they went and drying inside by our awesome new heater this time without the threat of nature's humour!

Here's our line (and Aussie icon 'Hills') out in the elements all vulnerable! The bird lure I'm pretty sure is the neighbour's olive trees over the fence. I'm not keen on using a dryer, so think when we redo our backyard we should find a spot for a new line undercover (another thing to add to the ever growing wishlist!)

 

[Image my own]

 

The Hallway

The hallway is painted! It took a bit little longer than we thought as Pete hurt his neck (probably from painting the ceiling!) and I couldn’t help (pretty good excuse, apparently I'm too short to reach and no room to use the extension rod, works for me!). We didn't spend daaaaaays peel the paint off this time like we did for the other rooms, instead just sealed the walls really well along the skirting and ceiling and prayed the old paint won't lift (so far so good!). The hall is sooooooo fiddly with all the door frames and edging to go around and the frames had to be sanded back, coat of sealer and 2 coats of paint. Here's a photo during (you can actually see the roller at work in this one!) ...

And here's the after ....

The new colour is Mountain Peak in Dulux which is actually a British Paints colour but tints much crisper in Dulux. Looks gorgeous so fresh and modern dont you think?  Nearly the whole house is going to be painted in this colour, even the bedrooms, but in double strength. We want all the rooms to flow and fit together and think this is a good way to achieve that. Now the paintings done I can start on the decorating .... diy cards as art and black & white photo wall are next on the to do list.