Secondhand plates and cake!

I've got these secondhand  plates, see.

Which my daughter reminded me I had when she made a delicious chocolate cake the other day and used one of the plates to serve up a slice.




It was very yummy (the cake that is).

But the thing is, I used to have these plates on a wall when we had a villa but for the past few years they've been in a cupboard. They looked good in an old house but soon we'll be in a new modern house and they just won't go.

Do I keep them just for cake?

(By they way, if you want the cake recipe go to Dachshunds Daisies and Design, my daughter's new blog!)

eBay Makes my Day!

For someone who has sold virtually the entire fit-out of their old house, plus eight-seater dining table with chairs and dresser a couple of years ago on eBay, I had yet to actually purchase anything.

Until now.

That's not to say I hadn't perused eBay's wares or even bid on some items. But I either chickened out, the price got too high, I was consistently outbid, or I wasn't sure I actually wanted the item or not.

In the end, I decided to try my luck on a 70s retro glass genie bottle. And I won!

I may now have to get a couple more to keep it company!

A Home for Kitchen Utensils

This ...

Inspired this ...

An African made pen/utensil/anything holder at design store Moochinside at Hardys Bay reminded me of the image above from Emmas Blogg that I had on file.

And I knew just where to put it.

Some of my kitchen utensils now have a much nicer home instead of being stuck in a messy drawer.

Now I think I could do with another!

Vintage Keys

Still on my travels to Sydney's Dank St (you can see I had a good time on this visit!), we went to one shop whose name I am sorry to say I forget, but it was in the PYD Building, and some things caught my eye ...

large, vintage Indian keys and ...
 

kitchen scale weights ...

I love their heavy solidity, rich colour and sense of history. The keys remind me of my old French cellar door key necklace, which I happened to be wearing that day!

The weight I plan to use as exactly that - a paper weight - and I'm thinking of framing the keys in a white box frame.

I found two bloggers who have done just this - here and here - but as I am unable to upload their photos, you'll have to click on the link to see what they look like.

What do you think? Any ideas for other things I could do with the keys?

P.S The build officially started on Tuesday (hooray!) but the first few weeks will be all about getting the site prepared, taking off the roof and dismantling the bricks, literally, brick by brick so we can re-use them. It's all very exciting, although slightly surreal. For not being there, makes it feel like it's not really happening!

Limewashed Mirror

Well, folks, here is my limewash painting project.

This dark wood mirror in our bedroom at The Bach was looking very dated and, well, dark and I fancied a bit more white; a bit more of a shabby chic, Scandinavian limewashed look. Having never done this before, I tottered off to the hardware store to get some paint, a brush, sandpaper and some sealant.

The first coat looked like this - see above and below.

Here's the second coat of limewash. It took me the first coat to get the hang of the painting technique, which is a bit tricky as the paint doesn't come out even. It is literally like a wash but then, that is the point of limewashing and the effect you want.

Then I decided to do a third coat as the wood was pretty dark underneath. I think if you were limewashing lighter wood you would only need two coats and if it was very light, only one.

Here's a corner to show the third coat effect. All it needed now was a coat or two of sealant to protect it and give it some sheen. One thing I realise now, is that the paint could have done with an added tint (ie to make it slightly creamier in colour) as the limewash turned out to be quite an icy, blue white. But overall, I am pretty happy with the result considering I had never done it before.

The final result came up like this ...

And this ...

And all the while I worked, Ruby was keeping me company in the sun.

Oh the life of a dog!

Lamp Makeover at the Bay

Well, here we are at The Bach at the Bay for Easter and I have decided to do some bits and bobs around the place. The first thing was tarting up my Vinnie's lamp base. I bought a basic white Freedom Furniture lamp shade and popped it on - with a new bulb as well, of course ...

It doesn't look bad on the desk with my bird feathers. But I felt it needed something extra. So, I cut up a beautiful 2010 butterfly calendar to get individual butterflies ...

And I stuck them to the shade as if they had just flown in on a summer breeze and landed there (or something like that!).

Not bad, don't you think?

My next projects involve limewash paint and some sealer - which is all rather scary considering I've never limewashed a thing in my life. But something up here is bringing out the crafty DIYer in me. Is it the autumn sun or the sea air? Who knows and maybe it'll all be a disaster. But I reckon there's no harm in giving it a go.

Happy Easter!

Christmas in Flower

This will be my last blog of the year! I'm off to spend it with family in New Zealand where the beautiful red Pohutukawa will be in full flower. It is our unique Christmas tree. You never know I might find some inspirational things there and will post on them in the New Year. In the meantime, I found these two Pohutukawa-inspired New Zealand designs ...

Pohutukawa tea towel from Ingrid Anderson Textile Design. Printed on 100% natural fibre fabrics and made in New Zealand, the complete product range includes contemporary textiles and homewares for kitchen, laundry, living and bedroom spaces.

A Pohutukawa tree decal from Sticky Kids who design a wide variety of wall graphics - all handcrafted in New Zealand.

Enjoy the festive season!