Yardage Design

I have a new project, which was spurred on by my discovery of some fabulous hand screen-printed fabric from Melburnian Nicole James, creator of Yardage Design! Nicole hand screen-prints natural fibre-based cloths such as organic cotton, linen and hemp using water-based inks. The fabric I was particularly attracted to was her Agapanthus design which she does in white on coffee-coloured cotton, or purple on cream.

We inherited two rather tired and grubby looking cane chairs up at the batch that are still structurally sound and comfy to sit on. I thought I would spray paint them white and replace the old, starting to mould, cushions with ones made in Nicole's agapanthus fabric shown here that arrived in the post last week, with a cream cotton backing I picked up at Spotlight on the weekend.  

Nicole also has a fabulous blog (which is how I found out about her in the first place) and a website and online store which I highly recommend you check out to see her other wares, such as bunting, tea towels and eco-bags.
 
I'll show you the end result when it's all done!

Beach Memories Framed

Remember the holiday photos I showed you a while back that I was thinking of framing? Well, they're done! My amateur snaps haven't come up too bad - helped along, no less, by the recycled timber frames from the Southbank Market in Melbourne. They will certainly add some zing to the walls at the bach, if nothing else!  

Storm Brewing on Byron Bay Beach

Island Gull

Footprint in the Sand

Distressed Cupboard

Dear readers, this will be my last blog for a few days as our time at The Bach ends and hubby and I have a long weekend in Melbourne on our own, sans children (thank you grandparents!). In the meantime, I would like to leave you with a purchase I made at The Lovely Shop in Woy Woy which I had passed many times and always wanted to have a nosey around. It is a pre-loved/vintage furniture and bric-a-brac shop that, as it turns out, is quite divine and very reasonably priced. There was dinky china, a cute sky blue sofa, lamps, buttons, upcycled furniture, vintage bits and bobs and pre-loved knick knacks.

Then I spotted this distressed cupboard/cabinet with four drawers and shelves inside that I thought would be perfect in an empty corner of our bedroom at The Bach.

So I snapped it up!

And here it is, with my newly limewashed mirror.

The all-white, shabby chic look is coming along quite nicely.

Adieu - until next time when I might have some interesting finds from Melbourne.

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!

Coffee Table Makeover at The Bay

I'm back with my second DIY job these hols!

This many-times-painted coffee table that we inherited with The Bach was looking very worn and tired and in need of a sprucing. While this photo doesn't give justice to quite how worn and tired and discoloured it was looking, believe me, it was and annoyed me every time I sat down on the sofa.

So ... I decided to use up some leftover white spray paint I had from when I 'did up' a chipped wicker table a while back. I took it outside in the sun and started spraying. Despite the wind and my inept ability and, no doubt, technique, after a few sprays it started to look quite good ...

... although the grass was a bit worse for wear!

But it ended up looking so much better and now it sparkles in the living room - helped, no less, by the  yellow flowers I picked from a tree in the garden and popped in my el cheapo white jug.

Kookaburras at The Bay

There are kookaburras everywhere down at The Bay and lots of blue sky! What better way to spend Easter Monday than gazing at the sky and watching the birds do their stuff. Except I'm still painting ...

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!

Vinnie's Lamp

Now, I know what you're saying - not another light!

Well, yes, it's half a lampshade base but I bought it at the local 'Vinnie's' (aka Aussie speak for St. Vincent de Paul) charity shop for only $10 and it's Laura Ashley. Only went in because the kiddies wanted to fossick and see what they could spend their pocket money on and we all came out happy.

So, I have plans for this base. It will be the bedside light for one of the bedrooms up at the bach.

Watch this space ...

Our bach at the bay

This Australia Day weekend we spent it up at Hardys Bay at our new little beach cottage - or as we New Zealanders say, bach. It was hardly relaxing what with moving furniture and doing all those nesting things one does with a new house or holiday home, but was well worth it. So, on a misty, muggy morning at the bay when the mercury rose to 40 degrees ...

we hung beachy mementos ...

put the S.H.E chairs and table on the deck ...

hung beach towels on the S.H.E door handle hanger ...

smelt the frangipani in the garden ...

and watched Ruby explore ...

and never once thought about fixtures and fittings!