afternoon tea party

 On Saturday I hosted an afternoon tea for some of our local home schooling mothers.

 
Seven of us were able to enjoy a lovely afternoon tea together on my veranda.

Of course I got into party decorating mode to make everything look pretty!
I borrowed the bunting from The Girl's room and strung it across the veranda.
The day bed is also dressed in one of The Girl's quilt covers.
(you may notice Bella and Maggie testing it out for comfort in the background!)
My Grandmother's antique embroidered tablecloth graces the coffee table.
Some pretty fabrics were used to dress up other areas as well.

The tea cups were placed on the tea trolley that I also put some lovely aqua polka dot oil cloth on.

I covered the servery with a vintage white sheet- to hide all the uglies underneath and then put this pretty oilcloth over the top.

I made some cute little labels for the different teas and milks I put out,

and for those who wanted something different I put out a selection of herbal and flavoured teabags to choose from.

 

Above the servery window I draped one of my doily buntings.

I have made so many of these and they sell so quickly that when I made this one I decided that I was going to keep it just for ME!

I covered the drawers that will one day be "redeemed" with a sweet cherry print.

It is amazing how some scrap fabric can transform something and cover up the ugly!

B3 helped me with dressing up the lemonade bottles by cutting the doilies in half and then stamping lemonade on each one, before I glued it on and tied some baker's twine around it.

The straws were left over from The Girl's birthday party.

I placed the lemonade bottles with some lovely homemade sugar-free lemonade and some refreshing mint and cucumber water onto an aqua tray.

The flowers were from a cheap mixed bunch I got at the supermarket and

supplemented with some cosmos from my garden.

These one's on the coffee table were put into an old Mason jar.

Of course now you should be seeing some photos of the pretty cupcakes I made and the mini quiches I forgot to serve and all the lovely food, only in all the excitement I thought I had taken the photos earlier, but obviously hadn't!

So that's all folks!!!

outdoor kitchen reveal

Finally I am going to show you our outdoor kitchen!!!!

 I know you have been waiting for what seems like months and I keep teasing you with snippets here and there, but finally here is the whole shebang!

We had been planning to redo our outdoor kitchen for quite some time.

This area has evolved over the12 and a half years we have lived here.

The brickwork and levels were done by the previous owners.

Over time we have added a roof, floor, lighting etc.

We had a sink and cupboard that VCH did at least 10 or 11 years ago and then we had added a few old cupboards that had been replaced in other parts of the house.

But we had been slowly working up to a whole remodel and wanted a functional yet practical space.

We decided that this would be VCH holiday project this year.

Just before VCH started holidays I spied an old kitchen for free on Gumtree, not far from where we lived.

We went and picked up the whole kit and caboodle, 

not sure exactly what we would use off it but knowing it would come in handy.

We mucked around with the various carcasses and came up with a layout fairly closely matching the one we had in mind.

VCH then went on a little trip to get the adjustable feet another Gumtree find.

Using the carcasses from the old kitchen saved VCH hours and hours of work, 

so we were very grateful for the find!

 

We decided to build a little wall at one end to protect the cupboards from the weather and in this we placed a window that we picked up for $5 at the local second hand building site.

 We pulled the the top bricks off what was the brick BBQ and VCH leveled it and cemented it.

 This is where the gas BBQ and Pizza oven now sit.

The gas bottle is hidden away in the cupboard. 

The sink and tapware is from the original Gumtree kitchen.

We decided to make new doors and drawer fronts but reused the hinges.

VCH routed the pattern into the MDF doors and then painted them the dark grey we have used around our house (Dulux Leadman)

I decided grey would tie in and not show up dirt or mildew like white would.

The handles are from my stash.

The bench tops were a laminated pine that we got from Bunnings.

VCH stained it with one coat of a cedar stain and then coated it with a gloss floor polyurethane.

We wanted a bar area and so left a gap in the cupboards to create one.
We still need to paint the sides of the cupboards you can see under the bar grey.

The bar stools were a garage sale find - $10 for the 4.

We still want to put a shelf along this wall and will make it with a narrow piece of left over benchtop.

Great for a pre-dinner drink and nibbles, 

the kids have enjoyed ice cream sundaes here too!

 

 This old freezer has seen better days and was originally VCH dad's.

It still works well so I just gave it a coat of grey spray paint.

 The chalkboard frame was one I picked up from an op shop and I used a pre-coated blackboard sheet from Bunnings cut to size.

I decided to leave the original finish on the frame as I thought it tied in nicely with the benchtop.

 Here is the BBQ and Pizza oven looking towards the bench seating we also put in.

 We used the same material as we did for the benches and then treated them the same way.

VCH attached them to the bricks with liquid nails and brackets.

B4 helped me with the garden.

We still need to do something to the cement floor, at this stage we are debating a few different options.

 In the end it will probably come down to time and money!

 Doesn't it always?

You are welcome to join us here any Sunday night for Pizza!

If you would like to see some befores of this area go here or here.

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entertaining five brothers one sister style

School holidays, a long weekend and a BBQ with friends.

One of my friends came to visit her parents for the holidays so we arranged a get together with hubbies and kids.

Location: entertainment central  - our place!

One friend lives locally, 

one came from a nearby town 

another from interstate thought she would like to join in the fun 

and of course the one who was here visiting her family.

Here is my table setting.

I grabbed a heap of old bottles and plonked some cheap supermarket flowers in them and then ran them down the table on a runner, which used to be The Girl's window swag.

Do you like my new tables?

I set VCH to work, to make me the tables I wanted for the BBQ area.

We pulled the doors out of the pantry, as we never used them and the cavities for the sliding doors were a cockroach palace so everytime I went to shut the doors I was greeted with cockroach poo all over the doors, YUCK!, so I would just slide them in again.

I knew I wanted some door tables for up the back and these were good because I had two the same.

My idea was that with two long narrow tables I can use them in several configurations.

Joined together to make one long table, 

joined to make a square table 

or separated to make two tables, 

very versatile!

Here are the girl's.

Here are the guys.

VCH is obviously telling some fishing saga by the way his hands are.

These guys are all fishermen, 

so good they all have something in common!

We just did a very easy BYO meat and drinks and a salad to share.

 I did dessert.

 The "ice cream shop" made a reappearance!

 Everyone was impressed.

I had an assortment of mix-ins

Some yummy homemade sauces,

caramel, strawberry and chocolate fudge.

 An assortment of cones

Some toppings, whipped cream, strawberries and mini meringues

 

I served chocolate, strawberry and vanilla and a strawberry orange sorbet as well a banana ice cream made on pure bananas for my friend who has just found out she is intolerant to sucrose and lactose.

It was a huge hit with both kids and adults.

I can see lots more ice cream shops making an appearance over the summer months!

 

Tonight us girl's are hitting the town for a girl's night out!

On a side note the boys arrived home safely from Ag camp and all had a wonderful time!

easy entertaining project

I thought I would share a little project I did to help with our summer/ holiday entertaining.

I saw this on pinterest.

 

I liked the idea of using some terracotta pots to hold cutlery when entertaining a crowd.

So I went out and bought some pots at Bunnings, they were only a couple of dollars each and then I simply painted the rim with some chalkboard paint. 

I labelled them with a chalk pen - so simple, so easy and I think they look cool.

I simply popped in a cloth napkin and then put in the cutlery.

With three big events in the next few weeks happening here they should see some use.

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