chippy chairs

These two chairs got a few comments at the Tea Party the other day.

They are part of a set of four that I got off Gumtree for free in a neighbouring town. 

Fortunately for me I have a friend that lives nearby and she kindly picked them up for me and dropped them off at her mum's in our town when she was up here to visit and I was then able to pick them up from her.

She also recently found a couple of chairs on the side of the road and dropped them off to VCH's work one day.

I love how friends find stuff for me, it makes them extra special!

The things, not the friends, as they are already special!

This is one that is yet to be painted.

I was originally going to do the four of them in gelato colours and polka dot them, but B2 painted these two ages ago for me and then they sat for ages and I hadn't got around to polka dotting them and then they must have been knocked and got a chip or two, so I just decided to distress them instead, well actually B2 distressed one and B4 the other- it is a family business after all!.

(you can just see one of the other chairs in the background)

Here is "Vintage Pretty in Pink" and 

"Vintage Sea Foam".

I still need to seal them and then they will be ready for my market stall on the 29th June.

Trying to get all my painting finalised this week so I can make some bunting and stuff next week.

outdoor table looking good

Just a quick post today to show you how these outdoor table and chairs 

that we found on the side of the road came up with a bit of paint.

Before

After

They look so amazing now!

VCH had to fix a couple of things on them and then we just slapped on some Dulux Leadman.

I really like them and am still debating with myself whether to keep them or sell them.

I think for the moment they will stay.

I have lots of coloured cans of succulents scattered around our outdoor area left over from the boys' party, they add a bit of colour to the table.

I am off for a Girly weekend on the Gold Coast with 6 of my old school friends

- looking forward to lots of fun, good food, shopping, laughter and catching up!

Here is a post about our last weekend away 2 years ago. 

it all started with a rug...

I will just start with a quick flood update: The water around our house has gone down, but we are still cut off from town. At 7am it was still up about 2m, so hopefully it will be down by late this afternoon, but definitely by tomorrow morning we will be able to get into town.
Our phone was out yesterday, probably due to the lines being submerged but is working today.
We were able to change the dates of our holiday, so will now go Friday.
B1 will still be here as he will be working .
Now to the post that I started a few days ago and am only now finishing:

Isn't funny how the purchase of just one thing can domino into a whole new room makeover?

The other week I was in Bunnings and happened to go past their rug section.

I have never been happy with the rug that I bought from IKEA a couple of years ago when we bought the sofas and desks etc. 

It was cream and was forever dirty, then we would take it outside and hang it on the fence to clean it and several weeks later it would make its way back into the lounge room 

(that's what we call a living room here in Oz).

 When I saw a rug with some grey in it and it was nice and fluffy- something that I knew VCH would like and it was quite neutral, I took down the measurements and came home to make sure it would fit OK, 

and it did, 

so on my next trip to Bunnings I bought it.

On the same day I happened to pick up two butterfly cushions from Big W.

 So here is our lounge room now.

 You will see throughout the photos how the little kids school desks fit around the outside of the lounge room.

 You can see the things on B4's desk behind the lounge next to the fire (that's the big black pole you can see.

We will turn the sofa back around to under the window in winter to open the fire place up to the rest of the room.

The coffee table with the little stools under it is acting as a corner table between the two sofas at present.

 I recovered two of the four ottomans I scored the other day in this pretty greige and white  floral fabric.

 I made a couple of new cushions in some leftover fabric from the entry way cushion that goes nicely with the large butterfly.

Here you can see the opening into our dining room and the kids desks on one side and the bookshelf on the other.

I made some new covers for the large floor cushions, one in the floral and one in a stripe.

While I was going I made some new stripy curtains and a butterfly cover for this chair.

I am deciding what to do with this chair.

It belonged to my grandparent's and was the very first piece of furniture I ever did up.

It was my first year of College and I wanted it for my bedroom in the unit I was living.

So I carefully sanded it back and gave it two coats of a mahogany stain.

It never quite got to my unit and ended up being used by my mum as her phone chair until she went into an aged care facility.

You can see how on the front there is a little wear from feet resting on it,
but other than that it is still in good condition,
not bad seeing as I did it about 27 years ago- that makes me sound really old doesn't it!

The kids have been tying each other up to this chair all week with skipping ropes and seeing how long it takes to escape from!

I was going to paint it white a couple of years ago,

 but when I was at a solicitor's office and mentioned that I had a chair the same as the ones in his office, 

 he proceeded to tell me that they were quite rare and from America, 

 I decided that maybe I shouldn't paint it after all.

Now three years later I am back to the same question.

I bought some nice greige paint to match the fabrics in the room and thought I could paint it as I don't like it with the other timber in the room- I sometimes debate about painting them too- but it all seems like too much hard work!

But I am still hanging back, I did an internet search and found that it is a Windsor, low back captain's chair and was probably made from oak- I had previously thought it was cedar-but that is probably because nearly everything old in this area is made from cedar, as this area was founded on cedar logging, 

but if it came from elsewhere then probably not.

I found a few examples of exactly the same chair but could not find a value though
- no matter where I looked.

So I am back to the dilemma- do I or don't I?

My other option would be to strip it back and just wax it?

What do you think?

If you would like to see a previous view of my lounge room go here:

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you are my sunshine

 I love this business!

I love getting a piece of furniture and turning it into something beautiful.

I love that I can let my imagination go wild because the stuff I make doesn't have to match my house.

I have named this cute little chest of drawers "you are my sunshine".

This is how they looked when I first got them.

Very dated and boring.

They were a Gumtree find.

(for my OS readers Gumtree is similar to Craigslist)

I painted the outside a lovely yellow called buttercup fields

 I covered the drawers in a vintage wallpaper.

I used some pretty crystal knobs for the drawers.

I painted the drawers inside white, I like the drawers to be fresh.

I would like to line them with some yellow or even a green paper would do, but finding some in this country town is proving elusive at the moment!

 I like to add a little something to the top for the photo shoot.

In this case, three little clocks, an ampersand and some paper flowers.

So what do you think?

She is my sunshine,  and it makes me happy to look at her!

I will be sad to part with her when the time comes, but I am sure her new owner will love her too!

Edited top add: I listed "sunshine" back on Gumtree and she sold within 24hrs.

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12 from 2012

So here we are on the last day of 2012 before heading into 2013

 I thought I would list 12 of my favourite activities/projects from 2012.

One of my favourite things was The Girl's 5th Birthday Party.

The party details managed to cover four posts

Here, here, here and here

Next would be my sewing room reveal.

Wish it looked this neat all the time!

Go here and here.

I shared B2's bedroom here:

There was of course my fantastic hallway project that resulted in this beauty

I also had lots of fun with B4's 10th birthday spy party

 

 I showed my love of shutters in this post

I don't actually know that this is technically one of my favourites but it comes in third in my stats behind my vintage sewing room (second) and the ever popular spice angel tutorial from 2010

 I enjoyed sharing one of the most used spaces in our home:

the veranda

 My big exciting project of the year was launching "redeemed"

I am still excited about its success and am looking forward to new possibilities in 2013.

Some of my favourite recipes that I shared were:

 The ever popular snickers ice cream

 Decadent but Healthy Chocolate Brownies

 

Baked oatmeal 

It is still a family favourite with requests for it at least once a week even though it is summer.

Gluten free gingernuts oh how I love thee!

So there it is, a quick review of 2012, though looking through there are so many favourites that I found, particularly some of my more recent "redeemed" items.

I am so looking forward to all that 2013 has to offer and the exciting places it may lead!

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!