Painted Beauty

G'day, dear bloggers, Here is my kitchen dresser/hutch painted white. I'm very happy with how it turned out, I love it so much better white. I also pulled lots of my creamware out of the obscurity of the cupboards and put them on show, they really lend height, texture and look great with other white things. I'm playing with roses again. I still have quite a lot of rose blooms in the garden, the weather has simply been lovely for them. Pink Simplicity(pink, Floribunda)Louise Odier (pink, Old Rose) Tamora (apricot, David Austin) I love how the hutch looks in the background, so cool, calm and collected, what do you think? Louise Odier (pink, Old Rose), Tamora (apricot, David Austin), Pink Simplicity(in urn, pink, Floribunda) Seduction(pink and cream, Floribunda) and Perfumed Perfection (mauve, Floribunda) And here are some close-ups. Have a fantastic rest of the week, till next time.

Console Table

 I'm helping the environment by recycling and giving a bit of TLC to the pieces which need a bit of love. I spotted this piece near a pile of rubbish, I thought it had character. I changed the drawer pull, I'm still wanting to paint it to the white and the finish and distress that I like; but for now, here it is. The books and glasses and doily were my son's idea. The metal plaque behind is still not finished either, it's a bit too white and I want to repaint and distress it and put words on it. Nice little table for displaying roses, don't you think? Have a great week, dear friends. Roses here are Jude the Obscure(apricot, David Austin), St.Cecilia(pink, David Austin), Golden Years(yellow, Floribunda), Anne Boelyn(medium pink/apricot blend, David Austin).

Chair Makeover

I saw this ornate cast-iron chair in an antique shop, I love the details on it. I was excited because it didn't cost the earth! It was gold, I bought it. I had in mind to paint it white. I've seen one similar to this in a chic French homeware shop near the city, in its white painted glory. It really attracted my attention. I never went to that shop to see how much it costs, but I bet it's not cheap.With its gold cushion.............. Definitely have to make a new cushion cover for when it's white!!!!!!! After a coat or two of paint(i.e. Dulux "White On White"), it's transformed into a Swan, not that it was an ugly duckling before, but it just wouldn't fit in too well here in gold, would it? I quite like it without the cushion, you can see the details on the seat. Well, the cushion cover can wait a bit............. Hope you enjoyed this small project, till next time, happy weekend!

Restored to Dignity

Remember this table? I salvaged it from a pile of verge rubbish. A few coats of paint later (and lots of elbow grease for sanding) now it looks oh-so-fine. I painted it a pale pink. The last picture I took didn't show the details underneath . I also put little appliques on to add a bit more detail and to give it more character.

Snippets of Recent Events

Well, it feels like it's been ages since I last posted. We've been away, we went down south to Bunbury and then up north to Geraldton. Down south was to attend my mother-in-law's sister's funeral. She was a dear lady who died at a good old age of 86, there was a special bagpipe number at the funeral as she was born in Scotland and came out to Australia when she was five. The music was awesome and extremely moving, especially played at a funeral. We took the opportunity to visit our friends who live in Bunbury while we were there, had lunch with them and took a brief tour of the city. We saw two look-outs which were perched high up above the city, first one we saw we wanted to climb up and have a look, I could see the majestic-looking Catholic Cathedral from low down. But our son didn't feel up to such a climb, so we got back in the car and decided to drive around. When we got to another side of the city, we spied another look-out! This time it didn't look as daunting and steep as the last one. So we quickly got out of the car and started the ascend. The trip was rather interesting especially when I saw my classmate from University days (1989) at the funeral. I was sure I knew the lady as soon as I saw her sitting in the opposite church pews. We got talking after the funeral service and lo and behold, I found out she's actually even related to me by marriage. She's my mother-in-law's sister's son's niece, it's a "complicated relationship". Believe it or not, I was so thrilled to see her I forgot to get a picture of her. I managed to fit in a little project in the midst of all the busy-ness and visits and everything. I painted a partition which I created and decorated out of the back of a bookcase to give hubby a bit of privacy in his study on one side. Then there was the trip up north(41/2 to 5 hours' drive) to visit my mother-in-law. This trip was different to other trips in that we had a little "girl" waiting for us to adopt. She was given to my sister-in-law and needed a home badly. So considering Leo, our cat went missing and we'd love the kids to grow up with a pet, we took her in. We named her Belle and she's the smallest and cutest thing! Now we've got a dog(a puppy)!!!!!! She doesn't look like my favourite dog West Highland White Terrier, which is beyond our budget to own at the moment. She is very intelligent. Can you identify what breed she is? We were guessing long-haired Jack Russell cross, or she might have Chi hua hua in her? We can't be sure! We visited the Museum(for the ten thousandth time, it's become our family ritual as the kids insist to do every time we go to Geraldton), which showcased among others, this Gateway with an artificially but nicely created under-the-sea atmosphere, the blocks were retrieved from the sunken ship Batavia. There is quite a story to what happened to the people on that ship. The bonus of this musuem visit was in the Gallery, there was a display of the winners' and highly commended pictures from the Amazing Nature and Landscape Photography Competition, I thoroughly enjoyed the display and completely fascinated by the beauty and intricacy of God's creations. I also have to show some pictures which I took on the way up north. The scenery of the countryside is simply breathtaking. I love looking into the distance of green hills/meadows with horses, cows and sheep and blue skies as far as you can see and ....dream......! The photos don't do justice to the vastness and the dreaminess of the real thing, as they were taken as the car was moving........ Now, last but not least, who's ready for a cup of tea and some sweet and juicy strawberries? I am!........ Ah! Refreshing!