Comfort is ...

Target 1000 thread count sheets. I missed out last year, was determined not to miss out again this year.

They make sleeping divine. Run ladies don't walk!

Tagged this as op shopping, which it isn't, but it's almost as good.

Painting in more depth

Now I know that yesterday's post showed a lovely, finished paiting job and you will be forgiven for thinking this happened quickly and easily. You will also be forgiven for thinking it is finished. I've tried to be as honest as possible on this blog so here is the reality behind the pretty picture.

For the last goodness-knows-how-long we have lived with undercoated exterior walls. As you can see in the picture, the walls were patchy and filthy for quite some time. They also fell victim to a prank gone wrong when Big Boy decided to attempt to hit the dog* with a tin of diesel oil  in a sneaky prank which thankfully didn't pan out as planned. It did however erupt violently all over one of our walls. I'll leave it up to you to decide whether Mark thought this was funny.

We also faced another issue with our walls which drove me mad for ages. If you look in the photo below you should be able to see spatter on the lower boards. The spatter is actually concrete which was left behind and set solid when we had the concrete poured. It was all over every wall, sometimes up to my head height. Poor Paul has had to scrape it all off when prepping to paint. The picture below is the third outside wall to be painted - this will get done this weekend.

So to make up for exhibits A and B (above) I am now relishing having exhibit C (below). It's so nice to have two walls painted and of course I got excited and had to purchase pots for the front door. At $35 a pop from The Reject Shop I couldn't let them pass me by.

And finally the money shot -our painted wall and lovely front door. I think I've mentioned it before but for those that might have missed it I will reveal all again - these doors came from an op shop and cost $70. Total. My husband, who refused to set foot in an op shop when we were first married, is now an eagle eye when we visit them. It was he who spotted these doors and snapped them up. I love them and for $70 they couldn't have been a better choice.

* Disclaimer: He wasn't actually trying to hurt the dog, he was trying to scare him AKA slapstick comedy.

More bedroom changes

I played around with what I already had in the house and swapped the old table in our bedroom for this one. I think it looks much better.

Then I wandered off to the op shop where I picked up this for $15. I think I'll make a frame for it.

I've had some great advice over at The Decorating Forum so stay tuned for more tweaks. I'd also love to hear from you if you have an opinion on what colour/s I should paint the fireplace......

Advice needed

This lamp is what $12 buys you at the local tip shop. I need to work out what kind of shade to put on the top  and I'm willing to buy a shade and cover it myself.

What shape do you think the shade should be? And what colour fabric should I use? (The lamp base is dark brown and it will be staying where it is so it needs to match nicely with the room.)

$28

I couldn't sleep last night so I lay awake for a while thinking about how I would like to decorate my new entry cabinet. I decided I would try to use glass, perhaps buy a nice old oil lamp and add an ornate birdcage. Yep, that was the plan.

We trotted off to the markets this morning to buy fruit and veg for the week. Someone was looking out for me because simply everything I imagined was there waiting for me.

Large vase on the far left - $20. It had a $60 price tag on the bottom so I think I did well.
Lamp with light bulb inside- $8.
Small birdcage- in a box marked 'free'
Bowl with apples- found in our gazebo, I think I left it there years ago.
Bird prints- previous op shop buy, more detail here

Things to ignore:
- Lack of VJ's behind the cabinet. They are coming, one day.
- Lack of paint on said VJ's.
- Bad photography

I'm thinking of painting the cabinet white, what do you think?

More op shop beauties

I went scavenging recently and came home with three lovely prints which will match perfectly with Tiny Girl's bird theme. She adores birds and I adore black and white. Win win don't you think?

It was meant to be...

Do you ever get the feeling that an item was destined to live in your house? Have you ever arrived at an op-shop at just the right time to pick up the perfect item your house has been missing?  Has anyone ever arrived at your house with a truck full of furniture that they want you to use indefinitely? It's only March and we have already been so blessed with great finds - don't you think that the three items pictured below were $15 well spent?

Here's my latest op-shop find. It couldn't be more perfect for Tiny Girl's room and cost the princely sum of $5. (The wall isn't yellow it just looks yellow in the photo.)

And here's my $10 garage sale chair and free* little chest of drawers.

*Well not entirely free but the person who was minding it for someone else ran out of room, so now we are minding it (for someone we don't know) and I strongly suspect it won't ever be leaving.)