Sunday find

Aside from Christmas and my birthday my favourite day of the year has to be council clean up day. Throughout the year our council allows residents two days when we can leave our larger rubbish on the side of the road for them to pick up, free of charge. This always prompts people to throw out things that they think are past their used by date. Thankfully not everyone thinks alike.

While we were heading off to the hardware store today I noticed this little side table poking out from behind a pile of other items. I pleaded with The Gas Man to screech to a halt so we could inspect the pile of rubbish treasures and work out whether the table was as good as I thought it was.

Of course I am far too posh to be picking through other people's garbage, so as usual The Gas Man did my dirty work for me and came away with this little beauty. It's already been painted so tomorrow I'll show off some after pics. Ahh garbage day, you never fail to deliver!

How could you let your kiddies ruin this lovely piece?

The ugly duckling just waiting to be turned into a swan.

Sideboard update

I've been busily photographing in the daylight and captured some more shots of the cabinet. The vote so far is in favour of painting it white. Any other opinions are very welcome. I think it would be too hard to fix all the ragged parts and I also think it would look great in white.

I've also suggested changing the handles, though I've met with some resistance to that idea! What do you think?

$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?

The long and the short of it

As I've grown a bit older I've noticed that I have developed a real problem with size perception. I was never excellent at maths, but I certainly wasn't stupid either. However, I think that it must be a case of 'use it or lose it' when it comes to mathematical principles.

My main problem relates to estimating sizes. If you tell me an item is 3 metres long I'm probably going to 'see' an item either half or twice its size in my mind. That's why the mirror in the picture is not in our bedroom. Despite analysing the sizes listed in the ad for the mirror my mind decided that it would be perfect to fill up the space above the fireplace in our bedroom. On picking it up however I quickly realised that I was very wrong. It's almost laughable exactly how far wrong I was. But never mind, it looks good there don't you think?

The picture also displays my newly done up desk (remember it?) Instead of my plans for a quicky paint job The Gas Man had other ideas. He spent the best part of last weekend sand-blasting the legs and handles and spray painting the rest. It looks fantastic, albeit WAY too small for my idea that it would become our new desk. It has found a home as a laptop table for the time being and I love it nonetheless. 

(Please excuse non-painted walls and windows, it's a work in progress.)

New purchase, new project

In keeping with my new 'not so big' philosophy I've been searching for quirky, smaller, useful items to finish the job of furnishing the house. My latest score is this lovely old desk, which I intend to use to replace our existing vile A Mart number. My plan is to re-paint the legs and drawer fronts white and possibly re-paint the drawer unit in a lighter green. 

The Gas Man isn't sold on the idea but he is warming to it, especially once the desk received some compliments from family this afternoon. My vision is a simple desk which houses just the computer, a lovely lamp and stationery in the drawers. All the other assorted junk that is living on our desk right now (including a soccer trophy from 1991) is just going to have to find itself a new home. Wish me luck!