Lamp Revamp

It's about time I updated you all on a few of the projects that have been going on in our home.

There will be a few BIG changes while we prepare for Mrs Maxwell to arrive, until then I'll be posting about a couple of little tid bits that are slowly making our house a home!

Firstly: The Lamp Revamp!

Picked up this little beauty from my work and with just a little paint and sand it was ready to go...

Here it is in it's former glory, dark brown and gold - still pretty but not quite right for our place!

With a delicious coat of blue paint. Sorry, I mixed this colour up from a couple of the leftover samples I had in the garage. The closest colour I can suggest is Dulux "Calandre"

A quick sand to show up all the lovely detail, and a new shade and voila! Pretty little lamp for the family room.

Forever ago I was asking for help with our family room - well it's all done and painted and I love it, it's just always covered in toys and mess! So one of these days I'll get it looking good and post some photos for you all! Until then this is just a little preview :)

Luce xx

High Chair Makeover

Izzy's high chair is finally finished!

Here's how it started off...

$15 off Ebay. Woohoo!
Some Selleys Kwik Strip and a lot of sanding...

A couple of coats of Nippon Duck Egg 3, some clear Estapol,
And a quick sand for that distressed look...

CUTE!

Cushion from Ikea - not exactly my style

So some el cheapo patchworking fabric from the Cash & Carry place ($7.50/m - I used just under 1/2m)...

TA-DA!

Cute huh? I love it! I even made little bows to tie the cushion on at the back (I'm pretty stoked because I HATE sewing - I just don't have the patience!)

I got so excited that I even made a little bag for Izzy's toys. The big flower is made from felt and covers up my dodgy sewing!

And it looks great in Izzy's new bag!

Liberty Biberty

I've been thinking about building Izzy a dolls house, but I'm not sure I can now I've seen this one at Liberty Biberty

Front porch with beautiful daybedToo Cute!
Red gingham, mix-match dining chairs

The hutch full of sweet pastels

More blues, checks and an old smeg fridge!

Timber panelling, blue walls, pink furniture

That stripey wallpaper and the cute little cot

Even the linen and teddy's!

All ready for Christmas

If I were a doll I would be SO happy here!

Noni's Chair Makeover Part 1

Well if you thought I was addicted to DIY you should meet my Mum (Noni). Not only is she amazing in the garden - both her own and now ours - she also loves decorating and has always encouraged me to follow my decorating dreams!

We are a mean little team and we work so well together for a few reasons:

1. We work the same way - get up early and work work work - need a tea break RIGHT NOW - work work work - and so on!

2. We both are addicted to Ebay - we love a bargain.

3. We are both passionate about doing as much as we can ourselves, and are happy for things to be a little imperfect!

4. We balance each other out - I tell her 6000 chairs is enough, Victoria is too far to pickup in the ute, and no you can't have a purple kitchen. She tells me well we have to have purple chairs SOMEWHERE! She makes me take some risks that I probably wouldn't, and makes me just get things done!

5. We both know what we want, and together we make it happen!

So today is the story of Mum's new outdoor chair for the courtyard which is not yet built...yes we are designing a house around furniture!

Mum got these 2 chairs and sofa from eBay...I can't remember the price but it was not much at all! But then again, they didn't look like much...

But they did fit a cup of tea on the arm...SOLD!

So we just started to rip the junk off, kick the backs out, and generally cause some havoc on the lawn...

Go Noni!

Mum re-did the stuffing and calico where needed...

Then started to re-paint the timber...

It's a tough place to work with those views!

Then she started to cover And Ta-Da!

Cute hey? Mum was after something a little quirky and over the top as these chairs and sofa will be outside and are probably going to weather and get dirty - so why not have fun?! Now she is so happy that one of the chairs has made it into the living room!

The paint colour is Dulux Oyster Linen

The 2 fabrics are from Spotlight - we also tried Ikea which had some great stuff but no purple!

My Kitchen Mini Makeover

Okay okay so I am avoiding posting about my family room...the painting is done, the pictures are up, but it's still looking baaaaad! The sofas are awful, the furniture is heavy, and there's washing everywhere!! It needs a lot more work than I thought - but there is a light at the end of the tunnel...a couple of hand-me-down sofas which should make a difference! And I think a lot more paint on all the furniture!

The kitchen is off the family room and I've just done a little mini-makeover so that I feel I've achieved SOMETHING in this area of the house!

It's a lovely kitchen, the previous owners did all the hard work and I'm pretty sure it's an [Ikea] kitchen. Lovely Caesarstone benchtops and white shutters...It really is my dream kitchen! And a pleasure to cook in.

So I've painted the walls in Taubmans Pebble Bay (yep I've got a huge tin of the stuff so it's everywhere!). I found some tiles in the garage...they're leftovers from our ensuite...so I thought they'd make a lovely border!

It's so simple and easy to do...

1. Trim off the webbing around the tiles...

2. Grab a tub of Fix & Grout (Also found in my garage!) and a spatula & load up those tiles...

3. Whack onto the wall. sit a level on top to make sure you get them 100% straight...

4. Once the adhesive is dry, fill in the gaps (I've found my favourite plastic scraper by now)...

5. Wipe away the excess with a damp sponge (I like these scourer sponges the best)...

6. Once over with some paper towel

And Voila! Easy peasy hey?!!

It's the little things that make the biggest difference!

So this mini makeover cost me nothing because it was all left-overs found in my garage, but to buy everything you'd be looking at about $30 for a tin of paint, $30 for the tiles I've used (ceramic or glass mosaics can be picked up from Bunnings for as little at $5 a sheet), $15 for a pot of tile and grout, and $5 for a spatula. So for $80 I think thats pretty good value!

Oh and I just have to tell you about my most recent AMAZING bargain... Marie Claire Nocturne dinner plates - reduced from $12.99 ea. to $3 ea. at Myer! Aren't they just made for me?!

And my Voulevants for mothers group yum!