New Furniture

A few posts ago I mentioned this old chair. Its got to be 50 years old and it used to be David's grandfathers chair, David hated the thought of it being tossed out with the hard rubbish and wanted to see it  reupholstered and brought back into the house. Well I have chosen the fabric and have sent if off to the upholsterers and should expect it back in around 10 days or so.  I wanted something bright and fresh and a little 'so wrong it's right'. So pink it is!

I also purchased a new sofa today for the living room. We currently have an old futon bed/sofa from when I was living in my one bedroom flat. It's time to move her on. I have made use of the Urban Rhythms' 20% Off sale with this 3 seater in a neutral mid grey colour.  Hopefully it will look ok, although we may need to paint the room again if the colours don't work. Ha..won't David love that!

We have also approved a blind quote, so that order will be going in this Wednesday so hopefully our windows will be dressed in approximately 4 weeks. I hope the hot weather doesn't return until then.

The amazing Kit Kemp!

On Friday my long awaited Kit Kemp book arrived - finally.

Kit Kemp is an English interior designer who creates the most amazing interiors full of colour, life and humour. She is especially renown for creating memorable interiors for many boutique hotels around the world. She definitely knows how to make an impact.

I love her bold fearless use of colour, her mix and non match use of fabrics and that fun element that makes her interiors not take themselves too serious. She is definitely of the quirky English aesthetic where rooms have that classic cosiness mixed with a contemporary freshness that creates an award winning modern English style.

She also uses lots of my favourite colour magenta in an unapologetic way. Wish I was as brave as her.

Return of the Chairs

Today I picked up my chairs from Laurens. I think she has done a smashing job! They are much more comfortable to sit on now and I think the more squared off cushions look great.  While I'm not normally someone who likes my furniture to match (I'm more a fan of the eclectic look) this fabric which is the same as used on the sofa is particularly child proof and neutral.

So, here is the before photo. I quite like the blue cushions they were just uncomfortable.

After - New (grubby finger proof) grey cushions.

I have a few more jobs that I think Lauren can help me with, one being an old TV chair which used to belong to Ken. David would like to see it get a make over and take its rightly place back in the house where it has spent the last 50 years. 

At the moment I am under the influence of Kit Kemp (an English interior designer) who isn't afraid of colour, so fabric wise I'm thinking a striking magenta or apple green or even something multi coloured and ethnic in origin. 

New Lawn - First cut.

You know, I used to think people who primped and polished their lawn were a strange bunch. I mean, lawn isn't exactly up there with garden beds and veggie patches now is it?  You can't really officially call yourself a gardener if all your doing is mowing your lawn once a fortnight, right?

 WR-OOONG!  I now totally get it. A green lush manicured lawn (particularly in a Melbourne summer) deserves, well a, 'Your an ace gardener' award with national attention. Yep, that's right. I reckon my lawn should be on the 6pm news. It's just so frigg'n awesome! 

Today Marlin (our lawn mowing man) gave our lawn its first cut. I'm so happy I could cry :) 

Now, time to pop the sprinkler on and get out my seasol. Anyone know where I can buy molasses locally? I hear lawn loves molasses.  Got to go, bye.

Before its haircut.

After

DIY Artwork.

Recently I had a conversation with my friend Amy about artwork. I was lamenting the fact that I can no longer afford to splurge on artwork like I once would have. The next day while staring at my bare  walls I had an idea. What if I scanned some images from a few of my favourite art books and mounted them? 

One of my favourite books is 'The Dapuri Drawings'. A story of a remarkable collection of botanical drawings commissioned by Alexander Gibson, an East Indian Company surgeon, that depict plants grown in the botanic gardens under his control in the Bombay Presidency. They are the work of an unknown Portuguese - Indian artist, made between 1847 and 1850. I have always found them exceptionally beautiful and intriguing.

A local photographer here in Gardenvale has a high end commercial scanner and art printer and can print them out on either cotton rag or a good quality acid free paper for around $60 - $80 each depending on the size.  Could be a nice way of creating some affordable artwork.

Chair makeover

I have these chairs. I bought them around 4 years ago from a secondhand retro furniture store. They weren't cheap, but I saw them, loved them and bought them. David has never liked them, mostly because the original cushions are thin making the chairs quite uncomfortable to sit on.

Recently, the thought struck, "why don't I and make new cushions for these chairs. Yes! I need a new project now the turf project is complete. All I need is to buy some foam, order some fabric after working out how much I need, make a pattern, purchase zippers and thread, find the foot pedal on my overlocker (last seen pre-renovation 24 months ago). How hard can it be, right? "

I immediately rang David at work to inform him on what his clever, crafty, creative wife had in store for her next project!

David : "Hmmm...have you done this sort of thing before?"
Me: "Well no, but how is that relevant ? I'm sure I can work it out."
David: "Maybe you should ring an upholsterer and get a quote first?"
Me:  "Pfft!"

Well, I would love to finish this story saying I whipped them up in an afternoon for the price of a cafe latte. But honestly to do them myself it started to add up to around 90 cafe lattes, and thats provided no mistakes were made. Who knew foam cost that much!

Anyway, Lauren from Flock Upholstery, a talented upholsterer from McKinnon (Lauren made my day bed and several cushions) offered me such a reasonable price I could not turn it down.

So off these two bad boys go for a makeover. Stay tuned for the result :)