Decorating on a Budget

I have had a couple of great wins on ebay lately. The purpose of mentioning these is not to skite but to let people know that it is possible to decorate your home in a stylish, tasteful manner without breaking the bank.

First was this gorgeous cabinet which I am using to store my upholstery fabrics, magazines and board games.
The seller told me she got it on sale at Harvey Norman's for $900. I paid $155

And then there's this leather office chair. What would you expect to pay for this? I bet your answer wasn't $75!!!! I was so thrilled to get this chair. I had been patiently waiting for the right chair to turn up and it did :o)

I had wondered about recovering it as I want to learn how to do that deep buttoning/tufting technique but it is in such good condition I might wait until it has lived with us for a while. It is stationed at the one and only computer in our household of 5 so I'm guessing it won't be too long before it incurs some wear and tear.

I have heard that a few people are having trouble commenting on my blog. If you want to contact me you are welcome to email me p.grootenboer@aapt.net.au

A big "THANKYOU" to those who visited/commented/followed Tilly's blog. She is thrilled and excited that you did. I have instructed her as to blog etiquette ie responding to comments, so if we can just get her brother off the computer for 5 minutes I'm sure you will hear from her.

You Light Up My Life...

I seem to be having a small fling with lamps at the moment.

These lamps I bought off ebay back in May ($30 pair).

The lovely, talented Sandy at Paint Me White very kindly covered these lamps for me and she did such a fabulous job. All I had to do was attach the black ribbon and they were done.

I think they look really chic.

Today I would like to mention a blog that is close to my heart. It belongs to my youngest daughter Tilly. She loves to cook (takes after her Dad) and is keen to audition for Junior Master Chef in the future. Her blog is called Relax, it's a Recipe She would be very excited if she got one or two comments from people other than family :o)

Chair Makeover and My Ginger Jar Lamps

I don't know which I am more excited about...finishing Sandy's chair makeover or my new ginger-jar lamps......okay, I do know, sorry Sandy but those lamps just give me a thrill.

I went to The Tender Centre on Saturday for the first time and before I'd even entered through the doors I could see the silhouette of these lamps waaaay down the back against the rear window. I couldn't get back there quick enough to check them out, and I wasn't disappointed.
Now, that high pitched sqeaul you all heard around 7pm last night, but couldn't identify? Me, that was me discovering, online, that I had won these lamps for $100!

Take a look and tell me you don't just love them as much as I do!!!

So this has thrown out my whole idea of what I had planned for my lounge decor, but I like where I'm being led so I'll just follow along. Lamp shades are the next thing to think about and I'm sure I'll lose at least a couple of hours sleep over that one.

Onto Sandy's chair.... this is the before,

It's great be able to take photos and have an instant image to refer back to if in doubt. I use to have to draw diagrams to remind myself how to reassemble.

The material Sandy chose was the most gorgeous, "made in Italy", throw or bed cover. I emailed her seconds before, to let her know I was about to make the first cut. It was a frightening experience let me say.

Thank the Lord (and I mean that, I was praying like mad), it turned out beautifully.

Okay, one last look at those lamps :o)

Bedroom Makeover

I have been planning for some time now to redecorate my youngest daughter Tilly's bedroom and the opportunity finally came this week. With Tilly safely packed off on school camp I got to work. She was away for 2 nights so that gave me 2.5 days to paint walls, doors and knick-knacks, replace door handles, install a "desk" and hang curtains (including curtain rod).
She was so thrilled to see it when she got home today. She has only come out to have her dinner and then gone straight back in to sit at her desk.

RELAX letters from Spotlight, painted red. Small blue velvet cushion I embellished with the red star. Curtain rod incl. rings and brackets $15 from op shop.

I desperately wanted to paint the bedside table white but Tilly loved the natural timber. Actually I think it gives a bit of depth to the scheme.


This is the smallest bedroom in the house and was probably intended to be used as an office so furniture placement was a challenge.

The hutch was a $20 garage sale find. A coat of white paint and it looks so pretty. The desk still needs a chair but I told Tilly I'd let her choose one herself.

Plenty of hooks for hanging things up.

Great to get the school bag up off the floor.

I'm sure the fish appreciate being able to see where they are going. You wouldn't believe how filthy the tank had got.

Mirror was a bargain(!) off ebay.

I found 2 of these shutters tucked under some stairs in a 2nd hand shop.

I have one very happy camper home safe and sound :o)

Lamp Makeover/Dining Room

I won 2 (more) lamps on ebay recently and would love to share the before and afters with you. Firstly though, I would like to show you my dining room as it is right now. (Yes, that does imply that there are absolutely no guarantees that it will remain this way for any length of time).


Okay, a sneek peek of the lamps....





So this is our dining/family room. It is not a large space and sometimes I feel like I am trying to crowd too much in but that's usually when it is cluttered with family 'stuff'. When it's tidied up I'm okay with it.
The brown TV cabinet is on my "to paint" list. I may go grey I think.





You may/maynot have noticed that I STILL haven't finished my wall stripes. They should go to the corner. I'm afraid I'm one of those decorators (please tell me I'm not the only one), once I can see how the idea in my head looks in reality, I'm satisfied. That's when I lose my motivation to finish the job. Sadly, I'm not the best finisher.

I love my IKEA jute rug, love it! (BELOW)

So here is one of the lamps before, (ebay $30 the pair).

And after......I would like to put a white band around the top also but I ran out of ribbon. Maybe it would be over-kill, what do you think?

Here they are again, before. The ebay seller was quite possibly the sweetest lady I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Her husband, on the other hand, was an old grump. How does that happen??? As I was leaving, I had the feeling that I didn't want to leave her there alone with that man.

And here they are after.

I, personally, am in love with them. They make me smile, alot :o)))))

Only one small problem. I painted the shades and when they are switched on, the brush strokes can be seen. Any advice gratefully accepted. Maybe another
coat of paint.

Spot The Difference

The fact that I actually thought about digging my shorts out from the deep dark recesses of the rear of my " bottoms" drawer today, has horrified me! (pun intended btw). The weather here is crazy. It's the second day of August and I feel as though Summer is not just around the corner but is, in fact, upon us. The forecaster assures me that we are in for some cooler nights, phew.

Weather aside, do you feel like playing a little game?

I won this chair on ebay recently for around $50. The brand is Molmic which I know nothing about apart from the fact that the chair is Australian made. I am guessing, by the quality of the workmanship, that it is a rather good brand, (feel free to enlighten me:o))

Can you spot the difference. Compare photos 1&2 with photos 3&4. The answer is in photo 5. No cheating now!

I realise that was a pretty easy ask and hope I didn't insult your intelligence...it's just me trying to be creative with a blog post :o)

I just remembered that there is only an arm-protector on one arm of the chair. We have turned the house upside down looking for the other one, to no avail. Where on earth does an arm-protector go on it's day off???

Quick Chair Makeover.

I won this dining set on ebay last week and decided to just do a quick recover of the seats before I flick them on. They would look a whole lot better painted white, or even black, but I really don't have the energy to do the painting at the moment. The paintwork is in pretty good condition, as is the cane backing.
I am thinking I will paint the table white at some stage and sell it at a later date. In the mean time it is just the perfect height for me to do my upholstery work. I normally work on the floor but these days my knees are taking longer to recover from all the bending, (ahhh, don't we all just love the aging process,lol).

So here is the set as it appeared on ebay.....

78 dollars later it was mine :o)

Below is the fabric someone chose to cover it in.(I refuse to pass judgement).

Below is what was under that top fabric, a good example of why we don't upholster dining chairs in cream fabric nést-ce pas?


...and below in their new outfit. Fabric $4/m at Spotlight *SCORE*.

The set has 2 carvers which I love.

...and some nice detail.

ta da!

My son has gone on his year 11 outdoor education camp today and the forecast aint looking good..."why is it so?"