Retro Bar Stools Makeover

If you've been reading my blog you'll know that I'm supposed to be working on Emma's room and the entry. I feel a little naughty, but I've taken a de-tour and finished these.

I bought these on e-Bay a little while ago. Actually, a long while ago, but anyway! I had some spray undercoat left over from my hall table and mirror, so I jumped right on it and sprayed those things!

I love the lines; they're so retro! The fabric was something I had left over from my little stool project and given I love the colour I thought it would be perfect for these chairs. And check out those little blue feet!

But the best bit... five minutes of peace with a magazine, a biscuit (or two) and a hot chocolate...

Now I'll go back to my 2012 home goals... hopefully... all though, I was thinking about painting our dining room table...

Thanks for stopping by!


I'm sharing at
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aka Design
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Between Naps on the Porch

Do What You Love...

My brain has been a growing jumble of ideas and aspirations for the last month or so. This sums it up nicely...

I've always been a goal setter and list maker, but since leaving the corporate world I've done little of either. I realised this week that the state of flux was in part because I felt aspirationless. One thing I do know is that I don't want my old career back; after nearly 15 years in Human Resources I don't have the desire to urge companies to at least do the legal thing, if they can't do the right thing. Of course it wasn't all bad, in fact a large portion of it was great, but it just doesn't fill me with inspiration. SO something has to change...

Creating a career opportunity utilising my creativity is the challenge. It means deciding what I want to do, rather than what I should do. Listening to my heart rather than my head. It's taking a leap of faith...

To be continued...


I'd love to know - do you do what you love?

Stencilled Tea Towels

I love a bit of freezer paper stenciling. I first had a go HERE for Fathers Day, and here we are again!!

This time I made some tea towels (I couldn't find what I wanted anywhere) from navy and white ticking and some plain old white twill. Take my word for it - a pattern is so much easier to work with!! It hides any imperfections

I got the freezer paper out for a house warming gift, and picked up some very cute coffee mugs at Kmart to go along with them.

If you're keen to try it, but haven't before... here's how.

Here's a few more inspiring stenciling projects...

1. Very cool telephone from How About Orange
2. Monogrammed tea towels from Paging Supermom
3. Typographic tea towels from Oh My! Handmade Goodness

Have you tried stenciling? What do you think? I'm considering making some plastic stencils for repeat use so you've made some of your own I'd love to hear about it!!



I'm sharing at
Make Grow Thrift
Tip Junkie
Not Just a Housewife
The Shabby Nest
aka Design 
Sew Many Ways
Too Much Time on my Hands

Stencilled Tea Towels

I love a bit of freezer paper stenciling. I first had a go HERE for Fathers Day, and here we are again!!

This time I made some tea towels (I couldn't find what I wanted anywhere) from navy and white ticking and some plain old white twill. Take my word for it - a pattern is so much easier to work with!! It hides any imperfections

I got the freezer paper out for a house warming gift, and picked up some very cute coffee mugs at Kmart to go along with them.

If you're keen to try it, but haven't before... here's how.

Here's a few more inspiring stenciling projects...

1. Very cool telephone from How About Orange
2. Monogrammed tea towels from Paging Supermom
3. Typographic tea towels from Oh My! Handmade Goodness

Have you tried stenciling? What do you think? I'm considering making some plastic stencils for repeat use so you've made some of your own I'd love to hear about it!!



I'm sharing at
Make Grow Thrift
Tip Junkie
Not Just a Housewife
The Shabby Nest
aka Design 
Sew Many Ways
Too Much Time on my Hands

A Hall Table, a Mirror and Starting on Our Entry

I have to say, I'm pretty keen on this one...

I've been looking for a hall table for a little while, but everything I have seen was upwards of $50... totally out of my price range. Lucky for me, someone else reneged on the ebay deal for this hall table, so the seller emailed me and offered it for $10. Hooray! With a coat or two of Galaxy Blue it brings some much needed colour and character to the room. It's a small beginning, but it's a cute one!

The mirror was another eBay find, given a coat of white paint to freshen it up. In case you're wondering, the gold looks far better in the picture than it did in real life. Gold and brown painted plaster. eww.

One of my home goals for 2012 is to do something with my entry. It's a very small room, that did look a bit like this!

Exciting right? Look at those walls, those tiles, and... yep, NOTHING. I opened the door of my home into a lift. Or a doctors surgery. Ho Hum. Needless to say I put it at the top of my list, along with Emma's room, for a makeover this year. I did imagine that I would knock these over easily, but actually it's taken me longer than expected  to find exactly what I want. Now you see the start of something new - the rug is there ready for me to paint, and I have some art work ideas for the other two walls.

Now when you look in the front door you see this!

Thank you so stopping by!


I'm sharing at..
The Life of a Not So Ordinary Wife
Between Naps on the Porch 
Primitive & Proper 
Not Just a Housewife
Live Laugh Rowe
aka Design
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Family Ever After
Too Much Time on My Hands

Bibs from a Towel & A Feature at Apartment Therapy!

This week I've had a bit of an 'I can't believe it' moment. When I got up one morning and checked on my blog, I'd had over a thousand visitors over night. I guess that might be normal  for some bloggers, but for this little blogger that's out of this world. My immediate thought was someone was hacking my blog ( I don't even know if that can happen, but that's what I suspected). Then I looked at my traffic sources, and found this!!

I'm beyond excited... I have absolutely no idea how it happened, but I'm very grateful. You can check out the feature here, or my original post here.

Now, lets get back to my project! If you're linen cupboard is anything like mine, it's way too small, but more importantly, you have a pile of towels that are no longer your favourite, but are not quite ready for the rubbish heap. In need to some new bibs for Harry I thought I'd try another re-purposing project and turn an old towel into some bibs.

To start, I cut a rectangle (35cm x 25cm) out of my towel. Then from the centre top, I cut down 7cm, and then cut out a circle. I checked the circle a couple of times on Harry just to make sure; loose enough not to choke, tight enough that nothing slips done under it and onto his clothes.

For my first one, I used some binding I had lying around and attached it right around the edges. I should mention, Harry hates to wear a bib. Really hates it. Struggles, thrashes, carries on like a pork chop, and ends up ripping it off. So, no velcro for him, he needs a snap fastener. To do that, I used another piece of the binding, folded in half, and then attached one end to the bib. On the other end I attached the fastener. The fasteners were another find in the old sewing box, so they are the sew in kind.

Of course, you could go to town and really embellish these if you wanted to. With mine I've tried to add some interest but not get carried away. What I really like about these is that they are big -  most of the bibs I'd seen in the shops were small and things ended up getting on Harry's clothes regardless.

I'm really loving this re-purposing thing - making use of things destined for land fill leaves me with a great feeling.


Thanks for stopping by






I'm sharing at...
Make Grow Thrift
Tip Junkie
Sugar Bee Crafts
Live Laugh Rowe
The Train to Crazy
Sew Many Ways