very distressed turquoise coffee table

I had planned to post every day this week. Well, more often than once a week anyway. But, as most plans, that one went astray. Not cause I didn't have things to share, just that for one reason or another I got busy. Or forgot. Or was just too plain tired.

So, without further ado, here is my very distressed coffee table.

What's it distressed about you might ask. Well... it started life as a brown coffee table. Then it was painted white with a little distressing. Then a puppy or two chewed on its corners. It was stuck in the shed for ages. It was used as a step stool while I built my new grooming room. Then it was shunted into a corner of the shed again... Not much of a good life for a coffee table. You'd be very distressed too!

At some stage I decided I really missed having a coffee table in front of the couch. All this time I'd been using a footstool with a timber tray on it when I wanted to put something in front of the couch. But without a coffee table to fill up with crafty stuff I was being lazy every evening.

Surely you understand that!

So, I went shopping my sheds to find a coffee table for the living room. I can't say for sure this is it, but this was a quick small table that would fit my needs ...for now.

First I had to fix the puppy tooth damage. Then I had to choose a colour. I wasn't sure what I wanted so I went with a colour I had - which I'd used in the guest room. Plus I'd just bought myself a throw from Kmart in that colour...

After painting it turquoise I wasn't sure I liked it. Too much is sometimes too much... so I hit it with the sander. I took a lot more off on the top than on the sides and I'm loving the look.

Its like a work of art. Or like a work surface. Pity I'll cover it with work...

I'm still finding my style for this house, so its a bit all over the place. So much to do. Still. But for now, I have a coffee table I can fill with craft odd and ends to work on while I watch TV. 

That's gotta be good.

z

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storing fabric

Sometimes all it takes to get creative is to have a need.

For instance, a need to store fabric. Or a need to get piles of fabric off the floor, hence a need for a place to store it.

The whole idea of storing fabric is to be able to find the bits you need quickly. The fabric has to be visible, not hidden in boxes and, ideally, sorted by colour.

I needed shelves. I needed narrow shelves. Or a bookcase. 

I didn't have either. But I had a box.

I had this box, which I'd used as a dog bed when we first moved to the farm, for Barney and Mischa. It was a solid timber box I found somewhere which I cleaned up and gave a lick of paint. The post on how I did this is here.

I made my own dog bed cushions for it and put it in the entrance which is where Mischa and Barney slept as they'd always been outside dogs and I was introducing them to living inside.

After we lost Mischa it didn't seem right that Barney slept by himself. He moved into the living room with the poodles and the box was put into the store room. Which is where I found it again while looking for something to make my fabric storage shelves from.

It was a very simple re-do. All I did was put small bits of timber on the sides as ledges to sit the shelves on. The shelves were cut from leftover bits of plywood. Easy peasy.

I sat it on the little side table in the office and now I have all my fabrics in one place.... or most of my fabrics... or some of my fabrics... Ok! You got me. I have a large basket full of small offcuts cause I can't waste anything, a wire basket with real and faux leather bits and a large plastic container with fabrics for doll costumes.

But I do have all my colourful cotton fabrics for things like my anti-bunnies sorted!

z

cluttered easter sideboard

I don't usually do special things for Easter. In fact, I barely do special things for Christmas... I mean, who remembers the chalkboard Christmas tree when I was too lazy to make a real one? Or the book stack tree? Even when I did make an effort, it was minimal.

Well, this Easter, inspired by the anti-bunnies I've been making for my Etsy shop, and finding a rusty rubbish bin in my stash, I've gone all out.

Working on the theory of more is more, and the design principle of clutter is good, I've decorated our sideboard with a mix of vintage, rusty, junk and food.

I like it.

Of course, unless the hot cross buns get eaten soon they'll have to be covered, ditto the chocolate, but hey, for one day it looks great. When the food is gone I'll just add a few other things to maintain the cluttered look.

Its not like I don't have a lot of junk.

So, what's taking up space on my sideboard today?

Starting on the left, a couple of empty frames I've moved from one house to another and never got around to filling 'frame' (hahah) an antique vent I found at a tip shop. Just had to have it. I mean, could you resist that shape? Sure, its not exactly your average sideboard decor...

A couple of funnels add the necessary (in my life) rust factor. And a couple of anti-bunnies sit back and enjoy the view.

What are anti-bunnies you might ask? Well, they're scrappy monster bunnies, kind of the opposite of cute Easter bunnies. Not that they aren't cute. These guys are cute as. They're made of a mix of recycled and vintage fabrics. I recycled bits of fabric out of an antique armchair the poodles pulled apart. Turns out it was stuffed with fabric scraps. Who knew.

The middle section is the serious section - ie the food section. Since I sold all my cake stands and haven't made any more (yet) I've had to improvise using one of my retro kitchen scales and an antique serving dish. The dish holds eggs of both kinds: real and chocolate. I bet you know which I'll be going for...

You can't have Easter without hot cross buns, and naturally you need butter for those. I don't have a butter curler so I've had to make do. The napkins are vintage ones I've collected over the years from different places. One on the right under the side dishes was given to me by my aunt Marissa in Greece - it used to belong to my grandmother.

On the right its 'help yourself' with a stack of smaller plates and knives. But it can't be too practical... Old timber cogs, old books and a couple of sets of salt and pepper shakers, topped off by a wooden duck finish the look... Cause what sideboard is complete without a duck?

Above it all hangs the masterpiece. A rusty galvanised bin lid I scrounged from somewhere years ago. Does anyone remember my previous bin lid projects? I love rusty bin lids. This one holds more anti-bunnies and a couple of vintage Easter greeting cards I found online. The cards are held in place by vintage earring magnets (also for sale in my Etsy shop).

This rusty lid has little hooks on the side so I tied a bit of hemp rope to hang it with. I placed a few of those floor protector felt pads on the back to stop it from marking the wall.

The sideboard itself is something I acquired via barter. Barter = good. A friend of mine had a sideboard I'd admired and he admired the oriental cabinet I used to have my TV on. We swapped. Everyone is happy.

The sideboard is a very heavy solid tassie oak piece, made in Tasmania. It holds all kinds of useful things and doubles as our bar. Its very useful and very pretty.

Speaking of sideboards and cabinets, I saw this one in my online browsing and fell in love. I want it. Its nothing like the oriental - or 'ming' cabinet I had my TV on and swapped for my sideboard (ie it has the same 'locks' on the doors)... its way better!

Anyway, back to reality, you know what its like with these vintage cabinets - they have keys and if you lose them you're in trouble. I think I have one key to share between 3 bits of furniture - including the small cupboard in my office.

In order to make this key less prone to being misplaced, I've added a tassel I made of jute string. It was okay, but a bit too plain. I thought the sideboard needed a bit of bling so I steampunked it up a bit with bits of chain, crystals and other bits from an old necklace.

Much better.

There you go. Our sideboard is finally all dressed up.

Now... what else can I decorate...?

z

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our junky porch

Our porch is a receptacle for junk. I mean, its the natural place for it, right? You come home with  your hands full and think "I'll just leave that here till later" and you put it on the old box Wayne uses for his boots.

Or you step out onto the porch with an armload of stuff that doesn't belong in the house, or you no longer want in the house, and you think "I'll just leave this here till later..."  Or forever.

See the oil stain on the decking? Well, that's where someone sat a chainsaw when the porch was all new and shiny. I won't mention names, but it starts with "W" and ends with "ayne".

I'm sure that at the time he was thinking "I'll just rest it here for a while"... which turned into weeks and a permanent stain.

But its the nice junk on our porch I want to share with you today. Like this rusty birdcage I found at a tip shop a few years ago.

The coat rack I made using big nails and recycled skirting board, with a cute little bird accent.

The rusty propeller (ok, tractor fan) light I made.

The beautiful rusty old typewriter found on the side of the road. You may recognise it as part of one my blog headers.

The old chalkboard, made from something I found once - no idea what it was. Now it hangs beside the door to the mudroom with hopeful advice.

I recycled an old mantle shelf I found in one of our sheds by putting it under the kitchen window for plants or my collection of old white vases. And rusty hooks and other rusty things. Don't you just love this hook?

My collection of old shears and rusty scissors.

Even the unattractive electricity meter box is dressed up with two wire hearts. The white one was once a wire coathanger...

I have a collection of old galvanised buckets. This is one without holes so I've put a pot inside it with my tortured begonia. I've almost killed it at least three times.

The fish Wayne made hang on the wall. He made these out of wire and flattened corregated iron. Aren't they great!

An old, weatherbeaten table, a very comfy cane chair and a kid size chair grouped around an old galv mop bucket bursting with succulents.

A not so old galvanised watering can is now a planter, sitting on an old school desk the sun and rain are doing their best to ruin.

I love our porch, even if it doesn't actually have much of a comfy area to sit and relax. I just love looking over the garden and enjoying my collection of junk.

z

new couch cushions

When I got our new couch, I really wanted some new cushions...or new cushion covers! The old ones were in reds and browns in keeping with our older look. Plus they sported the odd chewed corner thanks to a younger Romeo.

Now I wanted something brighter... some light blues, some pink, some yellow maybe?

Originally I planned to make all the new covers using my crazy quilting technique. Like this one where I used fabric scraps to create hot air balloons against a blue scrap backgound.

But you know what? I had some pretty fabrics I didn't want to rip up. They made very pretty covers as they were.

I make cushion covers the easy way - like pillow covers - no ties, buttons or zips.

The pink one is my favourite. The fabric piece wasn't wide enough to do the entire cover, so I had to improvise. I picked some complementary plain fabrics and added a couple of colour blocks. It worked great!

So, a quick change for a different look in the living room.

z

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