Sitting around

We've gone a bit quiet on house updates because, other than putting up some of our pictures, we haven't done much other than gradually plant up the garden.  And after being told that I couldn't have a beautiful Arts and Crafts sideboard because it won't fit into the house, I'd given up on buying more furniture.  However there is one spot for stuff to go; under the kitchen bench.  I actually hate the concept of the "breakfast bar".  We eat at the table.  But I do like people talking to me while I cook, dish up etc and am quite amenable to them having a seat close by, so we thought that some stools without backs that fit neatly under the edge of the kitchen bench would work nicely.  We spotted some lab stools on the Grandfather's Axe but by the time we got around to looking at them, they had been sold.  But look what we found at Know Your Product!

All we know is that they are Scandinavian, possible 70's and they have nice joinery (even I can see that).  And there was a sale on all current stock so even better!  The vinyl seats are a bit ordinary but I'm thinking of getting them recovered in the bark cloth shown on the stool on the right.  Bought from lovely Retro Age Vintage Fabrics.  This is a match made in heaven - combining stuff from two of my favourite shops.  Now I think that we really are at our furniture limit.  But I'm still trying to work out if a sideboard would look good in a bathroom.....

The Great Outdoors

After moving back home in December, I made up a mental list of things that we wanted to make the house complete.  These ranged from the prosaic (new chair for the study) to the unnecesary but desirable (some chairs for the living/kitchen area).  Over the last few months, the list has nearly been ticked off, with the only outstanding item being a new outdoor setting for the deck as our existing table and benches didn't fit.  I started the hunt very enthusiastically but as the Melbourne summer fizzled out (or didn't really kick off), my interest waned.  However Stos has been keeping an eye of ebay and struck gold this week on a 9 piece setting for $300.  Our deck now looks complete and all ready to enjoy some afternoon sun.

Day 347: Saturday Night

I looked at Kirty's post on "Snooping" and love the concept.  I think we all like to let our inner voyeur come come out to play from time to time.  It's like those articles that detail the contents of other people's handbags - utterly compelling.  In the same vein, here are the details of my Saturday night at home.  I have been sitting in my lovely new chair with matching ottoman and the following:

1/.  Armistead Maupin's latest installment in the "Tales of The City" series of novels;  "Mary Ann in Autumn".  I picked this up from the library today and am motoring through it.
2/.  A plate of buttermilk and blueberry pancakes courtesy of Stos.
3/.  A glass of Pino Grigio.
4/.  Two Dalmatians.  I am not flattering myself that they love me best because they are up in the living room with me rather than with Stos downstairs watching "Mission Impossible"; it is because their cushion and blanket haven't been moved.

It's lovely to have night in.

Day 319: Runaway horses

We have had the craziest weather this week, ranging from 40C odd to bucketing down with rain for the last 24 hours, a flow on impact from Cyclone Yasi that hit Far North Queensland this week.  But by far the worst day was Tuesday which was the hot day.  It was windy, horrible and the day that I had to work from home in order for the new blinds to be installed.  I knew that it was going to be a disrupted day but that was an understatement.  We had a truckload of people through here including:

- Two people installing blinds
- Jarrad who delivered the fabulous new furniture
- Bob, Pete and Sparkie Dave

- The showerscreen man and his apprentice who installed the bathroom mirrors, at last

- Donna from the window furnishings shop who had to drop off some curtain tracks and her daughter

Then later in the day, the guy who installed the security system and a lady who bought our filing cabinet from eBay came by.  So productivity was fairly low during the day and I had to make it up in the evening, which is not my favourite time to work.  However on the house front, a lot was achieved and the place has been transformed by the blinds and the fabulous Danish furniture.  You've seen the furniture; now here are the blinds:

On the left is what Stos calls "the horsie blind".  I bought two metres of the Horse Stampede fabric in the Signature Prints sale last year, without quite knowing what to do with it, but for less than half price, it was definitely worth picking up.  Then I remembered that we had a small window in the 3rd bedroom and the amount of fabric might just stretch to a blind.  When we were discussing this with Donna, she looked dubious, then told us to leave it wither her and she would make it work.  Which she did, with some fabric left over.  The blind on the right is typical of those in the rest of the house, with the 2nd and 3rd bedroom blinds having block-out lining.  With window furnishings in, the house looks fully dressed.  Stos had likened having no curtains to going down the street in your tracksuit pants.  I'm not sure about that analogy - I shop in trakkies.  Just what is he saying?!

Day 316: I want Candy

I wish I could say I agonised over the decision to buy these chairs and couch.  But I didn't.  The thought process was limited to:  I love them, I want them, what the hell.  So after two visits to the shop, a bit of research on comparative prices (not that you can buy these exact chairs anywhere else) they were delivered yesterday and I'm thrilled with how they fit in.  The couch is matched up with the Florence Broadhurst ottomans that I bought last year while we were homeless.  Just ignore the carpet off-cut on the floor.  Once we have put up some of our pictures, the mancave will be a really great space.

 

Someone pointed out that the colour is similar to that of the front door.  Spooky.  The various people who were in and out of the house yesterday (more on that tomorrow) liked them and even Bob seemed to approve.

Day 310: Obsession

When I look back over the last year, I see patterns of obsession.  The most significant were tiles, door handles and light fittings.  I looked at different styles in magazines, Googled lots of sites and dragged Stos around various shops that were inevitably open during hours suited to people who don't need to work like the rest of us.  Other important things such as taps and vanity units didn't come into the obsession category as we found and settled on these fairly quickly, then moved on.  So it's time for a new obsession and it is Danish design.  Yes, Danish furniture has been in vogue for quite some time, but when you don't need  furniture, these things tend to pass you (me) by.  Now that we are looking for some chairs and maybe a couch, I am in love with vintage Danish items and am getting a crash course in the "who's who" of the Scandinavian design world.  And, of course, I'm looking at the expensive stuff, not the run of the mill.  But while we are considering a couple of options, we have bought this rather stylish wall unit for the loungeroom.  It's not Danish, but has the same simplicity of design:

Photo from "Know Your Product"

This was a built-in fixture of a 1950's Australian house and will do beautifully to hold the big bogan television and the DVDs, music etc.  We got this from Know Your Product which is one of those places that you can't visit without coming out with at least one vintage treasure.  Part of the fun is looking around and spotting things that our parents had/have.  I'm looking forward to this being delivered so that we can get a bit more order into the place.