Stinkin' Cute

Before I leave for the south east for the Easter weekend, I thought I'd share with you a couple of my most recent finds.  I would have loved to have started on them already, but I have been busy with womanly domestic duties.  YAWN.

I sometimes like to check out the local auctions we have and normally I'll just bid online rather than actually going to the venue, mainly because it's a Saturday morning and I can't be stuffed.  Or Mum will go and check it out.  Anyhoo, I bid on a box couch thinking there was no way I would get it because someone would outbid me at the venue.  But hooray for me I got it for $50!  I have never seen anything like it...

 One of the arms folds out to a table.

...and you can lift the top up for storage, although I haven't done this too many times because it STINKS!  Fortunately the top doesn't smell otherwise I probably wouldn't have bought it.  I'm just hoping nobody was keeping anything sinister in there :(   But I'm sure with a good clean and re-lining with a new base it'll come up a treat!  I've picked out my fabric already and I'm going to have a go at recovering it.  I'm considering doing an upholstery course first because I don't want to stuff it up.  It's a big project as you can see.  Although from looking at the many tutorials from some clever ladies out there in Blogland I might be able to just pull it off!  Will definitely need Mr T's help with this one. 

My next project though is this cabinet that Mr T found on a job site along with that "dresser" (see my spooky story about the dressing table here). 

My bestie Charity was here in Adelaide again the other day and looked at this cabinet.  She said, "Hmm I'm not entirely convinced this wasn't mine either."

I have plans for this cabinet which involve silver metallic paint and this:

You're probably thinking "what on earth is this idiot woman on?"   But as soon as I saw these on ebay the idea came to me like a lightning bolt.  I'm just hoping I can transform what's in my head into reality otherwise it'll be a big old mess.  I will still post it if it is, just so you can see what NOT to do :)

Have a safe and happy Easter everybody!

Megs x

An Old Coffee Table

I'm getting pretty fed up with this Photobucket issue.  It's distracting, but hopefully won't distract you from my looking at my most recent project.

I bought this coffee table on ebay for $11.  It had a glass top which I removed for the purpose of turning it into a bed end/seat.

I have heaps of foam here so I cut some up and then picked out some fabric.  Then I called begged my Mum Chris to come over to help me do the sewing.  I had some hand in it - I cut the required fabric pieces.  Aren't I clever?  While she was swearing sweating over that I painted the table white (surprise surprise).  I then got the jigsaw out and cut out some board to to fit the inside of the table frame.

 

















Here's the cover for the foam.

I then placed the foam on the board, put the cover over it and stapled underneath the board.

I don't have photos of the next step, but it was simply a matter of putting a thick staple from the underside of the table to the board.  I just put one on each end.


Now it looks pretty...

As you can see I distressed it slightly to give it that rustic look and I scotchgarded the fabric of course. 

I listed it for sale on Gumtree.  Within an hour a lady contacted me saying she loved it and wanted to buy it and didn't even try and negotiate a price!  Hooray!  She's coming tomorrow to collect.  This will go towards a new Silhouette digitial cutting machine that I've been wanting to buy.

I'm very happy right now:)

By the way, can someone tell me how to insert a button in my post if I am linking up to a party?  I can do it on my sidebar, but have on idea how to do it in my post :-/

Megs x



Linking up at:

Stuff and Nonsense - Fridays Unfolded
At The Picket Fence - Inspiration Friday
French Country Cottage - Feathered Nest Friday
Miss Mustard Seed - Furniture Feature Friday
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating - Flaunt it Friday
Finding Fabulous - Frugalicious Friday
My Repurposed Life - Catch as Catch Can Week #25
Friday Remodelaholic
Sassy Sites - FFA Friday
The DIY Home Swee Home Project - More the Merrier
Homemaker on a Dime
Primitive & Proper

  

Zebra and Beer

Some of you may remember the goodies I picked up at the markets last weekend.  Well, I finished my $4 kiddie step seat!  It's a little seat that flips down and turns into a step stool.  Here's what it looked like when I bought it.

 

 
This was going to be for my stepdaughter's little girl  and after seeing all the amazing stuff people had done with zebra print on Better After I was inspired.  So I started with white paint with pink seat and back and then just drew the zebra print on freehand.  It's pretty simple really - hard to go wrong with it. 

After painting my zebra stripes I attempted stencilling for the very first time - and possibly the very last time.  Not my cup of tea and I became easily infuriated.  Luckily my husband was on standby with a wet cloth to wipe away my mess and we started over.  It's not perfect (so don't look too closely), but I think it came out okay.  Here is the final result...

I'm pretty chuffed with this one, as is my stepdaughter :)  After all the stuffing around with the stencilling she'd bloody well better like it! 

When I'd finally finished all I felt like was a cold beer.  I went to grab the only bottle we had left in the kitchen fridge and this is what confronted me...

Errr - no thanks :( 

I have no idea where my husband got this and quite frankly I don't want to know.

Megs x

I party at:

Coastal Charm
House of Grace - Twice Owned Tuesday
The DIY Home Sweet Home Project - More the Merrier
Primitive and Proper
Type A - Anything Goes Party
Beyond the Picket Fence - Under 100 Linky Party
A Glimpse Inside
Running With Glitter
Sassy Sites

Boring Bedroom

I saw this piano bench for sale on Gumtree and I just had to have it, even if it meant me my husband driving out to dingo woop-woop to get it.   Here's the before...

Before I get to the "after" I'll tell you a bit about my bedroom.  I really wanted something for the end of my bed.  My bedroom was quite bland as it consisted of mainly white furniture with a brown bedhead.  My husband chose the colour.  I think the paint was actually called Solver "Poo".  I'm serious!  No I'm not.  But they should call it that. 

Anyways, where was I?  Oh that's right.  So I've always been into earthy tones but I'm getting sick of looking at it in my room.  Maybe that's because I spend too much time in here there.  And it's NOT doing what you think I'm doing - dirty buggers.  But it's where I come to escape from the ferals kids and check out what all my lovely blogger friends are up to.   Anyhoo, I decided to add a splash of colour to spruce it up a bit.  I've always had a thing for orange and green - but not together.  I thought green would look too dull with the brown so I went with the orange to brighten it up.  Here is my bedroom now WITH my spankied up piano bench!  (I know "spankied" is probably not a real word but I dig it)...

(Mr T and Me)

I added buttons to the bench.  I think it looks cool.

There you have it.  I'm still not entirely happy with it, but I find it's the hardest room in the house to decorate.  I don't know why.  I'm thinking of adding single paneled curtains to the windows to pull to the sides, just to give it some oomph (another word I dig).  Maybe in a different colour?  What do you think?  

Now I'm going to leave my cave and make a start on dinner.  Have a lovely evening everyone :)

Megs x

Partying at:

Finding Fabulous

Stuff and Nonsense

Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

Remodelaholic
Beyond the Picket Fence

A Marvelous Day at the Markets

I dragged myself out of bed this morning not feeling that terrific.  I have a horrible ear infection and started antibiotics yesterday.  The side of my neck is puffed up and the headaches are awful.  But I hadn't been to any markets for so long and it was too beautiful a day to waste.  Boy was it worth it!  Check out the bargains I scored:

This kiddie's footstool turns into a little chair!  Cost me $5.   They don't make them like this anymore.

This one will be for my stepdaughter's baby girl.  I'm thinking black, white and pink.








Kid's garden bench = $5!  Not sure what colours to use for this yet.

Scored this 1950s lamp for $25. 
I've never done up a lamp before.  Any suggestions?













I got this bunny rocker for $4, can you believe it?!  Although it looks more like a wombat to me.  This is going to my stepsister's little boy who's due to make entrance into the world in the next few weeks.  (Yes I know - there are lots of "steps" in this beautiful family of mine).  It will be white on the outside, yellow on the inside with red and white polker dot seat, like the toddler chair I fixed up a while ago.

 



I picked up this old piano stool for $15.  Do you know how much these are second hand on ebay?  Like $90!  There's no way I would ever fork out that much money.

And finally I got this table for $10, although I should have offered $5 as it's a little rickety now that I look at it. 

There you have it.  Now I'm curled up in bed because I think I'm getting a fever and have a rotten headache.  But today was worth the suffering don't you think?!

Don't forget to feel free to throw any suggestions my way about the lamp!

Megs x