Monday, May 21, 2012

trash to treasure decorating.

i am the biggest fan of recycling old 'trash' and making it into something beautiful in my home. this weekend  i was lucky enough to have a visit from the number 1 handy man- aka dad, to help me practically achieve my artistic vision and transform our junk room into my dream dining room.
i was fortunate to snag a few old crates from a local garage sale this weekend and thought i'd turn them into a few things round the house.
we drilled 3 crates together to create some cute shelving.
and one of them became a planter box for some strawberries phil received as a gift for helping someone.
and while cleaning up the shed for our garage sale i found an old rake which i spray painted yellow and have set up in the dining room to hang wine glasses from... i just really need to stop breaking wine glasses and buy some more. these sad four are the last left of the wine glass collection we got for our wedding. maybe i'll be able to get some more from another garage sale :)
happy thrifting!!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

making plans.

it's been a bit quieter on this blog this year as work has got busier and i've had less time but i thought i'd share a few projects i have going on.
currently there is a large pile of bits and bobs in the middle of my guest room as we are planning for a large purging garage sale in a few weeks. i've been sorting through all the cupboards for the last week determine to clear things if they don't fit my two categories : 1) beautiful or 2) practical and useful. goodbye clutter!
and the other project that i'm feeling passionate about is transforming our dining/second spare room into a more beautiful space. since we've found out we're going to be staying in our country town next year too  i figure there is enough time to change up the room a bit before we pack and move again. i'm pretty happy with our our bedroom but there's definately room for improvement with dining and maybe even some of the other rooms.
i have lots of ideas but it all comes down to what i can find cheaply around the town. i like the idea of seperating the room into two halves so when lots of guests come to stay we still have somewhere to eat! i've also been collecting frames of similar colours from garage sales in the hope of creating a great picture wall. 
well above you can see the before and hopefully the after might look a little bit more like the picture below.
source
have you got any projects going at the moment? 
enjoy the rest of your week!



Thursday, May 10, 2012

margaret river wineries and factories.

so  continuing on with my sharing all the great things about the margaret river region i thought it'd share about how it's full of excellent wineries and food factories.
while in the margaret river region we went on a wine tour with the company bushtucker tours and i'd highly recommend going with this company if your planning a trip and tour.
the tour changes each time depending on where you start. however on our tour we visited...
1.cape natureliste vineyard  which had some beautiful wines and two extremely cute dogs that greeted us on arrival. 
2. driftwood estate winery which had some good wines but probably not my favourite.
3. sandalford winery where the wine was lovely and we sat under the vines and had a traditional cold bush tucker lunch.
4. the crocktail bar- i can't actually remember the real name of this estate but they sell lots of liqueurs and cocktails.
5.the margaret river dairy company which make a fantastic double brie cheese that you can get from most foodlands.
6. the margaret river chocolate company. chocolate company! what more can i say. definately worth a visit and they have free samples which makes it all the better.
7. bootleg beer  which had good beer (or so i've been told since i don't drink it) but i can say the atmosphere with beautiful- the perfect spot to sit relax and unwind after a day of exploring.

 and one other place i have to mention is bettenay's margaret river company because the nougat they make is amazing and i bought so much i've been snacking on it every day since.
so if you're heading across to margaret river for a holiday these are my recommendations!

Monday, May 7, 2012

a new bookcase.

this weekend the yard sales in my area weren't amazing but i was pretty happy to score a lovely handmade dolls house and bag of dolls house toys for $5.
i bought it for my class to play with but after looking through pinterest for ideas on what colour to repaint it, i realised it could also be a unique bookshelf.

 at the moment the roof is an orange colour but i thought i might give it a lift, either by painting it a royal blue or lime green. any thoughts?
and our roses out the front are growing amazing. nothing like a fresh bunch of flowers on the kitchen table.
happy thrifiting and i'm linking with her library adventures.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

busselton.

when we were in western australia we stayed in a beautiful town called busselton.  busselton is 21/2 hours drive from perth in the margaret river region. we stayed at the abbey beach resortwhich was simply lovely with a pool, tennis courts, bikes, a full kitchen and a spa bath. nothing like some lazy resort days to kick start holidays!

if you're off to the margaret river region here's some recommendations for eating out in the town of busselton.

eat at:
vasse bar cafe for pretty decent pub style food
the goose restaurant for an amazing ( a bit pricey) night out. such good food!
coco thai for some really well priced lovely thai food.  
el gringo's mexican restaurant for the best mexican food i have ever eaten. so good i just wanted to eat there the whole time! and for dessert we had something called 'death by chocolate' which was all the chocolatey goodness anyone needs- a giant cup of joy!
 ah, it's only the end of week 2 and i'm already dreaming of my next holiday.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

sunshine and parks.

it's almost the weekend!  
there's nothing like lazy days at the park playing cricket, climbing and flying kites.
keep this extended warm summer, in my country town, coming.
hope you have a lovely friday and weekend. x

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

garage sale finds.

every garage sale i always look for goodie that can be transformed into fantastic craft projects and i've found some great ones this weekend.
every time i go to garage sales i am always on the lookout for beautiful vintage items but also things that i can use to create such as nice old frames, wooden crates and globes. this week i got lucky finding all three.
i've shown my transformed crate already.

this beautiful globe. i'm not quite sure yet if i'm going to turn it into a craft project or just leave it like it is.
these lovely leather handbags for $1 each. looks like i'm starting a collection- along with this other gorgeous leather bag i found last year.
and these frames- and i have some perfect vintage pictures for them.
 
did you find anything great this week?
happy thrifting!
p.s i'm linking up with her library adventures