colour or neutral?

Yesterday I picked up a couple of bedside tables I won on Ebay...

We were in desperate need of new bedsides (not my husbands opinion exactly) and these two fitted the bill. The price was right; they're in great condition; have drawers to stash things away from little fingers and (non dust collecting) space underneath for all those books I never get around to reading.

But before they take pride of place in our bedroom, the one thing they do need is a colour make over. Currently a wishy washy grey (very 80's Gold Coast apartment), they need a little drama to bring them up to date.

There's so many great examples of vintage cane refinished in bold colour right now and so I was thinking maybe a beautiful peacock or teal blue...

Or do I go neutral?? I don't think white is right for these, the cane is too fussy and our walls are a blah cream colour.. A soft charcoal could be kind of cool, what do you think??

sneak peek...

Yep more beading... I thought I'd share a few pics of the necklaces I've been working on for my nieces and a few little friends for Christmas.

Next on the list, I'm hoping to sew little matching drawstring bags to keep them in. That's the plan anyway...

Only 31 sleeps..!

pool envy...

David Hockney's 'A Bigger Splash'

Summer has well and truly arrived here and the evening air is full of the delicious aroma of sizzling BBQs and the sound of neighbours splashing about in their backyard pools...

There's nothing like diving into the cool depths after a stinker of a day, or so I imagine... Aah, if only we had one of these beauties to cool off in at the bottom of our garden.

Fab or what?! The iconic Kauffman House, Palm Springs

Post splash... Novogratz residence, Great Barrington

poolside beauty courtesy of Elle DECOR

'Pink Pool Innertube' by Californian Artist Danny Heller

Stone clad beauty captured by The Selby

'Peach Sky Empty Pool' by Sydney Artist Paul Davies

One day... In the meantime, we really should become better friends with our neighbours..

love it!

I'm not usually one for gimmicks, especially in the lead up to Christmas... But how cute is this??!! Typography you can eat!! You can snap them up here.

Have a great weekend!! xx

flowering fireworks...

This evening, as the sun was going down on another scorcher of a day, the last rays hit the top of a tree in our garden.

The tree is in full bloom and the effect was not unlike a burst of golden fireworks... Beautiful!

Christmas has come early..

with the latest Inside Out!

Although I rarely buy magazines these days (a. I never have the time to read them and b. there's so much inspiration out there in blogland and in online mags), I couldn't go past this issue.
It's chock full of really beautiful and contemporary ideas for a southern hemisphere Christmas; beach side homes that made me yearn for Summer hols and pages and pages of all round gorgeousness in between!

This along with Anna Spiro's divine Summer Vignette has definitely got me in a festive mood.. Bring on Christmas, I can't wait!!

salvaged crystal for Summer cocktails..

Recently I came across these four crystal tumblers at a local opshop. I immediately fell for their simple lines and the fact they were all slightly irregular in size (a sign that they were handmade I'm told).

They were however very cloudy, which was probably why they were 50 cents each. I had a vague recollection of reading how to correct the cloudy issue and brought them home...

Then I consulted my somewhat trusty friend Google and came across everything from soaking in lemon juice or vinegar, scrubbing with toothpaste to using fine sandpaper to rid crystal of this seemingly common problem.

A gentle wash and polish, still quite hazy..

 

post vinegar bath, getting there...

After a little consideration, I decided on the vinegar solution, as it seemed the most gentle... Several hours in a diluted white vinegar bath (balsamic didn't seem right)and my tumblers do look a whole lot more sparkly. A couple more dunks, maybe with a stronger solution this time and hopefully they'll be good as new! If anyone has any better ideas though, I love to hear them...

In the meantime we road tested our (almost) lovely new tumblers with a kiwi/apple/vodka concoction...

We agreed, they do the job nicely!

a little reinvention, part two.

Thanks to a bunch of generous compliments from sweet blogger friends, I'm carrying on with

my new hobby and my desk is now covered with little boxes, dishes and bottles of beads, beads, beads...

Today I wrangled this piece together, from a strand of amber and a vintage Moroccan necklace. Both of have been sitting idle in my jewellery box for quite some time. I added a sprinkling of jet (I love jet) and a length of black satin ribbon that I had on hand. I think I might upgrade to a slightly thinner grosgrain though. I love grosgrain too...

This beading thing is such fun! It's been less than a week, I have two new additions to my wardrobe and it hasn't cost me a cent...

Bananas are back!!

Paul Colin's Josephine Baker. Amazing!!

It's been a tough ol year for bananas.. First the Carnavon crops were flooded and then Cyclone Yasi wiped out what was left of a vital industry here in Queensland! Many livelihoods were devastated and an Aussie fruit bowl staple became a rare luxury.

Yasi's devastation captured by photo journalist Rob Maccoll

The good news is, after many months, things look to be on the up... At the front door of my grocery store on the weekend was a sight for sore eyes. An abundant display of banana yellow goodness topped with a ticketed price that was almost back to normal!

So yesterday to celebrate we did as Jack Johnson would and made a batch of banana pancakes for breakfast... Yum!!

Mmm bananas and butter...

Sunday breakfasts just got a whole lot yummier!

Today Thom had banana topped weetbix, I'm having a banana smoothie for lunch and I think I'll pop to the shops for a couple more bunches and whip up a banana and walnut loaf for tomorrow's morning tea...

What's your favourite banana recipe?

a little reinvention, part one.

Earlier this week a favourite, albeit rarely worn necklace fell to pieces in my hands. It was a very long strand of deco hued jet, jade and creamy onyx beads by Day Birger et Mikkelsen.

With a heavy heart, I swept up the remains and was about to relegate them to the jewellery/clothes/random stuff in need of repair cupboard.., when all those images of the gorgeous girls at the Cup decked out in 'Statement' baubles, came flooding back to me. (I should note, I was nowhere near the Melbourne Cup, rather having a tres low key celebration at home, just Thom and I with vegemite sandwiches, in front of the telly).

Thus inspired, I rifled through my bead jars and ribbon box and pulled together some random bits and bobs that might work with the onyx... Then I got to work threading...

A couple of hours later and voila!! One homemade 'Statement' necklace!

Not too bad and so fun to do!  Next I'd like to create something dramatic with the jet and jade perhaps. Then maybe a couple of colourful trinkets for my nieces for Christmas...

 Look out, someones got the beading bug...

spotted, the perfect Summer armchair...

Uh oh, yet another chair to covet..!

This ravishing rattan number (also available in black) is  new from my old friends Ikea. Just add an exotic print cushion or two (the new zingy 'Tribal' from Table Tonic below would do nicely) and your sun downer of choice.  Ahhh..!

tropical inspiration courtesy of here

The 'Storsele' quite striking in black too