We make a life by.......cont;....

Things are coming along nicely.  I now have a sofa, maybe two.  The neighbour of a friend was about to throw away a very clean 2 seater as she is about to renovate her lounge room.  I asked if she would keep it until I can some how get over there to collect it and she said she may have a match, she hadn't decided yet if she was going to change both, so maybe we have two...

Word is out among friends that I have a wish list and if they see these things on the street they will call, if they themselves can not pick them up..

If I can't re-cover the sofa. ( Some times they are too heavy for me to lift and turn.)  It is always possible to make a slip cover to go over the old one if the sofa or chair is clean. Matching details like cushions with other things in the room will bring it to life.

A tip full of old furniture 

It is often heart breaking to see some of the things that go into land fill
and this beautiful little 1930s recession chair was found in the local tip in

An honest, well made, solid chair  

Mudgee  NSW . It was one of my first pieces.  The seat was made out of a packing case and just slips out.   My brother Rod had to gather up all the pieces ..He handed me this pile of, what looked like rubbish, and when finished this is what I had.  The fabric is not to everyone's taste, I chose this one as it reminded me of my grandmother, and I can just see it sitting in her sunroom ...                                                                                                                                        


A ..post script to this post is that my friend who this project was started for got the job, the unit, the furniture ..and the man is in remission ..so Life is good ..and in the end she did a lot of the finding herself ..sometimes it just takes another look at things.. a different angle ..to see that the road is not as long .. the wall not so high as you first thought ...and its amazing what is out there to find if you look at it from a different angle ..sometimes things just need a good clean, a lick of paint and new home ..like we do now and then ...

We make a living by what we get...

We make a life by what we give ...
                                    Winston Churchhill.

I have myself a new project;
   Through the coffee shop in my store I have come to know a young woman who has struggled through some difficult times.   A single mum living in a dysfunctional family household, commuting a fair distance to bring her daughter to a good school.  Trying to juggle jobs and child without support.  Until, and this is the short story of her life.
She met a young man, a single dad. They fell in love, became engaged and planed to marry. Their life together did a serious U-turn when he was diagnosed with cancer.  Over the past months he has had five operations and many, many weeks in hospital. The stress of the past months have made home life even more difficult and it was suggested by a councilor that she remove herself and her daughter from the family home.
It would give the couple a place where they could spend more quality time together .. living with their respective parents has not given them much privacy ...

While I cannot do anything about finding them a place to live ..I have taken on the responsibility of finding and restoring the furniture they will put into the flat   house or unit, and I will find it on the street!!!! ( a true trip to the tip project) So they can put their limited resources into finding a home ...
I thought I would take you, my readers on the journey with me ..and I will supply before and after photos as I go along.. if you have any ideas you want to share, just leave a comment .....

Both these pieces are a little rusty but will come up a treat ..                                                       What I have found so far..a table top (no base) a coffee table base ( no top ) and no, they wont work together.  Some dining chairs  (3) an old paint splattered desk, good and solid, it will come up well ...A friend is upgrading her fridge and has given me her old one that's still in "as new" condition just a little small for her now ..  
                                                                                                           

It will take months to find every thing I need, as you never find what you want when your ready for it.

The brief ..the couple like rustic design ..thats good, a lot of what you find on the street is "rustic" when you find it ..the colour scheme, darker shades of wood, green and pink!!!now there's the challenge...
I'll keep you posted....