Homework..

  As you may have noticed I haven't blogged for awhile.  I have been staring down a mountain of paperwork, and no matter what face I pull at it,  or how mean I look. - I cross my eyes, I stick out my tongue,-  It wont go away.  In fact its like the seven headed hydra - you cut one off and another two grow in its place.  The more I stare the bigger it grows, and grows AND GROWS!! ...now you may say, "well just get in and do it " .. Sound advice indeed! ..And I wish I could embrace it, love it, nurturer it .  clean it up and present it to the tax man as a shining example of what a small business should look like, but the truth is far different, I have an unnatural aversion to paper work.. I will willingly clean cupboards,  do housework, the ironing -- anything to get out of doing the books.  I feel as guilty as a child dragging her feet into the classroom to tell the teacher that the dog ate her homework ...knowing full well that its still sitting alongside the modal Popsicle stick house she spent the whole weekend making ..

I am not lazy, I work hard and the employment I have created for myself is labour intensive.  As a one person operation I manufacture and then hire the goods I have produced ..having been hired they then have to be cleaned ..and sometimes repaired ..  If I am brutally honest I could, perhaps find some time to do some of the paperwork, if it were not for the phobia and the lack of concentration that happens when I sit down to do it .. My mind turns to jelly my eyes glaze over, I start looking for something important to do ..which brings me to this --------->>

Found on a main road in the waning peak hour traffic,  a neon yellow 1960s Parker chair ...thrown out for the council to collect .  surely this piece of iconic  Australian furniture needs a savior !!

 I have never done anything as modern as this chair and when I got it back to the store I realized I would have to take it apart to restore it ...I was worried that once I pulled it apart I may have trouble putting it back together again ..what a challenge !

It was touch and go there for awhile but it did go back together......I just needed longer arms to hold it and screw the screws in ...

After some consideration I decided to change a few thing about this chair - I tailored the shoulder  and added an extra button.  It gave the chair a stronger, cleaner profile , something I think will come into fashion in the near future.  With turmoil and disaster comes the desire to nurture and find comfort and that is often reflected in fashion ...Lets see if I'm right and there is a move away from the flighty, frail and pale.

I have successfully put off doing "my homework" again! and the pile grows ever bigger... I wonder if there is therapy for this condition  or is it chronic and so has no cure ..I will die, suffocated by a enormous mountain of paper ...ooh dear!!!  I think I have just brought on a panic attack and need to go breath into a paper bag...  till next time ........

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....

Coffee Addict

Now that looks better!

I have traveled,  and I'm a coffee addict.
I only have two a day unless I'm out and about with friends, and then I may have another one, but I like my coffee, and I will not waste my addiction to a bad one.
 I would prefer to waste a coffee paid for, that was not worth drinking, than to suffer the coffee.
In most of Australia this is not a problem, In some country areas the coffee can be questionable, but in the cities its easy to find great coffee.
When traveling... Thats another story.
     We all know that America can't brew coffee! for all the technique the large franchises have they still produce a swill thats near impossible to swallow.  I sort of expected that. What I didn't except was some of the other places I've traveled to.
 Turkey produces a sludge that you have to be genetically programed to drink and when they try to make a modified version fit for european consumption it plummets to a bitter brown pondscum ..
I'm sorry to say this because I have a special place in my heart for Spain,  but it too fell below expectation.
I tried several places, from local bars to the grander hotels and it was pretty much the same . They reheat the milk over and over again so the result is bitter and the coffee was often too hot to drink and the milk full of air. The result was not smooth and creamy but airy, hot and bitter.  Thailand, Asia in general, don't even ask, really, a waste of time.   The English have seldom  heard of real coffee, what they offer is a freeze dried can of instant dirty water.
 Its been a long time since I've traveled to Italy or Greece, so I'm hoping the antidecendants of our coffee culture are holding up their end and haven't lost their touch.  but I think maybe its the children have grown taller than the parents.  We have built on the foundations of Greece, Italy,Turkey and Spain and created a much more drinkable drug..
When I arrived home from my travels, I awoke on the first morning and my first waking thought was, "Coffee" I pulled on some trackydacs and headed for my local ...Ahhhh!!! OMG! thank you Ali...Now one more please for the road....

Art of Questionable Talent

Looking down into a bowl of dusty potpourri, thinking it was time for it to go, I picked out the seed pods from the wood shavings and thought there must be something I could use these on.  Then!!  I remembered some frames I'd picked up on one of my walks around the throw outs...Frames are a common sight, people buy cheap pictures to decorate a room and when tired of the picture, throw the whole thing out ..

I'm not suggesting you take home art of questionable talent and hang it just because you found it in the street and "its a bargain", but if you're looking for a mirror or some artwork to spruce up the kids rooms, don't dismiss the ones you find on the street.

I had to add to the seed pods, but they are easily found on a walk around the neighborhood and when the frame was done I put it in the store toilet.  I drizzled scented oil onto the pods and it gave the room a wonderful smell.        To glue the pods to the frame, give the frame a good rough up with sand paper and then use a thick glue like liquid nails.

The other one I started with a broken christmas decoration.  The kissing fish, I added another one that wasn't broken, but what the hell!!  The tree won't miss it next year.



I painted the frame white, found some shells - there is always a jar of shells in my house, for some reason its impossible to walk along a beach and not pick them up - and the blue stones were stolen from the fish bowl!!  They won't miss them either!!

 I have used seed pods and christmas decorations.
But its possible to use anything.  Small toys, broken china, old tiles, rusty old nuts and bolts I think would look good for a boys room.  Look around the house with new eyes and you will find many many ideas ...

  I have to apologize  for the quality of the photos, its difficult to take a photo of a mirror and not have a reflection in it.  I tried inside and I tried outside, and these are unfortunately the best.

Advertising Terrorism

"Let your fingers do the walking" ..!! Let me walk my fingers around the neck of the irresponsible dimwit who came up with that bit of advertising terrorism, and is responsible for the avalanche of brainless, puerile, witless, inane, moronic, nonsensical, stupid questions ever asked.  It helps that the asker is on the other end of a phone line and cannot see the look on your face when she/he asks "Will I feel exposed in that?" or "Will it suit me?" "Will it fit me? " or "What does it look like?" It helps not to include them in the neck wringing!!  One or two silly or redundant questions a day is about my limit , excluding of course, the ones that are there to advance a conversation ie:  "Is it hot out or what!??" when its 44 degrees!!  One of the beauties I've witnessed is... A woman rings a friend's jewellery store for a quote and time line to have  her diamond cluster ring remodeled/melted into a solitaire as she was so over small diamonds!!! (well aren't we all!!! ) my friend informed her of an approximate time line and the woman hung up!!! For those who don't know, but knew it was a long time, 1-3 billion years!!!

Some common phone inquires are "Will my boyfriend/girlfriend like it? fit it? suit it?  If I want it will it still be here next week?  I know its obvious but for those that don't think it is, how am I supposed to know?!!!!

Centurions waving ak47s  from the bridge
as corseted medieval nurses tend the sick..

I've been asked for a corseted medieval nurses outfit.  I informed the customer that there was no such thing, but if its a fantasy, well I might be able to do something!!!!!  I was told I didn't know squat!!!

I have been asked "How do I get to the party dressed as a .........?" I have been asked for corsets with Roman, Egyptian, Greek and medieval costumes and I've even been asked for AK47s for  roman soldier's uniforms.  No one under the age of 25 knows what a petticoat is.  I have also been woken in the middle of the night to be asked on the emergency number!! what time do I open the shop!!!  You get where I'm going here.  These are just some that I have remembered while writing this post.  Letting your fingers do the walking is not supposed to let you off the hook from your brain doing the thinking!!  MY suggestion is when requesting information about opening times, costume ideas, size range, I don't need to know whose party it is, what your relationship to the party person is, where the party is being held or where your going afterwards.....and.... ps; its always nice if you ask if its a convenient time to answer inquires!!

INHEIRITANCE !!!

Inheritance...
Now there is a loaded word.  Like a shotgun sighted and ready to explode at any family funeral.  Perhaps even before that event..
    Ever taken down a painting from the wall to change things around a bit and found a little coloured sticker on the back with the name of a loved one or other family member?   How did that get there ?... When was it put there?   How long has that particular piece been coveted by that family member?   How many other little coloured stickers are you going to find ?  You start going over your rooms like a politician looking for bugs...      Who else has thought to get in early?
   Would you,  put dibs on some coveted piece before the old relative  is cold or would you wait and see what comes your way,  fight it out with the living, or throw a guilt ridden bone to the old loved one in the hope it comes your way with out a fight.  How much do you want that "thing" ..What are you prepared to barter for the spoils...

The biggest problem with finding an heir.   By heir I just mean the person who gets to be the custodian of the odd bits of china and the old Turkish rug thats fraying in the back room.  The one that you were left with by the previous custodian, who was left it by the one before that ....
These things have been around all your life, you grew up with them.  Lightning would strike you if you threw them out ..
So its important to choose wisely.  Who is more likely to feel sentimental?.. and... who is the one that will hock it before your cold?   Important stuff !  Your not just passing on an old rug, a pair of earrings or bits of old china.  Your passing on the memory of your parents and your grandparents.  They put their trust in you. This is the rug that your mum played on as a child.  The one her grandfather gave her grandmother as a wedding gift.  These things are the ones to keep!..to be continued ..passed down...
I really don't care who gets the house ..I will have probably have spent that before I leave ..but if its left ,..They can fight over it until the second coming, I don't care! ..What keeps me up is, who gets the china and the turkish rug and who thinks they won because they did!..............

The chairs you see in these photos are part of a suite, a two seater, two tubs and four single chairs they are hand carved victorian ebonized mahogany.( I'm not certain about the wood as the ebonizing hides the grain)  To find a complete suite is rare, near impossible these days and this one was offered in a house contents sale with discarded bits of mismatched china and old rugs.  Left to the wrong relative, I think and hocked.  In its day this would have been a prohibitive purchase.  A well thought out buy to pass the test of time and last the distance

there are four of these 

I hope I've done justice to these chairs I found a piece of the original green silk and I've tried to match it as close as possible ..while still making them fit todays tastes..

I had to strip the upholstery right back .
it was worth it !

These victorian sofas make great bedroom chairs 

With all the chairs I find thrown out or discarded in garage sales that I restore, I write what I know of their history.  Where I found them, and the condition I found them in.  If I have a piece of the original fabric I put that and a gift to the future in, a few coins or a silver charm I put all this in a small plastic zip lock bag and staple it to the interior of the chair ..so one day,  the next person to restore the chair will have a little bit of the past to go on and perhaps will continue the story and put his or her contribution in the bag and put it back in the chair for the next one to find ..a living history in furniture...