That's a shell of a lamp!

This is one of a pair of lamps that came to live here after I spotted them at the tender center. They had rather ugly shades on them and looked a bit sad but I could picture them with a fresh new shade perched atop them and hey presto, they are now lovely again! They are pretty old judging by the wiring on them but in good condition and now they have lovely new hats on, they are just perfect. And they look just grand sitting on the bedside tables. Don't you just love it when you find a great bargain???!!!!

(and yes they are real shells in there!)

(Lovely new shades are from Tarjay people, they have some seriously nice shades at that shop)

I know it's a bit sad.....

I scored these two beauties the other day after swapping a friend an old tv stand for her young un who is soon to be moving out of home and I think I might have got the better end of the deal here- according to me anyway! Now they could be filled with lovely magazines or even some toys as they are sitting in front of the window in the living room (sorry, took the pic at night so the blind is down) but in true "I'm a busy person and I can only paint stuff at night when the fishes have gone to bed" style they are of course filled with paint tins and my drop cloth so I can get paintin' in a hurry and have everything handy. It's a bit said I know and Mr Fish just shakes his head but it works for me and one day they will be a nice home to something a bit more glamorous than paint tins. So there you go....

Kids beachy chair revamp

I found this lovely cane chair at a recent trip to the tender center (it's a kids size one) and thought it would look great with a quick makeover. It was in great condition and just needed a bit of a dust then on went the paint. One coat of zinser and two of antique white U.S.A. and it was all done! (I forgot to take a pic before I started painting hence the white bits on the legs)

After all that lovely paint it of course needed a nice cushion to go on it so we (me and the fishes who were strangely on their best behaviour) braved going to Spotlight and found a square of foam to cut up. Some careful cutting and a bit of nice beachy shell fabric later and we had ourselves a cushion!

Both fishes have claimed it so I'll let them battle it out though it does look lovely with littlest fishes (aka 'bug') nice new paint colour in her room. (more on that later....)

Transformation is complete!

After we moved in to our house about 5 years ago we painted all the apricot walls white to keep things simple and I am finally getting around to painting each room and adding a bit of colour. There are major plans for the whole house but until the rumpus room is finished the bedrooms are the only rooms I can fully transform as the living areas will be moved around a bit. So here you have a hideous picture of just after we moved in, note the shiny green curtains and mushroom coloured blinds! Those along with the apricot was just too much so the walls were painted white almost straight away. The lovely bedspread was the very first quilt I ever made, so even though it doesn't match anything it got to stay on the bed awhile.

Next pic is just before painting began, see the green curtains were replaced with white sheers which lightened things up a bit. And even though you can't see them there are white blinds on the windows.

Here's another angle from just before painting, and no that sheet is not a bedspread. it is covering the bed to protect it. The room is a little brighter but still quite plain and boring.

These next two shots are after the painting has begun. I mixed up a colour that consisted of a tin of Dulux 'white on white' and a sample pot each of Nippon 'pool' and Wattyl 'academy grey'. It's a sort of duck egg bluish kind of colour but a bit more green if you can get your head around it. It is sooo soothing and I feel relaxed just looking at it. Note the trims have been painted a gloss white but the curtains are not up yet....

Tada! The sheer curtains were replaced by white cotton (okay it was white calico) and hung higher than the window to make the ceiling seem higher (and it really worked!) and the rods are a black metal that I dry brushed some silver paint onto to lighten them up a bit. It's hard to see but they look a bit like brushed metal only they were a fair bit cheaper! I was going to just let them hang but I had some shell tie backs that I wanted to use so they were just tied loosely around the curtains.

The other window was a bit trickier as the air con sits just next to it and the window is off centre which was a bit annoying. After much talking to myself and anyone that would listen, I thought that keeping the curtains floor length and the same width as the main window would at least add some balance to the windows. We couldn't cover the air con as it sticks out a bit from the wall and would probably look like we were trying to cover it up so it was just left alone. the curtain covers the cord that runs down the wall and even though the bed is not centered under the window (impossible), it still looks okay.

So there you have it! We've gone from a bit of a mess to quite relaxing and soothing. And it might be hard to see but the fan also got a makeover and the new one is sooooo much quieter. All in all it was an easy change and was done on a budget but I love the result! I'm tempted to paint the furniture white but don't think that will fly!

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Some beachy finds!

Here's a couple of recent finds from our nearby beach. The Nautilus shell had me jumping up and down when I found it. It was hidden under a huge pile of driftwood that we were looking in (that was the reason we were at the beach, after the cyclone came through our beach is covered in mounds of lovely driftwood) and I poked it with a stick as it looked a bit like an eyeball all half hidden by everything. Then when I realised what it was, I did a little happy dance! I don't know if they are a common sight further south but this is the first one I've ever seen up here and boy was it a great find!

This sea fan was also found recently and after letting it completely dry out, I cleaned it up a little (brushed off loose bits of outer coral stuff) and framed it in a shadow box frame. I had to glue it onto the backing with a tiny bit of glue on a toothpick and waited impatiently for it to dry to check if it was held on enough.

More beachy finds are still to come! And there has been some major painting going on around here lately (pics to come soon) as well as some mega news (well I think so anyway).....

The building has begun on our rumpus room out the back!!!! Yay!!!!

Mr Fish and Poppy Fish started on it today and put the framework up on one side and a window in. I am sooooo excited that it has begun finally and hopefully all the wet weather is finally behind us.