Fabric for the downstairs windows.

For the past year or so I’ve had my heart set on using some beautiful fabric that I saw hanging in the window of Brisbane Fabric Market, East Brisbane. The fabric is called Harlequin Delphine.

But… for $128 AUD a metre and we needed 20 metres!!!! it just wasn’t an option.  I’ve spent the past few months looking for something special.  I was looking for something fun, fresh and colourful but not too twee!

Wow wee, I’ve found some great fabrics but when I showed them to the family I received funny looks.

In the end I remembered that I had some odd bits of fabric that I’ve bought at op shops over the years sitting  in a box in the wardrobe.  It was exciting to dig through and I discovered that I had over seven metres of the fabric below.

Please excuse the poor quality of the photo.  I believe the fabric is Barkcloth but I haven’t got a clue how old it would be.  Anyway… I thought it would make perfect roman blinds for the kitchen, dining and lounge area.  Mr F liked it but it was a little harder to convince my mother, who would be making the blinds for us.

We’re really happy with them and now that they’re up I think that they’ve got the ‘seal of approval’ from mum.  I’m also really happy because of the money we’ve been able to save.

 

 

The front porch makeover.

For months now we’ve been working on the front porch.  I spent many hours stripping back the layers of paint so we could have a nice smooth surface to work with.  It’s eventually going to be closed in with Plantation shutters and the front door will go.  But for the meantime we thought we’d use up the left over paint from the bathroom and give the porch a bit of a make over.

My mother added a trim of yellow ‘rick rack’ to the euro pillowcases

I brought at Adairs. And I brought the ‘home’ cushion from Adairs at Indooroopilly. I was tossing up whether to return this cushion as I’m kind of thinking that this decorating style using letters, quotes and words has been ‘done to death’.  I left the tag on the cushion and decided to give it a day or two.

The following day, I walked through the front door after a long day at work and saw the HOME cushion sitting on the sofa and said to myself  ahhhh… home sweet home. So Yes I decided to keep it.

In the latest issue of  Home Beautiful I spotted an outdoor rug that I thought would look good on the porch. It’s made from recycled polypropylene.  I was going to order one online but decided on Saturday afternoon to go for a look around the shops at East Brisbane and Wooloongabba and saw the rug for sale at adrift.  It was meant to be.

the lounge and dining room continued…. Window shopping!

All of the windows in the house except one in the lounge were replaced at some point with aluminium sliders.  They’re awful!!  Slowly we’ve been able to source replacement casement windows and take the others to the dump!  We really like the chaps that run the Demolition Yard at Cavendish Road, Coorparoo.  They are very helpful and its very easy to look at their stock.  We are also on the lookout for a nice front door.

   

We replaced the windows in the lounge and dining room.  We took them to a place in Salisbury called Earth Safe Paint Removal  to  have the paint removed.  Many people would advise against this process as it dissolves the old  glue.  We did re-glue some of them that did need it.  The owner of this business John has an enormous amount of stock there too .  He is also a very nice man.

My mum made the blinds for us.  The fabric and the multi coloured pom-pom trim came from Brisbane Fabric Market on Stanley Street, East Brisbane.   They also have a shop at Wilston.  It was hard to take a photo to show you the blinds.  I will try to take a photo of them when the light is better.

Speaking of lights.  I have a thing for Lamps and have brought three this year.  This is Beryl.  She was brought from a shop in Bulimba called Just Plain Gorgeous.  I think she’s fantastic.

Here are some photos of how the lounge and dining room look at the moment.  If we do get to build, these two rooms will change.  As both the living room and the dining area will be down stairs.  These rooms will become a study and upstairs living area.  The black footstool has gone to live at my cousin’s  house and the red chair now lives in a bedroom.  Oh and the youngest boy broke the lamp in the corner.  I’ve saved the  turquoise velvet shade though and am looking for an old wooden base that I’d like to paint yellow.