fireplace look #2

If there is one thing I am forever changing is how I decorate the top of my pot belly fireplace! You may have read about my first look here, which really isn't my first look, it's only the first one I blogged about!
Anyhooooow.........today it's looking like this....

I brought in a huge cherub statue I had in the garden, a rose topiary, some old books, and faux ivy pots...

My firescreen used to originally have all scrolly bits at the top just like that one you can see on the right hand side there, but James accidentally knocked it over and they broke off! I still love this firescreen so I wasn't going to get rid of it.

So I placed a whole heap of vintage doilies over the top to cover the broken bits and at the same time display some of my doilies.

But ofcourse during the 'shooting' of these pics for this post I decided to go out in the garden again to see what else I can come up with! this was all when I should have been washing the floor..sshhh

Mmm, this brass teapot with broken handle will do and yes, this vintage watering can might do the trick too!

Side view as you come out of my bathroom.

Well this is what it looks like now... BUT I just remembered those vintage trophys I bought the other day.. I'm sure they would look good too.. Ok better go and try it out!

take care girls! Maryann  ps. don't forget to enter my giveaway if you haven't already!

Today I'm linking up with Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Friday

week-end finds

There haven't been many garage sales lately in my area but today I went to the markets and came home with a few nice finds! I am always on the look out for shades and today I found 3.

Click on pics to supersize..

A couple of tin tea light lanterns. Just loved the old rusty look of these and might put them in James' room.

Is that breadcrumbs on the table.. James had a crusty bread roll by the looks of it!!

A crystal tray and pretty pink sugar bowl with detailed tong. I love the ribbing effect on the glass.

Some dolly pegs for my laundry and glass door knobs

A silver tray which I just love as it has the prettiest bow design around the rim.

I also found 3 trophys dated 1939, 1941 and 1952. I think they look good on this tray for now.

A vintage fly sprayer. I already have one of these in my garden.

Now for my 2 favorite finds of the day... this gorgeous little pram. I love the shape of the legs and the little springy bits. I am going to use this as a planter and fill it up with flowers! I saw a gorgeous pic somewhere out there in bloggy land and it stuck in my mind. Ever since then I have been on the look out for one.

and an old vintage meat keeper on legs. I just love it. The previous owner painted it this colour.. which is perfect, a cross between green and torquoise. It has a deep tray up top, which is where you're supposed to put the ice and has a larger tray at the bottom to catch the water.

I pulled it apart and gave it a good scrub. After trying it in a few different positions in my dining room I finally put it next to my hutch. I love the pop of colour it gives!

Not sure what I'll end up putting on top but for now these tulips will do nicely.. take care, Maryann

100 follower giveaway!

Hi girls,  I can't believe I have reached the 100 follower mark! I want to tell you all how much I love being able to connect with you through my blog.. being able to share my thoughts and talk about my passions with same minded women from everywhere in the world, it's just amazing! I also want to say a big THANK YOU to all my followers and readers, I truly appreciate each and every one of you!
So to celebrate I am having my very first giveaway. I thought I would make something special... a raggy ruffle throw rug... 

It is made from a natural colour linen and cotton blend fabric. I have lined it with a wool/cotton batting and backed it in the same linen fabric. As you can see it is all one colour but I have added a few ruffles, ruching and vintage lace on some of the squares. It measures 142 cm square (4' 6") and is the first in a new line of linen furnishings I will be offering on ebay and etsy.

I think this design should suit almost any decor and so will the colour...

I have placed a white cushion against the throw so you can get an idea of the true colour of the throw.

So all you have to do to win is
1. leave me a comment on this post for one entry.
2. grab my giveaway button ... or copy and paste it on your blog with a link back to this post for a second entry (please read note below)
3. become a follower for a third entry. If you are already a follower please leave a comment to let me know.

Make sure you leave me a separate comment for each of the above to get your 3 entries! So if you've never left a comment before and just like to read (which is what I sometimes do) now is the time to leave one.
This could be your lucky day...

This giveaway will be posted to ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. Entries close on 14th March ...    GOOD LUCK!   
take care, Maryann  
   ps.. I am having ALOT of trouble getting my giveaway button code to work.. so if you wanted to put my button on your sidebar please just right click on the pic and  save it to your computer. Then upload it to the gadget thingy under 'add a pic' with a link back to this post.  Thanks a bunch!

My potting space..

There is a little open section between this wall, which is a free standing old stone and cement wall, and my hubby's shed. The space is about 4 foot wide. When we bought our property 9 yrs ago, I knew immediately that this would be where I would do all my planting and potting. On the front side of the wall I started to create a garden, somewhat like a french/tuscan courtyard which you can read about here...it's still not finished but here's a few pics of it anyway..

The first 2 pics were taken a while ago...

This pic (below) was taken yesterday.. see how much my ivy heart has grown in the terracotta pot that sits on the table. I made the heart using an old wire coat hanger. I also planted ivy in the ground so it could climb up the wall.

Well let's take a peek at what's behind.

My potting space! Sorry, but it is a bit messy at the moment. There is a huge bottle brush (australian native tree) right above and it's forever dropping leaves.

I do all my potting on this metal table .. at the moment I have lots of plants that are waiting to go in the other half of my front rockery (which isn't done yet) as I know if I were to buy them later I may not find them.

I have roses in those pink tubs which I am repotting into those black larger pots. Hopefully they will grow and keep up with the other roses that I have already planted in the garden.

We made a table out of an old metal frame we had and sat an old fly screen door on it so the water just runs down.

This is the window opening from the other side.

All that climbing jasmine is coming from my neighbours bushy backyard! But I like it anyway!

If you haven't already guessed it I love to garden!... and after seeing so much snow out there in bloggy land it sure makes me appreciate every sunny day! take care, Maryann
Today I'm linking up with Cindy over at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday!

Laundry make-over.. and my sewing nook..

Hi girls, today I thought I'd show you my laundry transformation. It was the worst room in the house and was the dumping ground for all the junk, bits and pieces I couldn't find a place for in the rest of the house. It was soooo bad that I was too embarrassed to take a pic of all the mess! My daily mantra used to be " keep that laundry door closed" to the kids and I would say it alteast 10 times a day!!  In saying that though, my laundry is not a bad size and has lots of natural light which I just love. Here are the befores.....

face on..

side window..I attach a pipe from my washing machine to take all the gray water to my garden..

french door leading to front of house on our side verandah, which I never use..

closet door and other door leading into house, there is also a spare loo hiding behind that little wall  in  there...

I didn't do any major changes, just painted the walls, which needed to be redone with spack filler first and sanded back, which is probably why we left it so long. All the tiling was done by the previous owner. So we didn't bother changing that. Whilst I was painting away, I thought how nice this room would have been as a sewing room. You see I don't have a craft room just for my sewing (not yet anyway).  I would normally take my machine out when I needed it each and every time. I would use my dining table or leave it out in the family room, which needless to say can get a bit messy at times.

My gorgeous painting by Tanya.. she sells her lovely work on ebay under the username 'boudoir123'

Any crafter will tell you there is NOTHING worse than having to set up everything, everytime you want to work and then pack it all away again. So in order to have my machine out ready to go for whenever I needed it, I decided to turn half the laundry into my sewing nook.

These white shelves were originally pine so had to paint them too.

My gorgeous print by Gail McCormack, the one on the shelves is hers too!

I wanted to put a table in there but it wouldn't fit because of the dryer. So out came the dryer.. it's an ugly looking thing anyway which I only use when I absolutely have to. So it's sitting in my wardrobe for now till I can sneek it into my hubby's garage.

Remember this shelf I painted up a while ago.. this is where it ended up!

My gorgeous little painting by Natasha Burns

It's not quite finished yet, but again, if I wait till I'm 100% finished with it, I'd never get to show you! Cause I'm NEVER 100% finished with anything..

I no longer have my daily mantra... (not that one anyway)

and I just love being in my laundry.. I practically live in there.. 6 days out of 7! I have so much washing all the time I don't even want to get started on that one..!     take care, Maryann xxx

I'm linking up with Cindy over at 'My Romantic Home' for Show and Tell Friday,
Gina over at 'The shabby Chic Cottage' for Transformation Thursday,
and Cielo at 'The house in the Roses' for Show off your cottage Monday.

PS.. just want to add on, as a couple of gals have asked what colours I used on the table and chairs. Well the table was actually already green when I bought it.. so all Idid was distress it and for the shelves, it ended up being my own concoction of colours as the original green colour I bought turned out too torquoise so I ended up adding some black, white and a dark green to the mix. Sorry I can't give you a definite colour as I don't think I could replicate it exactly if I wanted to!