Treasures in my garden...

One of my favourite things to do is work in my garden. Unfortunately I haven't been able to much of that lately. I just love my old established trees that were here when we moved in. I find it so relaxing to take a stroll and check out what's growing well (or not) in my garden. What I also love to do is to add statues or anthing else that tickles my fancy to make it even more interesting. So I thought I'd give you a bit of a tour and just warn you there are heaps of photos! ....

I hope you liked my tour.. just wanted to take some pics before autumn really sets in.  Leaves have already started falling from my trees. Oh No! I don't like winter .. and already can't wait for spring to come round again. Atleast I can see other bloggers are now enjoying spring coming round to their place. 

 take care, Maryann

Lisa's shabby bedroom make-over.....

Well here it is.... Lisa's bedroom.  She was very particular of what she liked and didn't like. I would go into her room with something thinking she might like it and she'd come straight back out with it! It was pretty funny really.. there were to be no roses prints only some flowers in a vase and  no doilies (except for one) and no empty frames.  I think it's turned out very light and fresh, she didn't want too much clutter..... I painted absolutely everything white apart from the bed which was already white.  It still needs a few pics above her dressing table as it looks abit too empty, so I am on the look out for some pretty frames and perhaps a fluffy chenille throw for her bed to soften the look.... but if I wait for that to happen you'll never get to see........

The bedspread I already had.  I purchased it from the USA a while ago. The cushion covers were from a garage sale. We did go shopping for a quilt cover but nothing really grabbed us, so one day I am hoping to make something for her myself.  The lace curtains are from Rachael Ashwell and I just love how they give a soft and feminine feeling to the room.

This is looking into the room from the doorway. Her room is not very big, only 3m x 3.6m. the wardrobe I purchased from a garage sale for $20. As you can see we went for a white look with just pops of pink instead of having pink in everything.

The pink silk dressing gown hanging from the wardrobe was actually mine that I had for ever and the dressing table was free! A friend of ours just gave it to us.

She still need to place photos of her friends in the little 3 sided frame.. yes I painted that too!

I only had to add new handles, maybe a bit too fancy but we liked them!

Lisa's memory board. I purchased the frame a while ago at a garage sale and we decided to keep it brass to match the chandelier and also the floor lamp base as we didn't want everything white. I think it adds a little old world charm to the room.

I used silk and lace to cover it.

Mini crystal vases make lovely jewellery holders...

The drawers from another garage sale.. $15!  The lampshade also got a make-over.

This little cabinet holds her make-up up the top and shoes down the bottom. As you can see I still haven't attached some of the handles on the door as when I was using the drill, I dropped it and broke the drill bit. I haven't given Fred the good news yet!

Well that's it... everything in her room was a garage sale/market find apart from the chandelier which I purchased at an antique shop but just had to have it and her bed from a bedding place which was a bargain as we got it for 50% off. 

Ok, now onto the next project!!!!!!!!!!!

I have joined in at  ~Show and Tell Friday~ at  Cindy's My Romantic Home Blogspot

Take care, Maryann

Quick & Easy ~pillowcase make-over~ Tutorial

I had a couple of vintage pillowcases which I just love as they are so nice and thick but were pretty plain and boring. I wanted to use these in Lisa's bedroom but wanted to jazz them up a bit.  What to do?  I then remembered I had a couple of pieces of vintage lace  (different to each other, but that's ok) just long enough to fit from top to bottom.

My aim was to make them  romantic and pretty by adding some lace to the edge of each one. I first placed the lace onto the p'case where I wanted it to sit when it was finished. As you can see I wanted the lace to overhang the edge of the p'case by about 1". I only had enough lace to do the front of each pillowcase. If I had more I would have gone round front and back but this would still achieve the look I was after. I placed a pin top and bottom of the p'case where I need to sew the lace to. Make sure you cut the lace 1/2" longer top and bottom for seams.

Now remove the lace and make a hem top and bottom by folding in lace by 1/4" and then again by1/4" /This will finish the edge to prevent it from fraying.

Now pin your lace right side facing right side of your p'case and line top and bottom of where your seam is going with the pins we placed earlier on your p'case.

Now sew along your pin line. If you are new at this I recommend you baste it first.  Make sure you don't catch the back of your p'case!

Fold out your lace so it is now right side facing up and pin along the edge you have just sewn so you can go over and top stitch along the edge.

Now you need to topstitch the top and bottom section of your lace to your p'case so they stay in place and won't flap around.

Here they are finished. A very quick and easy way to jazz up a plain pillowcase! If you wanted to take it a step further you can add layers of lace of different widths. Simply place the narrowest lace face down first followed by the next and ending with the widest and sew them all at once. Then I would only sew the widest lace to the top and bottom of the p'case and let the other layers flounce around. (now why didn't I think of this.... BEFORE....!)

Hope this wasn't too boring but I thought a beginner might like to have a go! take care, Maryann

saturday finds...

Saturday morning and I'm still in bed thinking.. I really should get up now and get dressed to go to those garage sales that are just around the corner from me. (which doesn't happen very often)  Will I, won't I.. a part of me couldn't be bothered and the other part thought, I wonder what I'll be missing out on if I don't. So after a cuppa decided yep, better go!  I'm so glad I did..
For the past couple of weeks I've been searching on ebay for a couple of sconces for my family room to replace the ones I already have.. they're ok but wanted something more eloborate and couldn't believe I found these!

Also found these vintage S & P shakers! I just love them! Also found the little silver dish earlier this week from vinnies. Think the shakers look really good sitting in it. (atleast for now anyway)

Found these really cute handles at a local market ( mmm... must remember to go there more often!)

They had a bit too much gold on them so I have just given them a coat of offwhite and I think they will go really well on Lisa's cupboard. I had intended using crystal ones, but for $1 each I couldn't pass them by.

I hope you all had a great w/e. Was a pretty quiet one for me... take care, Maryann

Shabby armchair make over...

I thought you might like to see what I've been up to lately.. still working on Lisa's room, it's taking a little longer than anticipated but I just finished her armchair today and thought I'd let you have a peek.

These are all the before shots..... I had already taken the swivel back off and thought 'oh yeah, better take some pics!'

Too many nails here so I decided to slice the fabric from the sides of the seat.

Iwas very happy to see burlap keeping it all together underneath

Before recovering it with the proper fabric I covered it with a sheet of wadding to make it all nice and clean and also to give me a light coloured base to work on.

We decided to use a dainty roses fabric by Rachel Ashwell .. (which is one of my fav's)

I'm also going to make a slip cover for it as I don't think it will stay white for long. It looks so pretty in Lisa's room but can't show you that yet!   All I have to do is cover her lamp and her room is done. ! So stay tuned.

 Also My Cottage Charm is having her very first 'Treasures & Trinkets Thursday' if you'd like to pop over and have a look and Cindy at My Romantic Home is having Show and Tell Friday!

Hope you all have a great week end ...take care, Maryann