Small Vintage

Quite often when shopping for vintage fashion, majority of the gorgeous frocks I find are miniscule. Teeny tiny Vivienne Leigh size waist. V Small.

‘A’ found this punch bowl still in its box about 8 months ago, somewhere. It’s been sitting on the back deck on a bench collecting dust so I decided it was time to wash it and bring it in. This is it

Dime a dozen, and probably shoved in the back of most of our parents cupboards, but a good little piece nonetheless and still in its box with its plastic hooks and ladle.

 

Of course my first thought was, ‘there’s one sip to be had out of this cup’.

So I did a direct comparison with a normal sized glass of today, and compared my Poppy mug with the daily coffee mug I actually drink out of

Ridiculous right?

 

And then i felt a plate comparison was required

 

I realise that this isn’t news to anyone. We all know that the size of these things has increased and nowadays, when a woman seeks to lose weight, she has her meal off a side plate instead to assist in portion control.

What I’d love to know is why we even needed to make things bigger? Because it's 'trendy'? Other than making our entree of scallops look incredibly small and glasses of wine pitiful, it enables us to eat more than we need without even realising.

40 years ago women (and men) drank out of little glasses, ate off small plates and scooped out of shallow bowls. Women didn’t go out and hit the pavement, box, do yoga or run on a treadmill to slip into a frock. They just ate and drank smaller quantities. Actually, aerobics was big in the 80's. Is that when our plates got bigger??

Anyway, my punch bowl cups are very small and this is the punch recipe book that came with them

 

There’s a June punch. My month of birth, so I might have a little morning tea in June with small portions of caramel slice and scones. I'll be in the market for teeny vintage frocks in no time.

Yellow Cane Lounge - Recovered!

Before Christmas you may recall, or not, I did a post toying with ideas for recovering the cushioning on my yellow cane lounge, this was the post here. 

It's done. And it's totally the opposite to what i originally envisioned. All the fabrics are linen. I'm crossing myself that they won't fade. A tea towel linen cushion i had out there hasn't budged all through summer. Here's to hoping.

We have these tinted blinds on the front balcony due to extreme weathering coming through. I've grown to like them a lot, because they're dark, but i can still see out, it makes the area feel nice and cosy, and the darker fabric makes it less obvious or something.

You can see the slight mustard yellow in the base fabric. The cushions are reversible, the other side is a neutral linen so i can bring them in or use them out the back if i want a change.

Mr B lounging on my leg yesterday arv. He shan't be making it a habit of jumping up there, but who can resist a face like that?

Lights for reno Part II

This is very typical of me, meaning: I purchase things prior to needing them, just in case.

Insert this pendant shade below. May not work in this house at all, but good to have ... 'just in case'

It folds to a flat piece, the light sits in the middle so it would throw a moody glow i think.

I like very much that it's copper.

These sconces however, I will use downstairs. There's 3 of them.

I intend on using 2 of them in the bathroom but they'll need some adjusting. 

They're in great condition and will be tweaked once I have my final bathroom visual planted in my brain. At this stage, the wood will be sanded back and stained a darker colour with the gold remaining OR, the wood will be sanded back, sealed (think naturally its a bit lighter and less red) and the gold sprayed black. Either/Or.

The third one. Well, not sure if it'll get a run. We'll see. I don't want to over sconce it.

I also have this light in the bathroom upstairs as you can see above. I'd prefer that the rooms work together rather than have them looking totally different, the style of the sconces and the green lantern above is a start at the rooms complimenting one another. Still a way to go ... but finally finishing this house is beginning to look like it will happen.

Bushells 'Tea of Flavor' ...

What magical weather we had here in Brisbane on the weekend. Let's pray it keeps up and spreads its gloriousness to our friends in St George and other regions who are experiencing weather gone bad.

I achieved a few things on the weekend and one of them was finalising some dimensions for the study downstairs. I've opted for a skinny room for sole 'office' purposes, in order to have a larger bedroom rather than having having a small bedroom and a small bedroom/office.

So while stepping out measurements for downstairs I was using these teaboxes as the study desk, well, where the desk will be. They looked so lovely lined up I thought i'd take a pic.

I've had them for about 5 months now but they just get moved around and used as imaginery walls, desks, baths etc on a slab of concrete.  I like them together so I think down the track, somewhere, i'll put nice big leafed pots in each of them. Use them as a screen or space divider. The Bushells my fave. The shade of blue's v pretty.

The inside still has remnants of the foil. All-in-all externally they're in pretty good condition. The woman who  owned them used to work in a tea factory, i'm guessing a Bushell's one? She did say, but I forget.

And speaking of tea, I met the lovely MMMC from Make Mine Mid-Century Saturday. Knee deep in boxes and packing paper and still smiling. You're a better woman than I. 

Doing a pre moving declutter, MMMC was offloading this teaset below which I've been lucky enough to get my greedy little crockery loving hands on.

Thanks again, they're so cute. I do like birds. My coffee cups have birds on them too.

Our front garden is being strategically dug up by the new addition to the family. He digs up just Bromeliads. They've all been dug out as if i'd used a shovel myself. Weird. Is this normal? Just bromeliads. Nothing else.

A hue of blue

While the sky remains a dismal shade of grey, i've brightened up the inside with a couple of painting's i've picked up of recent times.

This is my favourite. The location of the framer (on the back) was the suburb i grew up in, and it looks to be a highschool piece of the 70's with 'Grade 11Blue' written next to the name on the back. I wonder if the artist went to my highschool?

.

And this one. Very simple but this shade of blue always gets me and with all the timber framing going on in this room, a bit of stretched canvas is a nice modern addition (even if a 2 year old could do it).

It's texturised which i like and being that the two are in the same room, it makes the first one more vibrant and brings out the blue tones in all of the Tretchikoff's.

Another piece of clutter for the house comes in the shape of an early 1900's Surveryours staff. This is a close up below. They're 3 pieces that slide into one another so it's very long when extended all the way.

It's lounging in the kitchen at mo. I like it but it's another item that i could really live without, yet refuse to.

We're finishing off the downstairs part of our house, so over the coming months, i'll share some bits n pieces. It was nearly 5 years ago that we demolished the original house and relocated a dwelling from across town. It doesn't hinder us that it's taken this long, but it'll look a hell of alot better done and dusted. Here's a few links One and Two  back to the minimal before and after's i have of upstairs. This time i plan to take many more shots. It's amazing how much you forget.

Dreaming of Danish ...

There's a Danish furniture sale on at Albion Antique Auction Centre this week. Started yesterday and ends Saturday. 

I hopped on the website and spotted this chair that I had to have .....

$15,000. Ouch! Glorious though. Not surprisingly, a sign at the store says ' do not sit on this chair'.  

Regardless of this little emotional setback, there were a number of other items which looked great and were priced more affordably to moi. Quite a few extendible tables, sideboards, there was this desk which in real life is gorgeous. I think it was $600 or something like that? ... good price, or maybe that was another desk. not sure.

This lounge, which i am very fond of, is $3,900, it has a planter box as part of it. Very cool, unique and a good price and excellent condition.

Lighting

There's also some period antiques in another room which are equally lovely. I adore good craftsmanship and the smell of nicely aged timber.

You can check out items here: http://www.aaac.com.au/auctions.html

Cricket and Cocktails

I'm a bit behind the 'happy christmas and new year' wagon. So, in order to catch up, i hope you all had a heap of fun. Seems like an eternity ago now.

2011's over and in some ways i'm glad. A nice fresh new year always comes along at the right time and brings with it positivity and hope for many people. No new years resolutions for me per se. Just the usual detox, try to stunt the ageing process, win lotto and so on.

The last few weeks have been pretty good at my end. Lots of these

and a fair few of these

Christmas day was a cracker at the family home. My nephew received a beach cricket set for chrissie which we set up out on the footpath.

It was deja vu. This same street through the 1980's was constantly filled with our laughing, yelling, crying and carrying on. As kids we were always out  and about playing cricket, tennis, riding bikes, building cubbie houses, raiding mulberry bushes and swimming until our bodies were shrivelled and eyes ached. There were 4 main families whose kids all hung out together. To this day we still remain in touch.

As cars drove past on christmas day to see 3 generations out playing cricket, people smiled, waved and nodded the same way i do when see a family having some good old fashion fun. Sometimes i see kids out swinging on trees, playing hopscotch on a driveway or having running races on the footpath, but not often. Shame really, even at my age, hitting the ball with my brothers is still a blast.

Flights are so cheap to LA for the month of Feb and March. About $1,200 return. Throw in NY and you can do it for about $1,600. Who can resist? I'm not sure that i can ... Meanwhile, the new sideboard is settled into this little nook for the time being

I just love cocktail cabinets of any kind. Pulling a bottle of scotch out of the pantry just doesn't seem right to me...

These swizzle sticks were a purchase from Palm Springs, They're glass and never been used. I just can't bring myself to take them out of the packet

Speaking of, i'm still kinda searching for the right Flamingos for the garden, but they're all too small. Some sold on Ebay early last year that were perfect. If you see any of the big one's give me a hoy. They're so pretty.

Have a great weekend!

New 'kids' on the block

Have a look at this darling heart of a face ....

He's our new addition to the family. This is him howling throught the verandah palings when I was leaving yesterday morning, he sounded like a little baby wolf

nestled on items of furniture he shouldn't be on...

It's quite rediculous how cute he is. We've been keeping him up as late as we are at night to help him sleep through ... which .. works! He wakes up with the birds at about 4:30am and then chills out for a few hours more. A friend recommended a hot water bottle. Gold I tell you. Absolute gold.

Which brings to me to the second new kid on the block. At 8:30pm last night my recent purchase was delivered. A Baptists Bar Sideboard, this is it in all of it's terribly photographed glory shoved under a window in the dining room

The bar is hidden away and swivels

The seller told me that the sideboards were initially made in London for Baptist Priests (who are not allowed to drink...) to hide their booze. Clever isn't it. I love a good cocktail cabinet so this appealed to me. I've only found one more online which sold in the US.

The handles are great. I like them alot. I've wanted a bit of gold detail to work with the honan matting. This sideboard has good potential to look gaudy, but with the matting I think it'll come out looking rather lovely. 

Christmas in just a few days. I still have shopping to do, just a bit. I like the midnight shop, it always has a good rushed christmas vibe.

 

 Have a great week!!!!

Palm Springs

Palm Springs is about 2hours out of LA, or maybe a snippet more. We drove there on the way through to Vegas so it was a short visit.

I did manage to see the Kaufmann House, as mentioned in a previous post, and also drove by this house.

This is the house that Elvis and Priscilla went for their honeymoon. I like Elvis. He was a cool cat.

A couple of interior shots ...

I'd planned to write more about the house, but stumbled across this blog that covers off everything and also where i found the above piccies. Please read it. This house is utterly amazing i so desperately need to stay there.

The following houses were within the same vicinity that the Kaufmann House is in. I snapped them whilst driving and hanging my arm out the window, so they're not great, and not the best Palm Springs has to offer but they're little gem’s all the same.

 The onyl house i saw with grass

Edris House above built 1953/4. Alot of the houses up near the Edris house (they're higher) have hardcore signage about private property and stay out etc etc. Serious security system action.

I really liked this gate above and  the use of besser bricks for the fencing below.

So above they've used the bricking width ways and then on the house walls below, long ways. I love how that looks. It's like tiling but not.

 

On the way out, the clouds were coming in. The mountains looked spectacular.

Cool old car below. In fact, cool vintage cars everywhere over there

 This is the town centre, we went to the diner that you can see with the red awnings over it

This was inside. It was like we were in the scene in Greese where Sandy says ' I need some money' to put a song on the juke box.

Reflecting on my pic's it doesn't make the properties look that good. But they are. All in rows with a glorious mountain backdrop, palm trees that've been in the ground for decades, great angles, glass, brickwork, timber detailing. I wanted desperately to get up to some properties nestled into the hills but they're gated communities i think.

The way out. Can't wait to go back.