Easter Craft Part 1

One of the reasons I am keen to get this house is finished, is so I can concentrate on some of my other passions such as craft. In my former life as a stylist I used to do a lot of craft stories for magazines, and get to release my creative and artistic juices regularly. Since kids and a life of domestic bliss (!) I haven't had the opportunity to do it and I really miss it. I was at Spotlight and Lincraft today looking at curtain rods and the craft section just kept beckoning me over, all those ribbons, beads, papers and tools are just too tempting to refuse.

So I am determined to come up with some craft inspiration for Easter, although given it's next week I'm not sure how far I'll get! Particularly as I have spent much of this week at hospital visiting my sick Dad. But I want to think about something other than curtains and lamps for one minute!

I trawled back a few years and found some things I did for Better Homes & Gardens and The Australian Women's Weekly a few years back, just to get me in the craft mood. Watch this space.....

Images from BH&G (Pacific) and AWW (ACP).

Created by Melinda Hartwright

Have a lovely weekend.

Inspiration at the Door

I'm still in the process of tweaking the entry foyer, and the eternal hunt for a reasonably price rug in blue and white with a geometric pattern continues, then I found this gorgeous image as the ultimate inspiration. I love everything about it. Just the perfect balance of black, white and colour with tone, texture and pattern. 

It's the home of Canadian House and Home's Editor in Chief, Suzanne Dimma. Images from HGTV.

Stuff I Love

I first discovered Oomph when I attended the gift fair in NY last year. Their stuff is fabulous, colourful, simple, classic and fresh. I wish we could get some here, but at least you can be inspired by the colours and concept.

via Oomph Online

The other shop I'm enjoying at the moment is surprisingly in nearby Manly, which is great because most of the fabulous interiors shops I love always seem to be in Brisbane. Kristy Lee Interiors has some great pieces if you're looking for that bit of tropical colour and you love bamboo furniture as much as me. 

via Kristy Lee Interiors

I'm absolutely in love with this Pagoda mirror - but sadly the budget for Poppy's room doesn't extend to this. Still on the hunt for something similar, if anybody has spied a great bamboo style mirror, please let me know. 

What happened this week....

Well, it seems you almost all resoundingly like my antiques and I am clearly in the minority. I agree with all your wonderful and creative suggestions about how to incorporate them, ranging from piling them high with books, flowers, mags and lots of blue and white, to sticking them in the playroom or the cabana and even painting them (sadly I won't be allowed to do that latter!).

And I agree that dark pieces ground a room and give it "gravitas", the only problem is (and I didn't mention this), that I already have several pieces of large dark timber furniture in that open plan dining/living/entry area that already provide the grounding and gravitas. Let me demonstrate.

A grandfather clock

A large black bookcase (disregard styling of shelves, just chucked stuff there for the moment)

An Asian table with antique vineyard clock hanging above.

A dark grey chest of drawers

A black Asian faux bamboo side table

A dark Indonesian cabinet

A dark 3.5m dining table with matching dark chairs and dark rug!

And a large black mirror.

Two dark bamboo chairs

And of course, the dark treads on the staircase and dark floors. Still think I need more?

Add to the mix all my dark navy cushions and you begin to see my problem! Hence my concern about it looking like a dark and gloomy castle from the middle ages. Never fear, with a bit of lightening up, adding some softer shades of fabric, some relocating, shuffling, rethinking and reworking I'm sure I'll be able to assign them all to the right place somewhere in the house (or under it!).

It's been a busy week trying to move ahead with my decorating. I have ordered lamps, blinds, curtains, cushions, plants and just come back from a mammoth shop of photo frames from Target, having found the offering at Ikea woeful, as annoyingly none of their frames come in standard sizes and therefore don't fit any of the prints I ordered or the very expensive family portraits we had taken at Christmas. Target had almost the exact black frame with white mount that I found in Country Road and Freedom for $49, for only $12 with 25% off at the moment. Bargain!

I have received my prints from Etsy, and I have to say that my purchases from Etsy have so far been rather disappointing and unfortunately only go to strengthen my belief that buying homewares/decor online can be a risky business (although obviously this is a generalisation and only based on my limited experience). I've learnt that colours can be inaccurate, details misleading and precision of product representation can be sloppy. This has been the case for the cushions I bought and some of the prints. Buyer beware is my lesson, but I'm sure there are plenty of sellers who are of a high standard and quality and whose products are as they appear.

Further on Etsy, I have to report that the two lots of stencils I ordered have still not arrived from the US, and it is over three weeks now. I paid $30 for one lot to fly airfreight, but clearly it's coming by pigeon. I was told when I contacted the company that it wasn't unusual for them to take 8 weeks to arrive!! What the?? I would never have ordered them had I known that, as it's now holding up my finishing these DIY projects. Extremely frustrating!

And finally, to Overstock. After my tirade last week about their poor after sales service, my girlfriend Esther cleverly suggested I comment on their Facebook page. It never occurred to me to do this or that they would even have one, but I posted a link to my post on their page. It was removed immediately. So I tried again, and same thing happened - it mysteriously disappeared. So I commented on their wall, about not being impressed with their service for international customers etc. Straight away, I was contacted by their Facebook customer service by email and told to give them my order details and they would see what they could do to help me. Well, not 5 days later, this replacement faucet head turned up by Fedex. 

So I commend Overstock for addressing the problem and actually providing me with the replacement part as requested despite it being past the 6 month date, although I doubt it this will have any long term effect on their international shipping/replacement parts policy, and has more to do with being shamed on social media. But the only problem is the replacement part is faulty as well! The stupid little bit of rubber has already fallen off this head, and so it's clearly a design fault in this tap. Nice try Overstock, but shame on you Kingston Brass!

Have a wonderful weekend. 

They're here....oh dear....

Tell me ladies - what would you do if your husband went overseas without you, and bought a whole lot of antiques without showing you a photo first? You then have to wait 8 months anticipating their arrival by sea. Your only hope is that your husband has the good sense to buy things he knows you will also like and which will fit in with the aesthetic of your house and lifestyle.

Then finally the mysterious pieces arrive, not in crates, but wrapped in brown paper and masking tape having spent the past 6 months in transit at sea, at customs, in containers, on trucks etc. As they are opened, you wait with baited breath to see what treasures will be revealed, for the house that you have painstakingly been decorating and planning for the past two years.

But alas to your horror you discover that every single piece of antique furniture has been either damaged or broken and they are not insured. But almost worse than that - you don't like any of them!

Now I would have thought that given what I've seen of antique stores in England, some lovely elegant pieces of Georgian or Swedish furniture, perhaps a nice armoire, a chest of drawers, a couple of dainty chairs, would have been the pick. Something pretty, delicate, beautiful, feminine, something you can proudly display that makes you smile every time you walk past it - perhaps painted the subtlest shade of duck egg blue or Jane Austen aqua? But this is what you get instead - a selection of masculine, dark brown, roughed up, crude, chunky pieces more suited to the tented battlefields of Henry VIII, than a bright and airy coastal house on Sydney's northern beaches! What's a girl to do?

Here's what I'm dealing with......

This is a mule chest, used for a bride's trousseau (according to my friend Tim) from the 1700s which obviously has a great deal of history and I can appreciate the significance of that with all these pieces, but it's big, dark, chunky and crudely made, looks out of place in this setting and I can't think where to put it! If I were decorating in the Martyn Lawrence Bullard style it might work or if we had a farmhouse we were doing up, but I'm not! 

This piece is called a dough bin which my husband inherited. Interesting history as well, but rather crude, chunky and dark. Plus I find it a little creepy because I think it looks like a child's coffin on a stand, more reminiscent of Dickensian workhouses than the houses of Martha's Vineyard! It would look good used in a nativity play with a lots of hay and a swaddled baby Jesus. I wonder if it and Benjamin Moore would get on!

This is a high-back upholstered chair which apparently belongs to my husband, which clearly needs recovering, but now it also needs its legs put back on! Looks more like something Anne Boleyn should be sitting on doing her embroidery while waiting for her head to be cut off! (mmmm, which gives me an idea.....)

This is a bible box (according to my friend Tim) and is passable, at least it has some finer detail and turned legs, but the stand means it doesn't sit flush against a wall so is a bit awkward to place. 

And this is a campaign chest, which again in shape and design isn't offensive and I love its history. I do like this style of furniture, but it is so bashed up, worn and marked (and now damaged) it just looks like it's crying out for a makeover and again I have no idea where to put it. I'm trying to find pretty painted Chippendale style furniture for the house and I get this. The colour is just too reddy/orange so it doesn't go with anything. Maybe I can re-stain it?

I keep dreaming about how they might all look sanded and painted a pretty colour! I know that's probably heresy saying that about English antiques. But the living room downstairs now looks like something out of a Tudor castle in Scotland, not the light and airy, beachy coastal home I was aiming for.

Ideas anyone? Have a great weekend!

To buy US or not?

So I've been a busy bee since we last spoke with my DIY projects. Unfortunately, I just put my SD in the slot on my iMac where the CD is supposed to go and it's disappeared into the bowels of my computer and I can't get it out. Have tried a knife, tweezers, a paper clip and can't so much as feel it. Such as bugger as that SD card has about 10,000 photos on it! Has anybody else done this before? Any ideas for retrieving it, or do I have to go to the Apple store? Shame it has all my before photos for the DIY projects I'm doing too!

Now for today, lesson one in buying from overseas.......

DO NOT BUY TAPS FROM OVERSTOCK.COM.

As you all know I was a big fan of Overstock for their prices and service, but I take that all back now. Not only do their products stink, their after-sales service does too.

Here's Exhibit 1 - our ensuite vanity taps. I noticed the other day a slight rusty coloured mark appearing around the base of the tap and staining the marble. I was able to take off the tap because it had been coming loose, and reveal this beneath. The whole thing has rusted. Now I'm sure it's happening on all the others too because you can see the slight staining happening already on the left, but of course I need an imperial allen key to get the tap apart and can't get my hands on one anywhere.

When I got the plumber over, he confessed he had cut the corners off the silver nut at the bottom (why they would use a metal that could rust for a tap is beyond me anyway!) because it didn't fit under the polished chrome cover and that's what has rusted. So do I blame the tap company for sending a part that didn't fit and could rust when exposed to water, or the plumber for mucking around with it and causing this problem?

Not at all pleased. So the only thing I can do is somehow open all the taps up and let them dry out, then cover them in silicone and hope that does the trick until the problem comes back. Otherwise I'll be up for two sets of taps plus installation! 

Exhibit 2 - the kitchen pull-down mixer with dual spray nozzle. The rubber attachment to this has been coming off for a couple of months now, and we just kept putting it back on. But now it just won't stay and it drives me nuts. You can still use the tap, it's just a bit fiddly and annoying and looks crap.

So I wrote to Overstock.com in the hope of getting a replacement head for the tap. I didn't ask for a refund, or a whole new tap, I simply wanted a replacement faucet head. Here's their response....

Thank you for contacting Overstock.com to let us know of the difficulty you experienced with your order. I apologize that the faucet head is defective. 

I would like to inform you that we cannot send out pieces or parts, for international orders.

Please accept my sincere apologies for any disappointment or inconvenience we may have caused. I hope you will give us another chance to provide you with the service you expect and deserve. 

If I may be of further assistance, please let me know and I will be happy to help. 

So I said I was pretty pissed off and disappointed and no I wouldn't give them another chance, as now was their chance to give me the service I deserved, and by the way I had a blog and would not say nice things about them anymore if they didn't send me the one piddly part I needed! This was their response....

I would like to inform you that we do not send replacements for International Orders, nor do we send our parts or pieces. Since the item is past our Return Timeframe, you may set up the return for the item for a refund, but you would only receive a partial refund, and you would be asked to pay for the item's shipping on its way back to our warehouse. There is no way to foresee how much of a refund you will receive, since that is up to our warehouse upon inspection of the item.

Please let me know if I can be of further assistance on this or any other issue. I hope you will visit us soon for great savings on name-brand products.

I was absolutely seething at this point. Then my husband suggested using the US Shop n Ship address I had. So I sent that to them, requesting the replacement. Here is their response....

Unfortunately it is too long past to do a parts request on that order since it was over six months ago I am sorry. We have a 30 day return policy on all orders. We could make an exception since it from 6 months ago and offer a partial refund to keep the item as is or you can return it for a partial refund (of 50% refund) but those are the only two options available at this point. I do not have any manufacturer information we are not provided with th at you could try searching online to see if they are willing to offer any type of warranty on the item. 

I then asked for the manufacturer of the tap, because is says on their website it comes with a 10 year warranty, but they refused to give me that information! Moral of the story, be careful ordering products from overseas that can break or be defective, because there's a chance you will have no recourse if something goes wrong, and it becomes a doubly expensive exercise when you end up buying the stuff from Australia to replace it. I am most annoyed because I have recommended Overstock to many of you and had thought their products and service were reliable. Apparently not.

I can however say, that Pottery Barn were fantastic replacing one of the bathroom scones. I ordered two Nash scones and one came without the backplate, so it couldn't be installed. I just asked for another backplate to be sent, but they sent me a whole new light straight away, no questions asked. 

Check out Exhibit 3, photo courtesy of my five year old!

I have been doing a lot of painting since the weekend, trying to tart things up and commit to my reinventing programme, including a number of items I bought on Ebay. It's proving a little tricky given the size of me now, as my belly is sticking out so much it makes it hard to get close enough to the table and it keeps touching the painted surface. No idea how people with really big guts get on all the time, it's so cumbersome!  And I'm not even 6 months yet!!!

But I'm thinking of giving it up anyway, because not only am I hideously impatient and get sloppy when it becomes too hard and I get bored, but I'm not sure that using enamel spray paint is the best idea when you're pregnant!?! At least I can say I tried.

Suzani Cushions on Ebay

I bought these two SUZANI cushions on Etsy last week, but the colours don't go with the blues I have so I am selling them on Ebay.

PAIR OF DECORATIVE CUSHIONS

This listing is for TWO - 20" x 20" or 52 x 52cm decorative suzani cushion covers. Made from 100% cotton designer home decor upholstery grade fabric featuring the classic Suzani Pattern with cotton tufting feature. Design is centered and the central motif is different on front and back. Please see photos. 

Colors include shades of Wedgwood blue, mid blue and aqua on a Cream background with tufted embroidered suzanis. 

I bought these cushions from the US on Etsy last week and they are not suitable. Brand new. Custom made.

• corners are tapered so they don't dog ear
• fabric edges are serged
• invisible zipper enclosure on the bottom

• Dry clean recommended
• PLEASE NOTE - Insert is NOT included.
• Color on your monitor may differ from actual pillow cover

SHIPS WTHIN AUSTRALIA ONLY - FREE SHIPPING 

See the listing here

Etsy Vintage Artwork

I have been spending a lot of time trawling through Etsy lately, having been inspired since I ordered a pile of fabric and cushion covers about two weeks ago. They are yet to arrive, so it's not exactly a speedy delivery service, but I'm excited to inject some freshness into my blue and white.

I have today ordered three wall stencils. As I'm still pining for the beautiful bamboo Kravet wallpaper I wanted for our ensuite, but just can't justify the expense of the paper and the hanging, I figured I could try to get a similar result with some of the amazing stencils available. The bathrooms just need a bit of oomph and as I'm in my revitalised DIY mode, I thought what better way to go.

I bought these on Etsy via Royal Design Stencils and Cutting Edge Stencils. I've never done stencilling before so I could be in for a major nightmare and may have bought completely the wrong thing, but I'm pretty crafty so hopefully it won't be too much of a disaster. The one thing going against me though is that I'm horribly impatient and I'm guessing that's not a very useful trait to have when it comes to stencilling. Watch this space.

Royal Design Stencils

This is a design specifically for furniture, as I thought I'd have a go tarting up some plain white furniture for Poppy's room or the nursery.

Royal Design Stencils

Thought this bamboo stencil could be good in the entrance or the library (now that's I've decided against the dark navy wall!)

Cutting Edge Stencils

Hoping this might be okay in the ensuite. It's a bit tricky buying stencils online when you can't really get a grasp of the scale or how it will work in the intended space, although they do give you measurements. So it's all a bit risky, but the cost of a stencil is considerably less than the cost of a designer wallpaper.

Then I got stuck into vintage prints. We have a lot of walls and mirrors, and I think that artwork looks fabulous en masse, or flanking a mirror. So as I don't want to spend a fortune buying expensive artwork and framing, I have bought a number of these well priced prints online and a huge pile of Ikea frames and hopefully will create something that will have the impact I'm after.

Here's some of the lovely things I found at Vintage by the Shore.

Vintage by the Shore

Vintage by the Shore

Vintage by the Shore

Vintage by the Shore

These wonderful vintage bird prints are from Amy Kristine Prints.

Amy Kristine Prints

Amy Kristine Prints

Amy Kristine Prints

Amy Kristine Prints

 And these gorgeous prints from High Street Vintage.

High Street Vintage

High Street Vintage

High Street Vintage

High Street Vintage

These are some beautiful original watercolours by Lisa Le Quelenec of Seaside Studios UK, but they are a bit tiny otherwise I would get them.

Seaside Studios UK

Seaside Studios UK

Seaside Studios UK

Seaside Studios UK

And of course if you're looking for beautiful watercolours or prints, you can't go past our own Kerri Shipp from Driftwood Interiors. She sells her stunning work featuring lots of blue and white china, seaweed, coral, butterflies etc via her Etsy store here. (I have some waiting for frames!).

Kerri Shipp

Kerri Shipp

Kerri Shipp

Fingers crossed my Etsy purchases prove worthwhile and I'll show you the results once they are up.

Today I'm linked up with:

French Country Cottage

Common Ground

2805

Simply Designing

Chic on a Shoestring Decorating