An actual renovation post!

Yes, you read it peeps, hold onto your seats, here's a renovation post!

We have started doing the nightmarish job that is painting the exterior of the house. We will be tackling it one small area at a time.

Above is the first patch. It's at the back of the house. Some of the boards were very worn, but Lyn has sanded, bogged, sanded and wood primed the surface. Most of these weatherboards had to come right back to timber. It appears in it's 101 year life, Molly's Maison has only been painted twice. I somehow don't think we'll be so lucky not to have to paint for aother 50 years!

Paint colours...

well, we are sticking with the current theme which is a cream with Deep Ocean colourbond roof (there's another massive and hideous job - replacing the old roof). It looks like we will go with Wattyl colours Vienna Creme (sounds tasty) with a highlight in Diva White (not sure about that name). We will use Haymes Ultra Premium as we like that it's a family owned Australian business.

(sorry about the terrible pics)

I've been wandering around with this big painted swatch and so far so good.

We even took the small paint chips on a neighbourhood walk so I could compare against other house colours I liked.

It's a serious business.
Boy oh boy was it hot here yesterday! I hope you all had a lovely weekend and the week ahead is a dandy one!
Xx

Friday flower - agapanthus

For today's Friday Flowers I have a beautiful blue agapathus.

I bought these at the local Farmer's Market and they have kept so well. They're almost 2 weeks old and at only 50c a stem, that's great value!

I have photographed them from underneath as I was trying to avoid all the background kitchen clutter.

Wishing you a lovely weekend. I hope you have something fab planned!

xx

Pretty cups + yummy cake

I was a very lucky winner in a recent giveaway over at A Room for Everyone.

For my prize I was allowed to choose any item from Rachael's newly opened store, Gidgi.

There were so many lovely things to choose from, but I settled on a pretty latte cup.

Isn't it gorgeous?

Being the sweet, generous person that she is, Rachael very generously sent me two cups to enjoy.

Very spoilt!

I have been going to photograph them for ages, but finally got my act together yesterday when I made myself a cuppa to enjoy with a piece of home baked Hummingbird Cake. Yum. It's positively healthy with all that fruit (or so I tell myself). I even used a bit of wholemeal flour to add a bit extra roughage :)

Lovely! I encourage you all to pop over and check out Rachael's store.

xx

Instagram anyone?

I have slowly starting getting a bit involved with Instagram, both posting photos and following other people. I am really enjoying some of the nice comments from people and the 'likes' I have received.

Are any of you Instagramers?

I have tried looking some of  you up but haven't had any luck.

Please, if you are on Instagram, can you please leave me your user name so I can follow you?

I'd love that. FYI my user name is mollysmaison :)

It looks like being a warm one today. We spent the weekend in the garden and while it's looking good, we are both exhausted!
Wishing you a fab week. We Aussies have Thursday off for Australia Day so yippee for that!
xx

ps for those of you wondering, Instagram is an iPhone and iTouch app that 'posts' the photos you take in an ongoing feed. Other people can see and enjoy your images as well.

Friday flower... striking dahlia

Isn't she a beaut?

No computer image fiddle faddling going on here either. It's all real :)

This is the beautiful dahlia I brought home with me from last Sunday's Farmers Market.

I just love it. Mum has already requested a piece of tuber when it has grown a little.

Doesn't nature create the most amazing things?

Wishing you all a great Friday. Bring on the weekennd I say!

xx

Another visit to Mona Museum

During my holiday break Lyndon and I popped out to Mona museum for another look.

I still hadn't been into the museum's library, the Keiffer Pavillion and there was also a new exhibition by Belgian conceptual artist Wim Delvoye to see.

The image above is a concrete mixer truck made from cut steel by Wim Delvoye. It was sitting outside in the elements and I thought it was just stunning.

It was nice to see the rooftop gardens were growing nicely too.

Some more shots of the truck sculpture.

The silhouettes are reminicent of cathedral shapes.

Wim Delvoye's work was amazing. Some of it was stunning, whilst other parts of it was more stunning for other reasons (if you get my drift). Really too hard to describe. In one gallery a man named Tim was sitting on a display plinth, his heavily tattooed back to us. It took me a long time to realise that he was in fact breathing! He really must have mastered the practice of meditation. The artist had designed and created his tattoo so he had become a living piece of art.

Above and below is a work by Anselm Keifer. It lives in its own purpose-built space and is made from sheets of metal and glass. It represents books in a bookcase.

In the library area I also discovered a huge twin panel Brett Whitely painting. It was amazing. I couldn't get a good photo though.

And to finish off, a super cheery Takashi Murakami cushion on the floor of the library. I just adore his work.

Going out to Mona is always entertaining, thought provoking and eye opening!

Fellow blogger Kerry posted about her visit to Mona the other day. Check out her post for some great images.

xx

Summer mantel

After the mammoth task of packing away the Christmas decorations I decided to freshen up the loungeroom with a bit of bright colour.

I love decorating the mantelpiece and try to create different looks each time I do it.

This time I have gone for a fresh blue, yellow and white theme with a collection of bottles, Mozi fruit tea lights and flowers from the garden. Loving the dahlias.

I'm also clearly still loving "the stick".

And of course some iceberg roses.

The garden is in between blooms at the moment so there's not a lot out. I love the yellow with the blues though. Must plant more dahlias :)
Well, did you guys have a lovely weekend? I have to say I did. After some pottering in the garden the lovely Kerry and her partner Richard came to visit. That means Kerry is now privy to all the dodgy, fallen down bits at Molly's Maison. We had a great time! On Sunday I went to the farmers market and came home with some lovely flowers, a plant and some fantastic French pastries. Boy, the pastries didn't last long. Lyndon was lucky I didn't eat his!
Have a great week bloggies. Looks like being a warm one here :)

xx

Friday flowers: a mixed bunch + bloggy friends

Oh my goodness, it looks like I might survive my first three days back at work!

I'm so glad it's Friday!

Bit of a mixed bunch this week. Above is the very beautiful Angel Face rose. Frilly and mauve, I just adore it. Adore it, I tell you! How beautiful against the old fence.

Now I know this isn't a flower, it's Friday Foliage :)

How lush does this manfern look? SO beautiful.

This pretty rose is called Jubilee Celebration. It's a David Austin and has the most beautiful colouring. I was really taken with this bunch as they were different to the usual blooms. More delicate with soft shading and a very obvious yellow stamen centre.

And to finish off with another bunch of bloomin' flowers, here we are at dinner Wednesday night...

You might have read that myself, Kerry and Jane had a little bloggy get together. We had so much fun!

The poor restaurant staff eventually kicked us out as they had to close, but not until we had our piccies taken.

Jane and I have been 'real life' friends as well as bloggy friends for a while now and it was the first time we both had met Kerry. What a lovely lady. We chatted for hours! Yay for bloggy catch-ups! So much fun!

Well, happy Friday to you all. Have a marvellous weekend.

Hugs, Sar xx

New cushion creations!

Time for the big cushion reveal!

These were made using fabric designed by Julie Paterson of Cloth fabric.

It's hand screen printed just out of Sydney on a lovely linen\cotton blend fabric which sews so well.

The prints I used are Wattle, Stoney, Rough Rose and Boardwalk.Quite Australiana.

Notice the fancy piping around the edges. That wasn't fun, but looks the part.

You can buy the fabric by the metre from the Cloth people or if you'd like smaller increments you can go to Duckcloth. Great service.

Above is my other cushion. This one is made using a lovely piece of Designers Guild fabric called Ramblas.

I crazily made a box-style cushion (what was I thinking - that's two lots of piping on one cushion!!) with stripey piping and side panels. I'm so pleased with the results.

And yes, those are threads that I haven't cut off yet. I was too excited to do that!

Looksee, on the reverse there's a different colour. I've buddied it up with a cushion from Ada and Darcy.

Above: a before of my good ol' Ikea Ektorp couch with my old cushions...

and below, my new cushions!

(whoops, maybe should have ironed covers???)

While I was sewing I also made a new cover for our little old Laura Ashley poofy/ottoperson/footrest.

I like the blue and cream stripes but wasn't so keen on the stains from Lyn's work boots and Molly's paws.

The new one is a slipcover in Cloth fabric Stoney in turquoise.

Above is another recent project I thought I may as well share whilst I'm banging on about my sewing adventures.

I made these cute pink and blue floral\spotty pillowcases for a friend who had been kind to me recently. I'd quite fancy some for my own bed :)

Well there you go my friends. One of my plans is to get a new set of covers for my couch this year. I'm so stuck on colours. I love white or cream but Molly dirties them too quickly. And no, I cannot keep her off the couch. Maybe a grey, or pale blue or green? Any thoughts? Something with a brown paw print pattern perhaps?

Well, I'm back to work today (booooo) but thankfully have dinner with two other bloggers, Jane and Kerry to look forward to. Very exciting!
Xx

More Snow Queen's Garden

I had to share my latest acquisitions from Natasha at the Snow Queen's Garden.

Look at his beautiful Matryoshka doll. She (along with the others) is made from felt that is in fact recycled plastic.

A beautiful little bird and below, a snowy owl.

I acquired these at the last Market at the Masonic Temple back in December but didn't post them as they were being sent out as gifts.

Natasha has started a blog and I have heard whispers of an online store. I'll let you guys know when she does.

I just can't believe it's Monday already and I have to go back to work on Wednesday. Not impressed.

It's a blustery old day so I plan on staying inside and doing some sewing (if my pesky machine will behave). I can't wait to show you my newly sewn cushions, I'm so happy with them, but I want to finish the last two before I reveal.

Have a great week bloggies!

xx

Summer sunset

I had to share a few photos taken of the amazing sunset the other evening.

These pics were taken in our backyard looking up to Mt Wellington.

The colour was so intense, the best sunset I have seen in a long time.
Well, I am really enjoying my time at home. I have just under a week to go until I have to return to work...ughhh. I have made a pathetic attempt at cleaning the pantry (will try to do it properly) and am yet to clean a whole beach worth of sand out of the car following our trip to the dog beach. Molly prefers to wait until she is in the car to shake off the sand caught in her coat.
I've had time to do some sewing which turned out well so I'll post pics soon.
It's just so nice not knowing what day it is!
Keep well and happy bloggies :)

xx