Hello everyone, I have another special guest visiting this week, Sarah of A Beach Cottage.  I found Sarah last year, and I have been following her for many months.  I adore Sarah’s beach style, her stunning photography, and magazine worthy mantel and tablescapes.  You’ll love reading about her life story and how she and her family picked up and moved from the busy city life of London across the globe to the beaches of Australia.  I’m sure there are many who would love to do the same !

Please enjoy this conversation with my friend from down under, Sarah of A Beach Cottage: 

Q: Tell us a little about yourself, how you ended up moving from England to Sydney!

I am Sarah, owner of a tumbledown old cottage on the beaches of Sydney, Australia. mother of three, wife to one, seaside taxi-driver.  

We moved to Sydney for a sea-change and a new life in the sun, we had gotten fed up of the commuter life in London where much time was spent on the motorway and the weekdays had become a grind.

We wanted a warm climate and a healthy outdoor lifestyle for our children – moving to Sydney and a new life on the beaches has given us that and much more. 

Q:  How would you describe your decorating style?  

My decorating style has been described as, among other things, ‘coastal chic’ though I often think of it as ‘vintage beach’  . . . it came about as I decorated this old cottage with a vintage feel similar to the English country look I had previously loved. 

Because of the warm Australian sun and bright colours everywhere outside, the old chintzy look and big old bright roses didn’t really work, and I found I wanted a cool and calm sanctuary at the end of the day. 

So I combined the things I love from the cottage look with a more coastal vibe . . . bare floorboards, coir rugs, vintage furniture with an old faded patina and of course the odd nautical stripe.

Read the rest of this entry »

For the longest time, I’ve been wanting to create a chess/checkerboard table for our own family room, so how excited was I to see one of my cousins actually take on this project herself !  I’m lucky to be Stephanie’s cousin by marriage, and I just love how with a little ingenuity, she transformed someone else’s discarded end table into a chess game table with two types of stain and imagination !  

The best part is, this was her first DIY project.  Bravo Stephanie ! 

Here is Stephanie’s DIY story:

“I found this table no one wanted next to a dumpster and I thought it would be fun to transform it into a chess/checkerboard table, an idea inspired by a table at my local coffee shop. 

The table had a lot of water marks, the finish was peeling, and one panel of the table was uneven.  So, a friend and I brought it home and set to work to transform it. 

Read the rest of this entry »

Congratulations to the following five winners of the lavender sachets plus a fresh bundle shipped to your door !     

#44:  Shreya:  “These are perfect – their beauty lies in their simplicity!  Thank you for the tutorial.  I love love love lavender!”

#205 Gail Golden:  “These are delightful. What a great idea. I use lavender at bedtime, so one of these would be a blessing.”

#290  Karen P:  “A fantastic idea! This would be perfect for a bridal shower gift for all the lovely ladies. I adore your blog!”

#405 Debbie:  “You have taught me something today! I would much rather have lavender in my husband’s closet than moth balls! I would love to smell lavender instead!!!”

#450  Richella at Imparting Grace: “What a wonderful giveaway! I just bought some lavender sachets in France to use as little gifts. . . they smell divine, but they’re not even half as pretty as yours! Oh, how I would love to be one of the lucky winners!”

Congratulations to the winners – please contact me via email and send me your full name and mailing address to receive your goodies! 

.

Happy Monday everyone, I hope you had a fantastic Father’s Day !  Our family spent the afternoon in Sonoma, lunching, sight seeing, and wine tasting – it was pure bliss ! 

Today I have a special guest, one of my new favorite blogs to read each day for inspiration.  Some of you may know Marian of Miss Mustard Seed – I discovered her several months ago and I’ve been a loyal reader of her blog ever since. 

We have a lot in common – we both adore antiquing, painting, and decorating, and Marian has plenty of experience with refinishing furniture.   She followed her passion by establishing her own decorative painting business, and now she blogs all about her projects!   Please enjoy this conversation with my delightful friend Marian. 

Q:   Well hello Miss Marian of Mustard Seed Creations, tell us a little about yourself, why doncha. 

First of all, I am a youth pastor’s wife and stay-at-home mom to two toddler boys.  I am also the owner and one-woman-show of Mustard Seed Creations, my furniture, antique, and home décor business. 

I started a blog at the prompting of my website designer about ten months ago and I have loved every minute of it.  I have been a decorating and antique nut for about ten years and this business along with the blog gives me a wonderful outlet. 

For a few little known facts…I played Pluto at Disney World, I have a degree in Musical Theatre, I love to bake my own bread, and I can bend my right thumb backwards at a perfect 90 degree angle, which grosses some people out, but it’s a great parlor trick.  I also hate coffee, but love doughnuts. 

Q:  You’ve done some amazing work with paint.  Some of my favorites are your grain sack ottoman, bird & branch cabinet & aqua end tables that you unfairly sold to someone else recently.  :-) 

What are your favorite tools to work with when painting furniture ?

I am very fortunate to do this for a living, so I have awesome toys.  My favorite is my Graco 7.0 HVLP paint sprayer.  That thing gives me the best finish and saves me so much time. 

For decorative painting, one of my favorite tools is my projector.  I can take a pattern, sketch, or lettering, put it into the projector and then trace the image onto my wall or piece of furniture.  I don’t use it for everything, but it’s a way to get exactly what I want without having to worry about custom stencils or transfer paper.  I used it for the lettering on my antique sign made out of a headboard. 

Read the rest of this entry »