Beach House Backyard Makeover with Road Side Finds

 Its seems to be that cane furniture is making a come back.

I see it everywhere painted in fun colours

 and it even looks great painted white.

 Over the last council throw out

 I started a little collection of

 "Road Side Finds" for the Beach house.

I collected 5 very different pieces in total.

$0

Amazingly none of them needed repair,

just a little bit of white outdoor paint!

Before and After

What a difference a bit of paint can make.

It took some time to paint them all, 

but getting a resort feel for next to nothing,

 made it all worth it.

 My Husband and I built this little table to go over the fire pit.

We made it out of an old bed frame we weren't using.

It is perfect for the space and cost 

$0.

 We created a wonderful space

 to entertain friends at the Beach House 

for next to nothing!

Beach House

 Backyard

 Oasis

is now complete.

It is time to sit back and enjoy Summer. 

Working around a design inspiration

Pick something you are drawn to or has special meaning.  
 For this room we chose a vintage Boy Scout tea towel and framed it. 
 We found a few unused items from around the house and painted them a vibrant blue to match the blue in the new art work.
*The piggy bank was free from the bank, but it was pink, which Zach didn't like.  
It was his choice to have it painted, which worked perfectly.

We also framed this old t-shirt because it has the same vintage boyish feel.

We made a cushion for the bed from another cool vintage tea towel with similar colours
.
 The main art work above the bed is a canvas covered with Zach's old baby blanket from Nest.  What a perfect use for something he loved but doesn't use anymore.

 He is now 4 years old, hence the vintage number 4.

 We also framed 2 cute cards he had received for his birthday and added some tiny wooden figures on top of the frames for a bit of playfulness.

 I found these little chairs at an Op shop and recovered them in different retro fabrics that matched the bold colours of the vintage tea towels.

Everything in this little boy's room has special meaning or was something we found that had no current use.   By spray painting some odd unusable items, the room looks co-ordinated with little cost.  And there is nothing in here too precious to play with.

*It can also easily convert to a lovely guest room since we kept a neutral white and grey base.

White washing away the 80's

My friend Kelly has embraced a new found love for refurbishing old things.

So much so that she offered to help a friend refurbish two very 1980's bed-side tables.

 Her friend loved how they turned out.

A fresher white washed look made such a difference.

To tie the newly white washed drawers in with the rest of the room,
I suggested Kelly's friend get some pine frames from Ikea
 to white-wash and hang above the bed.

Half dipped pencil holder

My Mother's day DIY shed has a new Drill Press

I admit I am not very experienced with one so I did a bit of practicing

on a bit of scrap wood left over....

and this is what happened.

I couldn't resist half dipping it in Pink so it will look just divine on Kayla's new desk.

Vintage 1950's Park Bench makeover

Before

Vintage 1950's  Cast Iron & Timber Slat Outdoor Garden Park Bench in need of some TLC.

After

Lots of sanding
and a few coats of paint.

Stunning at the front entry of Kelly's house now.

Pink Wire Lamp Frame

I found this old wire lampshade and removed all the fabric. 

I spray painted it Pink.

 I made my own light fitting.... since they don't sell them like this.

and...

Voila!!

Super cute ...

and a bit different in Kayla's Room.

Coloured Doily Bowls

I had just seen some beautiful white doily bowls and wanted to try to make some.

But instead, I thought I would take it one step further and add a bit of Acrylic paint to the Fabric Stiffener.

This is how they turned out!

I put tea lights in these at night
 and they are so beautiful with all the colours glowing.

These bowls are perfect for holding littles things in my girl's room.

Budget Beach house Makeover # 1

This Summer I was asked to makeover a Beach House on a serious budget!
As close to $0 as I could get.
 The owners painted the entire place white and the rest was up to me to make it all work.
My furniture budget was $0.  So I had to reuse or source all the furniture.
The place was very '80's with the same era furniture.


The white chair above I found on the side of the road.
 Luckily it was already white and it looks lovely and inviting at the end of the all white hallway.

Before
Most of the little dressers looked like this.

After
2 coats of white paint and
knobs changed

It still works as the perfect guest storage and side table.

The Antique Victorian furniture had to stay in the Dining Room,
 but in an all white house
 it still looked lovely with
hints of the beach scattered around.

I found this glass and wooden vintage cheese
server at an Opp shop.
It now looks beautiful housing shells
and interesting things found at the beach.

It makes a nice centre piece
 for the round antique table.

This piece of driftwood I cut from a very large branch that washed up on the beach.
Now it makes a perfect key rack in the
all white Kitchen.

Coral and shells are an easy addition.  The bigger the better.

I made a simple piece of Artwork gluing smaller shells to paper
and then writing sayings that made me think of the Beach.
I had seen something similar for sale in Sorrento,
so I just made my own version on a budget

After
Cost: About $55
I bought 2 of the cushions on sale.
The others I made with scrap fabric.
$18 worth of paint
The white frame they already had
I found a lamp at an Opp shop for $3
and painted the base blue.
Luckily they had a set of white sheets already. ;)

Using 3 colours makes it easier to edit things out.
If it didn't match the theme, it was out or painted to match.

I made these simple little linen and fabric canvases for the kids room.

Another easy thing to do is paint all outdated items white.
This lighthouse was looking very 80's pale pink and blue before I painted it white.