Light Revamps

Our house was built in the 70's, so when we bought it 10 years ago we had to do a bit....or rather a lot of renovations to get it into the 21st century.

But of course our expertise doesn't stretch to all areas, and under Australian law mere mortals can't touch electrical stuff, it's got to be done by qualified electricians.

So we left the old wood and metal chandeliers in the lounge, dining room and corridor, with the intention of changing them sometime in the future...but of course then we just get used to these things and they get forgotten.

Originally I had just spray painted the chandeliers with white spray paint, so they could just blend in, but a couple of weeks ago I noticed a chandelier in a shop that was covered with a large lampshade and I liked the idea and thought it would suit our chandeliers, I just had to find large enough lampshades!

On a recent visit to Ikea, I found what I was looking for and with a bit of white metal chain and fishing line I managed to attach the shades to the chandeliers. 

Not too bad I think.

Over the dining room table

Inside the shade with the chandelier and metal chains

The first revamp with spray paint

The original chandeliers - they used to have glass bowls around but some were missing

For the 3 chandeliers in the corridor I chose a simple shade and used the same method with the metal chain and fishing line to attach the shade.

I also bought this 2 piece cane shade that was highly discounted, and spray painted it white and hung it in the sitting room next to the kitchen.

Another spray paint job was done with a leaf shaped metal dish that was going a bit rusty and I thought it would make a good candle holder for the patio table. Of course it had to be in turquoise as my house is mainly decorated in turquoise and orange.

 

From rusty platter ....

... to turquoise candle holder

 And that's all for small renovations for now. I've still got a few more painting jobs to do, but have to find some time to do them.
Enjoy the rest of your week.

Monday Mural - Bus Stop 1

Not far from my workplace is Curtin University, and recently driving through a street behind the university that I don't normally use - Hayman Road - I came across 3 brightly decorated bus stops.

After some investigation I found out these bus-stops were painted in December 2012 by Perth artist Dan Duggan and students from Collier Primary School, with the purpose of reducing graffiti on the concrete bus shelters.

For other murals from around the world follow this link.

A taste of Africa - eating out at a South African restaurant

A couple of weeks ago, on a Saturday, my husband and I had lunch at a South African restaurant not far from our house.
I originally knew it as a shop that sold South African products, like chutney, biltong, Appletiser and Grapetiser (soft drinks), the delicious Romany Cream biscuits, Ouma rusks (hard biscuits), spices, South African music CD's, etc. 

I hadn't been there in a while, and through a friend I heard they had expanded to include a restaurant, so this was the first time we went for a meal at Kalahari - a taste of Africa.

The menu is small but has enough variety to suit all tastes - you choose what you want to eat, get your drinks from the fridge, order the food at the counter, pay for it all, and get given a table sign. 
The table signs all have typical South African words instead of numbers - Howzit (How's it going?), Lekker (tasty), Voetsek (go away)...
All the tables had a beaded sunflower in a jar, a tin with sugar and the delicious Mrs Balls chutney!

Peartiser (softdrink), sugar tin, beaded sunflower and Mrs Balls Chutney

The decor is simple but homely with a lot of African accents on the wall art. I liked the mat made with bottle caps joined together with wire (photo below).

My husband and I both ordered the prawns and chips with peri mayonnaise. When I saw there were only 2 prawns I thought it wasn't enough, but the prawns were gigantic, and the chips dipped in the mayo were fantastic (a treat as I hardly ever eat fried food). In the end the food was actually enough.

Dessert followed - Melktert (milk tart) for me and a slice of Black Forest cake for my husband. Both were marvelous.

Menu

If you want to enjoy a sweet treat at home, you can buy koeksisters (a very sweet plaited doughnut in syrup) and melktert (milk tart) to take away. 
They also sell meat, boerewors (sausages) and seasoned meats. If want a piece of meat for lunch, choose a seasoned steak, ribs or a sausage from the fridge, which can be cooked to your taste, and then order a side dish to accompany it. 

If you want to buy South African wines, bears and other spirits, they have a "Shebeen" (bottle store) in the shop too.

The Soweto Shebeen or bottle store to one side of the shop

The shop/restaurant is at 27 Augusta Street in Willetton and is opened from Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5,30 pm and on Saturday from 9am to 5pm, although the kitchen closes at 3pm for meals.
If you live in Perth and would like to try some authentic South African food give them a try, we enjoyed it.

Monday Mural - Geometric shapes

Just like last week's mural this one is by the same artist, Perth born,  Brenton See.

It was painted during Public2015, and was painted behind the Woolworths building in Fremantle.

For other murals from around the world follow this link.