Weekend Projects III - Indoor and Outdoor

Remember this entry hall project started back in September? It's been finished for a couple of weeks - there's a new blue and cream rug, I changed the picture in the far wall (a replica of a Gaugin painted by myself ages ago) and the mirror went from being hung vertically to horizontally.

Looks more modern and sophisticated and has more storage space.

Entry hall - After

Entry Hall - Before

And what did I do with this little telephone seat? It's being converted into a coffee table for the lounge -  I will show you as soon as it's painted...

Hall seat being converted into coffee table

Just outside the front door I hung the little porcelain name plate that I bought at a fair in Sintra when we went to Portugal in March. It was quite unexpected when I found one with our family name.

In our bedroom, this picture frame to the right of the mirror was spray painted (it was the same colour as the mirror before) and I screwed a lot of cup hooks and my long necklaces now have more room. They had all been hanging in the smaller frame to the left (which was originally green). So the left one holds the shorter necklaces, the one to the right holds the longer necklaces.

As you can see I'm a big fan of necklaces in all colours of the rainbow! I hardly ever leave home without a necklace that matches my outfit...

The necklaces now have a roomy place to be hung

Longer necklaces

Shorter necklaces

I also spray painted this footstool in orange. It's part of our patio furniture, and this specific one was bought at an op-shop a while ago for $5.
The rest of the cane furniture  has been re-varnished and is ready for summer. 
The orange/white cushions were all sewed by me and my daughter in law just before last Christmas.

The footstool is now orange

Our former barbecue was dismantled and thrown out during verge collection in September, I today I varnished it and my husband will have to put a top over it so it will serve as a side table next to our new charcoal barbecue. I'll show it again when it's ready!

BBQ table being varnished

Another job which I did today was to dismantle my husband's desk which I want to paint in white.

Right now it's all been sanded and is ready to be spray painted with the spray gun tomorrow,if it's not too windy ... It will be white to go with the new colour scheme in the third bedroom/guest room.

I had thought of buying a new Ikea desk, but why spend money when we had a perfectly good desk at home?

Wooden desk dismantle and sanded, ready to be painted

As you might notice from the two photos above our outdoor cement floor still needs painting. That will hopefully be the last job to be done in November, after all our painting jobs, garden jobs, etc, etc are done!

Monday Mural - I don't care for spam and yo-yo games.

The King of Hollywood - Clark Gable was painted by Fieldey, a Perth muralist/tattoo artist, in February 2015.
It's been painted on the side wall of a derelict Deli on the corner of Walcott and Learoyd streets in Mount Lawley.
Can you see the smaller mural below the window? "Your best buy because there's ham in spam? 
Clark's famous words in "Gone with the Wind"have been reworded with "I don't care for Spam", instead of "I don't give a damn".

On the Walcott Street side (204 Walcott St) the main facade of the Deli has also been painted with a mural by Perth artist Jerome Davenport, depicting the yo-yo games we used to play as youngsters.

The old building is to be demolished, so the works of art won't be there long.

Taking part in Monday Murals - You can check murals from around the world by following this link
Have a lovely week!

Monday Mural - Globe lane

This mural was painted in July 2014 by Sydney artist Beastman and  Adelaide artist Vans the Omega. 

This mural is found in a little park in Globe Lane, across the road from Perth's main train station.

At the end there's an entrance to the building 140 William street, a haven of restaurants and pubs.

You can visit more murals by clicking on this link - Monday Murals

Birds and op-shop bargains

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
In Perth, today (Sunday) it was cool and we so we didn't do much.

Yesterday the weather was great with temperatures going up to 30C so we did some gardening and loaded up on our Vitamin D!

Our loquat tree was pruned (by my husband) to remove all the old fruit as to avoid fruit fly. The tree was almost depleted of fruit, and what was on the tree was already brown and dry - friends of ours love loquats and they had been here to pick fruit a couple of times as at home only my husband eats it. 

A couple of weeks ago we had a visit by these beautiful birds  part of the Parrot family - Rainbow Lorikeet. (Thanks to Gill for giving me the right name!)

They love to eat fruit and pick on the loquats on the higher branches, but of course they also make a big mess dropping fruit on the floor, leaving half eaten fruit on the tree...
They aren't scared of people either, as my husband tried shooing them away and they just ignored him and carried on eating! 
They're quite pretty though, aren't they? In Western Australia they are considered a pest as they were introduced into WA from other states and compete with local birds for food and nests.

Can you see the half eaten fruit?

During the week I sorted out the chest of drawers of the spare room and took a bag of clothes into the Salvation Army store (Salvos) in the neighbourhood. I couldn't help but have a peep around and of course walked out with more stuff.  It's all for a good cause anyway, so glad to help out!

The trays and letter holder have already been "transformed"!

A small basket (no use for it yet!), a letter holder and 2 trays - all from $3 to $5 each

An old Ikea wooden knife holder for $2  (now they sell them in bamboo for $18.99)

And this is what I did with the wooden tray - painted it white, handles in black and it now stands on my kitchen counter holding the oil and vinegar, the salt and pepper mill and my husband's piri-piri home-made concoctions.  (not a great photo, but was taken with my mobile at night)

Good bargains don't you think? Do you also buy at op-shops? Have you ever found a great item that you had to have?

Have a lovely week.

Monday Mural - Geometrics

On our way to a restaurant on Friday evening I came across this striking geometric mural, near the Cultural centre in Perth. Behind you can see a couple of Perth's skyscrapers.
It was painted by Italian artist Teo Pirisi  aka "Moneyless" for Form's 2015.

Another one of his murals is the the geometric shapes painted on the side of a tall building in the suburb of Claremont.

You can see other Monday Murals around the world here.

My weekend

After a couple of very busy weekends doing things around the house, this weekend we had a "renovation free" weekend.
On Friday after work we met up with friends in the Cultural Centre close to the WA Museum in the city.
On the way to the city we drove by this park full of lovely spring colour, aren't they gorgeous?

We wandered around the area until we found a restaurant we fancied and settle on an Indian restaurant - Sauma - in William str in Northbridge. The food was nice, service was quick and friendly, prices were average.

Signs in Northbridge with a map of the area - very nice for tourists and locals too.

Northbridge Piazza  is the "fun centre" with a huge movie screen, entertainment, etc. I love those lit up seats.

Northbridge Piazza - huge movie screen and lit up seats

After dinner we walked around in search of a quiet place to have a coffee - instead we walked past the Mustang Bar in 46 Lake St. and upon hearing some lively music we walked in and stayed for about half an hour watching couples dancing  the "Swing" to the sounds of a live band.
What fun, and those couples were such a joy to watch. I wish I was that "rubbery"!
It was a late night and added to it a couple of glasses of wine (we're not used to drinking!) and we were exhausted by midnight, so it was time to go home!

Dancing to the sounds of a Swing band at the Mustang Bar

On Saturday we had a bit of a sleep in, and then just potted around the garden - temperatures in the 30's which is a bit too high for Spring!

Twiggy found a new spot for a nap

More poppies are coming up - this photo taken on Saturday

On Sunday we had arranged to meet some friends for coffee at around midday and then go and see the new house they are building next to the Canning River.
They've built a little jetty and I had taken old bread to fee the many ducks and other birds that live around the area.
This duck family with 5 ducklings were the first to pop by as soon as they saw people around the jetty. The ducklings were just too cute and fluffy! Later more ducks came by but Father Duck kept on driving them off the area. 
We had a fun and relaxing time!

In the evening our son and daughter in law came to dinner to "inaugurate" the new BBQ, given by them to my husband on his birthday in September.

And so went our weekend - a lot of fun!
Hope you also had a great weekend wherever you are in the world.
(scroll down for lots of cute duck pics)

Monday Mural - Collaboration

Another mural in an alleyway off 634 Beaufort Street in Mount Lawley, on the side wall of Daily Planet Cafe.
It was a collaboration work painted by Sydney artists Beastman (aka Brad Eastman), Numskull (aka Elliot Routledge) and Perth artist Creepy (aka Kyle Hughes-Odgers).
I also spotted the name of The Yok there, so I suppose he was also involved (see last photo).

Click here to view all participants of Monday Mural