Monday Mural - Bus Stop 3

This blue toned bus stop concludes the trio of bus stop murals in Hayman Road, Como.

(See previous Murals post 2 and post 1 ).

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.

Another Saturn like planet is visible on one of the sides.

Which one was your favourite - the red, green or blue bus stop?

For more murals from across the world please click on this link.

Monday Mural - Bus stop 2

The second of the 3 bus stop murals in Hayman Road, Como, this one painted in greens and blacks. (See previous Mural post).

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.

I can spot an owl perched on a branch, and something that looks like Saturn.

For other murals from around the world follow this link.

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 - the Nymo and the Jara lampshades - 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 - the Nymo lampshade

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 - Jara - and used the same method with the metal chain and fishing line to attach the shade.

I also bought this 2 piece bamboo shade - Jassa - that was highly discounted, 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.

From drab to fab - dining room chairs makeover

About a month ago I posted that I had started to paint my dining room chairs.

And here is the result!

                              Before                                                  After

Pinterest is full of this type of makeover and I was inspired by some of the beautiful pictures.

In the States most people use Annie Sloan chalk paint, but I would have to travel a bit out of my way to get that brand, so decided to go to my local Hardware (Bunnings) and they had two brands of chalk paint, which were also slightly cheaper, even though they are a lot more expensive than normal paint. 
I used Rust-Oleum Chalk paint in Linen white and a Matt clear varnish. I had bought a small roller, but because of the small narrow areas to paint I found it easier to just use a brush. I bought a good brush that didn't shed hairs, or left marks, and that was a good investment.

First I removed the screws that were holding the chair seats to the frame, took the chairs into the garden and started painting two chairs at a time. Drying time was about 30 min, and as soon as they dried I went over them once more, until they all had four coats. A few days later I painted two coats of the clear varnish.

I had wanted to cover the seats in a brighter fabric in turquoise tones (I'm a turquoise fan) and managed to find something I liked at Spotlight. I stapled the fabric under each seat and done!

The two extra chairs that belong to the dining room set were also painted.

They usually sit next to a small square table at one end of the living room (the table was also bought at an op-shop last year). 

I also bought a lovely turquoise velvet at Spotlight and covered both chairs. They can always be used in the dining room if we need extra seating as the fabric colour matches.

To complete the setting a bunch of fake flowers bought at Ikea were put in the silver ice-bucket. Can you believe it was a wedding present, and has been moving around with us for almost 37 years!!

The pewter candle holders were a going-away present from my arts group when we moved from Portugal to Australia in 2007.

The two glass ornaments on the marble top table were also bought at an op-shop recently, the white jar cost $5 and the blue container cost $3.   The table frame was part of an old sewing machine that we bought at a flea market in Germany, when we lived there almost 30 years ago. It used to have a wooden top but in Portugal I had the marble top made for it. The frame was painted in black then, but of course turquoise is the way to go!

And here it is again - from brown and dull to a much brighter and semi-modern dining room.

I'm happy with it and hopefully this dining room set will last a few more years.

My husband who had his reservations about this  project actually said it looked so much better and even suggested I paint the table legs.

And what do you think of the new look?

BEFORE

AFTER