OPEN HOUSE PERTH 2013 - 1 - COUNCIL HOUSE

Today I decided to go into the city centre to explore some of the buildings linked to the "Open House" concept.This is the second year that Perth participates in this global event, although last year I didn't pay much attention to it...

Perth is changing rapidly with a lot of new buildings going up, a new river development, many old buildings getting a makeover...so this is an opportunity to visit dozens of buildings old and new, explore the architecture, and go into places where most people will hardly get a chance to go past the front door.

I took the train into the city (a 10min ride for me) leaving my car in the station's parking lot. 
As I exited at the Perth Esplanade station crowds of "colourful" people were donning plastic covers over their dirty t-shirts to be able to enter the trains. I realized they had just run in the Color Run, a 5km fun run where participants get splashed with powdered paint when reaching the finishing line. Funds collected from their registration goes to various charities.

The Color Run participants opening their plastic capes

Some of the participants already wearing plastic caps to be able to sit on the trains

It was already close to midday, and with about 60 places on the Open House list, I had to get going to be able to visit just a few of them until they closed at 5pm.

The Open House Map detailing all the participants

My first stop was Council House (30 on map), situated in St. Georges Terrace.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Council House, that was officially opened by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II in March 1963. 
Construction started in 1961, and the winning design, was one of over 60 in a national architectural competition.
Each floor is covered with grey Mundaring granite, and floor to ceiling double glazed windows flood the building with light. Plus through all that glass you get the spectacular views of the city and river depending on which side of the building you are.

During the Nineties the building was earmarked for demolition, until public debate and a newly elected Council reviewed the demolition order and approved a refurbishment in 1995 to enable the removal of asbestos.
On Saturday 2nd, if booked, you could get a special guided tour with Perth's Lord Mayor - Lisa Scaffidi.  Perth's Mayor, was the first female elected to that position, in 2007.

We were taken to two floors, the 9th floor where Perth's councilors have their meeting and decision room, and to level 11 where the Lord Mayor has her rooms and where all the overseas gifts are displayed behind glass cases.
The Mayor, councilors and staff certainly have great views when working.

One of the original street lamps in front of Council house

Celebrating 50 years this year. Can you see the seagull sitting by the pond in front of Council House?

Decision room. The middle chair is where the Mayor sits

The entry garden displays 50 made with flowers to mark Council House 50th anniversary

Like many public buildings in Perth, Council House is surrounded by lush gardens.

View of the city side with some of the heritage buildings on St George Terrace
The view over the river Swan with Swan Bells and Elizabeth Quay development (sandy part)

This reception room has some strange art pieces

Some of the overseas gifts behind glass cases

A Samurai

List of Perth Lord Mayors

Each Lord Mayor has his portrait hanging in this gallery

On the 11th floor, is the office of the Lord Mayor

The entry to the Lord Mayor's office

Next post, I will write about other buildings I visited. Hope you enjoyed the visit.

Shoe Box, Metal Headboard and chest of drawers makeover for Guest bedroom

A couple of weeks ago I posted about my op-shop purchase of a shoe box cabinet that I wanted to makeover.
I finally got around to painting it and it is now at the bottom of my bed and my shoes finally have a place in my bedroom instead of being stored in the guest room wardrobe.

The shoe box

The inside of the shoe box

Fortunately after reading a couple of blogs about new paint methods I came across "Chalk Paint" and with some red left-over paint, tile-grouting left over from our floor renovating project and a bit of water I made myself a little jar of pink paint. 
That meant that I didn't have to sand and prime the wooden box, how good is that?
Two coats of paint was all that was needed. Then a bit of sanding around the corners to make it look a bit aged and voila!

The first coat is done!

I decided to use a bit of lacy fabric and spray paint the front with white spray paint, but the effect wasn't exactly what I wanted. I might give it another try, and see if it will look more lacy than it does now. 
The  metal door pull was originally in our bathroom cupboards that were thrown out when we we renovated our bathroom earlier this year. I had kept the pulls as I thought they might one day be used somewhere.
This shoe storage box is now at the feet of my bed.

The foam cushion was covered in pink fabric

A bit of sanding around the edges give it an antique look

And now for the Guest bedroom makeover -
I  have finally painted the metal headboard that I picked up on the side of the road at one of the verge collections last year. It had been standing against the back wall of the house until I decided that it would look good painted in a pale blue to go with the striped wall in my son's bedroom, now the guest room.

The headboard was black and I also used the "Chalk paint" method and made a pot of light turquoise paint to paint it.

I almost forgot to take a pic before the bed was all covered in the new paint

Painting each side of the headboard

A couple of gold touches finishes the look

The finished bedroom

With the revamped chest of drawers (on the right) painted with various tones of turquoise and the blinds hung the room is ready, now we just need the guests! 

From a plain stained pain chest of drawers...

To this colourful ombre chest of drawers to match the bedroom colours

Do you like the Ombre chest of drawers? It came up quite nice I think! It was a purchase from Gumtree, and cost $80.

And here is a photo of the bedroom in it's original state when we came to see the house for the first time! Can you see the hideous 70's carpet in brown and orange?

Big improvement I think!

Bedroom in it's original state when we bought the house

OP Shopping

Opportunity shops (Op-shops for short) or Thrift shops, are those shops that donate a portion of their profits to charity, and are mostly staffed by volunteers. Apart from helping the needy, they also help the environment by recycling items that would otherwise go to landfills.  

Their merchandise comes from public donations or from overstock or faulty items donated by commercial stores. 

(A Good Sammy's warehouse - photo from net)

Since their stock is donated, articles can be sold at low prices to those on a budget or the disadvantaged.

In Australia, op-shops are very popular among the young and old, and it seems to be quite fashionable to shop there for vintage clothing for example. Those clever with a sewing machine, can also refashion items of clothing to fit their body shape.
Most of these warehouses are actually quite modern, their clothing racks sorted by colour, etc. to give the shopper a boutique style shopping experience.

Every once in a while, when I decide to cut down on our far too many possessions, I take a couple of bags of clothing, bed linen, crockery, etc to the "Good Sammy's", a huge warehouse not too far from me.

The Samaritans also do a lot of charity work of course, as I mentioned in this post about the Salvation Army.

On one of these occasions I walked around and found a couple of Corning ware bowls.

If you are from my generation you will be familiar with this name, I remember getting a couple of bowls as a wedding present. Sadly they didn't last the long haul.

With prices ranging from $4 to $8, I bought the 2 or 3 they had there. Once in a while I pop around and see if there is another bowl on display and buy it. 

I know own about 12 of them, and I think I need to stop, otherwise I will become a hoarder of cooking ware. In fact I have donated some of my otherwise good bowls, as I didn't have the space to store the ones I was buying....

My favourites are these round deep bowls

On my last stop at The Good Sammy's I saw a beautiful pair of trousers with some embroidery on the window model. I was just on the lookout for bowls, but I couldn't help asking the saleslady what size the trousers were. I figured if they were too small or too big I might be able to turn them into a skirt. She told me there was no size on the label, but they cost $8. I bought them nonetheless and after washing, I tried them and they fit perfectly! They are 80% cotton, 20% linen,  made in Bali, so there were a good buy.

Detail of the embroidery on the trousers

Clothes sold at Op-shops are all in perfect condition and washed and pressed before being put on the racks. There are quite a few blogs around of people that just buy their clothes from op-shops. In fact during the month of August there was a op-shop Restyle challenge with some bloggers restyling an outfit daily. Those involved also took part in the Perth fashion parade, with other fashion designers. There are some crafty and inventive ladies out there...

I had once purchased a lovely black and cream lace dress in a fancy Op-shop in Fremantle. The dress was also on the window model and I asked if I could try it on. 

It fit perfectly, the price was $20, and it is a very fashionable and contemporary dress. I have only worn it on one occasion though, I might wear it again next New Year's eve.       

Black and cream lace dress

This week I went to a another neighbourhood and popped into the Salvos Stores on the lookout for a small bookshelf or similar piece to renovate, to enable me to store my shoes in the bedroom, as my wardrobe is far too small. 

There was a huge amount of furniture, but this little trunk caught my eye. When I opened the door I was so excited to see it was a shoe cubby. This would be ideal to be placed at the foot of our bed, a place to sit on when putting on our shoes in the morning and where my shoes could be hidden. How lucky was I? The price was $50, but the unit was in good condition and I reckoned the money was going towards a good cause...

Fluffy tries out his new perch

The inside of the shoe storage unit

You will have to wait and see how I'm going to renovate this little gem.

How do you like my op-shop purchases? Have you ever found something wonderful and quirky at Op-shops?

Wet Spring Day at Kings Park Flower Festival 2013

Today, being the last day of the Spring Festival at Kings Park I had wanted to visit once again to take more photos, and see the old Holden cars exhibition as well as see some of the live entertainment on offer.

Albeit the wet and windy day (this month has been unusually wet and windy) the park was full of people, walking around looking at the flowers, sitting by the entertainment stage listening to music, dancing, eating, barbecuing ....oh yes some people were having picnics!

Apart from the music, there were workshops about native gardening and plant propagation, as well as tents selling native flower arrangements and native plants - I bought an orange/red Kangaroo Paw to plant in my garden.

I leave you with some photos to give you an idea of the atmosphere. The 80's music was great, pity the grass was wet and I didn't take a chair, because I would have loved to stay longer.

A collection of 10 vintage Holdens, all in working order

I like the number plate

The band played 80's music and there were a few couples dancing

How do you like this vintage caravan? The cold weather didn't entice ice-cream buyers though...

Plenty of food for sale near the entertainment area

There were 4 Florettes walking around delighting young and old alike

The Florettes were also having fun dancing to the music

Another yarn bombing done on this wheelbarrow

Another old Holden used as a "flower container"

Various Kangaroo Paw plants - the one I bought is similar to the one on the bottom right

More wildflowers - I loved the "Lambs ears" bottom right, they were soft as wool

Next year there's more - I hope the weather will be more "Springy"  and I will be able to go there on the weekends to listen to the live music entertainment.

Monday will be a Public Holiday in WA - The Queens Birthday - which in Australia is celebrated in different dates across the various states, none of them being on the actual day of Her Majesty's birthday!

Have a great week and hope you enjoyed the flower show.