Saturday, June 30, 2012

Rainy day retail therapy


So, it rained the entire first week of the school holidays. In order to stay sane we hit the shops and scoped out all the big toy sales so I could sneak back later and have it all stashed away for Christmas and birthdays. And a few little things came home with us. The crochet apple cushion I had been coveting for a while, realized it would take me all year to do myself, and it was half price at Adairs Kids.

 Would you believe that wonderful wooden tea seat complete with tray was only $12 at Kmart? Miss Liongirl traded several weeks of marbles for that one (I am happy she has moved on from trading her marbles at the Aquarium shop for extremely tacky pink fishtank ornaments).

 Roboboy is still trading for fish. Every few weeks he has enough marbles for a new guppy- I think my love of vintage is rubbing off on him, the latest fish is called "Retro" cause of his groovy colour scheme. We are pleased that four months on, this reward strategy is still highly motivating the kids to behave well.

And I was obviously inspired by that tea tray because look what came home for me. I only own two coats, hard to justify more in Brisbane but it was more than half price and it is probably the prettiest thing I own. About five years ago I tried on one of her coats in a red cherry blossom print and have regretted not buying it ever since.


Miss Liongirl was quite smitten by the ballerina lining, I think she will be borrowing this one in a few years.


And we even managed to shop up a storm for Betsy. Not quite so glamorous to get your garments from the demolition yard but every girl needs quality flooring. Betsy has original wide honey coloured pine tongue and groove flooring throughout most of the house. In a small section of our lounge room the boards change to a narrow hardwood. Below is the worst section of join in the house, yep that's the ground you can see through that hole. Gorgeous wide pine on the right, non specific pale hardwood on the left.


We would probably have left these mismatched boards except that we are extending the lounge out a further metre and would have then had three floorboard changes in the one room and new pine is a very pale yellow colour that would stand out in a dramatic and potentially very ugly way. We also don't want to stain as we love that original honey colour that you only find in very old timber floors. So the only thing to do was to find some new old floorboards to match. And of course Betsy has a very unusual width board of 138 mm when most old boards were 150mm. We were super excited to find quite a large stash at our favourite demo yard.


They don't look much now but sanded up they should be beautiful. I so love the idea that we have rescued the floors from some old girl who had been taken apart piece by piece. Can you see how each board fits together and locks the tongue into the groove? Beautiful. Now we just need to scratch up this much again and we should have enough to complete the room.


We have our eyes on some recycled windows as well and a very keen builder who could start in a few months so time to finalize our house plans. In the meantime I am now nursing another sick child. This one was off colour earlier in the week and spent alot of time in this spot.


And now miss Liongirl is battling some high fevers and no one is getting much sleep. At least we finally had some sun today so I could take some decent photos of my recent opshop treasures. Back soon with the booty.

10 comments:

  1. Love your purchases! The apple cushion is just perfect, and that coat is stunning - no way you could leave that in the shop at half price! Hope the little one is feeling better! x

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  2. Oh I hear you Mel. Sleep deprivation is a killer. I hope your little guys are feeling better this week and you get to enjoy the school break a little more. A bit of retail therapy can work wonders. Absolutely adore your coat. Just perfect in every way. The collar and cuffs, the length and I am with liongirl on the lining. Gorgeous! Have agreat week!

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  3. That coat is stunning, polka dots are always a winner.
    Great finds with the timber, your floor will look lovely.
    x

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  4. That coat is stunning, polka dots are always a winner.
    Great finds with the timber, your floor will look lovely.
    x

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  5. Love your new purchases! The coat is gorgeous and the lining is divine! The floorboards are a fabulous find as well. Hope everyone is feeling better. Emma x

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  6. Looks like everyone scored well in the shopping department! Hope your little ones get well soon! xx

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  7. The coat is gorgeous, but the floorboards are ticking all the boxes for me. You must be happy to get a good match!! xx

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  8. ... that coat is completely unsuitable for Brisvegas weather. Please package and send to Eastern Europe immediately.

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  9. Wow! That coat is something else! I'm very conservative dress-wise and have no idea what to do with such a snazzy item. I'd love to see some shots of what you team it with. Yes, I would.

    Last photo, beautiful. And we've all been sick too. Thank God the rain's stopped, I blame it for a lot of the lurgy.xo

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  10. It has been nice to have some sunshine to enjoy on the weekend and today for the start of the second week of holidays, it was so cold and miserable wasn't it. Getting old floor boards from the demo yard makes renos a bit cheaper, feels good to renew old things again too and keeps things looking the same and not that ultra new look. We can feel the breeze through some of our boards, great in Summer not so great in Winter though. I hope your two little ones get better soon. xx

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