... and share a few pictures of Mickey on the sofa. It's a little chilly here today and the "dog that must be obeyed "(he may be a service dog but it's Kelvin and I who do the serving when he's off duty) decided the flokati draped sofa was the perfect spot to spend the afternoon. Clever dog! I was thinking the same thing. Except he won't budge. On the house front I have my eye on 2 or 3 houses but must wait for a few more weeks. I want Kelvin settled in his new job and loving it before I buy a house in another town. Until then he can commute. That will be my cross to bear when we buy up there. At least I can do my blogging on the trips.  That's all for now. I'm off to push Mickey off that spot!

If you read my real estate stalking post today you will realise that we almost bought a house. Almost but didn't. There were termite problems and the sellers would not negotiate on price to take this into account. We happily walked away. Not such bad news as Kelvin has been offered his dream job ... in the next town about an hour away. He starts in a month. Now the search has to move to the other side of the city so that travel for him each day won't be so arduous. For those of you in Brisbane that means Sherwood, Chelmer, Graceville, Corinda area ... yes the "next town" is Ipswich. I was born in Ipswich and escaped when I was 18. That's 30 years ago. I know the city has grown and improved so much over that time but we are not quite ready to move back there. For one thing I work right in the centre of Brisbane and I'd be the one travelling!! The houses are lovely up there and very cheap compared to Brisbane. We could certainly get more bang for our buck and we're not ruling it out completely but .... I love Brisbane. So the house hunt goes on just in a different area. Not many bargains on that side of town :( At least Kelvin is getting substantially more money and will be so much happier in his new position.

What does a girl do when she can't settle on a house she has signed a contract on? She hits eBay and buys more "stuff". First a gentleman's wardrobe. (70s I think. It has trouser hangers inside.) My dip and strip man won't touch it. Too fragile so I won't sand it back, too much work. I'll either give it a light going over with fine sandpaper, steel wool and oil or maybe paint it when I know exactly where it is going in the new still to be found house. We think it will be a TV cupboard. (Photos are the seller's from eBay. These have gone to our storage shed seeing that we don't have a house :P)

The second purchase was this pair of swinging doors. Same seller, different houses. We believe there were more panels at one stage (imagine a wall of them). Thinking shutters or just leaning either side of a door. Love the carving. These will be painted as well. Colour? Still to decide. I'm too lazy to strip them by hand :) Had lots of luck at the thrift stores this week. Mainly fabric and West German and Israeli pottery and there was the huge twice yearly book fest where I picked up dozens of vintage penguin and pelican books but no photos yet. Maybe next week.

Say hi to the newest member of our family. His name is Gordon. He's 95cm tall, armless, fibreglass and just a little unsettling when you first set eyes on him. Actually it 's his eyes that freak me out the most but I love him still. I'm thinking drill a hole in his head, feed up some wiring through a hole in his foot (already there so I will only have to inflict pain on him once), a heavy base with pole to fit into the other foot where his old stand used to attach ... following me? ... and a lamp fitting on top of his head. Wack on a shade and we are ready to go. Maybe a dimmer switch. He's my next project. Okay I'm as weird as Gordon but you can't accuse me of being boring. I showed Kim before I bid on him and I can't print what she said ;P I imagine him sitting on this beautiful old rustic 16 drawer buffet I have with a large ornate mirror, an abstract painting leaning against it and some of my large WG pots as a counterbalance. Thanks to Katherine from The Old Boathouse for listing him on eBay! (The photos are hers. Think of them as befores.) Stay tune tomorrow I'll show you my other eBay and thrift shop finds.

The contract on the house fell over due to a very rusty, rotten roof. We had suspicions when we noticed that they had spray painted an old corrugated iron roof. What were they hiding? A rotten, leaking roof. Thankfully our builder inspected on a rainy day! On we go with search. To take my mind off things I have been working on some 1940s plywood chairs. Won them on eBay for pittance because they were in such a bad state. I was looking for something with a slight industrial look and these were perfect. After gluing, sanding and applying danish oil (they were SOOOOOOO dry they soaked up the oil before I could rub it in) it was time to recover the seat pads. I still have some vintage bus roll fabric left and convinced myself to use half a metre. I think they look great. What I really love is that you can read their hard life in their finish. Tough old chairs that have survived so much. I know exactly where these will go in my new home ... when I get a new home. For now they will live in the storage shed.

Here's what they looked like on eBay. I won two and then ended up buying 2 more from the seller. Hi Pete! The others are finished but I'm waiting to decide what fabric to use on their seats. I'm so strict with what I use my remaining bus roll fabric on as my stocks are getting low. I've also included a couple of shots of the work in progress. Time for the next project I think!

Ha! It's a self storage shed we are renting until a house drops from the sky into our lap. I keep finding things that I just have to have and we have no more space at home. (There is a slight development on a house but I'm not saying more. Even now I know I have jinxed it!) What did I find this week? (Thanks to my main spy Ron!)  A 60 drawer card file. Happy dance, happy dance. (The photos had to be taken with a flash because there are no lights inside the storage sheds.) Bottom row of drawers needs work so they are at home waiting with all my other projects. This is bound for my studio/office space in my dream house ... or whatever house comes my way.

I have always wanted a plan file of my own ever since I was a young (cough, cough) interior design student at the Queensland University of Technology in the 90s. Those were the days when drawing plans by hand was still the way to go and although I was learning Autocad I still preferred a technical pen and T square (cue violin music and out of focus pull shot of interior design students wandering across a quadrangle). Today I bought one on eBay. I no longer need it for plans but it will be perfect for my art. A young friend is just finishing his apprenticeship in panel beating and spray painting and will be giving it a new coat of paint. I just have to decide what colour! That's the hard part. Any suggestions appreciated.

Here's my other purchase for the week. A tiny set of timber file drawers. I seem to have a file fetish going on. These will just get a clean and maybe a drink of oil. (All photos from eBay except the last ... I have no room in my garage to get a clear shot!) These drawers are old enough to have the "European labour only" stamp from the days of Australia's shameful White Australia policy.

We went to see a very "interesting" house on Saturday. Strange DIY renovations including lots of badly laid slate tiles and plastic milk crate trim to the window hoods ... don't ask! Busy road, overpriced and filthy. It is large though and would be an interesting challenge. We're going to offer way way below asking price and see what happens as it has been on the market for a year. You should have seen the other people there for the inspection run away, very quickly. I guess I can spray paint it all white and call it rough luxe. In the meantime I won these cane chairs on eBay from the lovely Katherine. I'm thinking sheep skin throw across the seat and maybe a canvas head roll pillow held on at the top by a leather belt. They are so low slung that I fear they will be a trap for old bones like mine. I may never get out!

... from here. Got it for a good price too (about a third of what I can get them online here). I know I know people say the suzani fad is over but I just love handmade textiles especially if they are 335 x 264 cm. And the suzani fad hasn't even really started in Australia ... really! I love that it is a dirty faded red brown. At least I hope it is :) Should be arriving in about 4 weeks. I may have to restyle my bedroom or cover a chair.

I love how this eBay seller photoshops the pieces into rooms. Somehow I don't think it's quite this big. A little eBay licence?

The house hunt is making me scream. Two inspections today and BOTH were already under contract before we got there. Even though we specifically asked before we arranged the viewing, no, they were sold. We were the back ups in case the contracts fall over. A common practice here. So I went thrift shopping to cheer myself up. Usual bric-a-brac and these. Six pine dining chairs from the late 70s early 80s. I have always loved chairs like these. Look at those sexy rounded ends to the legs. I can't wait till the 80s are in full revival. I don't think I ever left. It was my time baby! I'm thinking new sling backs (they are removable) in leather (if I really want to blow the budget) or perhaps a natural coloured rough textured raffia like fabric. Wouldn't pigskin be fabulous and totally politically incorrect. I'm going for a rough luxe meets retro timber pieces with lots of texture look in the new house. Oh yes I forgot didn't I .... I don't have a new place yet. I hope there's room in my garage to store these!

Have I told you that I am addicted to thrifting? I love the hunt, the surprise, the re-use/recycle approach, the fact that money is raised in many of these shops for charities and the fact that I can buy things for next to nothing. Yesterday was a shocking day. I found nothing. But when I piled together my finds from the past couple of weeks I realised I had nothing to complain about. Sadly most of these will be packed away until we move, when we move, if we move. Oh but when we do I'll go on a styling frenzy! You can some of my recent finds here.