Vintage Furniture meets Beach Cottage Hessian Decorating Ideas

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G'day beach living lovers.  

When I started this blog nearly a year ago now I had not long moved into the Beach Cottage.  There was a lot of work to do.  But there was lots of potential.  I knew that my unique combination of love of vintage furniture, the shabby old pieces that no-one else seemed to have a love for and the simple coastal decorating palette of white and neutrals would mean that I could have a quite nice, but still a bit tatty round the edges cottage, fairly near to the sea, on a budget

I set about scouring the beachside suburbs to add to my already collected shabby old furniture, my mounds of vintage linen and tablecloths, my lovely old faded floral sheets and battered old suitcases, a lot of which I had brought with us from England.

I've always loved to search for old things and fixing up this old place on a budget was nothing more than a pleasure for me, inspiring me to find new ways to get the vintage beach look, the joy of hunting for time worn things that money certainly cannot just buy and a calculated move away from the incessant consumerism that can easily swallow us up.  

Which leads me to this old table. A true trash to treasure story for sure. 

I found her on the way for a paddle, my boys in the back of the car, Mr BC driving happily along, radio on.  Get the picture?  When suddenly I spy this old coffee table out on the road.  

Me:    Stop, I'm want that. 
Boys:  Muuuuuum! 
Me:    Look at the top it's been naturally weathered by errrm weather and time. 
Boys:  Don't we have enough shabby old furniture?
Me:    Yeah but not that size, with those faded old planks to the top
Boys:  The kayak is on top of the car.
Mr BC:  I can get it on top
Me:  It's sooooo perfect, I am soooo excited
Boys:  not again purrrleeeaaase!
Mr BC:  boys you need to learn a lesson about keeping women happy

So we strapped that baby on, Mr Teenage Beach Cottage, Mr BC and I struggled to get it on next to the kayak, the little one standing below just waiting for a paddle…

I painted the legs white and haven't yet gotten around to shabbying them up with a sandpaper attack but I am loving how it looks with my wish-I-hadn't-bought leather sofas, this room is certainly a work in progress, I wish a lot of things about it were different, the big old numero uno being those hideous patio doors, whoever invented them should be shot…and I'd love a bit of errrm character in here, my plan is to tongue and groove it, sometime very soon….here are the doors from the outside before, you can see what I was working with, hmm…

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Today I added these hessian/burlap covered votive holders to add a bit of natural texture against the wood and to contrast with the white leather and walls and of course so that I could play along with Rhodas, burlap partay and Susan's Tablescape Event, make sure you go over and start clicking on the linkies. 

Whaddya think?  Ya like? 

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And just in case you might be needing a few more ideas for what to do with a burlap sack, hmmm, I think I can give you a few starters, being the hessian-queen lately *wink

there was the cushion cover, the lanterns, and then of course the tablescape which proved to be a tad popular on my blog that day…

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and then there was the bucket bag, I made to hold my tiny collection of magazines and home books…and if you like the look of it I did a tutorial for it, too easy and too addictive, just click here

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So that's it, I'm thinking my hessian phase may be over but yeah I said that last week …oh I just added a heap of new inpspirational pics to the beach decorating portal at Beachcottageinspiration.com, – no adverts, horrid little pop ups or anything just loaded with ideas tumbling out at ya – come surf on over with a pina colada!

Beach Cottage Walk by the Sea

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One of the things I love about life in Australia is the outdoors (blogged for Outdoor Wednesday where you'll find lots of nice outdoor places) and there is oh-so-much more to it than just world class beaches, though of course those are pretty fab.  

I have twenty-two of them near enough to go for my nearly-daily walk which works for me to clear my head and get things straight.   Constantly reminding me of our seachange and that our new life (you can read the story here) is so worth it even when times are a bit tougher like now.

So yesterday I went to a beach I don't normally go to and while had forgotten my camera I had my phone, so thought I'd experiment with the video, hahaha, too funny, very short, like 21 seconds short and sweet but gave me something to start with..amazing technology isn't it and Moviemaker is just too easy to be addictive…I'm telling you no-one is safe, the Beach Cottage kiddos, the white painted furniture, the sea, boats, in fact anything nautical or actually anything – woman with camera, internet & movie software needing to learn and in pursuit!

Oh and I've been writing a few beach cottage decorating ideas as I get heaps of questions that I've not always got time to answer – they'll be coming this week, you'll need to sign up for my email subscription to get the full version – ideas on beach chic thrifting, coastal decorating and finding vinage furniture and making it over for a relaxed nautical decor and how oh-so-easy, not an interior designer needed, it is to achieve this look…on a budget

Don't forget to visit Beach Cottage Inspiration - the place for lots of lovely homey images for beach cottage living, so easy to just copy and paste all the wonderful ideas out there! 

 just grab a cup of coffee and surf on through! BeachCottageInspiration.com

Vintage Beach Cottage Bench

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G'day guys. 

I have to tell you before I go any further that I scored today SO much, a beautiful deco cupboard already painted white that I can't wait to upcycle (according to these gals, I am a tried and tested UPcycler, gotta love that) and re-purpose in the Beach Cottage…a very old vintage wooden crate, complete with zinc brackets which I've been after for ages and the shabbiest old stooL EVER.  Ooooh oooh yeah. 

Anyway after a few requests for a bit more about my bench from last week I decided that I must actually do with that bench, which incidentally I picked up for one dollar ( I won't bore you with the story but boy did I get the thrift thrill!)what I intended to do with it.  And that was to put it into the hall.  

It is a very small hall.  Actually errrrm it is a tiny hall with a tiny space for a couple of skinny bits of furniture but it was so in need of a metamorphosis.  I had sitting in this space a chair which while looked ok, didn't really serve any purpose rather than to be a chair with two cushions on it.  So the bench I believed would be much more agreeable to the odd umbrella, pair of thongs,beach hat or set of keys.

So I dumped the chair in little Mr Beach Cottage's room and slid in the bench, which I had quickly whitewashed (and see here if you wanna know how I did it).

I am sure that in a real Beach Cottage, with five real people, three real Beach Cottage kiddos including one nearly-teenage-girl and one for-certain-teenager that this bench will not, very often, be looking quite as it does in these pics – smelly old runners, laden school bags and briefcases will lurk here and are what I will chuck into the cupboard with a tut…but now, you wouldn't wanna see that, would you? 
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participating in the metamorphosis event over at Between Naps on the Porch 
and the, oh-so-inspiring Rhoda's - the master of yard salesThrifty Treasures 

p.s.  I came across heaps of mindblowingly gorgeous images for Beach Cottage Inspriration – the portal for all things white, beachy and homey – it's just so easy to copy and paste
 *smile,  surf on over and have a look…

oh & all my images & writing from anywhere are copyright, I thought that was obvious


A Beach Cottage Burlap Lantern & Giveaway!

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It's been a tough week for me at the Beach Cottage, not that I want any sympathy, we all have those weeks don't we?  I guess that's part of being a grown up.  Trips to the ER, long late phone calls to England, leaks to the summer house…blah blah blah 

So today, at lunch,  I decided it was time to take a bit of time for me, appreciate, sit down, take stock and force myself to just zone out and I love to do this by sitting in my new little area that I showed you last week and flick through a few books and magazines.  Oh and you must take a visit to Beach Cottage Inspiration, the portal for all things white, vintagey and beachy, where today you'll find some beachy house pics that'll knock your socks off!!

As I prepared the lunch and pulled out a few cookery books to leaf through for tomorrow (and thanks to all of you who left me your ideas, I'm emailing you)  I remembered the tea light holders I had made when I was in turbo-burlap mode (and see a burlap table dressing which proved very popular, here)

While I was busily running around all crafty, I had rescued these old glass jam jars (not sure what you ladies stateside call them, jelly jars?) and a few old wire coathangers and made a Beach Cottage lantern, for free…

I promptly left them sitting outside on the table on the deck and completely forgot about them.  

They were so very easy to make and a great low-cost and easy way to add to your outdoor area and I would have sat out there this lunchtime if it wasn't blowing a gale…

Hope you all have a great weekend especially if you have the good fortune of having a public holiday on Monday and I hope that you take a bit of time to sit still and appreciate and do a simple little thing to make life beautiful…

…and if you'd like to enter the Beach Cottage Giveaway for a bit of coffee table candy for your little nook, just 

  • leave a comment 
  • subscribe to my feed 
  • twitter me 
  • add yourself to my email list (just up there on the top right)

that's it , Yeeehaw for Fridays, see all ya cowboys next time!
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participating in the Friday Hooked on event and Melissa's Beautiful Life


Beach Tablescape Decorating with a dash of Vintage

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G’day bloggers, how you all going? 

I am well, it is grey, rainy and the wind is wild here in New South Wales.  I dodged the downpours and went for a long hour and a half power walk this morning, funny really calling it a power walk, isn’t it, there was certainly more power coming from the elements than there was from my saggy bits…the sky was grey, the sea was thrashing about and the wind really was blowing a gale 

I truly needed a good start to the day because I was helping with Mr BC today, proper work, not moving furniture around the cottage work.  And I will say no more other than that I was not put on this earth to work with a spouse. 

Sooooo, onto much more pleasurable areas of my life…dressing a table and go see the table dressing event over at Between Naps on the Porch for more.

We had my friend over who, like me, appreciates vintage but who does not live too near the beach, so I thought I would combine a beach type feel with a vintage one.  

And while I love the beachy look achieved by using shells and the like, I love just as much, possibly more old linen.  It is that which I love, the mix of the laid-back decor in natural floors and white walls, the odd nautical stripe paired with old vintage finds.  

I was aiming for a kinda mellow elegance for this – vintagey, beachy, soft…which is why I added the candles to the old butlers tray at the end and the vintage lace-edged napkins hoping for a casual old feel…

I wanted a meal that looked like I’d made quite a bit of effort but actually was no effort (hmm I seem to say that every time I ‘entertain’) and so we had roast duck breasts on a salad bed with pomegranate, another tried and trusted recipe from my friend on the end of the phone – stick the duck breasts in the oven, roast some tiny little potatoes in the fat, then slice the duck thinly, lay on a large salad lined platter and splodge on a heap of pomegranate seeds.  

With our pre-dinner beers I passed around a tray of those hot little cocktail sausages – same thing, shoved in the oven covered with a few dollops of oil, honey and soy sauce and the friend brought along her oh-so-fabulous brownies and very thick, very bad for power-walking legs double cream.  This really is no-brainer entertaining territory.   

And with that, I leave you, dear bloggers with a request for help –  this week, rather than use the phone-a-friend card, I thought I might ask you, my online friends, if you have any, no-brainer main courses up your sleeve at you would like to pass onto me?  We have people over on Saturday and I haven’t even thought about it yet…that’s what happens when you work with your spouse…

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don’t forget my giveaway for the Beach Cottage Recession Misery Buster May event just comment or sign up to email list to be entered to win Easy Elegance

oh yes that boy grunge is still there from last week and spot the bloomer – I knew there was a reason I wasn’t digging this *smile

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