G'day lovelies.  

I had a very different weekend to the one last weekend - went to two garage sales on Sat morning, both hideous and enough to put anyone off the sport, for sure.  

Of course, what you do at the weekend, is often dictated to by the weather, is it not?.  Here in Sydney, however, weather dictation doesn't happen too much – it is more often than not do-able weather to do just about anything you want.  That's why we love it here.  

But today was grey and cool and dictated that we shelve our beach plans and instead took a bush walk and built a fire at the lake and sat around it poking sticks in it and cooking brunch.  Cool.  Think I'll blog the pictures, if you like…

So being indoors because of the grey, I got some time to just have a tidy up and do some adjusting, I like doing that and I morphed (find more makeovers over at Susan's blog Between Naps On the Porch) this revolting old plant stand I picked up for a few dollars into an end-of-the-bed storage piece for linen and things…

When I saw it I had little idea what to do with it, what caught my eye was the texture – I thought it would go well with the neutral pallette.  I knew I'd like it in white, but then again I think it would sing in a Frenchy grey. 

I just remembered half way through the primer to take the before shot.  Whaddya think – would you have seen any potential in this piece of old junk that looked like someone attacked it with a can of spray paint?

So I did the treatment on it – first I gave it a quick couple of coats of primer and then a top one of beachy white.  It was a lot less fiddly to do than I thought it would be, to be honest I put it off for ages because I thought the weave would make it one of those hideous little projects that you start, that doesn't get finished and then just sits in the garage looking forlorn. 

I wasn't sure what to do with it, I knew I didn't want it on the deck, I thought it was a bit too, you know,'cutesy' so I used it to store blankets and throws at the foot of the bed, because in this climate, though of course, very nice, from one day to the next in the winter the temperature can change quite substantially – so it's great to have a place to stack a few things to grab when it gets chilly. 

Does it inspire you to go out and thrift a piece of junk to re-purpose – will it has made me happy…

Well it's Sunday night here, I have a couple of roast chickens in the oven and a huge pot bubbling with stock – I'm making it like crazy for this weeks meals – to keep away the flu.  

Then I've decided to get my sewing machine out and make a new tote, then I've made a spa appointment with the bathtub – I don't know if you ever do this, but I plan a time when I will lock myself away with a nice drink, a heap of bubbles, a beauty treatment (surely need 'em) and a good book.  On the agenda this Sunday night is a Pilsner beer, a homemade foot scrub I recently discovered, a bath bomb from Lush and Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth. 

Oh and I was wondering if you could help me with Technorati?  Apparently, according to them, I haven't updated this blog for 89 days- and yep I've pinged them a million times and tried to get help.  

So, if you have a minute can you click the link and 'favorite' me and see if that does anything…only of course if you lurve my cottage  

I'd like my Technorati to be correct.  Phew.  Love this techno stuff.  Keeps me young

rugs IKEA plant stand thrifted, paint  Dulux Antique White USA throws  Bed Bath & Table birdcage  thrifted white bedspread  thrifted wall colour  Dulux Whisper Whitelinen  Margaraet Muir, Shabby Chiccomforter *   IKEAwhite pillows  garage saleblinds & drapes  IKEA


oh and my lovely good blogging friend Rhoda, one of the bloggers who first inspired me to start A Beach Cottage a year ago and has much to tell about treasure hunting and making-over, has a brand spanking new website, hop on over and deluge her with comments, she's hosts a great thrift show and tell on Mondays…

G'day girls.  TGIF, yeah?  

Yeah. 

Do you need chicken soup?  I do…

But, before I show you my new fave vintage plate and wow you with my soup making skills I am re-visiting my wedding dress post from a few months ago – I have a lot of new readers commenting on old posts and recently I oodled back through the blog and sighed at the wedding dress that is, happily now, packed up in it's box until the next time she comes out for a scoot round the Beach Cottage.  So I thought I'd re-visit the sparkly number today…here's an excerpt from the post…

What a number it is.  I got married at twenty-four, that would be about 14 years ago,just when the fashion was turning from sparkly, white, frothy & Princess-Di puffy to ivoryand plain and not a froth in sight.  

I told my mum I didn't do froth, I probably still don't.  So we searched and searched.  I tried on a zillion dresses.  There were none of those mother-of-the-bride-sighs.  Because ivory silk and my pale-almost-blue-pale English skin didn't quite, you know, wow anyone.  

So six weeks before the big day there was still no dress.  We were down to the last straws of shops and arrived in South London at a shop with an owner who knew her stuff.  She told me sparkle and white.  I sighed no.  She persuaded me and said how about this one, just a touch of sparkle on the bodice?  So after another round of try-ons I put it on.  The sighs came.  We ordered it and it arrived just in time. 

And today I hunted it out in the Beach Cottage and took it for a little spin.  Oh and how I enjoyed it, I implore you, if you have one, to do the same and certainly not because I am particularly smoochy or romantic,there have certainly been some rocky old times here, Beach Cottage style.  

But more because I relished the reminiscing, the memories and simply just enjoyed thinking about that girl then and the twinkly little secret she came home with…and more what she's doing now…which of course would be sticking her old wedding dress on a thrifted mannequin, in her white bedroom and taking photos of it… 

…and later listening to teenagers and husbands passing that knowing look between them and hearing "dad there's a bride by your bed"

And you wanna know what the little secret was?  The oh so wonderful honeymoon baby, also, now known as, Mr Teenage Beach Cottage..

~~~~

Anyway back to chicken soup. 

I've long had a love/hate relationship with stock making.  I positively love the idea of it there bubbling away in a huge old stockpot filling the cottage with domestic charm  However more often than not my stock would be, how can I say, rather lacking in something, a little thin, watery and tasteless.  So years ago I discovered Swiss Marigold Bouillon, stock-in-a-bottle and bought it by the gallon, and used it by the pint.  

Here in Australia, it is mostly only available to me in health food shops and that is both inconvenient and expensive so recently I have begun, again a stock-making extravaganza.  And finally I've gotten it right.  Secret?  The bones from two organic chickens, a bag of chicken bones from the butcher, the contents from the bottom of the veggie drawer at the end of the week – and not too much water. 

And why am I telling you this?  Well, this will never be a recipe blog, though I'm sure you all know by now I love to cook.  I'm telling you because with this stock I have made chicken soup through this long, hard gruelling Sydney winter and neither I nor Mr Beach Cottage have been sick and I believe it's the Jewish Penicillin – consuming copious amounts of chicken soup. 

So today, with the kids at surf lessons and therefore PEACE in the cottage I sat with my new vintage plate and thought I'd show you because this is one of those little making life beautiful things – you know taking a bit of time out to sit with an old plate and some soup (go see Melissa at the Inspired Room for more Beautiful Life inspiration) .   I cannot ascertain quite how old the plate is but I'm thinking she's about 70, a Johnson Bros, pattern Moderne.  

Funny that.  Moderne. 

my first time participating in Foodie Friday 

thank you to Designs by Gollum

see all you chicks next week, yeah?  

I've got something really rocking to show you!!