2009 August | Real Life Beach Decor, Coastal Living & Nautical Decorating Ideas

Beach Cottage Vintage Linens & Fresh Flowers

10:32 am Byabeachcottage

G'day all you lovelies.

I have holed up in this bed for the best part of the last four days, some kind of flu viral type thing. Some have fleetingly whispered the word swine flu in my presence…

Now I have to tell you last week was the first week I have not made chicken stock and then soup for my natural flu-buster. What does that tell you huh?

On Sunday after three days of wretched holed-up-in-bed-iness I managed a couple of hours down the beach, the twinkling sunshine on the water certainly made me feel better, but before long I was back in here.

When I'm sick laying around, a pathetic patient, I crave things like fresh linens, flannel covered hot water bottles and flowers do you or is it just me this one step away from madness? For me climbing into fresh, line-dried, sun kissed linen when you're sick makes it all ever so slightly better.

This is the Beach Cottage domestic take on some scary looking 'cold & flu virus' potion in a bottle – the freesias picked from the garden by one of the kiddos and these vintage linens (pillowslips from garage sale of dearest old lady) were sitting freshly washed, pressed and with little lavender bags tucked between them (and please don't think me all domestic goddess but I do tend to rather enjoy the smug little feeling of a linen cupboard stacked with pressed white vintage linens while all around elsewhere is, of course, chaos). Thank you God for small mercies my mother would say.

So here I am this beautifully sunny Australian Monday morning, feeling ever so slightly better but still pretty pathetic. I am hoping to get the WC makeover finished this week (this has to be my longest makeover) ever) and start some treasure hunting for old vintage kitchen cupboards.

Can ya send me some blogland healing vibes over the oceans? I'm drinking hot lemon and honey – got any other suggestions girls…

Catch ya later

{ S }

thanks to the oh-so-thrifty Rhoda's event on Monday's – stop by to see what she found!

Filed Underbedroom, flowers, thrifted finds for the cottage 55 Comments

{ Beach Cottage } Deck Table Does White

12:55 pm Byabeachcottage

Remember that brown table on the deck, the one from Vinnies?

It ain't brown anymore.

It all really started when we re-painted the deck floor and completely moved around the furniture, giving us what feels like much more room, and meaning the sofa is now much more accessible from the family room and those delightful 80's patio doors I lurve so much

With that lovely little Do-It-Yourself project done I felt compelled to carry on in my painting clothes and smother everything else out there in a all encompassing zap of Dulux.

For now it's just the table, the vintage chairs and the trunk but soon it'll be the sofa, the new table, the Beach Cottage Kiddos…*wink

Anyhoo, here we are for now. This is her before

How much better does she look people??

Sigh. Why didn't you tell me?

blogged for Kimba's DIY Day and Tablescape Thursday, check 'em out!

that's all now folks

Sarah

Filed Underbeach cottage makeovers, deck, thrifted finds for the cottage 52 Comments

Weekending { Beach Cottage } Style

10:24 am Byabeachcottage

So at the weekend, the Maybe Weekend, I tried to do just not much and apart from the regular stuff that I couldn't not do, I stopped thinking about all those things that I wanted, shoulda, or coulda been doing…nice and it worked for me.

I'm not sure if I'm needing a book to tell me to go out and watch the stars, but I'm sure putting Elspeth's Wonderful Weekend book on my Wish List…have you read it, is it good?

: surf :

: Honeymoon Baby :

: homework :

: sparkles :

: sun tops :

: swimming :

: spectating :

see you next time, I'm workin on that WC & got a DIY makeover to show you…lovin'

Sarah

for more outdoor eye candy go to Outdoor Wednesday

blogged for WFMW

Filed Underat the beach, just a beach cottage life 34 Comments

Old Vintage Tackle Box Gets Beach Cottage Makeover

5:35 pm Byabeachcottage

G'day lovelies.

Thanks for the congrats on Artful Blogging and I meant to say thanks for all the comments on the pot rack the other day and to answer a few questions – no we don't hit our heads on it, I think maybe it is higher than the photos show. And the grilled holes in the wall are air vents and yes they are open to the elements all the time and no it doesn't get cold and yes it means that coastal air comes in. The snakes, well apparently according to the Snake Rescue Man, every other house in our street is likely to have a snake living happily in the loft.

It's Sunday afternoon and I have to say it has been a wonderful day here, we spent a glorious morning down the beach while Mr Beach Cottage did a 13km 'fun run'. Where the fun in that is I'm not quite sure.

I enjoyed not doing much this afternoon – just some potting up of herbs, rocket and lettuce for a bit of home-grown at the Beach Cottage. This time, I will understand that the Australian climate means watering a whole lot more than I am used to.

So, I also had a move around in the bedroom, I wanted, and more, needed a bit more storage and, as with the kitchen pot rack, I thought I'd go up and use the space on top of the wardrobe.

I found the old vintage tackle box a while ago at the same garage sale that I got the mirror and as soon as I saw it I knew first that it was coming home with me and second how great it'd look in white. It was pretty old and grimy looking and inside for sure took a bit of cleaning, should of photographed that, sorry, 'cos it is complete with old wooden-handled tools (which I soaked) and little grooves and racks and slots for things associated, I assume with fishing, now it will hold my stuff.

This has quickly become a favourite, I love the skill in these old finds – the craftsman that made this was good, the design, the quality…all those years of use and it still holds up, the old leather strap still there, it almost speaks of the days by someone's side on the riverbank…do you get that or am I a complete nutcase?

I dunno, I feel that my generation just hasn't seen that kinda thing so much, which is why I love to find vintage things. It's all just become so throwaway…

I gave it the usual treatment (please don't email me telling me I ruined it, the way I view it, here with me it's got a new life far from landfill) – primer + semi-gloss acrylic and decided to use it to hold some memory stuff starting with lovely heart-melting cards from the kids on my birthday last week

So in this box, now lives a few special things, the cards and those items that you keep but you're not sure why…

So it's over and out for today, enjoy the rest of your weekend

Sarah

blogged for Rhoda's Thrifty Finds and Susan's Met Monday, thank you lovelies!

Filed UnderUncategorized 62 Comments

Artful Blogging & A Beach Cottage

7:56 pm Byabeachcottage

G'day boys and girls.

Hip hip hooray for the weekend, I guess we started early this weekend with a School Staff Day for the Beach Cottage Kiddos, meaning we headed down the beach…thanks lg, needed that.

This weekend I am trying not to bog myself down with ridiculously long lists of things I want to achieve, instead I want one of those weekends full of maybes, no pressure…do you have those or do you find yourself, like I do, constantly thinking I must do this and that rather than taking the time to re-charge for the craziness the week sometimes brings?

So I just want a weekend of maybes, hooked on that. I wonder where it'll go?

And starting here tonight with a beer and a copy of the new Artful Blogging, a publication that this issue I am very honoured to be featured in – lots of lovely pages, pictures and words all about this old place and dare I say it, me…

A good few months ago I had a message from the Editor asking me if I would like to contribute and so I found myself writing about why I blog and more how it fits in…funny really because it made me think that oh yes how this blog had become oh-so-much part of my life.

And I think this is so because more than all the other junk that goes with blogging, that for me, it has given me a connection to people who get the things I like and a cathartic blabber at the end of the day to people who I think actually get what I'm going on about. People that in the humdrum of my daily life I would not meet and certainly would not relate my undying love for a piece of tatty old furniture to, how my fixer-upper cottage has ticked my seachange box even though it might not be perfect and how I am seriously, over-the-hill, addicted to treasure hunting.

Anyway see you next week girlies, and I for one hope next week will be another one of sharing thrifting, decorating and inspiring stories for us to live the best life we can whatever our circumstances…bank balance not applicable…whaddya think?

{ S }