My fairy op-shop mother

Gather around people. I have a fairytale to share.

Once upon a time there was a girl called Brismod who lived in a pig (ie the Sow's Ear). She dreamt one day to furnish her home with the most retro of homewares, making her house a home with her Prince Hi-Vis (ie Jason).

One day she received an email out-of-the blue from her fairy op-shop mother. Her name was Midcentury Jo from Desire to Inspire and she had commenced her spring cleaning. She wanted to bestow her hoarded collected treasures to her fairy op-shop daughters. She summoned her other op-shop daughter Katherine of theoldboathouse, as well as Brismod to her castle in the land of S'wich (Ipswich).

Jo's 1860s colonial home

Image of Jo's office which I took from her blog Desire to Inspire

Fortunately the generous fairy op-shop mother had a very good design eye which married well with her relentless need to op-shop. Katherine and Brismod could not believe their eyes when the fairy op-shop mother was pulling Hornsea cup after Hornsea cup from her cupboards...

Midwinter Stonehenge Sun crockery set and Hornsea Saffron crockery

"Here, take it. You will enjoy this. It will make me happy to see you enjoy this. And I have some brown stone-ware things for my new fairy op-shop daughter, Makeminemid-century (Mmmc), that you must share," pronounced the fairy op-shop mother.

"Katherine, see that you bring Mmmc on your next visit. Brismod is getting greedy and it will do her good to know that she is not the only chosen one. Besides her cupboards are getting full..."

After a short but very enjoyable day in the land of S'wich, Katherine and Brismod returned home with a boot full of delicious retro wares to own and share...grateful to know such a kind and generous fairy op-shop mother...

Katherine's car boot. She drove but I was concerned that her boot would not be big enough from past visiting experience.
Jo donated all the bowls for my bookclub flea which is on Saturday 8 September (details to follow).

to be continued...

Coffee at the Beaumont in Highgate Hill

I visited Brisbane's leading location scout, Nat Duncan from Qld Film Locations at her very cool new apartment in Beaumont which is a 1970s high rise in Highgate Hill. Katherine from the oldboathouse was my partner in crime and visited too.

Beaumont
Image taken from here

We all played ladies over retro Japanese stoneware cups and delicious homemade cake in Nat's corner apartment which has outlooks to the Brisbane River, Mount Cootha, and the CBD. Katherine and I were in awe of the apartment's spectacular position and the cool retro vibe of the space. Her apartment has many original elements, such as original 1970s kitchen, which gives it a lot of personality.

Cake and coffee and Japanese stoneware cups

cool vignette on Nat's sideboard

Nat started a blog about her apartment and it has some interesting information about the building and her apartment.Check it out to see photos of her apartment.

Anyway, it was a good catch-up with some gorgeous people!

The funniest thing about our visit is Nat's Lucite spaghetti light which now hangs in the master bedroom. Nat called me a number of months ago asking me for the name of our electrician....you know...the one who hung our chandelier...

I reminded her of the story of our spectacular 'what goes up must come down' chandelier story (read here) and let's not forget old Wazza...Although I would still recommend our electricians (they've always been very good apart from the one incident...), I feel obliged to provide the gory details of our chandelier experience. It makes a funny story and you have to laugh!

Nat was pretty cool about it all and called Carlo anyway. And didn't they redeem themselves admirably (although I have a feeling that Wazza wasn't involved). It looks fantastic! And it hasn't fallen down once!

Orange Lucite spaghetti light

Tread carefully

Why you would need to wear hi-vis to paint the stair treads is beyond me? But hey, who am I to get in the way of a man and his need for safety-ware?

Painting stair treads on a Queenslander house

The weekend was spent pretty much prepping our new external stairs for painting. Jason whipped out the trusty Sicaflex and filled all the gaps in the stairs to weatherproof it. You know, nail holes and all the timber joins. Apparently, wood rot begins at the joins therefore a good weatherproof gap filler is an important preventative measure.

Jason got up bright and early and slipped on his new hi-vis shirt which he bought himself for Father's Day. The glint of fluoro early on a weekend morning can be too much to bear for people who aren't used to it...I told Jason in no uncertain terms...

Eating breakfast with Mr Hi-vis. There was no need to put an overhead light on...the glow from his shirt was enough to illuminate the room.

Pencilled in stair treads

We've chosen not to paint the entire stair treads, opting for a painted finish for the edges only and leaving the rest of the tread au naturel with an oiled finish. This is similar to what was done on our back staircase leading from our deck.

Jason (ably assisted by Son # 1 and a steel ruler) measured each tread carefully and then marked it with his carpenter's pencil. Jason's become such an expert with a paint brush that he cuts in freehand - no painter's tape for him after three years painting the Sow's Ear. Well, I was impressed...

Keep you posted on the progress!

Awesome

Awesome equals two Panton S chairs found in an op shop.

These are awesome! They are replica chairs but they're in such great condition...we have so many chairs. They will make great statement in a study 

Not-so-awesome equals Jason getting over-excited and buying his own father's day present...

Jason was in Morayfield today and popped into Masters to buy tradie clothes. Hi-vis yellow shirt and blue pants...I  told him the blog post re Masters the other day was meant to be tongue-in-cheek...

That is all.

Wannabe tradie

Sponsored by Nuffnang

Our belt sander has gone walk-about. Where could it be? Doesn’t it know we need Jason fully-equipped to sand down the decks in time for spring? I suspect Jason’s hidden it somewhere…

Never fear, I’m going to buy Jason another one, as encouragement to continue his DIY thing. For Father’s Day. Ha! The poor thing will never escape DIY while living here. Never!

And because I’m into online browsing for gifts, I was happy to hear that Masters Home Improvement recently launched their online store. Hooray for more competition in the world of hardware for all of us tireless home improvers!

Well, Masters have declared it a sock, jock and tie free day this Father’s Day. Normally fashionisto Jason would be thrilled to get a pair of designer jocks; however the belt-sander would be far more practical…

Jocks and a power tool would be a great combination. Yeah!

Then I had a light bulb moment. Maybe I should get Jason tradie clothes instead? If you’ve been following our renovations, you would know Jason’s home handyman uniform consists mainly of rags… He looks like a complete and utter hobo.

Jason in his old work clothes

So, I started wandering through the Masters site and searched for shirts, pants and shoes. Boom! I can kit Jason out from top to toe all online…

          

I give you wannabe tradie Jason.

Men’s long sleeve polo shirt $12. In fashionable orange high-vis!

image from here

Hardwick men’s cargo work pant $25

image from here

Blundstone Safety Boots Havana $99.97

image from here

We’re spoilt for choice. What do you think? Tradie clothes? Belt sander? Jocks?

Or should I just go all out and indulge him this Father’s Day and get the lot...? What are you going to get the Dad in your life?

p.s

And if you think the Dad in your life needs a shed load of stuff to keep him occupied, then enter Masters’ Father's Day Competition by posting a picture of him on their Facebook competition tab for Father's Day and in 25 words or less tell them why you love him.