Channelling my inner florist

Help the flowers are taking over! I can't believe a week has past without me posting anything here on my page and then what do I post ... more flowers. Just some of this week's offerings at ES Traders. Heliconias tied with gymea lily leaves, bunches of beautiful lilies with dozens of heads ready to open, irises wrapped in lotus leaves and those acid green mums. With Valentine's Day on Tuesday we were steering clear of roses ... for now. Nothing like a 5.30 start to the day, a mad rush back to the shop, arranging and tying bunches of beautiful blooms while scoffing down cappucinos to stop the yawning. Shame I didn't get a shot of my first two bunches (big fuschia coloured dahlias with acid green mums wrapped in lotus leaves and tied up big fat posy-like with rough string). Those first two walked out the door before the doors even opened to make their way to a double birthday breakfast. This is not my new career :) Just helping a friend add more layers to the business. Still a beautiful way to start the day.

Heavenly way to start the day

Up soon after dawn to head to the markets to help my friend Kerrie pick up the flowers for ES Traders. The cold rooms were freezing but the flowers divine. By the time we got back to Ipswich I was ready to kill for a coffee. Thankfully the shop is right next door to Ipswich's best coffee at Bon Laneway. Next was the fun job of arranging the bunches and tying them off with lotus leaves, doda vine and string. Think faded colours for roses, lotus pods, hydrangeas, branches of summer berries and long long gymea lily leaves. A lovely and satisfying start to the day but now I need a nana nap I was up so early ;)

What do you do when you're waiting for a plumber?

Start something. Something that will involve ladders you don't have. Started my entry hall. It's going to be a library seeing that we never really use the front door. It's big and heavy and old and it sticks and the step up outside is way too high. Pages from a 19th century encyclopedia vol P-O. I'm hoping that it won't look too shabby chic by the time I finish. Large art on the walls, a vintage WWII Red Cross bookcase,  a 70s fibreglass chair and a marble tulip table. Still deciding on the lamp and a rug. I'll just recycle something from somewhere else in the house. Better get back to it.

Kelvin says I haven't shown you this ...

... and he's right. I haven't yet. He bought it from ES Traders just before Christmas when we were supposed to be on a spending moratorium but he never sticks to those anyway. It's an enamel washstand, basin, jug and soap dish from the Queensland Railway workshops at Northgate. Love me some enamel and I do rather have a crush on this. I was going to put it in the bedroom but there is another washstand in there already. Remember the moratorium? Well he forgot about it again just before Christmas when he purchased a cedar wash stand cupboard that came from a judge's chamber in the old courts in Brisbane before they were demolished. Got that one from the guys at Vintage Advantage who swear they can't reveal their source. Must take a snap of that one day :) In the meantime I pulled the enamel washstand over near the top landing window as it was the only decent light upstairs when I took this photo. So much rain. So many grey days. Thank goodness it seems to have stopped.

Here's the reason why I had to move it. The light was lousy. That used to be home to Mary and Jesus at the end of the strange balcony but they've moved in to share the office with me. Oh look at that pre-painting photo. Thank you Jesus ;) those burgundy doors have gone.

Score!

Love thrifting. Love secondhand shops. Love the bargain hunt for bits and pieces for the house. Just a few things I found this weekend. First up a Demetrio 70 coffee table by Vico Magistretti for Artemide circa 1966. Found it in a thrift store here in Ipswich for $10. (See one here for a lot more.) It's still a little wet in the photos because I dragged it in out of the rain to take these snaps. Don't think it will stay in the breezeway though because Kelvin uses it as a thoroughfare and a coffee table slap bang in the middle is a tripping hazard for a blind man. Bugger.

It has a few scratches but nothing too deep. I'll try some auto metal polish on it to buff them out and if I need to I can always have it sprayed. Love it. I already have a Stadio 120 table (1969) that I bought on eBay from Katherine so now I need just one more piece by Vico and I'll have a collection. LOL. I actually love the Atollo lamp and hope one day to have one or a Selene chair or 4 (just like these ones.)

For the same grand total of $10 I picked up 8 Poole duos in a lovely tiffany blue, pale grey colourway. Now I have plenty of cups if you all drop in for tea. Also on the bargain list are these 6 cane baskets from Glen and Grant at The Vintage Advantage. Cheap as chips and perfect for clothes sorting and shoes by the door. Might play around with one as a lampshade.