Thrifting

 

Have I told you that I am addicted to thrifting? I love the hunt, the surprise, the re-use/recycle approach, the fact that money is raised in many of these shops for charities and the fact that I can buy things for next to nothing. Yesterday was a shocking day. I found nothing. But when I piled together my finds from the past couple of weeks I realised I had nothing to complain about. Sadly most of these will be packed away until we move, when we move, if we move. Oh but when we do I'll go on a styling frenzy! You can some of my recent finds here.

Now if I could just buy a house....

.... I might be able to fit these in. Hopefully good news on that soon. Hopefully. In the meantime I am buying furniture that won't fit in my apartment (groaning at the seams). The wonderful Katherine from The Old Boathouse tempted me on eBay with these and I jumped. I'm thinking either side of a bed in a boho guest room. I'm itching to see what my Tolomeo lamps look like on them. Or perhaps beside an old cast iron tub in the bathroom I don't yet have or on the large veranda of the large Queenslander that I know is waiting out there for me at a bargain price (ha-ha who am I kidding?!). One day, yes one day this page will be full of photos of my new home and the endless renovations I know I will face and not just my ebay finds. I promise :) We pick the tables up tomorrow.

The ones that got away

Sometimes eBay can be a bitch. It leads you on, promises so much then disappoints you bitterly. I love these chairs. I'd pay a small fortune for them but my idea of a small fortune is obviously in a much different league to the small fortune bidder v***n paid. Oh why eBay? Oh why did you show me these beauties and toy with my heart? I'm saving the pictures here and sending my spies out to find me some more. If one pair could be found in Brisbane then there must be more.

Here are just a few more shots. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. One day you will be mine!

Valentine's Day

I bought these on eBay for Kelvin for Valentine's Day. Two old medicine/herb containers cow bone and horn c1960. Hand carved buffalo horn top with cow-bone base with waxy natural patina typical of  Sindu Village, Lombok Island, Indonesia. So the seller said in his detailed description. They are part of the Rick Bennet collection of South East Asian and Melanesian tribal artifacts that is being sold on eBay for the next few months. Rick had a store in Brisbane some years ago and I bought a few pieces way back then. Oh how I loved that store. It was like an Aladin's cave. Kelvin is blind as most of you will know by now and I love buying him sculpture, actually anything 3D, so he can experience it through his hands. I also thought that he would get a kick out of the shamanistic connection. Haha! He got their Valentine's Day meaning straight way. He says he is going to store his Spanish Fly in them! Happy Valentine's Day my love even if I am a day early.

  

  

Bookfest

Sorry that I've been missing in action. Truth is I haven't been doing anything exciting. Work, work, work and blogging. I did however spend several hours with 1 million books on Sunday at the world's biggest secondhand book fair - the Lifeline Bookfest. There were reportedly over 4km of tables stacked with books so maybe I could count it as my daily exercise. My mission was to find retro design books and vintage Penguins. Sadly this year there weren't as many classic penguins from the 30s and 40s. (I'm to blame. I've been clearing out their stock every year!) Lots from the 60s and 70s though especially from the Pelican series. Eight bags stuffed with paperbacks. About 175 (or was that 172 ... I lost count) for $40. OK I won't waffle on about my love for Penguins. Instead I'll show you what I do with them. I keep the really old vintage ones in good condition for bookcases and the randomly styled book pile around the house but any damaged ones (and that's the majority) I use in mixed media pieces. These are some examples from a recent sell out exhibition.