Mademoiselle Rose

Secondhand Gems...

Doing your home up needn't be expensive.  You certainly can pay a lot of money for pieces brand new, but a lot of people do this and then they decide for one reason or another that they don't need, don't fit, don't want these lovely pieces.  Their loss is your gain.  I'm not a real fan of Ebay and hopefully some other company will come along and surpass them, but at the present it's the best place to get everything you need to do your home up, and it needn't cost you a fortune. 

Nearly everything I have furniture-wise is secondhand from Ebay or auctions.  Here are some of the pieces I have bought in the past and how much they cost!

This table in my kitchen only cost $50 off Ebay. It's a lovely size for the kitchen and has a drawer to put all my tea towels and table cloths in.  It's one of the most used pieces of furniture in my home.  Just the perfect size for two for dinner. 

This table in my dining room cost about $75 off Ebay and the four oak chairs only cost $80 from the auctions, and the bench was about $45 from Paddington Antique Centre.

This little hutch had some ugly doors on the front and really yucky wire on the side ~ the wire would have been nice to keep except it was in bad condition and would have needed replacing.  It only cost $70 off Ebay.  The hutch in the background was only $90, also off Ebay.

The towel rail in my bathroom was from the auctions.  It's oak and has barley twist sides which is a bit hard to see.  But it only cost $50.

This mirror with beautiful scrolling was actually quite expensive, $290 from the auctions.  I had to fight to get this.  I was told by another dealer who was vying for it also that it would be worth about $700 to $800 in an antique shop.  It's one of the things I love most in my home.  It's a one off and it was a buy it now or never see one again situation!

These cupboards are really handy.  They have hanging in one side and drawers in the other.  It only cost $35 at the auctions. A few appliques and a lick of paint and it's just a lovely size for the corner in my guestroom.  It's perfect to keep our winter woolies in, since it's really only cold here about two months of the year.

At the moment the one room that needs attention in my home is the lounge room.  It's a VERY small room (so sometimes your dream home doesn't always have everything you want) and it's been plaguing me for months.  Every room, whilst not always finished, has a bit of plan, but my lounge, it's been annoying me for ages. 

It never looks or feels right if you don't have the right larger pieces and obviously with money not my strong point (not destitute, not rich), it's difficult to have everything just the way you want it.  I know I always think, well, the lounge suite for example is a large investment money-wise and you have to be very careful how you buy as it's going to cost a lot and it's going to be for the next 10 years at least.  But the other day cruising thru the Ebay furniture, it suddenly dawned on me that I'm making too much of a big deal about the cost of the lounge. 

Having a search around, I've come a conclusion about what I want to do (happy day that was as that's half the battle!) and I've also suddenly realised I've been looking at it all wrong.  I don't need to spend a fortune on my lounge suite as I can find lovely furniture just what I'm looking for or what I'm not looking for but have been inspired by, secondhand, and because of that I don't need to worry about keeping it for years and years which is what you think usually because of the huge monetary investment.

I can buy my pieces secondhand and keep them for a long as I like them, they suit my purposes and as long as they last, and then donate them to Lifeline for someone else to use/love and start again!

Two of the things that have been really worrying me, I've realised, is that I want cream/white upholstery which is obviously not necessarily easy to keep clean, the other, my two babies, Sasha and Chantelle are little loveable destroyers.  Love them to death, hate their claws.  If I change my way of thinking, I can do what I can to counteract these two problems, scotchguard and a lot of yelling, and if I'm not entirely successful (which I haven't been to date) then I can just donate my pieces to Lifeline so it can be recycled and I can go back to Ebay and start again.  What a relief!

Below are some of the most gorgeous things I've been finding lately on Ebay...

The above lounge set had three pieces and went for around $550.

The above suite is a three piece set also which went for around $800.  There sure are some pretty second hand things around to decorate your home without needing to go new and expensive.  Or what you can also do is get a few new or expensive pieces and supplement the balance with cheaper secondhand items.  If I had to furnish a house from scratch, I don't think now I would even buy any new pieces of furniture.  You can have every beautiful thing you want secondhand

Romantic Rose Boutique

One of my most favourite shops to browse on the internet is Becky's shop,  Romantic Rose Boutique.  She has lots of really beautiful things, but I love her china section.  I've bought quite a few things from her and the service is excellent.  She is having a summer sale at the moment and for sure there are some really fabulous bargains to be had!  I thought I might show off some of her beautiful items.  Visit her store here

And I left my favourite till last!  Isn't this last pink jug just to die for?  I'd love to buy this but I'd be killed by Dear One if I did!

Practical Magic

One of the reasons I love the movie Practical Magic is to look at the lovely surroundings they've used in the movie.  Here are some pictures of the main house, which is to die for!

Hard to believe it isn't a real house, huh!  They built it for the movie.  I'd love to know how they instantly got the roses around the veranda and the arbour because that's what I want at the moment.  Unfortunately, an instant garden I can't do, so I'll have to just keep buying my little plants and hope they grow fast!  And without any water too.  Still wishing for any rain at all!  I've bought a few rose plants and climbers in the last couple of weeks and am hoping to win an arbour on Ebay this week for the front gate. Can't have a white picket fence without the arbour at the gate. 

Here is the arbour I'm hoping to win...and some of the roses I've bought....

The two photos below are called Nahema Roses.  I'd never heard of them until reading the blog of Mel's Rose Place but I'm hooked.  I just hope mine go as well as Mel's as she raves about them.  I've bought mine from Rankins Roses here in Australia and I've just noticed they are selling them on ebay at Rankins Roses.  I just noticed then that they've got these up for auction for $9.99, geez wouldn't it rot your socks, I could have gotten mine cheaper....hate that!

I also bought the following one called Souer Emmanuelle also available from Rankins.  I thought the colour was really sweet.  Hopefully I'll be swamped with pink and white roses in a few months or next year.  

I've also bought another lot of daisies for in front of the picket fence, and hope they survive this time as the last lot didn't!  My black thumb/no rain, they didn't survive the double whammy!   I'm also hoping to organise some more advanced Jasmine climbers this week too, so with spring around the corner, I hope they will all burst into bloom and make my garden look a little more filled out.  My dream is to have roses and jasmine all around the arches underneath my house, and many, many rose blooms all across the arbour and fences, so here's hoping!  I didn't want to spend any money at the moment, but Dear One let me buy the arbour (mainly because I think he doesn't want to build one for me, LOL!) and I had to get the roses otherwise I'd have to wait another year.