Thank you Catherine Shields

I haven't been blogging much lately, so I totally missed a post about my boatshed by Catherine Shields of  the In My House Design blog:

A few years ago, I met her and Penny Barker, who is now the editor of South Coast Style magazine, when they ran a lovely interiors shop in Nowra called Surf and Turf. They both have a great sense of style and a wealth of experience in the interiors world. They came out to do a shoot on the boatshed for South Coast Style, which in turn led to an article in Australian Country Style.

I will always be grateful to Catherine and Penny for having faith in my rather stumbling efforts. They helped me see that I was on the right track in reclaiming and repurposing vintage items, and inspired me to keep going.

Catherine's post is at:
http://inmyhousedesign.blogspot.com/2011/07/design-conscience.html

Thank you so much Catherine x

Art Space

Don't you just love a good salon hang? Lately I've been obsessed about beautifully hung artworks, and I've tried to bring more art into the boatshed. This has been helped by the fact that I've been able to buy several oil paintings secondhand, both framed and unframed, for between two and five dollars each. This is the corner of the boatshed I call the library, and it's coming along nicely. I need to fill up the spaces on the wall with smaller pieces:

This corner of the kitchen has artworks united by the theme of water, from the large one of Trial Bay Gaol, to the smallest, of Lord Howe Island. The two white-framed ones are of  Jervis Bay, which is only five minutes drive away from here, while New Zealand is represented as well:

In another part of the kitchen, I've hung other objects such as metal pastry cases, a blackboard and fryer basket to complement the paintings:

Above the bed, a still life, art deco mirrors and two landscapes frame the window and almost turn it into an artwork too:

Having this inexpensive art around me elevates my soul. I've just started a Visual Arts course (the reason why my blog posts have dwindled), and they help me each day to remember that I am choosing the artist's way.