second hand furniture

mr t and me

I think it’s quite possible that by next year you’ll find that the WHOLE of Fairfield/Northcote has relocated to Aireys Inlet for summer. On Sunday we ran into 2 families at Mr T and Me, the new(ish) cafe up near the General Store. This is in addition to the 9 other families we have met, caught up with and done stuff with around the traps. Man.

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Anyway Mr T and Me is a great new addition.  It looks woody and beachy but fairly small and unassuming from the front. However it has a large courtyard deck and garden out the back.  So I can see it will be a great small sized place in winter, and it works well in summer when Aireys is packed as well.

And the food is good. We had excellent chips with a yummy dill aioli (I am now going to make some dill aioli…). And there are options like borek and pulled pork and coleslaw rolls (which we had) and pides. And a large breakfast menu and a breakfast roll all day for those still looking for bacon and eggs after 11.30am.  Which I am sure lots of people are craving on holidays.

But, truth be known, I am a simple soul, and it was the outdoor furniture that really did it for me. Recycled solid timber and timber slat tables and chairs. Pulled together with a cheery rainbow paint job. That was matching, but not too matching. Oh, and to top it off the use of old tin cans to hold cutlery on the tables. Fun.

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While we waited for our food I browsed through a Delicous mag.  India looked through Surfing Australia.

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Second hand furniture in a cafe … on the Great Ocean Road …. finally … HOORAY … now it’s just like home! No wonder everyone’s here.

lights (and chairs and tables)

In Melbourne I think some of the places that use second hand things the best are cafes and restaurants. There’s no cafe look I love more than an eclectic mix of second hand/home-made tables and industrial-ish/institutional/random chairs. And the places that go for this look generally also have a bit of a collection of something. Like 1980s pottery or, as with the Convent Bakery at Abbotsford Convent, interesting lights. See?

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And I always notice these types of lights because my mum (also a collector, you might recall) has similar ones in her house … See?

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And more of my mum’s lights. And more Convent Bakery lights.

The Convent Bakery fireplace.

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My mum’s fireplace.

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The fireplace at mum’s is a cracker right? It came with the garden and mum has somewhat disguised the fake bluestone by covering it with plants and paraphernalia. But the funny thing is, the house two doors down has the same fireplace. Clearly the master-concrete-craftman shared his talent up and down the street. But knowing there’s at least two of these in the world (and maybe more?) makes this one a bit less and more kitsch and definitely more interesting.  And actually, an outdoor chimney/fireplace/BBQ/planter is pretty handy. It makes BBQing in winter bearable … and the grandkids get toasted marshmallows …

And while I am on comparisons between mum’s house and the Convent Bakery I will leave you with these images.

1. A school table that has been tiled?

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hard to imagine someone took the time to do this …

2. A wooden stool that has been carpeted?

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Mum keeps this stool in the bathroom (for the kids to reach the taps? Or just because she likes it?)

A bit odd? A bit weird?  Fun!