The Barn Girls

Noeline
I've always been keen on DIY and now that life and circumstances allow me a few spare moments I can now indulge, create and buy for The Barn. I love my home and property and this new venture just adds to the whole picture, especially with opening the garden for people to enjoy.  My garden is a place where I can potter all day , in fact till it is too dark to see. Plants are propagated from here to sell in The Barn.

Another passion is collecting vintage china and fabric but I am now being selective and customers are benefitting as I am selling it at The Barn.  It's amazing how this all started...a few of us were relaxing out on the verandah one day enjoying a wine as friends do and discussing what we'd all like to do...we all agreed that we'd love to have a quaint, shabby chic type shop, barn (whatever), to sell our treasures from. Well, it so happens I had an old barn here and WOW, it soon had power on, a set of old french doors, a couple of windowlots and we were in business.

Natalie
Perhaps it has something to do with my Gemini nature but I have always found it difficult to sit still! You name it, I’ve tried it...macrame, knitting, sewing, painting, cross-stitch, yes a busy child who became a busy adult. There are always so many creative ideas swirling around inside my head & I am always trying to bring them to fruition so you can imagine my excitement when the idea of “The Barn” was first mooted. A creative outlet for like-minded people who were looking for something different, original, rescued, restored – you name it, we do it. Well, it has certainly snowballed from that first discussion & we are delighted with the fantastic comments we receive from people when they visit & to discover we all want to imbue our homes with soul by displaying something of the owner’s personality. It is wonderful to be able to produce or procure original or unusual items that are not found in your usual store.

My primary love, for quite some time now, is mosaicing (anything from a small heart plaque to a chest of drawers!) but when I find the pace a bit slow with this I like to paint/decoupage furniture, sew cushions & clothing from vintage or retro fabrics, search out cool retro treasures & generally be lining up my next dozen projects!

Shirley
I describe my style as Vintage Chic. It's like a mixture of shabby chic, french country and vintage style. My passion is for painting and restyling wooden furniture. Generally I have no sentimental issues with applying paint to wooden furniture regardless of its worth. The wonderful thing about paint is that it can be removed or changed! Each piece of furniture I recreate is unique, often with a recurring theme of roses, a flower I adore. I also enjoy creating vintage influenced mosaic work with old china, again almost always with roses.

I believe...
Love what you do and do what you love
See a little beauty everyday
The power of angels
Recycle reuse restyle 

Natalie & Shirley November 22nd 2008

Come visit us at The Barn!