Front Deck

Our house faces west so our front deck is prone to the full brunt of the afternoon sun. When Adam bought the house the previous owners had lacquered the deck and lacquer/full sun do not go together!

This is particularly bad patches. It was peeling and accumulated dust easily, a mess really!

Adam had been waiting for a chance to sand and oil it himself but like every other job, has no time. He got a quote from the handyman who painted our house and it was $250 for labour plus materials. It came to about $500 in total. We had to move all the deck furniture inside!

The sanding progress.

The finished product after being oiled. It is great that it's even tone, but I don't like the colour of it! We are hoping to stain it with a different oil so it isn't so light/yellowish. Or maybe I'm just used to the old way it used to be! 

A couple of living area shots!

Just while I'm posting away, the gallery wall is getting bigger and bigger! I just adore it, I love having these beautiful pictures to look at.

I also purchased some new lamps from Recollections, they had two for one. I also picked up a silver bamboo frame from Botticelli House for a wedding picture. I love having all the pictures around instead of on the computer. Spotlight also had a sale on their feather inserts, so I bought a couple and have some striped fabric (from East Coast Fabrics) for Mum to make some cushion covers when she gets the time. All little changes but exciting nonetheless. 

Madeline's Room - More bits and pieces!

As always, still buying bits and pieces for the unending project that is Madeline's room. My latest purchase is a $10 bedside table from Gumtree. Have to love that!  It's perfect and solid, nothing a good lick of paint won't fix.

I also purchased some crystal knobs from ebay to fancy her Ikea Hemnes drawers and now her bedside. 20 for $23.10 (including postage) - I'm holding my breath hoping they are ok!

And while I've been catching up on old magazines, I love this girly room - the yellow looks so fresh - I'm half tempted to paint the bedside yellow! I could always give it a try?! ;)

And lastly, a new addition to Madeline's picture wall, a pink heart mirror from Kmart for $5. Can't beat that!

Planning 5 years ahead!

I'm catching up on my library magazines over the long weekend and have madly been taking photos as I go. Am I alone in this?! I'm surely crazy.

I have lots of ideas swirling around my brain for when we do a downstairs renovation. Am in the collecting phase. I also don't want to wish the next 5 or so years away because really, we are lucky to have a beautiful home already.

I love this office/study space. So functional.

I am obsessed on either black wooden (faux or otherwise) floors, or herringbone floors. 

We will also be installing an internal flight of stairs so I have been daydreaming about those. American styles seem to draw me in, I love the sweeping bottom on these.

I also love this landing with a spot to decorate.

I started to draw rough plans to start to map out what would be ideal (Adam is a big picture man and likes to leave the details until required where I like to obsess (sometimes confused with worry) about the details a long way ahead of time. The rough plans were exactly that, drawn in texta on coloured paper! I thought surely there would be an easy app to use - sure enough, I used the free MagicPlan and came up with a pretty good plan of our home as we are now. I'm working on downstairs at the moment. It is so easy to use!

I just love doing this sort of stuff! Does anyone else enjoy it?!

Console tables and vignettes!

I notice a common thread between my Pinterest living areas and the below image is sheer perfection in my eyes! To add texture to the room (apart from the fancy lights) they have used throws and cushions and vignettes on tables with greenery, vases etc.

We don't have a coffee table at the moment, nor do we have any lighting apart from the ceiling lights.

{image via}

Another gorgeous image that inspires me! 

{image via}

So my little brain has been busy trying to work out how to incorporate the above, firstly, on a budget and secondly, for it to be kid safe. I remembered that we used to have a console with glass tops and it was banished downstairs to the man cave - so I dragged it upstairs (has ply wood where glass goes) and just plonked some things on it to see if I liked it there and how it affects the room.

Of course I love it there. I'm hanging to get a much better lamp (possibly cover a shade) and some other bits and pieces to put on top. Maybe a rattan tray instead? And my first bit of coral! Haha!

I'm just leaving as is for a while and I might paint it or do something to it but for now it does the job!

Hawaii Dreaming...

This photo was taken in August 2012 from our room at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki. We had a 15 month old Maddy in tow and we shopped, ate and swam our hearts out.

We had planned to put travel on the back burner for 5 years until the kids are older (and met some financial goals) but my Mum suggestively mentioned that she might travel to Hawaii for Christmas 2014 (along with a few other friends and family). I wanted to instantly but knew the 'plan'...

Adam surprised me by saying he was keen to go if I could fund it with my part-time work. Saving is not my strong point (spending most definitely is haha) but this opportunity is too exciting to pass up. 

A lot can happen in 12 months so we will play by ear but I can't help but dream a little Hawaiian dream... 

Spot of sisal!

Thank goodness for the enabling power of social media (again)! A nursery retailer posted on Instagram that she bought a sisal/dute rug at Spotlight for the small sum of $24.50. She was on her way to Freedom to purchase something similar in size and texture for $300! It is 180cm in diameter.

Without a shadow of a lie, I had been looking at the same sisal/dute rugs at Freedom or even importing some from online, so this discovery had me dash to Spotlight first thing on a Monday morning! (And I wasn't the only one!)

So Will has one in his room (shelves still waiting to be painted!)

And I have another in the entryway. Wouldn't the table from Boticelli go perfectly? Sigh. 

It was very serendipitous and I'm very grateful for the absolute bargains!

Framed!

I have now entered the land of custom framing and I just love it. I have found an affordable framer at the local shopping centre who will give me discount on further framing which is nice to know. The flexibility and the ability to have custom mattes is the big draw card for me. I currently have some photos from Will's newborn shoot getting framed and I can't wait to get them and put them up!

Next on my hit list is a black and white wedding image for above one of the tall boys. I have been playing around with the different frames to get an idea - I think I will get a thin black frame with a gorgeous big matte.

This is the picture to be framed. Forgot how much I loved it.

Adam also unveiled some pictures he had bought in Europe pre-us. Here are London on the left and Wales on the right. Edwards is a Welsh name so very fitting. They are gorgeous in real life so look forward to getting them framed. When it rains it pours - I was lamenting I didn't have enough art and now I don't have enough walls!

And here is Paris. We will go together one day!

It will be very gradual but hopefully have some framed pictures to show soon!

Botticelli House

Instagram has been such a wonderful tool for discovering new places and people and I have absolutely loved finding people who love interiors as much as I do!

I started following Di from French Loving Wretch a while ago, her home was absolutely stunning and I adored every image she posted. It seemed that she had a large following from the beginning and used it to her advantage and entered business buying treasures from UK/France and importing them. The best thing is she only buys things she would be happy to have in her own home and the prices are absolutely reasonable.

Just a small sample!

I am dying over this table for our entryway. 

A little watercolour made it's way home, $20! How sweet.

A small piece for Madeline's room akin to a hamper. To be painted and recovered. Quite sweet also.

She's embarking on another buying trip again soon to source more 'bits and pieces'. I can't wait to visit again!

Madeline's Room - Sneak peek!

A separate post as the picture wasn't included below and I'm working on the iPad! (Read=difficult to add!)

Madeline's Room - A bit of progress!

Good evening!

Another raging Saturday night on the lounge here! Haha! Last time I posted about Madeline's shelves they were yet to be painted and hung, I'm happy to report that both have been done. (With a bit of painting outsourcing to my father-in-law!) Its a terrible picture but you get the general idea below. So my brain was ticking over with ideas as to what to put on the shelves - pictures, trinkets, bunting? Where to start? Possibilities are endless and with my perfectionism it was hard to find a place to start! Haha!

The below image is a very popular pin on Pinterest, I spent a long time looking for the actual source to no avail. If anyone knows please let me know. The image and Madeline's wall swirled together in my mind and I decided to use it as a bit of inspiration.

{Source unknown}

I had a collection of different letter M's, framed photos and other artworks to use. I had the hurdle of trying to plan a layout around the shelves and the letters were already hung, so I traced each of the artifacts and cut them out.

I used sticky tape doubled over to hang them on the wall (no blu-tac nor patience to get some from the shop). I played around with the layout a couple of times remembering that the bedhead would go square underneath the shelves. Excuse the night time photo!

The result is quite lovely, I'm very happy with it. I took a couple of quick photos - I am yet to decide on some bunting and have to move the furniture around so only a sneak peek for now.

I also received the most gorgeous cushion cover this week from Max & Me Homewares - I was yet to put an insert in the cushion but couldn't help myself taking a quick photo!

More photos to come! 

A weighty issue.

Unfortunately these are before and afters, in the wrong direction! After losing the baby weight quite quickly (anxiety and not eating will do that to you) I now found myself feeling mentally well but physically blah. Medications, breastfeeding and poor food choices/portions have meant I have gained a lot of weight and none of my clothes fit. (My jeans are undone in the second shot.)

Quelle horreur.

For me, my weight is my thing. I really don't want it to be an issue, I don't want to obsess about it. I want to model good body image to my kids. I think I have a lot of work to do on my psyche too.

I have decided to take part in the Michelle Bridges 12 week challenge. So many people have had success with it, the meals look delicious and the shopping lists and meal plans seem too easy?! And it's breastfeeding friendly. I love on the website where it says 'many breastfeeding mums will experience intense cravings and hunger pangs, particularly as they struggle through exhausting night feeds. But having healthy snacks in the fridge or nappy bag can help prevent bakery raids and coffee shop stops.' Oh my word that's me. The bakery raid and coffee shop stops. All over.

It starts February and the pre season starts now. Watch this space.