1 Year..

 

 

Hard to believe that our little girl is 1- where has this last year gone?  Probably even before she was born I imagined having a huge 1st birthday filled complete with one of those fancy dessert tables that you see everywhere nowadays, handmade decorations, little vintage jars full of flowers everywhere...( yes I had it all planned in my head)

 

 And then time went by so quickly and we decided that we just didn't have the time/energy/funds to invest into a big bash.. so there would be no party.. However as it got closer the big day I couldn't let it pass without a celebration and a bit of craft..

 

So we invited family and a few close friends...a dress was made, as was some mini bunting for the cake and even the little guys on top of the cake managed to get some handmade party hats..

 

The sun was a shining ( a rare sight around our part of the world lately) as is tradition in our family the party girl party girl picked up a virus and a rash a few days before- every one of our kids has managed to get sick the week before their first birthday... We carried on and had a beautiful afternoon without the fancy buffet and it was perfect..


A birthday breakfast of champions


A little pre party crafting..



A little bit of pink on the birthday buffet..


Lulus & her little posse get their party on..




Some lemon sorbet cups made in my new fancy schmancy thermomix..


Rocking the dress..

 

 

I got a Lulu added a new Maileg doll to her collection..

 

 And that was it...

 Our little Lulu has brought so much to our family.. she is funny, determined, feisty, beautiful and so much more.. Happy 1st birthday beautiful girl.

 xx

 

 

 

 

 

 



Lately

Lots and lots happening in our house lately.. We survived the school holidays (yay!) Our baby girl turned 1, we have been doing lots of work around our house, and there was a photo shoot in Lulus room for little one baby mag..

 

 

 

My little baby shoe business is taking off and may possibly be a shoe/ clothing business very soon..

 

Today though I wanted to share 3 interior trends that I have been noticing and loving a little bit more every time I see them... And as I am planning for a renovation ( in 3-4 years or a Melbourne cup winner, whichever comes first) I am busily pinning inspiration for the future..

 

So first of.. Black window frames, a couple of months ago I would never have considered that window frames would be anything else besides white. But the images I am seeing on pintrest & blogs look amazing.. I guess it is like making a picture frame out of your view..

 

Here's a few that caught my eye..

 

 

I could post so many beautiful images of black window frames and door the above are just a few..

 

I love rugs- in family rooms, under dining tables, bedrooms( I searched long & hard for a perfect rug for Luella's room).. lately I have been seeing lots of round rugs and I really like how they add interest to a room..

 

 

The one just above is from Armadillo & co who have recently launched great range of kids rugs..

 

Still on all things round I am obsessed about getting a round mirror for my long narrow hallway..

 

So thats it.... I will keep dreaming and pinning my idea and pray that my husband is the next Bart Cummings...

 

Simone x

 



Little Scout

I nearly forgot how to do it when I went to write this post... I haven' abandoned this little blog altogether.. being honest nothing has inspired me enough to put it on here, that and the fact that I have started my own little business...

 

Yep that's right-a teeny tiny little one woman business... Instead of vintage wares I am now peddling baby Moccasins.. Well one woman and one baby business- Lulu is my number 1 ( & only ) shoe model.. That kid is going to wonder one day why all of her baby pictures are of her feet!

 

Its early days but so far I am getting some great feedback and orders are starting to roll in.. It is the perfect business for me right now, and the fact that I am slightly obsessed with fashion for the little people helps - I know it doesn't really matter what they wear as they grow out of/ wreck things extremely quickly, but anyone who knows me will tell you I have always loved mini fashion and now that I have a daughter it has only gotten more out of control.. So for me it really is the perfect little business..

 

So what do I do you might wonder?

 * hunt down and select the leather from various different places

                               * cut out 5 individual pattern pieces per shoe by hand

                 * then hand them off to a local seamstress who puts them together for me

                               * pick them back up, do all the fringing and elasticate the heels

                               * put them on my little business partner/ co-worker, convince her to sit still while

                                photograph the merchandise, post on facebook and instagram and hope like hell

                                that somebody likes them enough to pay money for them!

 

 

 

My favourites so far...



 

 



 



The cutest little co- worker.

 

 

So that's it really.. our little house is coming along nicely - in fact so nicely that my co-worker above had her room photographed just last week for a baby magazine. The boys are insane good- making us laugh, making us cry.. keeping us busy..

 

Back again soon ..

 

Simone x

 

Oh and if you wandered over here and fancy a little more of a look at my little Moccs you can check us out on facebook..

 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Little-Scout-Co/316173005186043?ref=hl

 

 

 



HOME..

 

 

Finally we are fully unpacked in our new home.. It has taken 4 maybe even 5 weeks to sort through the masses of things our little of family of 5 own!

 

Previously we had 4 bedrooms, 3 living areas, dining space,2 bathrooms.. I had a wardrobe the same size as the kitchen in our first home in Ireland.. And now we have 3 bedrooms, a small living room,1 bathroom and toilet combined. So squeezing everything in and making it look nice has been a challenge.

I have thrown things out, donated to charity, given to friends.. with so little space I crave a simple life surrounded with favourite things and things that we actually use.

So I finally managed to clean up  find some time the other day to get some photos...












Funnily enough we knew this house really well, some very good friends of ours lived here when they moved over from the U.K.and were working for the owner at the time.

 So we had spent many evenings here for BBQ's, catch ups..even some babysitting on my part.

The original owner is still also a racehorse trainer in Mornington and built the house himself and raised a family here, just as we are now.

One of the things that I loved about the house is that it is very much a blank canvas, there is nothing here that we cannot live with for the next few years until we renovate..

So that's it for now really, i have lots of little projects on the go that hopefully I can share along the way..

Lastly I wanted to share a photo of Little Lulu- who is growing so quickly and developing such a cheeky little personality, time really does fly when you are having fun.




Simone xx




WOOD PANELLING

 

I have been noticing a lot of wood panelling in a lot of images I come across on the Internet and magazines, and I have to say I am slowly becoming a huge fan.

 

 

This may very well have something to do with the fact that we have, without choice found ourselves immersed in the world of panelling... Our new home has panelled ceilings in the kitchen and bathroom. Originally they were a yucky brown colour, hairy wood- if there is such a thing! And now after many litres of paint and a painter with a sore neck they are lovely and white.

 

 

Our home is not quite camera ready yet so here are a few images of beautiful panelling that have caught my eye recently..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Panelling is definitely no longer restricted to country kitchens and those

 * 'home is where the heart is' kind of homes..

 

 

* you know those type of house that have a little hand painted sign that greets you as you enter..

 

*no offence to anybody who may have one of these little gems- because really, home is where the heart is, I just don't want to display on a sign..

 

Its Saturday night here, the fire is on, the husband is watching Rugby.. I know, I know- I really do lead a wild and crazy life.. Blogging on a Saturday night, I might even step things up a notch and head on over to Pintrest!

 

 

Simone xx



STILL HERE...

Oh dear, it has really been a long while since I have been here...

 

I have written many blog post's in my head but having time to translate them in front of a computer has been virtually impossible..But I am back!

 

In the past month we have been through what I have always heard is the most stressful one can do- and I can now vouch for that... We moved house and I can tell you now it has been CHAOS.. throw in a few bouts of gastro, ear infections,flu's into the mix and some days I feel like I have been one step away from a straight jacket!

 

But right now today I have realised there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel. The house is actually starting to resemble a home, things are in wardrobes, boxes are mostly unpacked and as I write this I am looking out the window at all the space we have ( 16 acres to be exact)and how this is the life that we have always wanted for us and our kids.

 

We have chooks, horses, there is talk of a pony... We are home.

 

 

 

 

 

We have lots of work ahead- in fact I think a place like this is always a work in progress... however we don't plan on going anywhere soon or perhaps ever..

 

I cant wait to share some snaps of the house- I am getting to the fun part of moving, getting to faff about and move all of my favourite things around, make things look pretty!

 

Simone xx

 

 

 

 



WEST ELM MELBOURNE...

 

A few years ago I was looking for some bedside tables and as is normally the case ,anything that I liked was ridiculously insanely out of my my price range ( story of my life really..) And then by the magic of pintrest I found exactly what I wanted and after a few clicks I discovered West Elm and although sadly the cost of international shipping separated myself and my dream tables my love affair with West Elm began....

 

Where it all began... The thing I love about all of their furniture is they are classic ,a little bit masculine, designed to stand the test of time and I think blend beautifully with Vintage pieces..

 

You can imagine my excitement when I heard they were arriving in Australia this year !! The moment I heard they were opening in Sydney I started calculating frequent flyer points, hatching a plan to head up to Sydney for a sneak peak the interior gods once again shone down with the news that although still a little while away West Elm would be taking up residence in Melbourne ..  I have heard whispers of the Jam Factory Chapel Street, the Sydney store opens early next month so I am sure it wont be long till all is revealed.. Oh  and they are also bringing along their brother/sister companies Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids & Williams Sonoma - its definitely going to be a 'con someone into minding your three kids and run' day trip..

 

Another little interesting fact the Vice President of West Elm is an Aussie and she has stated that unlike some international brands ( yes I am looking at you Gap, Zara, Topshop) they will try to keep their Australia prices on par with their American prices and will also offer online shopping- you can read the full interview over with Vanessa Holden over here at the always fabulous Interiors Addict blog..

 

Oh I do love a wire basket..

 

 

I will absolutely head to the Melbourne store as soon as it opens but for the foreseeable future it looks like for me it will be window shopping only -you see as of today our house is officially 'under contract' ! Yep that's right we are about to move to a much smaller house with a much larger mortgage, fun time ahead ..

 

Simone xx

 

P.S If you were crossing off a list there wouldnt be too many left on it-

 

H&M - yes please

ANTHROPOLGIE-dream come true ..please ? prepared to beg if needs be 

 

Any others you can think of that I have left off?

 



ON THE MOVE..

Oh dear its been a while... again..

 

But not without good reason, there is lots going on in my little world..

 

We have put our house on the market and all being well very shortly we will be living and working all in the same space... I am a little hesitant to discuss the details of our new home, until the keys are in our hands and our name is on the rather large mortgage papers it won't seem real.. What I can tell you is that it will be a brilliant place for our kids to grow up with so much space to roam ( 16 acres of space) a place for my husband to grow his business and I believe somewhere we may never leave.. exciting times !

 

So we have been busy doing all the boring things you must do to sell your house.. de-clutter, clean shove everything in the garage

 

 

Apart from that I have been doing my usual Friday's at the Vintage Shed picking up a few treasures along the way..

 

   I have wanted a little clutch for a while now and this little vintage one fit the bill perfectly and for $12 it was a steal ..

 

 

The brush above was one of those buys that I couldn't find a reason to buy it but neither could I find one not too so of course I bought it ($6 I think) I got the 'wild one' print from Lulu Lucky who I discovered on instagram you can check out her website here

 

 

Apart from all of the above happenings my 3 beautiful kids have been keeping me busy ..

 

 

Both my boys did a trapeze class, they both made me so proud and I think everybody myself included where astounded at the bravery of  Tadhg who at only 4 dangled happily while I clapped and screamed and even teared up a little ...

 

 

We put on our best green and stepped out in style to celebrate St Patricks day -although Conor kept it real with a good old Aussie meat pie..

 

Our Little Lulu's cuteness knows no boundaries - she just keeps on getting bigger and cuter by the day and we couldn't love her anymore if we tried.. Just last night she sat on my lap and giggled for the first time at my silliness .. And today as much as I tried to replicate that silliness for some more giggles a very large grin was all I got..

 

 

So that's it really, its the eve of good Friday- we are hoping the bunny will come on Sunday and  no doubt way too much chocolate will consumed by all of us as per usual..

 

Hopefully I will back very soon with some more details of our new home..

 

Happy Easter

 

Simone x

 



Interior Inspiration..

I came across the images of this home a long while ago and filed them away for future inspiration.. They are from the home of Estee Stanley who upon further nosing around on the web it seems is a fabulous interior designer to the stars and co collaborator with Justin Timberlake..

 

 And no not on one of his latest tunes - apparently when JT is not making beautiful music he likes to dabble in a little bit of interior design and co designed a range of home wares with Estee for an American website called Home Mint ( one of those members only kind of ones)

 

Anyway back to this beautiful home I think it is right in so many ways- beautiful but not too polished or perfect; well lived in with layers of muted colours in the cushions, rugs, curtains.. the Gilt mirror over the fireplace I am in love with.. Gilt especially in frames and mirrors is my new obsession..

 

 

And this little nook below- perfect.. I am desperate to one day have a little nook in my home

 

 

 

 

Images from here & here

For more images and a bit more about Estee Stanley you can go over here to the Remodelista Blog..

Simone xx

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

here

IMPULSE SHOPPING...

Do you impulse shop ? Those who know me well can vouch for the fact that I buy now and think about it later.. That is how this little chippy mini glasshouse came to be residing here in our house..

 

 

 

Its not that I dont like it- just that in hindsight it is a little bit on the shabby chic side of things for me...For now its a keeper, it may very well fit into our possible new home which is on the shabby end of the scale but not so chic (yet.)

 

We have  had a busy 10 days with  my brother in-law from visiting from Ireland.. the highlights have been-

 

 A local music festival that we took all the troops along too (its probably more of a concert but 'festival sounds like we are wayyyy cooler than we really are)

 

Picnics in the park with cricket, boche and beer...

 

A trip to the city which involved the aquarium, games arcade, bowling and fast food

 

A very proud day for Robbie training a winner with his brother there to witness it..

 

 

 

 

 

We are going to miss having Uncle Pete here who is flying home as I type..

 

This week will be busy with the not so fun but neccessary things that need to get done like cooking, cleaning and a little de-clutter perhaps- not sure yet if the impulse glass house will make the cut..

 

Simone xx



FORWARD PLANNING

 It seems a house move may be on the cards in the not too distant future for my family and i  so of course instead if thinking about the practicalities I thought about Decorating... So I headed over to polyvore and had some fun with a room set for Conor..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I fell in love with the Whales poster from Arminho on etsy a while back and had it stashed away on one of my 'pin' boards - I may soon have have a good enough excuse to purchase it..

 

I love the wooden arrows and flag from a favourite shop that I have never actually visited  Three potato four ( great name for a shop don't you think? )The other bits and pieces and are images from around the web 

 

I have named the set over on polyvore a 'future room for Conor' and think it is the perfect mix of boyishness and a little bit more grown up for our 7 year old who is quickly outgrowing his Babar poster and little boy things in his current shared room..

 

Speaking of Conor his week and ours got off to a bad start with a vomiting bug, my fingers are crossed that I chased everybody else around with enough dettol hand wash to deter it from spreading around the house..

 

Simone x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So my little blogging roll turned into more of a short burst.. I have so many things I would like to do and share on this blog, but to be honest most days it feels like I am just keeping my head above water here ..2013 is the year of the drop off/pick up

                                  8.30am Kinder drop off,

                                                           9.00am School drop off  

                                                           2.00pm Kinder pick up

                                                           3.30pm School pick up

 

 Basket ball training,playdates etc etc blah blah blah- you get the picture I am busy with three kids and sometimes at the end of the day I just need to sit quietly in front of quality T.V such as The real housewives of Beverly Hills/New Jersey/ Miami/ Orange County (they really are quality shows o.k )and psyche myself up to do it all again tomorrow..

 

Anyway I am here now and in January I took a little road trip to the Fryers town Antiques fair with my old Vintage Girl friend Bec that I have been wanting to share ever since.So here we go better late than never ..

 

We met up early and headed for Fryerstown but before we hit up the fair we called into Vintage Etc in Castlemaine a beautifully curated and styled Vintage Haven owned by Bec's friends Kaz and Jane who have scoured the country and indeed the world ( they headed state side like myself and Bec)in search of beautiful timeworn pieces

 

 

 

 

 

 

The little gym basket managed to leave the shop with me, I was off to a flyer before we even got the fair ..

 

If you find yourself in the castlmaine it is so worth a visit- the girls have the most amazing eye for beautful things , you will even find fabulous furniture that Kaz re works and re-finishes from Vintage fittings etc .. They also had a stall at the fair , we took a little pit stop there and Kaz gave me an impromptu furniture staining lesson.. I took notes she is a bit of a guru in my eyes !

 

Then onto Fryerstown where I picked up some lovely bits and pieces for home- after spending a few years scouring sometimes frantically for items to sell for Vintage Girl it was nice to have a leasurely stroll and rummage around...

 

 

 

 

The Vintage book print will be fab framed in my boys room

My husband wasn't overly keen on the tortoiseshell but I love it- a keeper for sure

 

Not really antique - rather winged its way over from Bali with another couple of hundred the same, however I cannot resist a rustic bowl and love it anyway..

 

I have serious hankering for a huge Willow Platter and regret not getting one of these- I have a vision of Sunday roast with all the trimmings on one of these big platters....laid out on a crisp white tablecloth , surrounded by my impeccably behaved children eating their brussel sprouts, husband toasting my fabulous cooking................... Hmmm probably best I didn't get one the reality would be hugely different ( crazy kids, burnt food etc !)

 

All in all I had a really lovely day, Bec and I caught up on some much needed gossip & scandal girl talk and I came home tired , happy and rather chuffed with all my purchases..

 

So here we are back to Thursday again- tomorrow I head off the the Vintage Shed for work and a busy weekend ahead as my brother in law has arrived from Ireland this evening for a spur of the moment 10 day holiday with us..

 

Simone x