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

 

 

Lulus rooms - the details..

 

 

Nomuu prints

 

 

I didn't really have a theme in mind when I started decorating Luella's room just that I want it to be pretty and girly without being to babyish and absolutely no Winnie the pooh, dora etc motifs would enter the room.. I looked around the Internet at lots of art prints but nothing really grabbed me until I came across them Nomuu and I knew straight away I had found what I was looking for- they such beautiful illustrations , will grow with Luella and are really reasonably priced.. and the lady behind Nomuu happens to also be Simone - meant to be surely..  I have just noticed some abstract art on the Nomuu website that I may just have to break my shopping ban for ..

 

 

 

I blogged about the animal print shop here  and I decided that  I would have it framed professionally-, and the very lovely man who did this announced proudly to me when I arrived to pick it up that he had used the black border on the inside of the Matte to make the zebra 'pop' more..favour hmm I am not so sure.. I really would have preferred it without but I just couldn't ask to have it re-done especially after he told me ' it cost twice the price but I knew I had to do it love' It hangs above the change table for now.

 

 The little cushion I made late one night during a bout of pregnancy insomnia from a piece of linen and some scrap fabric..

 

 

 I always wanted a chair for feeding and somewhere to spend some quiet time, looking around the shops it is really not possible to find a nice armchair for under $1000 , so I was rather pleased to pick this one up from my local op-shop and one the Vintage Shed stallholders who happens to be an upholsterer did a beautiful job re-covering it.The fabric I found at wholesale warehouse for $10 a metre..if anybody would like either Dave's number or the warehouse address you can email me and I can pass on the details..

 

 Also above the Ginger Jar lamp  is a $4 op shop find

Little teddy- $2 op shop find that I just couldn't leave behind

The cushion is one of a pair I have had for many years

The chevron blanket was a beautiful gift from my old Vintage Girl friend Bec at Little Flea ..

 

The blanket box I picked up for $55 at the Vintage Shed it was originally brown and I painted grey which turned out to be a little bit blue.

 

The white shelf is from Heaney and Hall.

 

The little chalkboard I painted from an old clipboard and took the little quote of the Internet and transferred onto using this technique here..

 

The cute framed clouds print is fromMiddle of Nowhere art , purchased at Robert Gordon.

 

The little wooden house is a couple of wood offcuts I was given painted very hastily made to look like a house..

 

 

I knew I wanted to hang a mirror above the chest of drawers ( we already had the drawers) but couldn't find the size and style that i wanted so I went to a framers chose the style that I wanted and they made it to my specifications..

 

The bunting is paper- sewn by me..

The Bunny is a gift from my Mum

Paper flower made from Vintage sewing pattern paper from Conor's school fete..

 

 

Apart from the above the cot was from Toys R Us and a friends husband sprayed it white for me- it reminded me of this designer version but for about 1/4 of the price.

 

Bedding is Dwell studio from the baby closet

 

The rug is from Target

 

The blind was a standard Roman blind which I added a pompom trim to from spotlight..

 

The knitted pouffe was a bargain for $40 on sale at Spotlight

 

Lastly we received so many beautiful gifts and this cushion from Meg at the Vintage Shed all the way from Bali is rather special..

 

 

Phew and that's it ....... If there is anything I have left out and you would like to know more I am than happy to fill you in via email or the comments below..

 

Off to the Vintage Shed tomorrow for me- who knows what treasures await me !

 

Simone xx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

New Blog Love..

 

 I made two new Blog discoveries this week ( they just happen to be sister) one of which I have taken some lifestyle tips from - more about that later..

 

The first is called Sunny and Scout written by a Mother of two Lou( soon to be 3) who actually lives not far from where I do.. I Love all the images on her blog- no surprises that she take photos for a living..I highly recommend it and have added it to my favourites ..

click here to check it out...

 

 

I think great blogs are like good books- hard to put down.. so as I was reading through Sunny and Scout  I clicked away at another blog that just happens to be written by Lous sister..

 You can click here to check out .. This blog discovery couldn't have come at a better time for me- I am trying really hard to make some positive changes health wise for my family and I and there are some great tips for healthy / clean living...I am even considering giving up shampoo and conditioner for Bi-carb and Apple Cider ! I have already embraced Coconut oil as a moisturiser which so far has been amazing - considering I have always and still am plagued by rather pimply prone skin, therefore shied away from oily products..

 

 

Not only am I trying to make some better choices in terms of diet- wait for it -I have embraced fitness and have started the ball rolling on something I am really hoping I can follow through with- A mini marathon , EEKK yes that's right 8 km of jogging .. I have started training already and so far I have no idea how the hell I am going to do it and what the hell i was thinking   feel absoloutley I can do it and the shiny new runners I bought today will surely help !

 

If any of you would like to join in - The Vintage Shed are putting are putting a team together and hopefully we can raise some money for Breast Cancer Research along the way..

 

Must go- training to do !

 

Simone xx



 

Three posts in a week- I really am on a roll here.. Part of the reason being that I have just this week signed up for  apple i-cloud and no longer have to plug my phone in and go through the really tedious process of uploading photos which most of the time seems a lot a chore .. now magically my photos head up that lovely cloud and it then sends them onto to my computer- perfect for lazy impatient people like me speedy blog posts..

 

 

Today we had a really lovely day out with friends at the Werribee zoo.. the weather was great, the kids were pretty well behaved, Lulu slept the day away .. My only problem - the only thing between myself and the hippos? Some electric wire, a post and rail fence and some deep water- surely not enough of a deterrent for one of the worlds deadliest animals to come on over and eat me? Anyway I am here to tell the tale so I guess the zoo do really know their stuff, still not convinced though...

 

 

We also got up rather close and personal with a Lion..

 

 

 



 

 We all left happy and tired and all little people are snoozing the night away and I am feeling like today I was a reasonably good parent..

 

Next week I am hoping to keep up this blogging frenzy , i have lots to share..

 

 

 

Some good things happening for our little family..

 

         Some new blog discoveries I have made..

 

        Some changes I have be making to my lifestyle and  a

        challenge I have set for myself..

 

        Perhaps a little blog makeover..

 

Who knows what else ?..this little blog world here is my oyster!

 

 

 

Simone xx

 

 

P.S Does anybody else find it odd that every time you do a spell check with blogger to check your imminent blog post that it always pulls up the word 'blog' and 'blogger' as a spelling error ?? Surely somebody needs to fix that ?? 

 

 

 



 

 





STYLISTS GARAGE SALE..

Are you in Sydney? Probably just as well I am not- because I probably try and make it to Megan Morton's ' Great Stylist Garage Sale' and as one instagramer posted 'My husband should be scared- really scared' Hilarious..  I would probably also get a little overwhelmed  - a lot of the people taking part are the rock stars in my world ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am pretty sure most people would have heard about - in fact I am sure there are prob a few ladies camped out there now x-factor style .. if that's not you check out Megan Morton's website here

 

I look forward to checking out  the inevitable #stylistgaragesale  on instagram tomorrow for all the fabulousness ..

 

Now its time for me to go bed as tomorrow I am back into the joys of Saturday morning basketball ..

 

Simone xx

#7 VIGNETTES TAKE 2

This week I have once again been taking part in the 7 Vignettes instagram challenge .. And like last time I have had great fun playing with lots of stuff that I have lovingly collected over the years and of course the fact that its a way better mid week activity than trivial things like house work, cooking etc helps..

 

today's entry - old .. I couldn't decide what to use so I didn't.. I just used as much as I could fit in the frame- and yes the shadowy thing on the bottle is really bothering me but i couldn't be bothered  I had already posted it and it was too late to fix ..

 

This one here was cushion day- and this is probably my worst effort,not really a vignette but it was late and was in a hurry...

 

 

 

 

And because I found myself with some more time on my hands and again I really like to avoid do the real stuff as mentioned above I took part in another little insta challenge this time being run by Life Instyle -who I guess I would describe as a boutique kind of trade fair company where all the beautiful people go to buy stuff for their beautiful shops. This challenge is basically the same as 7 Vignettes- they give you a word and you interpret it in your photo..the two last photos above are  Fashion and paper..I think come saturday I will be all Vignetted out....

 

Tomorrow I am off to the the Vintage Shed for a days work- if you could call it that.. I enjoy it so much down there it really feel much more like a day out with friends .

 

Simone xx



FIT FOR A PRINCESS...

 

I am back ! I took a little extended bloggy break.. My family and I had a little holiday and it was so nice to get away from the day to day grind- washing ,cleaning,cooking then repeat and all those boring things that must be done..

It was so hot- 42c plus for a few days..we swam a lot..we ate a lot , the kids got to stay up later than usual and so did we..I have to be honest I came back a little more tired than I went away! So now Conor is back at school , Tadhg has made the move to 4yr old kinder and that leaves me with a whole lot more time and time to waste -so here I am !

I have been wanting to share Luella's room for such a long time but I wanted it to be finished and perfect .. I am pretty sure I am done (for now) so here it is..

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started typing the details under each photo but instead I have decided I will do another post and let anybody who may be interested where some things came from .. like the art, furniture and some things I made myself..

 

I had a lot of fun creating it and still pinch myself every day and feel incredibly lucky that Robbie, the boys and I have Luella in our lives..

 

Back very soon- promise !

 

Simone x