Decor 8 My Life

The Room For Big Small Boys

2009-03-11T13:17:00.004+11:00

Well it has been a whole season since I have posted here last. My sincere apologies! I thought it best that I show you the new "big boys room" that is Dantes new bedroom. With the arrival of his bed it meant that we needed to change from a babies room into a toddlers room. It is still very unisex. I just can't put my head around a totally masculine room for him. I also still wanted to highlight his tree which we have also decorated in this seasons "autumn themes". I don't know how long it will last this way. Dante has been able to climb on his bookshelf awhile now, but has now started actually throwing the toys on the ground (I am becoming quite familiar with the properities of superglue!) So, without further ado, I present Dantes Room:

This was taken through the very, very dirty mirror - I am an embarrasment to windex

This is Bonzer the Koala. I sewed him last week from a pattern that I really struggled with. Might need to stick with more simpler things!

The Falling Leaves of Autumn

The other side of the room - This is where Dantes most precious belongings are kept - The normal toys litter the loungeroom

Dantes bed. I said in my other blog that the bedhead was solid. Guess I was wrong? On the bed lies the bear Joe brought Dante when he was born and a puppy dog gifted from a neighbour.

Quilting in the quiet moments.

2008-12-29T15:04:00.002+11:00

Presenting my weekend project!

Trying to get used to my new sewing machine that my darling husband gave me for christmas, I decided to attempt a quilt - Nothing special, just some scrap materials, no measurements, just have a fiddle and see what comes of it Presto!

Now, due to the fact I did not follow ANY instructions, nor did I measure - the quilt has a couple (ha!) of mistakes - proving the theory that measuring and instructions ARE quite important. But it is my quilt and I love it. Doesn't matter that it somehow has five corners ;)

I am thinking of adding some red applique (?) flowers to it, just to brighten it up a bit (oh, and hide those BIG mistakes!)

leaf

2008-11-10T09:56:00.003+11:00

After painting the tree on Dante's wall and showing it off to everyone that came to the house (sorry you jehova's wittnesses - they couldn't wait to get out! hehehe), my girlfriend decided to make a little special something for Dant's tree.

Mel is a highly accomplished Glass Artist with works in the National At Gallery of Australia among heaps of other galleries around the world. I have admired her work - so detailed and focused - there is no way I could even sit long enough to contemplate doing the stuff she does. Anyway - she made us a leaf for the tree. Of course, there is no way I would be blu-tacking this beauty to the wall, so I am thinking of putting in in a box-frame and then hanging it in Dant's room. Check it out - amazing stuff!

Hug a Tree

2008-10-12T20:23:00.005+11:00

So this weekend I finally got to achieve another project: Project Tree!

Joe brought home his light-pro from work and I was able to source an image of a tree from the net (shhh don't tell the copywriters!) and projected it onto the wall. I then drew an outline of the tree with some adjustments - just to make it my own!

I then mixed up some paint, some warm red, warm yellow and some canary yellow mixed with copper metalic paint - all acrylic. I then painted. This is what I ended up with. The idea is to change to the foilage of the tree every season or so and to start Dante's creative juices to work out how he would lke to decorate it. Of course - this time around he had no idea what was going on!

I knew that I wanted an owl and Joe said he would like the tree to have green leaves. I did both of these using scrapbook paper in different shades of green. The Owl was also done with scrapbook paper with vintage (yay!) themes.

Some future additions might be some more animals - I am thinking a Koala or possum, maybe even Shilo might get an opportunity to star alongside the trunk of the tree!

I also intend to try using different textiles each time we decorate, maybe fabric, celophane etc but right now I am just going to go sit under our tree and rest.

My current love affairs

2008-09-30T09:31:00.004+10:00

So it has been a while since I have been a "regular" blogger, could be something to do with winter leaving, spring in full swing and all that sort of stuff! But I did promise that I would be posting some things that I just really love and really want to buy.

So here it goes, First off we have a tree. Well, its not technically something I want to buy, it is something I really want to do to Dantes room. This is the closest design that I like. Basically I will transfer this tree or something similar onto Dantes wall using a light-pro. We will then paint it - Haven't really decided on a colour - it was going to be a brown, but I have seen a really awesome gray tree that was quite subtle and beautiful. Anyway, we will then decorate the tree as we go through the seasons, blu-tack flowers in spring, leaves in summer, a bird or two in winter etc. It gets Dante involved in some craft and gives him a bit of artistic licence as he gets older to change the look and feel of his room. I know that this sort of thing is old hat now and the trend-setters are now totally getting rid of this sort of thing, but it sometimes takes me a long time to really work out if I like and want something and I have definatley decided I want this!

Oh my love affair with this bed. I just LOVE it. This is the day bed I have had my eye on since forever and ever. It is from IKEA. There are storage drawers underneath and it is basically a single bed on top. This means as it is it is a lounge cum single bed for our spare room. Pull out the drawers and then it becomes a double bed. How great is that! Not sure of the comfort level of this thing but it will most likely depend on the sort of mattress we get. I just love it. Having it in white will be great to fit in with any style also. I know I am not a big fan of white, prefering more colour and risk, but I think in pieces like this, it pays to go mega-neutral.
Now to go next to a bed, what better than a side table? This table is from the same range and I just love the design, simple but still full of character. While I don't think I will actually purchase this table, I really do love it and can see it in almost any room of my house, even by the front door with a plant sitting on it. Ah well, dream away Ally!
Well thats it for now, I have been spending sometime working on our garden and have some ideas that I want to talk about on here, so next time look forward to hearing about our backyard!

opps

2008-09-21T10:56:00.002+10:00

I just did two massive blogs for this site and then realised i published them on my other blog page - please go there and come back soon for some more ally stuff ups this week!

Things With Wings....

2008-09-17T15:17:00.002+10:00

I have been promising my sister that I would show her this purchase of mine as she is going through a "dragonfly" stage at the moment. As it was her birthday yesterday and I had to cut the birthday phone call short due to a babysitting stint, I thought I would try and remember my passwords and finally put a blog up!

I love this water jug - really love it, so much I almost want to marry it. I probably would marry it, only I saw the bigger version in the shop and am saving my heart for that! It is a bit small for use as a water jug at parties, and who am I kidding - as if we EVER drink WATER at parties - mean - who does that??

So at the moment, it is hiding the cracked tile paint (which I am yet to fix) next to the stove and is my utensil holder - Cute and handy.

The other purchase was a thank you gift from my mother when she came to stay (ohhh how my kitchen LOVES her visits - and I do too!). I have been searching for a teapot fit for my elephant tea and I finally found it. It is pretty commerical, one from Wheel & Barrow but I just loved the colour. Not quite our laminate bench top, but it matches with my Marie CLaire Recipe Journal which is Red (tiles) and Aqua (teapot!). I love the oval shape - not round of this precious little gem, and the butterflies are adorable. Along with the teapot, also recieved two matching mugs which is just perfect!

Enough Tea to Feed an Elephant

2008-08-18T20:47:00.004+10:00

My mum (hi mum!) saw me drooling over these tins at David Jones when she was last in Canberra, and left these on the table for me when she was last here. They are tea cannisters, the blue is a Breakfast Tea and the green is an Earl Grey. I am not a big tea drinker (I need the coffee!) but when I do indulge, I like to use tea leaves, none of that paper teabag rubbish please! When the weather turns from hot to cold, or cold to hot I like to drink my earl grey with a wedge of lemon.

I love these elephants - they look to stoic, so scared that I am going to rip their lids off and consume all that tea! My grandma who recently passed away loved elephants and collected all sorts of elephants until she left her home and had no more room for them! These cannisters really remind me of her, and so I have put them near my window-sill next to her glass birds and flowers that I received from her.

So, fancy a cuppa?

Glass Necklace

2008-08-12T12:23:00.004+10:00

This was a gift I recieved for my birthday on the weekend - It is a glass pendant on a silver necklace. I absolutely LOVE it. My friends who are both glass artists gave it to me, and it was designed and made by one of their colleagues, Sophia Emmett - if you go to this site you will actually see the piece in a much better photo! Anyway,it is clear glass with a frosted outside and inside it is a solid red.

Vintage Fabric

2008-08-07T13:55:00.003+10:00

I have been going a bit crazy on EBAY buying all sorts of fabrics, mainly vintage. It is for my latest "new thing" - Quilting. I am determined to make a quilt. I have all sorts of fabrics that are fat 1/4's but none of them really go with each other. I also have no quilting tools yet - At the moment, I am just fabric shopping. We have a craft fair on tomorrow which is not far from my house and I am hoping to pick some tools and fabrics up there when I go. I will also need a sewing machine but am yet to work out how I will get one. Might need to hand sew my first project!

Here is some fabric I saw on ebay and just fell in love with it. It is so country, so nanna-ish, yet so gorgeous! I bought 2 fat quarters as I thought I might just use it to cover some canvasses for the living room, but the blue in the fabric is lighter then our living room blue and it looked a bit odd. I am tempted to buy more of this fabric and turn it into a Queen size quilt, but will see how I go with a smaller quilt first.

Be prepared for me to show you more of the fabulous fabrics that I am buying - I have some (hoepfully) lovely looking fabrics that should arrive next week hopefully!

Lolita Lempicka

2008-08-01T10:37:00.003+10:00

Lolita Lempicka’s signature fragrance is an enchanting spicy oriental scent. Combining ivy leaves, aniseed, violets and iris roots, this sensual fragrance can only be described as a fairy tale for women and will bring back childhood memories of brooding forests, elves, witches, magic and of course, a little temptation thrown in for good measure. (efragrance website)

I have been wearing this perfume for more than five years now, it is one of my absolute favourites. I was intially enticed by the stunning bottle design, even down to the lovely green box it came it. It was so unlike any other bottle I had seen. I immeditaly think of Eve being tempted by the apple in the garden of eden. The scent is sickly sweet without being over the top (an oxymoron? perhaps but go smell and you will understand). It is so far removed from any other smell that I own and for that I love it. I wear it on good occassions or when I really want to impress or feel goo about myself - how amazing that a bottle can help you achieve that?

Anyway, aswell as being in my top five of perfume choices, it is also serving as the inspiration of our next major project (after we do the entrance) - Our bedroom, sorry, Our Sanctuary. I have already purchased the curtains for our room and we are currently on the lookout for a bedroom suite that will fit in our chosen decor, but also allow us the flexibility to change when the whim hits me (as it often decides to do). So I have decided on dark grey walls, gold fixtures (I originally intended to go silver, but our door handles are gold and are such good quality fittings I would hate to change them) and maybe even some pearl-like accessories around the place. I don't want it too girly, as poor Joe needs to sleep there also, but I do want it to be such a breath-taking retreat when you walk through that door that you just want to enter and abandon the real world. I think we can do....maybe......

The First Project

2008-07-22T20:13:00.005+10:00

So finally I have completed my first home 'reno' project that I did all by myself. I have not been very happy with the kitchen tiles and benchtop since we moved in. I was finally able to convince Joe to let me paint the tiles. I decided on a red as this was perhaps one of the only colours that complemented the pale green laminate until we decide what to do with that.

The first coat made me very nervous - it looked awful, and there was no backing out of it - I didn't know what to do so I just kept painting. I did the required two coats and was still not happy. Upon returning a day later I found that the colour of the paint had changed and when I did a third and fourth coat it came out looking so much better. I then tackled the grout pen and painted the lines around which believe me, made all the difference! Here are some shots. It's still not really finished and needs some work around the edges and some paint has peeled of but you will get the idea. Also remember that the awful mango colour will be painted a more neutral colour (eventually!).

BEFORE

This is what our kitchen has looked like for months - only thing missing is the wooden blind and me stirring something on the stove - Oh and mum isn't normally there cleaning my windows - thanks mum!

DURING

Here I have picked out the curtains and worked out how I want the bench 'accessories' laid out

AFTER

Ahh - lovely red - how can you go wrong with red in a kitchen?

So country I love it - See the lasagne sitting on the stove waiting to go in the oven? mmmmm

Here are my lovely cannisters, along with my glass tulips and a wooden bowl and vase that was made by my neighbour. Also my elephant tea cannisters that I will blog about soon!

Jaded

2008-07-16T12:06:00.003+10:00

This is a ring my mother gave me many years ago. I think it was given to her by her aunt a long time ago. I am not sure of the story, even though mum tells me everytime we talk about the ring, but there was something to do with a wealthy arab man who wed a relation and we ended up with a few items (including an absolutly hideous arab 'wedding' coat that made Dame Edna look conservative).

Anyway, I love this ring for so many reasons. I love the jade stone. Jade is good luck symbol for many asian cultures and I think it is meant to bring wealth. I love the shape - the long narrow line of the Jade is very slimming on my meaty sausage fingers. It also originally was only in by clasps at each end and the stone was very loose - I had to get it set to ensure the ring would last even one wearing from its clumsy owner. I love the detail underneath - very art deco. I love that it came from my mother even though she has now told me it takes me out of contention from her engagement ring, which I have always known I wouldn't get it since I am the fifth daughter, and since when did the fifth daughter ever get the most highly sought possession from their parents? Besides, I am already getting the toyota cressida, the 1980's TV and VHS player and the stereo system circa 1979. At least, that was what I had asked for when I was 8 - I am not sure if mum or dad have any of those things left though.

The Little Prince

2008-07-08T15:06:00.003+10:00

I picked this book up at the Gorman House Markets about a year ago. It is "The Little Prince" in its Japanese translation. The book is preloved and cost me $3. The sight of seeing my all time favourite story in another language was priceless. I love flipping through this book, from right to left (backward by our standards) and seeing the familiar images against the unfamiliar text. I am amazed that such a story translates so well, and that someone in a world completely different from my own, at one stage brought this book. I only hope it gave them the same hope, happiness and guidance that this book gave, and continues to give me.

A Spoonfull of Sugar

2008-07-08T10:49:00.003+10:00

Here is the spoon that came with my poppy collection by HUSK. I just the curves, the little hollow of the spoon itself, and of course the delightful detail at the end. It adds a certain elegance without being to gaudy or pretentious - I love it. I use it to dollop sugar into cups of tea and coffee, so even if we are not drinking from the poppy mugs, I can still share this wonderful spoon.

Harmony

2008-07-06T20:47:00.002+10:00

I received some birthday or christmas money a while ago and used it to purchase one of these cannisters, for that same event (I cannot remember which) my mother offered to by the other two pieces. It is Royal Doutlon in "Harmony" pattern. They were majorally reduced and we ended up getting them for a bargin.

I had decided that when we settled down and saved up a bit more money we would go back and Joe and I would purchase the dinner set (which was really cheap given that it was RD). Anyway, flash through to three or four years later when we are finally in a position to be looking at spending money on luxurious crockery, and I cannot find them in any store, on any web site - no where.

The plates where very simple with a border in the green and/or tomato and some had a small print in the middle, but it was so complelty un-doulton like (who I normally associate with gaudy patterns) and I am devastated I cannot locate any pieces.

At least I have my cannisters, a large and two small ones. I have recently relocated them into the kitchen to liven it up a bit. I love the pattern on this, the flowers that look as fresh and sprightly, the tiny dots of blue that are often missed until you look at it a second or third time. And the lines on these cannisters - I love the wide oval tops with a delicate handle that then tapers down into a square base. My only task now is to find something worthy enough to place into these adorable cannisters!

Poppy Mug and Bowl

2008-07-06T20:41:00.002+10:00

My mother brought me these while she was staying with me last week. Two poppy mugs (without handles - squee!) and little 'nut' or 'sugar' bowls (two) and the most delightful spoon that I forgot(!) to photograph - but it may even be worthy of its own post. We found them at a plant nursery and they are HUSK brand. I love the idea of sipping from a cup without handles - there is something so reminiscent of chilly romantic nights, and really completes the idea that a hot drink in winter nourishes you with warmth. The finish is a glazed ceremic I think with the silver print trasnferred on top. Poppies are by far my favourite flowers (did you see the fake ones in my last post?) and I love that they symbolise rememberance. Drinking together is such a socially connecting pasttime now - I often go and meet a girlfriend for 'coffee' or someone pops around for a 'cuppa' and to be able to remember these occassions with beautiful crockery makes it a lovely experience.

Retro Vase and Fruit Bowl

2008-07-06T20:32:00.004+10:00

I have no idea what happened to this shot to turn it yellow - perhaps the walls have started bleeding into my camera?

Joe and I brought this VUE vase and fruit bowl today for $25. Myer were having a stocktake sale and I have been searching for a fruit bowl to sit on my kitchen table. When I walked past this I just immeditaly thought of the 70's - the strong colours and patterns that were so popular back then have come back into vogue and I just love the style. The bowl is a perfect size for a fruit bowl (or alternatively a large pasta serving bowl) and the jug has great usage for a vase or to hold water. I think I would have walked past these had they been a single piece, and I really wasn't expecting something like this in a department store. I love the idea of them sitting together on my table, keeping me company as I gulp down my morning coffee trying to create some piece before the mayhem of my day begins.

Welcome

2008-07-06T20:28:00.002+10:00

Everywhere I look I am inspired. It may be walking around an old pokey second hand store, a commerical superstore, the nature that surrounds me where I live, other peoples homes, magazines - basically, wherever my eyes can see, I can usually find something that I like, reminds me of something, or provides me with an idea of something I may want to purchase, create or do. Hence the beginning of this blog - my style blog. It is basically a place where I can show the world the things in my life that I love. To start of I have a few selections that I have recently aqcuired, I hope you enjoy the stay and find yourself inspired!