All Things Lovely

My Wallpaper Dream

I would love love love to have some wallpaper in my house. Of course, gone are the days of the daggy yellow wallpapered wall. Wallpaper of today is beautiful, stylish and lustworthy!

I have a wall in mind, the one at the landing in my staircase. It's about 4 metres high and 2 metres wide and I currently use it as my photo wall. I'm thinking of wallpapering it, and removing the photo wall. I'm still deciding whether you really can hammer picture hooks into wallpaper... thoughts?

Apologies for the bad photo, very hard to take! I've found a few wallpapers that I'd love to use. While it's not in the budget right now, it is something I'd really love to do.

This first wallpaper is Erin by Laura Ashley. I love the colours. From the staircase you look down into my dining room which is decorated in pale pink, blue and latte. I think this would flow really nicely. This is apparently more blue than the photo suggests. So far this is my absolute favourite.

Then there is this wallpaper I've loved for a while from Mibo. I'm just not sure whether I'm brave enough!

I also like the following two, from Graham Brown, although I have tried unsucessfully on two occasions to order samples from them which just never turn up, so I'd be concerned about ordering several rolls!

 

I ♥ Sydney

Yesterday I had the privilege to attend the wedding of one of my dear friends, Jacqui married Wesley. It was an absolutely stunning Sydney day, they were blessed beyond belief with the weather.

They decided to have their reception at Taronga Zoo, in the Taronga Centre, and the views of Sydney Harbour we had were just beautiful so I had to share. Unfortunately we weren't allowed into the reception until 6pm, so the sun was almost set.

We all had a lovely night, one of my friends Melanie made the cake. She's also made my 30th birthday cake. Unfortunately, she still has no website or blog even though I have been bugging her for months, but here is the cake. Sorry about the photo, I should have taken one before it got too dark and the colours are all screwed up.

The cutouts on it are done to complement the wedding invitations I made for the wedding. I've never seen anything like it, I didn't get to ask the bride what she thought (she let Melanie have full control - dangerous!) but I'm sure she loved it. Here's a close up of the sugar flowers and cutouts.

Beautiful New Etsy Shop

My friend Mrs Potter, from the lovely blog Pottering About has finally just opened her brand spanking new Etsy store, The Purkey Turkey!

She is such a stylish lady, and the beautiful kids stuff she makes are no exception. Door stops, cushions, baby bunting all in beautiful retro fabrics, plus some of the most beautiful quilts you've ever seen. Do yourself a favour and go over and have a look, I only wish I had some little children running around.

A Covered Lampshade

I am so late on this project. I bought this beautiful fabric from Joel Dewberry's Ginseng range for my 'Winter Themed' lounge room colours, you know, to match the new cushions I made to give the room a warm feel. Now that we're well and truly into spring, I've finally got it done. I'm annoyed with myself, but that's life I guess! In a week or two I'll switch to 'Summer Theme'. :)

So, I got this lampshade that I've been using for the past two years and decided to cover it. Before, it was just chocolate brown suede, which did work but didn't inject much colour into the room. Rather than buying a new one to cover, I figured I'd just use the old one. The lampstand was actually made by my uncle when he was back at school (35 odd years ago)! I love having things from within the family.

After cutting out my fabric to roughly the right length and width, I quickly sewed a hem on one end to keep it all neat and tidy. Using spray adhesive, I covered both the lampshade and my piece of fabric and waited until they went tacky.

Once the fabric was stuck on, I went around and gave it another little trim just so there wasn't too much overhang. Once it was trimmed, I stuck some double sided tape to the fabric and pressed it down around the inside rim of the shade.

I also stuck some ribbon on inside the lamp just to cover the ugliness of the fabric inside. it took all of about 10 minutes and now I have a lovely new lampshade, which gives some really nice colour to the lounge room.

A Question For You...

This is certainly not what I would normally post about on here, and is quite personal. However, I have a dilemma and I figure this may be a good way to get lots of feedback. So... here goes.

A year ago. now almost to the day my fiance and I broke up. It wasn't pretty. Far from it. I have kept the ring, which was my absolute dream ring. I'm including a photo so you can see why i would love it.

Now, here comes my question. This ring now means nothing to me, except a whole lot of money tied up in diamonds and gold. I have tried and tried to sell it (obviously without giving it away, cancelling a wedding costs a lot of money and I need to recoup! LOL). I hate the thought of if just sitting at the bottom of a drawer where it's resided for the past 12 months.

Do you think I can ever wear it again? What's the etiquette on this? I love it, it means nothing and it's so dam pretty! Has anyone else been through this? What have you done with the ring? Do you wear it - not on the left hand but as a dress ring?

Hmmm.... I have things to ponder. Would love all your thoughts.

Gorgeous Ottoman Boxes

I found these on the lovely Absolutely Beautiful Things blog, and had to share if you hadn't already seen them.

They are beautiful miniature ottomans, from the shop Live A Plush Life. Each are handmade and I think are just exquisite.

Sadly, given the $85 price tag, I may have to pop them on my wishlist for a little while. I would love to have one on my desk though. They come in these three gorgeous colours as well. I even love just how they are photographed!

Backyard Progress

My backyard is slowly coming along. Now that spring is here I'm hoping that it all starts exploding with growth! My new roses arrived last week, and since they arrived at a bad time in the week, my gorgeous parents came over and did a Backyard Blitz for me! How lovely it was to come home and see the roses planted and all the weeds gone, they truly are the best.

You can't really see the roses that clearly, they are literally just sticks in the ground planted in front of the camellias. I still need to get one more which was unfortunately out of stock as a bare rooted rose, so I'll wait to find it as a slightly advanced plant. There is also a gap right in the middle for a statue I'm planning to buy, if I can find it!

Hopefully over the coming weeks with some sun, water and lots of loving they will start to bud and I'll have beautiful flowers! I can't wait. Oh, and can you believe my grass is still alive! I seriously can't.

Today's Etsy Love

Can you believe we're half way through September at all? I have just ordered Christmas fabric to make some Christmas themed things for my Etsy shop, that freaks me out!! Anyway, I guess I've gotta deal with it. And the way I deal with stuff is shop. So, here is my list of favourites - slightly inspired by thinking of Christmas presents for family and friends so they're a little all over the place.

I love calendars. Even though I don't actually use them, I love to look at them. I really like this one from Cecily Ink, I really love the colours and modern pictures. I might have to make it a present for me... and someone else.

 

Now, while I don't have children, I do love to buy gifts for the children of my friends. One little girl in particular loves purple so I think she would really love these hair clips, from My Bella Bows. How cute are they!

 

Now, this is really a gift for me, because well - I think I deserve it. Paris Is For Lovers by Irene Suchoki, she takes photos and then digitially edits and adds to them. I love the finished look, original and beautiful. I am running out of wall space though at home, so I need to find a spot for this.

Happy Mail & A New Shop

This post is a little bit all over the place today. I belong to a wonderful online forum of predominately women. Every so often, all of us who love crafty things participate in a Happy Mailer, where we each make something for another person. I was given this beautiful pot holder set, by the lovely Jaclyn. Jac sadly doesn't have a blog, but soon you will be able to buy some of the most amazing softie toys at the brand new online baby shop, Eclectic Baby... more on that in a bit. I absolutely love this, Jac knows my love of Amy Butler so she made sure she tracked down some of her fabric. How lovely, she is so talented this one! They look so cute in my kitchen, I'm very spoiled.

 

Now, on to the next part of my post. My friend Emma has today realised a long held dream of having her own shop. Emma is a mum of two handsome boys, and today she has opened her very own online shop, Eclectic Baby! My own Avonlea Designs is actually one of the suppliers, plus she has many other fabulous crafters, as well as her own talented self supplying gorgeous, functional and fabulous handmade baby accessories, nappies, slings and softies as I mentioned before.

 

Do yourself a favour and pop on over and check it out. And keep going back, because it will be updated all the time.

Now This Makes Me Feel Better

I've been feeling really miserable sick lately, I just wish winter would go away! The calendar says it's Spring, but seriously it is cold and wet and just disgusting.

Anyway, this pile of happiness sure cheered me up. I love fabric all piled up, it just looks so pretty... just before you hack right into it.

Spring Has Sprung

I love Spring, I should say I heart Spring! The flowers and beautiful smells come out, and life is good once again. Unfortunately the weather here in Sydney is cold and wet, but hopefully it's not going to last long.

So, it's time to do some more to my garden. I adore roses, my parents have always had a stunning rose gardem which my Dad in particular tends with a lot of love and care. In my own home I am hoping to achieve even half of that beauty.

Some of my favourite roses are David Austin roses, their 'old fashioned' style, beauty and fragrance makes me smile. I have just ordered six of them, so hopefully they arrive soon and I can plant them.

From left to right: Scepter’d Isle, The Endeavour, The Mayflower, Comtes de Champagne, Kathryn Morley, Grace

Office Organisation

I am slowly getting my studio ready, it seems to be taking me absolutely forever! So frustrating since I am the kind of person who likes things done yesterday. I started painting all my old furniture white, and then ended up sick so I'm worried the two are related so I'm a bit apprehensive to keep painting again. But I must!

In the meantime, I'm trying to get some inspiration as to how to organise everything. The decorating I have as a picture in my mind, but I went looking today for some organisation inspiration. I've now come away a little depressed that we don't have Pottery Barn in Australia, we seem to miss all the good stuff! Just look at this lovely setup here.

I also found on their website the Bedford Recharge Station,  is there a prettier way to organise everything that needs charging? Sadly, even to ship this stuff would cost a fortune.

Also, is this whole office setup. I'm hoping to do something similar with the shelves over my sewing desk to hold little bits and pieces. I also adore the dark blue wall, but it's a bit late now for that.

So, after getting depressed at all the beautiful things I couldn't have I took myself away from Pottery Barn and checked out Flickr to see what everyone else is up to.

I like this basic setup, lots of storage to make everything all neat and tidy. I love the shelves with cannisters filled with odds and ends. Image by Scrap Nancy's on Flickr.

 

Not only do I adore the wall decal in this office, but all the boxes. It just appeals to my sense of order. Image by etihwnaj on Flickr.

So, how is your office or stuido/workspace organised? I'd love to see photos or hear what you do to keep everything in its place so you know where it is.