All Things Lovely

An Instagram Christmas

Hello everyone! Oh dear, I really have gotten dreadful at this blogging thing. I guess life really gets in the way sometimes! It hasn't stopped me decorating and making things, and this weekend was one of those ones where Christmas DIY came out. I shared some pics over on Instagram of what I've been doing around the house (I'm kyliewakeley on Instagram if you want to follow along) and I thought I'd share them over here.

One thing I love about the blogging communty, and it's also highlighted by Pinterest is how generous people are in sharing printables, ideas and other ways for all of us to make Christmas special. Many of the things I've made in my home for Christmas have been inspired in some way by someone else, and I hope in turn I can inspire others. Sharing the love!

Anyway, here's some sneek peeks into my Christmas for this year.

The lead up to Christmas is nothing if not an excuse to eat. Since it's summer in Australia for Christmas, in my life it's not Christmas without a pavlova. This recipe is my favourite one to make from Donna Hay, it's easy and pretty much never fails. Add some cream, berries and grated chocolate and you're good to go.

I love sending Christmas cards, here they all are nearly ready for the post.

Presents wrapped and ready. I'm obsessed with keeping to a theme every year, this year is no exception!

For the first time ever, this year I have an advent calendar. Inspired by this printable from Room for Emptiness, I made this little hanging one. So easy! I just grabbed brown lunch bags, sewed up the middle of them to make them narrower, trimmed the sides, popped on the number sticker and hung them on twine with clothes pegs. They're now filled with chocolate....who's betting a couple of days get eaten at once?! I've got to admit, I'm a little bit in love with it. I've caught myself a few times just standing and gazing at it!

And who can say no to some Christmas cushions?! I quickly made some very cheap calico cushions, and then we found some beautiful Christmas pictures like here, here and here and stenciled them on. I can't remember where I found the instructions on how to transfer from paper to fabric, but it involves laser printing and turps!

Have you gotten in the Christmas swing? I think I was incredibly eager for Christmas this year, the tree was up two weeks ago and my shopping is pretty much done! It's just such a wonderful time of year.

 

Chevron Bedroom Wall

I seem to be having quite a love affair with chevron, and it's near relative herringbone. I pulled out the herringbone pattern for the Ikea rug I recently painted for my kitchen.

I wanted to do something for one of the walls in my bedroom and after seeing a myriad of options on Pinterest of different feature walls such as patterns and stencils I settled on a simple chevron pattern, inspired by this amazing room.

So, just to give you an idea here's what I started back way back in the beginning. First step was to paint the entire room a lovely soft grey.

Now to the details. The pattern may look simple but my goodness, the work involved in prepping the wall took ages! I estimate it took about 8 hours over a couple of nights to measure out the walls and get it all taped up. I didn't want a dramatic V shape, so my vertical lines were further apart than some might like. From memory I think they were about 43cm (17") apart (apologies for the disgraceful iPhone photos!)

I started in the very middle of the wall and, using my level drew vertical lines up the wall and then measured down. Again, from memory it was about 23cm (9") down. Getting a perfect V with the tape was fiddly, but it's worth the work in the end.

This project is such a cheap one, for a sample pot of paint and some painters tape, it makes such a difference. The wall was already grey so I just had to do two coats of white, which is Dulux Antique White USA. The grey colour is Dulux Tranquil Retreat if you like it...such a beautiful grey.

I'm madly in love with the finished result. It was totally worth all the hard work!

Like the beautiful candle beside my bed? It's from Made It store Take Me 2 The Queen.

What are your thoughts on chevron? Hopefully it's a style that stays around for at least a little while longer.

I Love Christmas

I am so excited about Christmas this year. I've been planning my gifts, making my cards, and organising my wrapping which I'm still changing my mind on! This weekend though with the lovely Josh Groban serenading me Christmas carols, I put up my tree and decked my halls.

My tree. Gosh, i need to scour Pinterest for how to take good photos of my tree but my lounge is so cozy it's hard!

Anf some close ups of my ornaments. The birds are probably my favourite.

What's your favourite album to play when you're decorating your home for Christmas?

Picture Gallery Wall

I have so many things to share with you all that I did to my home on my little blogging hiatus. One of my most favourite is this picture wall I put up in my lounge room.

This was about 12 months worth of hunting down and collecting exactly the right pictures. Without even noticing, I really stayed with the pastel pinks and aquas, and somehow it came together.

Normally I like things very symmetrical (it's the accountant in me) but for this I wanted it to kind of just get slapped up on the wall in a random display so I could keep adding to it, which I have. It also makes it easier to not be too precious that everything is lined up!

I love every single one of these pictures all for different reasons. I think this is one of my favourite places in the house.

Photos are, from left to right:

One :: Irene Suchocki 

Two :: The Black Apple 

Three :: Lola's Room

Four :: Lovely Sweet William

Five :: Alice B. Gardens

Six :: Skippy Designs 

Seven :: My Monography

Eight :: The Poppy Tree

Nine :: Susannah Tucker

Ten :: Marmee Craft

Eleven :: Alice B. Gardens 

Twelve :: Heather Future 

Thirteen :: Vol. 25

Fourteen :: Eva Juliet 

Fifteen :: Irene Suchocki

Feature Walls...In Or Out?

Happy Monday!! How was your weekend? Mine was so lovely, I tried to relax and make the most of some time off. Didn't even pick up a paintbrush even though the kitchen looks like a disaster zone.

I know I'm in the middle of one project, but I always keep thinking of the next thing I want to do. I'm telling you, it's a disease. Next on the list, before I get the art wall done in the lounge room, is perhaps painting that wall a slightly different colour. Currently, it is technically a 'feature wall' but when I first painted it, the actual paint colour was only marginally darker than the rest of the house. Oops. I swear it was darker in the sample pot!!

I'm not sure what colour I want to paint it, although I don't really want it to be much darker than the rest of the walls. Just a slight feature, perhaps using a metallic or pearlescent paint. I guess the bonus is that it's cheap and easily fixed if it's a disaster.

Wow, I certainly can ramble can't I? The question I want to ask is, 'Do you think feature walls have come and gone?' Are they a thing of last decade and before? I personally don't think they've had their day, but I am also not a huge fan of overtly bright and tacky colours. These are a few I really like, but I'd love to hear your opinions. Do you have one or more in your house that you'd like to share?

Image thanks to Ideal Home

Image thanks to House To Home

 

 

Last three images thanks to Living Etc

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall

I'm looking for a mirror to go in my lounge room above the TV. Currently it's a bit bare, plus I'm also planning an art feature wall for the opposite wall so I think it would look great in the reflection. Of course, I turned to eBay to try and find something so here's my current watch list. I'm not planning on keeping any of them gold, *shock horror* Wish me luck!!

A Lamp Dilemma

You might remember the lamp that I nabbed from the side of the road a few weeks ago, well, I've still done nothing with it. I've been thinking about what kind of shade I'd like to put on it. Colour wise it doesn't really matter as I'm more than likely going to cover it in fabric, (although how gorgeous is the Anthro shade?) but with a lamp stand this big and dare I say it, 'fancy', I'm not sure what kind of shaped shade I should go with.

That's where you, dear readers come in. Please excuse my atrocious Photoshopping (something I'm yet to master) but here are some shapes I like, but I'm not sure what works the best. So...it's over to you!

One Ikea | Two Anthropologie | Three Freedom | Four Freedom

The Kitchen Renovation - Part One

I've finally started doing some renovations to my kitchen which I'm pretty dam excited about! I really have done nothing to it since I moved in except change the handles from very ugly wooden ones to silver ones. Here's an idea of the before.

You may remember a while ago the lovely Nicole from Making It Lovely kindly did a photoshop mockup for me to have a look at what it would be like with new benchtops and a few other little changes.

 
So, with that in mind I looked at my options. New benchtops in Australia aren't cheap, but another option for the interim was White Knight Laminate Paint. I'd never really heard of anyone using it on benchtops but I did some research and found people who had used it along with another product by White Knight, Bench Top Clear. I thought I couldn't stuff it up too badly, so I'd give it a shot.

So, preparation is key! First of all, everything needs to be well and truly cleaned and sanded lightly. Taping up is one of my least favourite jobs!

Then, a laminate primer is applied. This just goes on with a brush and is dead easy.

 
Once primed you're ready for the first of two coats of laminate paint. I chose the colour Spicey Pepper, but they have heaps of colours. The can says to apply this paint with a brush, which I did for the first coat. The paint is very forgiving so brushmarks aren't a huge problem, but after a light sand in between coats I chose to do the second coat with a gloss roller. I was much happier with that finish.

 
It almost looks like a granite bench...if only! Once it's all dried for about 24 hours, the Bench Top Clear is applied. This is all done with a roller and gives a nice protection to the paintwork. This needs about 7 days to really harden up, and it also takes away the glossy look.

So, here it is!  
 
 
I could almost leave the cupoards grey, but I won't. I've started painting them all white so hopefully I can get that finished soon. I'm pretty happy with it. For under $200 on paint, it's a pretty dramatic change for the time being. I can't see it lasting more than a few years, but when I have new benchtops put in, I also want a new oven and sink so it's a big expense.

So, there we go. Part One of the renovation done!

Amor Designs

Can anyone else believe how close we're getting to Christmas? We've been hanging decorations up at work the past two days, all the departments at the church are competing against each other for the best decorations. The downside would be that the winners have to host the entire staff (about 200 at this site) for afternoon tea.  Still...hoping we win!

Anyway, apart from Christmas, I found Amor Designs today. Another Australian based shop which I always love, selling French and shabby chic items, some other things I always love! Go and have a little look see, and if you spend $200 you'll get a free cushion cover!

 

K Is For Kylie

I bought this 'K' on the weekend, slightly useless impulse buy - but I love it!

Some friends and I went to a new-to-me gift and homewares shop in Beecroft, Beautiful Things By. It has a very lovely mix of new, vintage and slightly retro items. I found a lot I'd like to have in my home.

Take A Seat

Oops. It appears I just bought this chair on eBay.

Now what am I going to do with it?! Any ideas people?

Amy Butler Rugs

Is there anything this woman doesn't do?? Amy now has beautiful rugs available, and I think they are just beautiful. I hate to think what they will cost if they make it to Australia, but I can hope and dream.