I've been dreaming about bathrooms

dappled light and dark walls

natural finishes

continuity of bath joinery and vanity gives a clean line

around the room

floating timber grain cabinet and stone basin

low dividing shower wall

timber and white - clean and simple

It's time for our bathroom to get a makeover. Now that I have started to look at all these modern spaces I can only see the flaws in our old 1957 time capsule bathroom. I had hoped that one day we could rebuild the room to resemble a modern day version of the fifties style, but alas, it will not be. I long for a simple, bright, practical, easy to clean room. No pink, no blue, no teeny tiny tiles on the floor with stained dirty grout , no more dribbly pathetic shower rose, no more mouldy shower curtain, bad ventilation, poor lighting, no no no. I will continue to dream and hope that one morning when I walk in for a shower the bathroom fairy will have worked her magic!

#19 quinn's (mid-century inspired) nursery

#19 Decorate the Nursery

# 19 on the 40 before 40 list is coming together. At the moment I would say it is a collection of objects gathered in the room waiting to be styled. Last week I received 4 rolls of wallpaper ordered from UK Wallpaper after researching online and finding they had the best prices and international shipping. I've chosen a pretty Sanderson design from the PomPom range called Obi.

I like the fact that it has a large pattern but the colour palette is soft and subdued, which works well given it will feature on the largest wall in the room.

While this baby is number 3 for our family, she will be number 1 baby to reside in our current house. Lucky for me, this means I have a blank canvas when it comes to decorating the room (which has, for the last 2 years been my work room). The nursery will be made up of existing baby furniture (cot, change table), an ebay purchased single bed, a thrifted wardrobe, existing built in shelves (not shown), my upright piano (which will stay where it is - also not shown) and a yet to be purchased feeding armchair (still hoping to score a Tessa T21 on ebay).

The current plan of attack when baby comes home is for me to sleep in the nursery in the hope that the rest of the family avoid broken sleeps. Sounds good in theory anyway. Consequently we found the Queen Anne bargain bed (my sister and I had matching Queen Anne beds in our shared childhood bedroom) on ebay and plan to give it a lick of paint. I'm thinking glossy black may be the go. This room already has a lot of warm finishes (I promise to show more pics when it's finished) with the wall opposite the wardrobe exposed brick, and the wall behind clad in floor to ceiling timber panelling.

Other bits and pieces I have collected include this 1950's ballet print which hung in my grandparents house. I have always thought it was beautiful and when nobody else in the family seemed interested to inherit it I put my hand up.

This adorable rabbit is a made by Fiona of Hop Skip Jump. His name is Clarence. We first bonded when I shared a market stand with Fiona at Bowerbird Bazaar in March 2010. Seriously, everything she puts her hand to is delightful. Go see yourself!

If only I had the patience to learn how to knit. Mum is the resident knitter and specialises in these cute little booties. Hey, it's never too early for a first pair of moccasins and maryjanes :)

A little handmade bird mobile I received from Beruta while participating in this swap a couple of years back.

While cleaning out some old boxes (yes nesting has set in) I found this hand painted plaque. I felt like I opened a time capsule from the 1970's. This sweet ceramic wall hanging was made for me by a dear neighbour, Mrs Eblen, and hung on my bedroom wall as a youngster. I remember it had an olive green velvet ribbon around the edge (must have disintegrated over the years) so I think I will return it to it's former glory for our little girl to enjoy as I did!

So there you have it - my progress update on the nursery. 9 weeks left to pull it all together.

(sitting idle) on my desk

Let's hope this is not still on my desk in another month as it has been for the last! I've always wanted to make a circular cushion and have the perfect chair for it in the lounge (although I have been considering that it may look quite cute in the "work in progress" nursery too). Until I actually start chopping into the fabric I'm not sure if the petal design or the panelled design will eventuate.  Liking them both at the moment. What do you think?

#10. The new sideboard.

Number 10 Find a low line sideboard for the Lobby on the 40 before 40 list has been completed and I couldn't be more chuffed with the outcome! But it was a long time coming.

Sometimes finding a piece of furniture that matches the image you have in your mind can be an impossible task - especially when the budget if tight. I've scoured the second hand and op shops for months on end and found nothing. Zip. Problem is, everyone is looking for the very same thing at the moment as retro furniture is so in demand. I was looking for a 1960s teak timber low-line sideboard which seems to be popular for flat screen TVs. Apparently they are going off at the auction houses which is all good and fine if you have a few hundred dollars. I've been watching them go on eBay for months, ranging from $300 - $1100 depending on the size and condition.

So my brief was to find a sideboard for our Lobby which can hold all the day to day stuff. Bags, keys, phones, umbrellas - you know, the things you dump as you enter the house and then can't find when you leave. We currently have this lovely buffet which is slightly the wrong decade for our house. The 60s styling and darker teak colour is not true to our 1950s decor and it feels too big and heavy in a space that already has a lot of timber. Not to be parted with, it will be relocated downstairs into the kids playroom and used as the art/craft storage cupboard.

before- the too big 1960s buffet

after - the new 1950s sideboard

Finally last week I found something different on eBay. It jumped out at me - 1950s blondewood - great legs and not too big. Higher than the low-line I had been imagining but ample storage for what we needed. The 2 supplied photos looked a little dodgy and I really couldn't tell what state it was in but hey, the bidding was only at $14. Much to my surprise I placed the winning bid a few days later at $37. I waited in anticipation on Monday night as Dean picked it up after work and bought it home. Much to our surprise it's not nasty at all. It's brilliant. Perfect size for the space. It comes with a few scratches and dings but that just adds character and matches the rest of our loved but not-so-perfect house :)

our house, this morning

We pushed their beds together as Ruby was having nightmares and needed a little extra security from her younger brother - it appears to have done the trick! They look so cute sleeping together like that.


The alphabet freeze on the wall above the beds just arrived this morning in the mail from Miriam Bereson. It is just delightful as is the rest of her work available here.


Hope you have a lovely weekend.

boy versus girl bedroom

Sharing a bedroom is a lot of fun for our 2 youngsters, but decorating the room has proven to challenge me. As a result it is still a work in progress.

Ruby is an almost 5 year old young lady who loves all things pretty & girly. Sachin on the other hand is a 3.5 year old boy who has recently had a clash with testosterone.... much to my shock & surprise! My gentle sweet fella is turning into a karate chopping, motorbike crazy, cheeky but oh so hilarious little monster.

Over the last year there have been sporadic decorating additions to the room which seem to have (quite unconsciously) evolved the space into a half & half boy v's girl design. I had dreamed that I could avoid such sexist typecasting but I resign to the fact that this is the reality of our society. There is only so much influence we can have on our children with the idea of non-gender play when there is a whole world out there that suggests otherwise. Ruby is soon to start school where girls will be girls and boys will be boys. She already announced to me yesterday that she doesn't like playing with boys anymore, apparently, they are "boring"!

Anyway, getting back to the decorating dilemma.

A recent addition to the room on Sachin's side is this bunting which I made double sided with girly fabrics on the reverse. In truth it was designed as a birthday party decoration but we thought it was too much fun to pack away.

I picked up a couple of embroidery rings from the op shop (thrift store) and framed some favourite vintage fabrics. You may recognise the letters fabric in the large ring from here.

It may be in need of a little TLC, but I'm super excited about my latest find from our local second hand shop. I think it will be perfect to display a mix of quirky things in the children's bedroom - all those little toys that are constantly getting lost around the house. Roof restoration required. Until then, it makes me smile every time I look at it sitting on the dining room floor. Simple pleasures.

playroom love

I go through stages of feeling love & hatred for our downstairs playroom. On the up side, it is downstairs and that is a big tick in the box. This means all of the crap stays downstairs (well that's the grand plan anyway) and we get to have an adult living room free of night time clutter. Tick. Secondly we are very lucky to have the space to afford a dedicated play room where the kids can spread their wings and enter in and out the house from the back yard. Muddy boots and all (the carpet was already trashed when we arrived so that's the way it will stay for a while longer).

On the downside, the amount of stuff that gets accumulated down there is ridiculous! Out of mind out of sight. Yesiree. The problem is that it gets in such a state that the kids can't find anything to play with amongst the mass of toys all mixed up and in a jumble. Enter Mum. Goodbye 2 hours. Hello playroom, don't you look fun! Let's start back at the beginning.

Today we started again. Back to the clean, organised state that I wish I had the energy to keep it in every day. I know in theory I should be teaching the kids to tidy the play room at the end of the day, but in reality that just doesn't happen regularly enough to create a routine.

I've planned to get the dress up play area into order for a long time now. The clothes & accessories were all packed away in a vintage suitcase, which looked lovely, but was just not practical for child play. Yesterday we picked up a clothes rack at Ikea for $14 and hung a market find coat rack that had been in storage. This weekend we plan to finish the job and install a mirror so the lovelies can admire themselves in all their glory. Sweet. I think they are pretty happy with the progress so far.

printspace

I recently purchased these prints for our children's room from Printspace while at the Bowerbird Bazaar. Created and produced by Mara & Nicolas Girling in Melbourne, Australia.

"Inspired by the design scene of the mid 20th Century and the world around us today, Printspace art prints are created to spark the imagination and make us smile".

Aren't they just delightful! Take a look at their online shop here

the kitchen is finally finished

Yay! Only 18 months after it started!!!

We love it. We spend so much time in our kitchen - cooking, eating, chatting, crafting, cleaning, drinking, entertaining, colouring, planning......... It truly is a multi-tasking space where we congregate.

Here's a pictorial journey from start to finish.

After sitting in the sunny diner one morning for a coffee I immediately decided it just had to stay. See here for the kitchen floor plan & design ideas.

we boxed around the original diner seats with new joinery

it may not be conventional, but it did the trick!

the splashback appeared 1 year later....

and the diner table was finally fitted last week - it's a hit with the whole family!!

down under + family friendly

Sound interesting? Well it is.... it's all about our family home! You've heard me ramble on about our renovations over the last year, so now you can check out some of the results. The house is still far from finished but thanks to selective photography we can show just the bits that are worthy and publicly presentable.

A while ago Tammy Everts from Apartment Therapy sent me an email through Flickr to see if I would be interested in an interview and a feature House Tour on AT. Would I? OMG.... absolutely!

Fast forward a few weeks and here it is.

Thanks so much Tammy and the team at AT. I am thrilled with the results.

PS. It's currently the no. 1 house tour on the website (.... I know.... I'm shameless... )

teatowels + housework

There are a lot of very attractive teatowel designs around these days. I'm a sucker for teatowels - not so much using them - but I love looking at them. I especially have a soft spot for text in art so these designs are right up my alley.

Here's a couple of brekkie designs I purchased from Mr PS and thought they needed to be out for all to see. I stretched them onto a frame which I would probably not do again (the teatowels are not really big enough to get the look I was after) but anyway they still look OK.

Next I have my eye on this 'housework sucks' stunner from here. I'm planning to frame it for hanging in our entry for all to see & take note! Seriously... there is so much I'd rather be doing than cleaning and tidying! Ugh.

we're getting there!!

Do I have some tales to tell! However tonight is not the time - this I have learned from my break away. The old Fiona would have sat here into the wee hours telling you stories. The new Fiona will be more disciplined and realise the importance of sleep (won't she Fiona?....yes OK OK).

One thing goes without saying.

I'm in love with my new kitchen.

Not yet finished, but we're getting there.