A blue day - time for some favourite things

For lots of reasons I'm having a 'blue' day.

I've put my back out and am in quite a bit of pain. 

I think we all have an 'achilles heel' and mine is my lower back.  I've been lucky with it for months so can't complain I suppose....but it really hurts and the sciatic pain that has hitched a ride is even more annoying!

To cheer myself up I've been playing with my new iPhone and using Instagram to capture a couple of images that are making me cheerful. 

As you know, I love a little blue and green and this little vignette above is my favourite at the moment :)  The lamp is a very special piece that my mum has passed onto me....it is at least as old as me and may possibly be buried with me I love it that much!!  The vases are a Freedom purchase and the fabric wall art in the background is a Designers Guild fabric I had stretched over a frame many years ago.

The hall stand is something I painted a while ago in a lovely Porters Paints blue...it used to be a stained timber the same as the sideboard and I decided it needed a change :)

My latest DIY has been our coffee table...I'm not quite done but here's a sneek peek!!

Like the hall stand, it was previously stained but years of little ones using it as a drawing and craft surface had left it a little worse for wear!  I've stripped it, sanded it and used a Porters wood wash to give it a distressed 'coastal' look.

I started this project about three weeks ago (impulsively which is usual for me!!!) and I still need to do the drawers then I can show you it in its full glory :))

May take another three weeks for that to happen...........

Just doing this post has cheered me up...I know they're just 'things' but I'm a creative person and playing with these things brings me pleasure.

Favourite Things - November

It's been a long time between 'Favourite Things' posts...sorry folks!

This month it's just ONE favourite thing - my new pinboard and shelves.  A project designed and executed by moi with the able and enthusiastic support and help of Saint Mike!

This is what it looked like before....

BIG window looking out onto our neighbor's house and our fence...not exactly a postcard view!!!  We used to have a blind here that we put down at night to save anyone embarrassment but it was removed during the kitchen reno's and I quite liked it without a blind...but I didn't like the view.

So with no intention of removing/filling in/replacing the sash windows...it was desperately in need of a solution.

Knowing that I am now an expert in the use of my trusty staple gun...and having made do without a pinboard here (if I haven't already mentioned it, this is our desk/work area) I decided that a pinboard running the width of the lower sashes was the order of the day!!

The yan to my yin (noticeboard) was shelves to store all the CRAP that accumulates on the workspace...not too high that we couldn't reach them easily (I hate having to get the step ladder) and sturdy enough that I could also put some herbs in pots up there as it's the perfect sunny spot for them!!!

90 minutes at Bunnings with KAT3 and I had all my supplies...over the weekend, SM and I got to work....voila...DONE!

I should say that it's not 'styled' in any way shape or form....but I love it just the same...and the pot plants are on my list to do!!!!

It has made such a difference to our use of the space and I love the colors in the fabric (as you know, a bit of a penchant for greens and blues!!!)

Hope you like our handiwork??

Too Olive For Its Own Good

I have two sisters.  An older sister who lives in country Victoria (happy birthday for the 13th if you happen to read this K) and a younger one who lives near Cambridge in the UK.  I also have two younger brothers...one of whom gave me the lovely feedback on my shorthand for Saint Mike!

My younger sister and I are alike in many ways...most of them good :) 

We have a few qualities that can be both a blessing and a curse.  For example, we were both at the deep end of the pool when they turfed in the 'foot in mouth' gene...which was shortly after they tossed in a hefty dose of the 'let's call a spade a shovel' gene!!

Proof in point - upon reading my post on my favourite things for this month, my younger sister calls me up and informs me that:

a) The olive green patio setting has got to go
b) She's not a fan of my new blog design!!!

.....on the upside she quite likes the positioning of the lovely Samoan photos she gave me.

This got me to thinking.

Is she the ONLY person that took one look at the patio setting and shook their heads in disbelief???  I somehow think not...at least one friend who reads my blog (hello JB) has now tactfully informed me that it's a bit of a shocker (not the frame just the cover) and that it comes down to the fringeing/tassley bit!!!

So I'm opening up the floodgates for anyone who does read this blog to truthfully tell me that they hate the patio setting....if it makes you feel better I've decided I hate it too and have bought a lovely new oilcloth in blue and white (and no fringe)!  Now I just need to make time to do it...

JB also commented (verbally) that the medicine cabinet looked better in 'context' with the rest of the kitchen...thanks to Rebecca from Rebecca Getting Real who was a fan of it based on only seeing the photo I provided :)

For everyone else, here's another shot of it 'in situ' surrounded by our new kitchen and Ikea shelves (and more of my copious supply of storage baskets)

I cleaned the counter especially before taking this shot :)

On the topic of the new blog design, I'm also happy to take feedback so feel free...I'm keen on it but I also liked my old blog heading with SM and the girls legs...

Things I'm Loving - October Favourite Things

A bit of a 'fluff' post today.  I committed to doing a monthly post of some 'favourite things' so here they are!!

Things that are making me smile when I pass them...hope you enjoy them too!

My lovely and talented sister found these shots for me when she was on holiday recently in Samoa.  She gave them to me as a thank you for staying with us as they came through Sydney.....I love them.  They were going to go in the kitchen but I liked them here instead...what do you think?

This is an old first-aid cabinet I picked up at a 2nd hand furniture store...it's holding all my herbs and spices.  A bit quirky and fun...just what our new kitchen needed!

OMG I'm in jar heaven...our pantry was bursting at the seams so I've taken some of the stuff out and put it in these jars on the adjacent built in shelves that SM made for me a few months back...now I just need some labels and we're set!

I've had a hankering for a pinboard for a while.  I priced one at No Chintz and they were $550, so I decided to make my own!  The fabric is an Amy Butler fabrice which hasn't come up too well due to my crap phone camera...but believe me it's delicious...turquoise blue and the most gorgeous green...just made for moi :)  Total cost to do this one was about $130 and I got to use my Staple Gun!!!!

Spotted the globe in a 2nd hand store...just LOVED the colors immediately!  The scrabble picture was an on-sale find at a really great little store called Neck of the Woods down in Manly which unfortunately is closing down (boo hoo).  The volkswagon print is a limited edition that I bought online...we had a bright orange combi van when we were growing up so I have a bit of a soft spot for them...I really love this picture!!

Any finally to my 'nanna' purchase - the patio setting...again, 2nd hand store find...it is the BEST place to sit and read the paper and catch a lovely breeze...oh and check out the goings on in the street!!  I'm not sure I'm going to stick with the oilcloth, the green is a bit olivey for me...but I'm living with it for a while to see if it grows on me.  The hurricane lights are my burst of color hanging above the table...can't wait for a warm night when I can get them going!

So there you have it...more of my favourite things for the month of October.  What do you think??

A Few Of My Favourite Things

I wouldn't be a very convincing "Maria" if I didn't have some Favourite Things!!

So I've made an executive decision (love making those) to put together a monthly post to bore you senseless with some of my most favourite 'things'.

In doing so, I shall endeavour to give you a better idea of what our little world looks like.  If you turn into a stalker, I'm warning you now, it won't be pretty!!

I hope you enjoy these gems when they appear on your blogroll (hint hint, I'd loooove a gig on your blogroll!!!!)

This month, I thought I 'd share some of my favourite 'things' from around the house...hope you don't think this is shallow and pretentious, if you do then now is the time to jump ship.

As I confessed here, Saint Mike and I are self-confessed 'failed renovators'. 

We are quite at peace with this decision as it was in the best interests of our little family unit and recognised that although doing our renovation would have met lots of needs (for more space and a fancier abode it would have been MORE about how we wanted (or more truthfully) how I wanted people to perceive us and wasn't really essential to do at the moment....we love living in cramped conditions with one living area and one toilet!  Simply put, the BIG reno was ditched, the MINI reno (kitchen & bathroom) is 'in train' (another cool corporate-speak expression)

Anyone who knows Sydney (the city not a person, I'm about to mix metaphors and more) would know that she is a tad on the 'aspirational' side - loves whipping out her bling and dazzling everyone (cue the gorgeous sunny spring day that was today).  But she can be an honest to goodness cow when you can't meet her expectations of what is required to be in her inner circle.  Truthfully, living in Sydney and keeping up with the Jones' can be soul destroying if you let it rule your decision-making!

For us, our 'jewels' are our KAT's and each other.  We are happy in our little home and in the last few months once I stopped putting off all the 'little things' til the big reno happened, our home has truly begun to shine in the best sense!

One of the things we did was put up new clocks above the entry into the dining area adjacent to the kitchen.

I love my new clocks!  I went with a bright and cheery Karlsson clock which I had admired for a while in a homewares shop...and I've paired it with the decal's which I found online in the US and they are in a vibrant orange (which I love).  Our clocks help us keep track of the right times to be calling Saint Mike's family in Canada and my sister and brother who live in the UK...so they are quite functional and not just decorative (although they are pretty funky decoration if I do say so myself!!!)

I'm so pleased that I let my color instincts go wild...I had purchased three boring black and white clocks from Ikea for this purpose and decided to return them and splurge the extra on these beauties!

The next spot that was ripe for the picking was inside our front door.  I got this gorgeous print from one of my fave online stores, Brown Paper Packages and had it framed...I think it looks really sweet and speaks to the heart of our little family!

It also sits above my chair which I re-upholstered in one of my "urges" as Saint Mike calls them!!  It was a stained timber with an old needlework seat cover (I'll post about the story behind it another time)...I gave it a coat of paint and did the seat in a lovely linen with pale blue upholstery tape (that was a learning experience let me tell you...me and the staple gun have a love-hate relationship!!).  Also, I want to make it quite clear that this coatrack is RARELY this clutter-free!!!!

Last but not least, the thing every home should have - a decent porch light and their street number on display!  Can you believe it's taken us four and a half years to get it done and now I can't stop looking at it!!  I know, I really need to get a life :)

There you go, a few of my 'favourite things' that are making me smile!

Last but not least, one of my most favourite things...our littlest KAT, contemplating 'Life at Four' on the hammock recently :)

Photo credit at the request of my bossy sister - image captured by the very clever and talented photographer Sara Levesley (that would be my sister!!!)