MY NEW HOUSE

T.G.I.F everyone.

Sorry I have been absent lately. We moved house one month ago now so I thought it was high time I showed you some pics.

For those of you who don't know, we did the "tree change" from the suburbs to the countryside. We are in a little piece of heavan up here in a little town called "Neerim South". It is predominately dairy country, so we are surrounded by cows and green lush pastures. We have bought what we like to call our "first step" into country life.....1 1/2 acres within walking distance to everything in town relevant to us ie: school, shops etc. This is a great place to be with our children being 9 and 5 years of age. I can watch my 9 year old walk to school down our street and can see him pretty much all the way until he arrives at school. The neighbours over the back have a horse and the little girl is in my son's class, so they play together most afternoons, and the neighbours on the other side have a 4 year old son who has befriended my youngest and they spend the afternoons coming and going. A gap has already been made in the fence with some plastic tubing surround so they can crawl thru to each other's houses without any injuries.

For me, there is a little adjusting. I have always lived in older houses and this is a new house, not really my style at all, so I knew it would be a bit of challenge to find the right spot for all my vintage pieces. I have quickly realised that some of them will have to go and some newer pieces will be required to balance out the look.

Lots of vintage and quirky bits looked "right" in my californian bungalow, but here, I am tapering back on the quirky bits and trying to streamline a cleaner look for the open plan spaces.

Exciting week with the arrival of our new "tattler" sofas which have been on order for 3 months....they have inspired me and were a perfect choice for a new house with a vintage feel.

my beloved kitchen cupboard which may need to find a new home in my studio or at the vintage shed- just looks out of place and a little lost in this big open plan room.

culling my displays back to half as many pieces seems to be suiting this house.

this is our very long, wide hallway. eventually i plan to have lots of bench seats, coat hooks and framed photos but for now, one wall of vintage is sitting there- see below

our bedroom. nice new king size bed and new doona- love my stripes.

touch of vintage with retro drawers and chair.

this is the view out one of our bedroom windows- isn't it lovely?

finally- a couple of projects underway (and many more to come i suspect)

this is our new fireplace. I didn't want a freestanding coonara as i dont like the look of them and really wanted a mantle of some sort so i did lots of research and found a picture of a coonara that had had a box built around it to look like a fireplace. My clever nephew built this for us- now all I have to do is decide how to paint it. I think a trip to Porters might be in order to check out some of their amazing paints. At the moment I am thinking about a textured look but porters have some really cool paints with oxidised, and metallic finishes- any suggestions here will be taken on board please!!

and finally----stumps are in for our deck. should be finished in a couple of weeks- will keep you updated with progress pics. we did plan a pergola initially, but now think it might block too many gorgeous views, so we are leaning towards shade sails which can block sun in summer and can be taken down in winter.

Well, thats it for me and my new house. It's been a big month for us and everyday now little projects are being achieved, even if it is just unpacking another box....starting to feel at home finally.

have a fabulous weekend all!

love Bec

PROJECTS

Hi everybody hope you are well... Apologies for the lack of posting lately, Bec and I are working on a freelance sourcing job and it hasn't left time for much else..

 Anyway I thought I would show a few little projects I am slowly working on.. Last year I made an advent calender from linen and and fabric scraps and it went down at treat so I am going to try and have a couple ready for this year... they take forever to make and last year I crammed it all into to one week so I am trying to be a bit more organised this year and get a head start..



Still a little way to go and my friend Jacinta is going to help finish these off, the pockets will be added to a large piece of linen and then a piece wooden doweling will be attached to the top for hanging..

And the second one- not really a project just a little bit of messing around with paint- we have a group lot of these bottles - which we think are old oil bottles... So they are nice but I have always fancied having a go at making colourful vases with paint. So the main thing here is not to look to closely as I still need to fine tune my paint swishing technique! But overall I am really happy with the way it looks with these cheapo fake flowers and grouped together with a couple of random things from around the house. I have to say it makes me smile whenever I walk past it- cheesy I know!

That all for now, we have been enjoying some beautiful Sunshine the last few days in Melbourne , summer is coming and I cant wait to see what it brings for our little business,

Take care wherever you are ! Xx



HARVEST TEXTILES

 Hi everybody! Hope you are well, I am so excited to tell you about my weekend ! I think I blogged a while ago how my lovely husband gave me a gift voucher for a screen printing course at Harvest Textiles in Fitzroy. Well finally the weekend that I was booked in arrived- it was an early start for me to get the boys to my Mums house and get up to the city for 10.30 and when I arrived I was not disappointed the Harvest Workroom was amazing- big huge open white space with trestle tables and old school chairs gathered around the centre of the room, the perfect place to clear your mind and get creative.

Our teacher for the day was Lara who is one the creative ladies who owns Harvest textiles and I can't thank her enough for how warm and welcoming she was and also Fran who was there to help out on the first day. There was no part of the workroom  that was off limits , we were able to experiment with colour and mix paints and cut patterns for two whole days. My only regret is that I didn't take more photos , especially of the shopfront which is so eye catching with some of the harvest textiles designed cushion as the main focus.

Some amazing designs at the studio-printed on the very same 11metre table that I got to learn on

some of the designs from my very clever and creative co students!

Day 1 experimenting with pattern and layering of colours



Day 2 finished and ready to be made into something

 So if you in Melbourne and feel like getting a bit creative or looking for some beautiful fabric head on over to the www.harvesttextiles.com.au I promise you wont be disappointed!

Hope everybody is having a great week, I will be back very soon with some more Vintage goodness to show you ...

P.S I headed to Bec's new house yesterday and its is fantastic , you won't be disappointed when she gives you a sneak peak of her new house and all the pieces she has collected and displayed so effortlessly as only she can do.

SPOOLS

Hi all,

Finally, after a couple of hectic weeks moving house (suburbs to rural) I am back on board and gee I missed work! Still trying to get the house sorted so might leave photos to share with you a little longer (at least until my new sofa arrives and fireplace is put in).......in the meantime, I have been pricing a large lot of cotton spools which are heading to the Vintage Shed tomorrow and wanted to give you all a chance to get in first if they appeal to you....supply is limited and as always, 1st in, 1st served.

9" fibre spools will be retailing for $35.

Large metal strapped industrial spools retailing for $45

Sweet little 4.5" fibre spools retailing for $14 ea

All the above spools can be purchased prior at discounted prices. just drop us an email for a price list, but don't delay-they won't last long.

Vintage Girl

VINTAGE SHED

Hello! Hope you are well and if like me you are in Melbourne you are enjoying the beautiful sunshine, I think it really just makes everybody that little bit happier even more so as we are at the end of a cold winter( by aussie standards anyway!)

I called into the Vintage Shed today and  grabbed a couple of snaps from our little space there. My favourite is the desk which we were lucky enough to come across last week, its old and solid and the handles are a style I love.. no matter how hard you try its impossible to recreate the years that this desk has seen.

I just wanted to say quickly thanks for all the lovely comments that our readers leave , it is really nice to know people are out there and they share the same passion for all things old like we do. And lastly a little grovelling apology to those who leave those comments that we don't always reply back very swiftly, I am going to add it to my must try harder list and yes its a big long list!


Have a great week , wherever you might be xx