Hello? How are you?

Well, I'M good - but my poor bathroom isn't...

Ok, so it's 'good' just not 'great'.. or finished for that matter. Damn this depressing weather, a boyfriend who is allergic to tools and a Father-in-Law who took leave somewhere sunny o'er the ditch for a few weeks. Pah! Yes, those are my excuses. That is why my bathroom sits unfinished. On with the show!

Actually, amateur dramatics aside, I keep thinking I should just take the damn photos and put them up. Because minus some lovingly placed decorative items and some shelves, it's pretty much done. For now.

But then it hits me that it just feels like a bit like cheating, to take photos when I'm not 100% finished with it, you know. And I think that you - the one person, or one of three perhaps - reading this blog might feel a little cheated too! I mean, I need to show you some skillzzzz huh?

I feel, with working and parenting, and being seasonally depressed (I'm blaming my inaction on the weather/temperature), there just aren't enough hours in the day! (Ok, so there are some more excuses.. bare with me). I feel a change a comin' people..!

I was buoyed by the news that someone out there IS in fact someone reading this blog (shout out to you Hayley in Beach Haven)! So now I feel like I've really been letting the side down, after starting out with such enthusiasm and joy de vive and then.. well.. if you've been keeping half an eye on this, you'll know where this is going.

... I know that that was a totally inappropriate use of the phrase 'joy de vive' but I just had to get it in there..! ok!

Soooo the point of this post? Let's see. Well - to weasel out of posting pictures??

NO! I'm teasing you so you'll want to see what's coming EVEN MORE! Yes! Ohh it will be fantastique! Indeed!!

Let me tell you, Hayley, I have a sheet of Florence Broadhurst wallpaper that is burning a whole in it's storage tube, just waiting to be the finishing touch on the ghastly old used vanity I've repurposed, rehandled and rejuvinated; and I have shelves; and I have a fabulous old mirror to paint.

That there is just a taste of what awaits! :) :) :)

In the meantime, I will leave you with a few things I've found lately that I love and desperately want to have as my own. One day... one day..

Lonnymag.com: If you haven't yet found this fabulous online interior design magazine and site, please go there NOW! You can visit the main site and be inspired by the myriad of Interiors on display and dream of how to create your perfect space (and get ideas for how to cheat all those million dollar looks!). Or you can virtually flick through the pages of their amazing monthly online magazine! Trust me, you won't be disappointed. I love online mags and the instant links that allow you instant gratification and drooling rights. MAGnifincent!

Style By Emily Henderson: Formerly 'The Brass Petal' Blog - this is Interior Designer/Stylist Emily Henderson's new place of ramblings. She's an American designer who recently took out the reality tv competition 'Design Star' on US Cable. She has some fantastic ideas on here.. One of which I have appropriated.. very cheaply, I might add!

I love anything graphic, and seeing this vintage flag on the wall struck me as a really clever thing to do with something you might first think of as rather naff! Plus, lucky me, I am half Swiss and the Swiss flag is the same as this, but red with a white cross - so off I scurried to TradeMe and got me a nylon (ok so it's not vintage) flag for $20! I plan to make a frame or stretch it over a canvas, and soon it shall hang nicely (in my minds eye it is, anyway) in my lounge. Hoorah!

Looking on The Design Files tonight I spotted a link to this beautiful store Douglas + Bec - which just happens to be in our very own backyard! It's just opened up on St Mary's Road in Ponsonby, and by God it looks as though I could swallow up every last thing in their divine little shop!! Squeeee!!! I WANT THOSE STEEL LIGHTSHADES!!! Rebecca Snelling, you are a woman after mine own heart.

I love them, and you will love these prints by Auckland stencil artist Flox. There is also a link to her blog here. And, just look at the beautiful work she recently completed for a client in Ponsonby:

This was inspired by a piece of wallpaper her client had. I think it's GORGEOUS!! Possibly a more stylish alternative to this. Depending on how steady your hand is.

And in other Budget Friendly news: I am supposedly getting married at some point in time.. and I LOVE the look of these homemade wedding cakes and I think I could totally pull it off!

OnceWed.com

This post is pretty much all over the place, so I thank you for getting this far! Now that I'm recommitting, I'll be sure to plan more betterer for the next installment, and maybe even learn some english grammar while I'm at it! I shall also have to get back into the DIY'ing.. and not just the LIY'ing (Looking at It Yourself.. hahaaa... hmmm.. lame. It's late).

x

Project 1: Complete!

Yippeeee I'm done! The tree decal is finally finished and I'm really happy with it. So is Lila, which is a bonus! I cut out some birds (you can just see one in the top right corner) from a CottonOnKids bag and stuck them on and we ask Lila to point them out, which she does so with glee. It's funny though, she only has a few words in her vocabulary at the moment: 'Mama', 'Dada', 'Yay', 'Teddy' (which comes out 'te-dahh') and now birdy. Except she says 'dirday'. Which is both ridiculously cute and hilarious all at the same time.

Do you think it has enough plumage though? I kept staring at it thinking I should be adding more leaves.... of which there were far more than I had expected! I did, in the end, rummage through my box of wrapping paper off cuts, cut up an old gift bag someone gave me, and borrow a roll from my Mum. The thinner paper worked, but it's not as hardy as the wallpaper or scrapbooking card - but still did the job and added a bit more colour too, which I like.

So, the big question - how much did this cost me (not counting the supplies I already had or begged, stole or borrowed to get)? Here's a rundown:

Vintage Wallpaper $40.00

Scrapbooking paper $ 8.00

Wallpaper Paste $13.00

Extra Glue ($2 Shop) $ 2.00

TOTAL: $63.00

So BUMS, I failed to reach my target of $50 :( But I blame it on the fact I couldn't steal any wallpaper paste from anyone in my immediate family. The cheek! I managed to get size, for some reason, but not the paste. Still, knowing how much these decals kits cost to buy in the real world - I'm happy with being a tenner or so over.

Will you chastise me for this? I HOPE NOT!

Next project will definitely be less than $50. YES IT WILL BE!!!

Project 1: Almost done!

I've spied so many cool things to post about this week, but i've been staying away for fear that if you see me posting anything other than photos of my current project, you'll just think I'm a fraud, get bored and move on. And fair enough! Not that that's an open invitation to 'de-follow' me... so don't.

Anyway, you'll be pleased to hear that after a bloody busy week and a whole lot of cutting, I've finally had a chance to get pasting! At the moment it is 70% finished - just need to finish sticking on all the leaves so it looks a bit more lush - but here is the progress so far:

Now, as you know, I ran out of vintage wallpaper to make the leaves, so I have to make do with scrapbooking paper from Spotlight. I think it looks really good though! I just hope the regular paper sticks as well with the wallpaper paste as the actual wallpaper does. Time will tell!

I figure if it does start to peel, I will just stick down any loose edges with wallpaper glue. Easy.

I have quite a few leaves yet to stick on, but Baby is asleep so that will have to wait.

Just a thought: if you wanted to get more bang for your buck than the scrapbooking paper (not that it's particularly expensive), you could use wrapping paper. They have some really gorgeous designs available in those A2 sheets in places like Whitcoulls, that aren't folded. They'd be great too - just watch how much glue you slap on those babies.

So there we are - hopefully I can post a pic of the finished product tomorrow, along with the 'how to' guide and a cost sheet.

Project 1: VINTAGE WALLPAPER TREE DECAL

Thought I would post a few examples of what I'm going to create. The bottom one is from Inke a fantastic company based in the Netherlands that makes wallpaper silhouettes out of vintage wallpaper. I first saw one of these trees in an Australian magazine Real Living when I was living over there. I am obsessed with that magazine; it's like DIY porn to me. So many cool ideas that you can totally steal, that won't break the bank. And hey, I'm all about that at the moment! I must admit, I'm a bit of a 'oh how hard can it be? I can totally do that!' optimist when it comes to making things. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I fail miserably; but somehow that doesn't stop me believing that I really do have crafty super-skillz.

I suppose that's why the Tree appealed. I can draw, and I can use a pair of scissors so instantly I think this is going to be easy, ha! But also I just love the idea of it because; A. it will look like I have made it myself, and I love that. It won't be perfect, but it will be perfectly charming; and B. I love the idea of taking something that might seem unusable in this era....

and 'upclycling' to create something really freakin cool!

WATCH THIS SPACE!