paddington love

Until last year I didn't know Paddington in Brisbane existed. This year I have been there half a dozen times already! I love taking friends and family there when I see them in Brisbane. It doesn't hurt that my  wedding dress boutique is in Paddington either! It's hard that I am in MAJOR savings mode for the wedding! :( So many pretty things.

I tried on MY wedding dress today for the first time. It was a bit surreal, and now my wedding seems real. Not just some distant concept. Realising the other nights that it is next month was a bit scary too!!

I go to drop into a few of my favourite shops-I'm lucky I don't live close by I think! Blake and Taylor is one of my favourites. I wish I could have the whole shop, including all the beautiful furniture.

I picked up a little wooden caddy for the kitchen. It was constantly annoying me that we would have salt and pepper dropping on the shelf, and a yuccky oil mark from the bottom on the olive oil bottle. Not anymore!

I also picked up two sweet clay charms, with french quotes on them. Not sure what I will do with them yet.

There is only one happiness in life, it is to love and be loved
I love you to the depth and width and height my soul can reach

I love walking around Paddington, and seeing all the houses that are of a similar era and style to our blue house, that are already done up. I find it so inspiring, and great for ideas. I took a few pictures on my wanderings-excuse the awful iPhone shots!

I kept going up to the Antique Centre. I love how every time I go there are different things to see. Again, I would love to take so much of it home with me! Here are a few things that particularly stuck out for me. Again, bad iphone pics, TERRIBLE lighting, and not much room! Sorry!

Love this-but would have to paint it to get it into my house!

Pretty silver

Beautiful old wooden furniture!

This makes me sad. My grandparents had this exact sideboard in their dining room, it was an oiled teak, with a matching table. I didn't want it at the time, and didn't think it was very practical-partly I was moving between addresses regularly, and they were mostly smallish share houses, and partly because it was so delicate-you couldn't put hot or cold things directly onto it, you couldn't spill water onto it... So it was sold. For a really low price, because we just needed to get rid of it, and it was in a country town. I wish now I had kept it.

Just like my grandparents' old sideboard

Being a bride, of course I am going to love the bridal fashions! Last visit I showed L the frilliest, puffiest, laciest ones I could find and told him they were my dress. He was not impressed.

I'm home alone for a few days, and have a few plans to complete. One is a house job that involves paint (and is already trickier than I hoped!) and the other is a wedding job that involves a sewing machine. Let's see how we go!!

I'll be back again next month Paddington! :)

wedding plans

We are down to just under 2 months out, and I am planning (hoping) to have everything done by the end of July, leaving us a month to do the last minute things that crop up, get work organised, and try to relax and enjoy-rather than trying to organise ties, or decorations. That's the plan anyway.

We had our engagement shoot a few weeks ago, after a few cancellations due to the weather or L's big swollen face. It was perfect weather-gorgeous and sunny-and after a few cooler days it was warm enough not to freeze in a summer dress. I love the photos so much!

I've booked my hair and makeup, and know what I want for my hair, need to make a decision about makeup-do I go fairly natural, or a bit more glamorous? I've chosen my belt and veil and shoes. Just need a garter, earrings and a bracelet now. And maybe a small something for my hair, for after the veil has been taken out. I get to see MY dress on Thursday, when I go in for a fitting- so excited!

Our invitations are designed, printed and posted. I'm so happy with them! I love that they are simple and clean, but still nice and cheerful.

Our flowers are decided-pastel, with a touch of deeper pink-garden roses, spray roses, freesias, ranunculus and dusty miller in a posy style. We'll have similar flowers around our reception, including some hanging vases, similar to below (but brighter flowers).

We are actually having fairly minimal decorations-flowers and candles are pretty much it. Keeping it simple and stress free.

We are having a cocktail reception at a restaraunt-we aren't formal, and wanted to spend lots of time with our guests. We will be having 5 white high bars and stools similar to this, with flowers and candles. There is also a long couch/banquette seating area, and there will be some ottomans, and some seating in an outdoor courtyard. Plus, room for an all important dance floor!

My list seems to be ever growing-you would think it would be shrinking by now!

little jobs

School holidays-I love you! I have spent the first week exercising, eating well, catching up on sleep, reading and TV shows (ohmygod-Mad Men!!!). I've also been checking off a heap of little wedding jobs, and decluttering and reorganising like a mad woman!

Our hall table arrived! Initially we freaked out, and thought it was too big, but a little styling and getting used to it fixed that. This is only temporary styling-we are going to hang a big mirror on the wall to reflect more light in to the lounge room. It has lots of my favourite things-a small bone box from Turkey, filled with all of our random overseas coins. Two of our travel photo books-one from our year living in London, and one from our Turkey and Egypt trips. My favourite, limited edition Versailles Glasshouse candle. I use it sparingly! I also thought it was a nice place from some inspirational and happy quotes I picked up from Kikki K. I've had words with L that it is to stay pretty, and not be a dump ground. Hopefully it being nice now will mean that it can stay that way. 

It's such beautiful wood-Tasmanian Blackwood

You can see how narrow our hallway is

Our bookcase in the dining room was overflowing, so I pulled it out and started again. I'm not sure if I like the colour-coding or not. But it looks less like books shoved in. I find it hard to make a bookcase look nice with lots of books-and I am a reader, and a book lover-no ipad reading for me! Bad blogger didn't get a before-but here is a cropped shot from a few months ago-add in about 20 more books piled in there.

This photo is about a year old-that's our stove before it was installed!

And now

My vent for the week is at gumtree. I've been looking for some wooden bedside tables. We have gone without for a year, and I am sick of reading with a headlamp at night. I figure I'll get something cheap, paint them, and when we get around to getting good ones I will just re-purpose them to the spare room. I found some good ones the other day, good price. I texted the seller asking questions-INCLUDING are they wood, or a veneer over chipboard. The reply came-wood. I drove for 25 minutes to go pick them up, and while the front was wood, the sides were bulging chipboard, that was dropping flakes everywhere) covered with a laminate veneer. So I drove another half an hour back, minus the bedsides. FRUSTRATING. Vent over.

I have linen press and bathroom storage to go and deal with!

We also sent off our invitations! I love them! Here they are-a good friend made them for us, and we had them printed. They are printed on a linen paper, apart from the post card, which needed a heavier cardstock. 

Are you decluttering? I find winter is good for it-you stay home, and want to feel nice in your home!

roadtripping and a house crash

The last few weeks have flown by! Right now I should be writing reports (2000 words this morning and counting), but thought I would have a break and show you my last weekend.
It was big, it was exhausting, and so much fun!

Friday-I worked and then drove with friends to our home town in Northern NSW. We got in at 11 at night to the FREEZING cold. 

Saturday-Woken up at 6.45 by my gorgeous nephew climbing into bed with me. Played with him, caught up with family, then borrowed mum's car to drive an hour and a half to my old uni town for a college reunion. Long lunch/catch up then to the hotel to get ready for the dinner. Too much BAD wine, lots of laughs and memories, off to the pub, walk a km home in the freezing cold in a skirt and heels. And by freezing I mean literally- it was minus 5!

Ice on the cars at 1.30!

Sunday-wake up feeling (surprisingly) good, drive an hour and a half home after the goodbyes, have a cup of tea and a play, get picked up and drive the 7 hours home-luckily I had a sneaky snooze or two on the back seat. Get home at 7 to a yummy dinner cooked by L.

Country driving

Very busy, very rushed, but I would do it over again in a second!! Love my friends and family-I hate that they all live so far away. But I couldn't live in the cold anymore-I have gone very soft living in SE Qld!

Somehow I managed to grab a few minutes to take some photos at mum's. She has such a lovely house, and lots of beautiful things-mostly antiques that have been in the family for a few generations. It actually reminds me a lot of our blue house (or what I hope our blue house will one day be!!) Very quick photos, and mum does family day care (including for my nephew, so ignore any toys and artworks!)

Dining room

The table and chairs were originally my great grand) (as was the little china cabinet you can see), and were painted in a dark paint. They were stripped back and reupholstered. 

Lounge room

 Empty shelved due to little people...

 Freedom lounge, tables made by my grandfather, blankets made by mum.

A little grandmother clock

Hall stand

 A lovely old desk and chair, again from my great grandmother's house, and again stripped of he dark paint.

Kitchen sideboard in the back room

Another reupholstered chair

So many lovely old pieces of furniture and bits and pieces!