Hello.

I have been out of the blog world for a while. I have been busy with work and things around the house. I just wanted to pop into my blog and say "hello" - I am still here but just extremely busy with things at work and home lately.


The other week I took my daughter to the Dora concert. We had such a great time. My daughter is usually really shy so I was most impressed that she cuddled up to Dora for this beautiful picture.  

Below is a photo of a new pot that hubby picked up the other day from a great local garden centre. I love the size of this pot. I thought that it may look a bit big in our outdoor area but I think it looks just perfect.

I'll try and pop in and say hi again soon.

Fi xx

Lolly Machine

My hubby dropped into a local garage sale last weekend to pick up some gym equipment. I was very impressed when he returned home with this cute $10 purchase - an adorable old fashion lolly machine!

I have decided for now to keep it on our hallway table because I think that the injection of colour was needed here, plus my daughter does not seem to be reminded of the sweets so often with it in the hallway as she doe not often go down this way of the house!

The lolly machine requires 5 cent coins to work so as you can imagine my daughter is now collecting 5 cent coins!


What is your favourite garage sale purchase?


Fi xx

Gorgeous Top

My mum has recently returned from a holiday in Europe and she brought back with her this gorgeous little top from Hungary for my daughter. I just love this cute photo that I took yesterday - my little girl looks so happy - I wanted to share her happiness!

I love this top. Thanks Mum. My daughter calls it the "food top"....you know because it is from Hungry. How cute!

Also, how amazing is this....my daughter and I were at the shops recently and a woman stopped us and asked if my daughter's top was from Hungary. The woman explained that she could tell it was from Hungary due to embroidery. How amazing!!

Fi xx

An Inspiring and Beautiful Blog

Some of you may have been following Niki's My Scandinavian Home blog for a while but I have only recently discovered it....and I love it! I love the beautiful and inspiring images of homes from all over the world. The images are of homes where you can imagine real people living - just like the pretty image below.

Image via My Scandinavian Home
& Photography by Janis of Pine Cone Camp

If you are looking for some inspiring interior images - or if you just love a good old sticky beak into the homes of people from all over the world - head on over to this gorgeous blog.


Has anyone discovered any inspiring blogs lately? Pretty please with sugar ...and a cherry on top - share your inspiring blogs with me.

Fi xx

Outdoor Lounge

I'm back! I've been so busy at home and work over the last few weeks and I have missed updating my little blog.


A few weekends ago we finally found an outdoor lounge setting for our undercover alfresco area. We have been looking around for something to fit the space for a while now. The outdoor area now looks complete....rather than as if we have just moved in!

You can see my newly painted neon pink chair above. This colour makes me smile. Thanks hubby for painting it for me. 

I ordered the above cushion from Pony Rider. The cushion matches the colour of the outdoor setting perfectly and the water melon high lights on the cushion look awesome along side my neon pink chair!


Has anyone else fallen in love with the neon trend at the moment?


Fi xx

I'm Loving Neon Pink!

Oh my goodness. I am loving the colour - neon pink at the moment.....but in small doses - just like the images below.

Gorgeous image via The Style Files blog.

I've loved this colour for a while and I have been slowly accumulating a few neon coloured accessories for my wardrobe .... until I asked hubby to pick up a can of neon pink spray from our local Bunnings store. You see, I was inspired from a sneak peak into an amazing home in my favourite magazine - Real Living. I saw a picture of an old timber chair that had been painted neon pink.

Sweet image via SF Girl By Bay blog

I had intended on spraying the chair myself but hubby knows that the my spray painting skills aren't that great so he has kindly done the job for me. I'll post an image of our neon pink chair throughout the week.

I think I'll hint for a neon/fluro yellow chair next. Check out how cool this colour looks on the cute timber table below.

Great image from Design Sponge blog

These colours make me smile! What do you think?

Fi xx

Pink and Red

My late grandmother always told me that red and pink should never go together - and she knew a thing or two about colours as she was a dress maker when she was younger. I would have loved to have been able to show my darling grandmother the images below which I came across this week. 

Image via Urban Kaleidoscope

I found myself checking out an awesome blog earlier today called Urban Kaleidoscope after reading about the blogger's home in the July edition of House and Garden. (On a side note - my daughter is so cute - I came home from work the other day and she had this magazine for me as a gift....but I had to buy it from her from a little magazine shop that she had set up in our living room!) I came across theses gorgeous images of interior designer's Josephine Gintzburger's kitchen posted on the Urban Kaleidoscope's very cool blog.

Image via Urban Kaleidoscope

Images via Urban Kaleidoscope

I just have to say it...I love, love, love the pink Smeg fridge!!!!! I would love this fridge in my kitchen. Maybe one day.

What do you think of the pink and red colour scheme?

Fi xx

Cute Picture

Sometimes you just have to sit back and laugh. I found my daughter sitting in a little nook next to our buffet the other night. She was just sitting there reading one of her daddy's car magazines.

Well....I guess there is some really good light for reading! So cute.

Anyway, you can see a little bit my my new dining chair in the above image. It is in pink!Sorry hubby!!

Fi xx

I Love Birthdays

It was my sister and hubby 's birthday last week. We caught up for some lunch the other day. My daughter and I enjoy adding a few fun touches to the dining table to inject some party spirit!

I ordered these cool paper napkins from Aussie Gadgets. They come in a selection of designs and they look like you are wearing a tie when you open them up. Very cute!

This is my very cute niece called Eva. Eva is getting into the party spirit!

Fixx 

PS: Hi Katie!

I'm Loving

I'm loving this white kitchen. I am really into white as I think it creates a great blank canvas to showcase art works and other pops of colour in furniture and other decorating items.

Image via The Style Files

I also LOVE the open shelves and the subway tiles in this kitchen that I spotted today on an AWESOME blog - The Style Files. I have subway tiles in my kitchen and it was a very last minute decision to use the subway tiles. I remember a last minute call to our builder and tiler explaining that I was making a quick dash to the tile shop to pick them up (very much like on the channel nine "The Block" series). But, I am very happy that we made the decision. The subway tiles in our kitchen add some character to an otherwise plain, modern kitchen.

I also really love the open shelves. I kind of wish we had left our walls open for shelves rather than used over head cupboards. I think open shelves really open up the space in a kitchen. I also think that kitchens look great when you can see simple kitchen ware items on display - like in the cool image above.

What do you think of open shelves instead of cupboards? Does anyone have any cool kitchen images to share?

Fi xx

I've been busy

Wow! I've been so busy this week. I have been doing some work from home and I have not even had time to leave the house all weekend! I have been stuck in front of my computer working. For little breaks in between working I have enjoyed browsing through my some photos stored on my computer.

I cam across this cute snap from my daughter's birthday party last year. I always spend heaps of time preparing for parties but I usually NEVER get a chance to take any good pics of all my hard work...just lots of great memories!


Apologies about the quality. I made up very cute little lolly bags using white noodle boxes and personalised each box with a name tag. Each box also has a sweet little Cath Kidston sticker on it. The basket has little gifts wrapped up for the "pass-the-basket". I thought that this game would flow a bit quicker as the game could continue whilst each child unwrapped their own present - without unwrapping the entire parcel (which I have seen done before).


I'll be back soon with some pics to show you from around my house - we have added a few little things lately.
Fi xx

Children's Lamp

Now that my daughter has moved into a 'big kids' bed - I get to do some redecorating in her room....and I love decorating. So....I have been looking for a suitable bedside table lamp for a while now. I didn't want anything too big and fussy and I certainly didn't want anything that could easily be knocked over. When I came across this very cute lamp by Heico of Germany at Lark's online shop I was sold.

Image via Lark's online shop

I think that this lamp is perfect for my little girl's room. The lamp is made out of durable resin and it emits a warm glow - perfect for a little night light (so I can sneak in and tuck her in without waking her up with any bright lights). 


The lamp stands at 26cm high and is hand-made - so not two bunnies are the same. Very cool. 


Fixx

Cute Outdoor Eames Swing

A while ago I ordered an eames rocker chair but when the chair arrived the colour was not what I thought it would be. The staff at the online replica shop were great and just sent me another shell for the rocker. Awesome service! So, we have had a spare eames shell/seat sitting in our garage for a while now. Rather than have the shell just sit in our garage hubby decided to create a little swing out of it for our three year old.

The swing hangs from a metal beam that forms part of our outdoor patio roof. Hubby has intentionally made the swing hang low to the ground so that little ones can easily climb in and out of it.

I've just re read this post (after posting it) and I'm laughing at my little weed in the above image. Probably should have either pulled it out before the shot or retouched the image before posting. Woops. Well - it makes my artificial turf look authentic!

Little Miss Three Year Old is a bit hesitant about getting on the swing at the moment - but it has still had a lot of use. Hubby likes kicking back on it with a nice cold beverage!

What has been your latest upcycle project?

Fixx

More Pretty Cushions

Hubby trotted off to the post office the other day to pick up a parcel for me. Once the parcel was opened (the box had pretty little coloured sticky dots all over it - very cute) he said "no more cushions love!". But, once the very bright Castle cushions were set out on our comfy white Ikea lounge he quietly admitted that he in fact quite liked the new cushions - and that they were comfy too!

Here is Miss three year old playing with my ipad. I think she knows how to use it more than I do!

The cushion at the back is from Cath Kidston. I was going to move them off the lounge when my Castle cushions arrived but I now think that they look cool together.

I have been playing around with Picasa - so apologies that this image is a little blurry. I was going to cut the coffee table out of the image due to the uneaten three year old's lunch on it and toys...but hey - it looks authentic! Little Miss three year old explained that she did not want to move while I took some photos and that she was very comfortable just laying / hanging on the couch like this. Hmmm.

I included the above image as I was rather impressed that my chandelier ties in so well with the colours of the new Castle cushions. This was a complete fluke!

These lovely bright penny round cushions from Castle make me smile. Thanks Rachel Castle!

What makes you smile at the moment?

Fi xx

TV Room

As a rule - our TV room has been my hubby's domain and the decorating has usually been up to him. But, I my style is beginning to creep (tip toe) input into this room. Hubby doesn't seem to mind - and he has even disclosed that he likes my additions to the room.

Here is the newest addition to our tv/theatre room. We now have an awesome pop of colour in our tv room thanks to a new Aunty Cookie cushion cover!

Aunty Cookie has a great range of cute homewares - and all are handmade. Shannon (Aunty Cookie) also has a pretty cool blog here.

I like the bright green colour against the all white replica Eames lounge chair. Most of my house is white and I love adding bursts of colour through accessories such as cushions and art works. 

Little Miss three year old popped into the shot to say hello - but then went all shy. She is seen here playing with her newly painted toe nails (in fluro orange - very trendy for a three year old!).

What pops of colour are you playing with at home at the moment?

Fi xx