Saturday, March 31, 2012

Easter is Coming!!!

Wow this time next week it will be Easter!!! We will be in Newnes camping with the family but I will try and do regular posting throughout the week (well maybe not Friday we are leaving on Thursday) and as it is coming up to Easter I thought I would share with you a few Easter crafts!

So on Monday we will be making Easter baskets to stash all your Easter goodies in, Tuesday will feature some yummy Hot Cross Buns, Wednesday will be all about Easter decor and egg decorating, Thursday will be Easter Masks and Friday (which may end up being posted on Thursday) will be Easter gifts.

Fingers crossed I can get all this done, finish up my Mother's Day stock ready to sell, complete the project proposal for my Project Management course and of course pack up all our stuff ready to hit the road.

In the meantime I will leave you with this gorgeous Easter/Spring session by Cloud Dust Photography found via Inspire Me Baby


Thursday, March 29, 2012

Anything Can Happen Fridays

I might have mentioned that on Monday I went to visit the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney with my sister and her two boys - we were there especially to see the Harry Potter Exhibition which is now in its last days. It was all kinds of amazing but unfortunately you are prohibited from taking photographs inside however you are allowed a camera in other parts of the museum and  we had the opportunity to take a look at the Love Lace exhibition that is currently on.

Lace Fence by Joep Verhoeven
Neo Lace Gown by Tessa Blazey and Alexi Freeman
Ceremony by Noelle Hamlyn
Spring/Summer 2011 Finale by Tony Maticevski and Shadows of Memory by Michele Eastwood 
Tree by Waltraud Janzen
Italian Bobbin by Marian Smit, Whitework by Anne Farren and The Lost Princess by Yogesh Purohit 
Fragile by Melinda Capp and Nanduti Lace by Griselda Gonzales
 It's definitely well worth the look as you can see and I can even see lots of inspiration in the different pieces... what do you think?






Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Fashion Thursdays

When I was little my favourite tv show was 'The Elliot Sisters' (or The House of Elliot elsewhere) not a common show for small children to be interested in but I just LOVED the set design, fashion etc of the whole thing - I think I might have even taken to coveting a certain cloche style hat in our dress-up box. So when the ABC began running a new show called 'Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries' set in 1920s Melbourne my mother thought rightly that I would be interested.

And in dedication to the show I have compiled an outfit that I guess....maybe...I could wear....if I was her....sidekick because lets face it Phryne is not really one for pastels she is bolder, braver and well brunette

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries on Polyvore


 What would you be wearing if you lived in 1928? Feel free to share below or head on over to my Facebook page here

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Wedding Wednesdays

Again I am being a bit slack this week but I have been feeling a little time poor. This is a strange sensation for me and one I hope might continue BUT that I might be able to manage effectively so I can do ALL the wonderful things I like doing!

Including looking at wonderful wedding inspiration like this beautiful dress.....


It's by Australian designer Jennifer Gifford and was one of the first wedding dress pictures I ever tore out of a magazine (yes a REAL picture, no Pinterest). Simple, beautiful, stunning check out her blog here too.

And next week I hope I will have plenty of posts for you to ponder :)




On the Table

I am a little late today, yesterday I spent the day in Sydney with my eldest sister and her two boys going to the Harry Potter exhibition at the Powerhouse and today was spent entirely in one big job interview.

Harry Potter was awesome by the way and I am fully justified in attending because I may not be a kid anymore but I grew up with the books so yeah..... yep I got to put on the sorting hat... yep I got in Gryffindor. It was pretty cool.

But back on topic here are a few kitchen bits I wouldn't mind owning....

'I could eat a horse' spaghetti measuring tool from Reykjavik Corner Store, Bakeware set from Falcon Enamelware, Gold Top Porcelain Milk Bottle from Shan Annabelle Valla, Ceramic Platters from West Elm and Lemons Tea Towel by Dear Colleen via To Dry For
what's the next kitchen bit you would LOVE to have or purchase?

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Brighten your Monday

Friends and Family, no I am not pregnant I just wanted to share with you this delightful cloud mobile that has been popping up (in different variations) all over the internet because IF I was going to have a baby this would definitely be in my nursery :)

String Furniture styled by Emma Persson Lagerberg photography by Petra Bindel, Cloud and Raindrop Mobile from The Butter Flying via Somewhere Splendid, Mini quilt by Purl Bee, Rainbow Rug by Etsy seller Green At Heart and Cloud Light by Zhao Liping via Swiss Miss
French blog Pour Mes Jolis Momes, Quilt by Whip Up featured on Feeling Stitchy and Rainbow Mini Quilt on Purl Bee
I think a rainbow nursery would be much more fun than your traditional blue or pink and with some felt, wadding, needle and thread I think it would be simple to whip up one of these mobiles - now I just need a pregnant friend or relative...hmmm

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Anything Can Happen Friday

This week my paternal grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.

Sixty years is a huge achievement and I can only hope that with hard work Joel and I can reach such a milestone.

Here they are on their wedding day

 
If you missed this week - Monday was all about reshuffling, On Tuesday we ate Eggplant Lasagne, Wednesday we looked at red heart wedding inspiration and Thursday was all about Steve McQueen

Hope you can join me next week for DIY kid's room ideas, a bit of Orlando fashion inspiration and a few other tidbits

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Fashion Thursdays

I was feeling a bit all over the place for my fashion Thursday this week; I watched a movie on the weekend and wanted to do a bit out of that, then I borrowed Sally Potter's Orlando and wanted to do that (well I will but just not yet) then I decided to take a look at my Pinterest boards for a bit of inspiration.

Enter the effortlessly cool and handsome Steve McQueen, I remember my mother once telling me that she had a massive crush on him when she was young and it's not hard to see why.

Steve McQueen classic American style photographed by Life Magazine, John Varvatos Leather Jacket via Nordstrom, Jeffrey West Muse Chunky Brogue Boots via Asos, Rodd & Gunn Oldsquaw Jean, Calvin Klein Short Sleeved T-Shirt via Asos, Steve McQueen via Chad's Dry Goods, ts(s) White Suede Brogues on The Shoe Buff, Lightweight Essex Pant in Urban Slim Fit on J.Crew, Jeffrey Short Sleeved Polo with Tipping from Lacoste, Steve McQueen with Ferrari 250GTL, Jack Spade Tie from Nordstrom, Salvatore Ferragamo Andrea Lace-Ups on Ask Men, Dolce and Gabbana 'Martini' stretch wool suit from Nordstrom, Steve McQueen 'The Great Escape' on The Knightly News, James Perse Crewneck Sweatshirt on Nordstrom, Brown Chromexcel Belt from Rancourt and Co, Red Wing Wabasha chukka boots from J.Crew and Tobacco Skinny Carrot Chinos from Topman     
The way his style can effortlessly translate into the fashion of today just furthers his claim to cool superiority and in so many different ways. The vintage motorbike and general love of racing also seems to bring that allure.... I am a sucker for a Guy in bike gear ;)

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Wedding Wednesdays

After spotting these cute heart programs on Hello Lucky, I thought what a fun wedding red hearts would make. There would be an enormous DIY scope and it just looks so fun!

DIY Heart Shaped Programs on Hello Lucky, Heart Stamped Escort Cards featured on Brides.com, Heart Wall Lamp on Paper, Plate and Plane, Love story in Hearts featured on Martha Stewart Weddings, Big Red Heart - Beatles Inspired Wedding on Green Wedding Shoes, Red Velvet Whoopie Pies on Annie's Eats, Heart Cake by I am Baker and Heart Sunglasses from Fred Flare
What fun red heart touches would you add to your special day?

Leave a comment below or head on over to the Stepford Facebook page here

Monday, March 19, 2012

On the Table

Yesterday I was totally patting myself on the back for my cheap food efforts and today I am going to share why.

A few days ago I bought some beef mince - that mince made us some hamburgers and a pie with some left over filling so I decided to make eggplant lasagne/moussaka - I don't really know what the technical name is for it I just kinda made it up as I went along.

So you might remember me mentioning that I went to a cheesemaking course with my mother-in-law, generally most cheeses require more equipment than I currently have but not ricotta. Ricotta any fool can make providing they have a litre of milk, some white vinegar, a dependable saucepan and some kind of draining device. Yep so I made me some ricotta and well what do you know I had an eggplant hanging around in the fridge so I grilled some up and the rest is as they say history....

 But I'm guessing I should give the people some details....

Take some ramekins (I used 4) layer in some basic bolognese type mince, grill up some eggplants (I used about 1/2 an eggplant thinly sliced) and a bit of ricotta cheese mixed with 1 egg and some pepper. Layer and then add some more cheese I used both parmesan and grated cheddar, pop into the oven for 10-15 minutes and 'dig in' 

If you would like me to share my ricotta recipe please leave a comment below or alternatively pop over to the Stepford Facebook page here

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Money Mondays becomes Budget Decor...

I am still very new to this blogging business and in effort to make my content more interesting I still have a few kinks to work out... so I have decided to cut Money Mondays in order to post about something I find really interesting and will be able to post about indefinitely and importantly what I think others might find interesting....

Enter budget decor.... it's still about doing things on the cheap but in the sole region of home decorating/party decor etc and I believe it is something that my interest runs deep in and hopefully you the reader will also find interesting.

So for today only I am going to hark back to my previous post on finding that Ira Glass quote, which like so many had a huge impact on me .

And this week I feel like I really need the wisdom that is contained in that quote because sometimes the motivation to do has to be fought for.

Below is the painting Cymon and Iphigenia by Lord Frederic Leighton currently housed at the Art Gallery of NSW. The original is breathtaking and I was given a framed print of it for my 16th birthday. For me the story behind the painting as well as the beautiful colours and textures themselves provide me with a spurt of inspiration/motivation.


 What gives you the motivation to keep going? Please leave a comment below I would love to hear from you, any of you! :) or as always you can head over to my Facebook page here

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Anything Can Happen Friday!

So on anything can happen Friday can you hazard a guess to the sort of thing that might happen? well you probably won't so I'll just tell you :)

Our truck is finally at the point where it can be registered!! That is the 4-wheel-drive that has been taking up a whole lot of space (literally and mentally) for the last 2 years is finally rearing to go and fingers crossed will be registered by the end of the day in which my honey husband will be taking me for a little drive 'just to see how it goes'.

It's pretty exciting, he's so talented :)

But back to other matters I shared my last DIY St Patrick's Day project earlier but if you haven't had the chance you can check back over the other posts and complete a card, cake, banner and hat as well as the pinata, they are all really EASY so you could totally pull off making all of them before tomorrow!!

In the meantime here are my final St Pat's shares

Engagement Session at an Irish castle shot by Kristen Booth and featured on Green Wedding Shoes, DIY Shamrock Wreath by Brittany of The House That Lars Built, Apple Green Dupioni Raw Silk Wrap from Etsy seller Bonzie and Shamrock Boutonniere on Martha Stewart

HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY EVERYONE!!!

St Patrick's Day Pinata

I love making pinatas. It started with our wedding pinatas that were never smashed, then I made some mini traditional pinatas, then a monster pinata for my nephews birthday and now I am going to share with you how EASY  it is to make your own pinata for almost any occasion.

So today, as St Patrick's Day is fast approaching, we are going to make a clover pinata!

1. Grab an empty cereal box (or you can splurge on real cardboard) I used quite a large one
2. Using pencil trace out a clover shape - it took me a few goes to get it right but if your aren't feeling confident head to Google Images and search for a clover outline 

3. Cut out your clover shape and keep the sides of the boxes they will help you make it 3D
4. Using your first clover shape lay it on your card FACE UP and trace (this will help make a uniform shape)
5. Cut your two side panels in half so you have four strips all together
6. Starting near where you want your opening to be tape the side panels onto your clover shape, folding the side panels where the inside edges are if needed
7. Join the side panels together when you need to - I used about 3 and a half to go all the way around
8. Leave a section about 3cm long un-taped this will be your opening
9. Lay the second clover shape on top and tape as before - this side should be a lot easier



10. Now would be a good time to attach a string to the pinata for hanging later (or you could use a hole punch at the beginning in each clover shape)
11. I made a hole by stabbing it with scissors - not very safe and then threading a ribbon through

12. Gathering your glue (I used kid's craft glue) and green tissue paper around you, cut strips of tissue paper to your desired length (the longer they are the less layers you have to do but also the shape will be less defined)
13. Fringe the strips you created by making small cuts all the way along the strip - you can cut several at once
14. Starting from the bottom work your way up and around the clover - you may want to glue some plain strips to the sides to make sure everything is covered (see picture)


  15. If like mine your clover is not very defined you can grab a pair of scissors and trim the excess around the edges

16. Now you can fill your pinata ready for smashing or simply use as a decoration!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Fashion Thursdays

I'm not going to lie this week I had a great time coming up with different St Patrick's Day projects and other pretty things so will be sad when things comes to an end tomorrow. But there is always Easter coming up, Mother's Day, Christmas in July ..... etc etc but getting back on topic it's Thursday and that means one thing CLOTHES!!!

St Patrick's Day-to-Night
Where ever you are on Saturday (or whenever it falls for those not in Aust) I hope you wear something fabulous AND green!

St Patrick's Day Hat

The second last of my St Patrick's Day crafts is a simple top hat made from cardboard. There are many tutorials out there for cardboard hats and they are all worth investigating, my own comes from the hats my mother used to make when we were children and I am sure it must be simpler but I can't figure out how. Any suggestions please leave a comment below or share your stories on my Facebook page here.

1. Take a sheet of cardboard (gold, green or orange), scissors, ruler, pencil, eraser, pen knife, cutting board and it would really help to have a compass but I didn't have one so you can probably do without. My cutting board doubled as a ruler and I used my tape measure in place of a compass


2. Now you want to draw 2 circles, mine were 11cm and 17.5cm in radius (or 35cm and 22cm in diameter) the smaller will serve as the top of your hat while the other as the brim
3. I then measured two 14cm strips from the opposite end of the cardboard

 
4. Using a pen knife cut out both circles so they remain intact, then scissors to cut the two strips
5. From the top circle measure 1cm around the edge and score making clips all the way around
6. Do the same for the two strips on one side


7. Tape one side together of the two strips and form a circle, slide the brim over the top
8. Using a glue stick or hot glue gun, glue the tabs onto the brim
9. Cut the side strips to size and trim
10. Do the same for the top of the hat - because we added tabs to the circle the sides of the hat are slightly larger in circumference, so I simply pulled the card around after cutting close to the bottom of the brim - it kinda becomes a feature of the hat but I am sure there is a better way to do it


11. Add a piece of tissue paper or card in a contrasting colour and voila a hat!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Wedding Wednesdays

So wow, when I thought; hey this Wednesday I will find me some Irish/St Pat's wedding inspiration I did not expect to be so damn excited about it. But seriously you have to have a St Pat's wedding; rainbows and smiles and gold and happiness .....hummmm it would be so lovely!

St Patrick's Day Printable by 74 Lime Lane, Moments and Memories by Magda Lucas; Dress by Vera Wang via Style Me Pretty,  Sweet Green Whole Food Smoothie by La Boheme, DIY Bohemian Rainbow Wedding; Three Nails Photography via Green Wedding Shoes, Bicycle Wedding of Rebecca of Animal Head Vintage; Rachel Thurston via Oh Happy Day!,  Paper Chain on Aesthetic Outburst, Midnight Leaf Ring on Anthropologie and Paper Rainbow by Scrappin' Danielle
ps what do you think of my photoshopping skills getting pretty crazy hey - totally clipping that layer ;)

St Patrick's Day Banner

If you have been around this week you will notice things going a little green. With St Patrick's Day on Saturday there have been a few projects on the burner and today is no different. Like the card this project is extremely simple, and if you only just discovered Stepford I would advise doing them at the same time as they both involve rainbows!


This time you will need some paper, scissors, paint, brush and either a sewing machine/string and glue/string and hole punch

1. Cut out several triangles (mine has 21) out of white/cream paper - I used this Ikea paper
2. Using a fine paintbrush and some paint (again I used watercolour paint - I picked up this pack for $6 from Go-Lo) starting with purple draw a large arc on the triangles, continue with other colours (blue, green, yellow, orange and red)
3. Once dry join your triangles together, I sewed mine by feeding through each triangle as one continuous thread but you could also glue string along the back or punch holes in each corner and thread a string along

4. Your banner is now ready to hang! Again like the card you can choose a different design or motif to draw on the banner for example a clover or the words 'St Patrick's Day' etc

Monday, March 12, 2012

On the Table

HOORAY! if you feel like giving the green layer cake a try but for those who lack aren't big on coloured cake I have gathered my resources to bring you some Irish/St Pat's day foodie goodness!!

Hope you enjoy and as always please feel free to drop me a line in the comments box below or head over to the Stepford Facebook page here

Whisky Cake in a Jar by Sprinkle Bakes, Bailey's Irish Cream Cookies by Buttercream Blondie,  St Patty's Day Cake by I am Baker, Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes by Formal Fringe and Faux Wedding: St Patrick's Day on Snippet and Ink

St Patrick's Day Layer Cake

It's Tuesday so that means we get to talk about food. And because it's St Patrick's Day on Saturday we are going to talk about green food.

I think that when you put 'Ireland' and 'food' together you most commonly wind up with potatoes, and as I shared on Friday, What Katie Ate has an awesome 'Irish Mash' recipe which comes as a side to her 'Irish Lamb Stew Pie' but after seeing this great pin here I really wanted to try out my very own green layer cake. Because I like to be efficient I thought I would try making my layer cake like these can cakes shared on Oh Happy Day!

So off I went to whip up this simple white cake from Sweetapolita and make my can cakes.... only they didn't really work out as hoped - I couldn't for the life of me figure out how long to cook them for and had a huge amount of trouble getting them out in one piece. So my original plan of a 4-layer 4-colour cake went down the drain and I used my two remaining batches of cake mix poured them into some ramekins and hoped for the best. And this is what I ended up with....

So you can probably tell that the two last batches I had left were the ones I had coloured darkest (btw to make the different colours you simply divide your mixture and add food colouring until you get your desired colour) and I had intended on white icing but after my previous failure just wanted to stick with a traditional buttercream, then I felt it needed a little something so I sprinkled on some coconut ... taste wise sprinkles probably would have been better and made a little Irish flag to top it off.

Joel said the icing was awesome and the cake definitely worth making again... maybe not green next time though

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Money Mondays

Continuing on from last week on the decorating on a budget theme, I have a few ways to pretty up those walls without breaking the bank. I suggest heading down to Ikea or even your local two dollar shop and picking up a few cheap frames and getting all creative on me.

Source: Paper, Plate and Plane, Sarah and Bendrix via La Boheme, Big Orange Scissor Print by Alanna Cavanagh via The Style Files and Home of Annie McElwain via The Happy Home Blog via Poppytalk
If you want to take a look back and see ways I've gone all creative check out this DIY deer head (failed and finished) and turning scribble into art

St Patrick's Day Card

The first and quite possibly easiest St Patrick's Day projects we are going to tackle is a greeting card.

1. Take a sheet of white printer paper and using Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red paints (in this order) fill the page with lines - I used an A4 sheet and watercolour paints
2. Gather some white card (I used A5), gold card/paper and black card/paper, scissors, glue and pencil (and a cutter if need be)


3. Start by cutting your 'rainbow paper down to size (in this instance 4x6)


4. Then glue the 'rainbow' paper onto your white card
5. Using a pencil draw a 'pot' and 'gold' outline on the black and gold papers respectively


6. Cut out shapes and glue to your 'rainbow' card

7. Voila! a simple St Patrick's day greeting card - if like me you have leftover 'rainbow' paper don't be afraid to experiment and come up with different things i.e. replace pot of gold with a small clover in green 


Thursday, March 8, 2012

Anything Can Happen Friday

So it dawned on me this week that I was perhaps neglecting one of the most crucial holidays of the year. St Patrick's Day.

How could you forget St Patrick's Day, eating green stuff, wearing green, drinking green beer I mean c'mon people!

So with that I have whipped up a few simple DIY's which I will be sharing with you next week to help celebrate St Patrick's Day as it should be. It's going to be exciting. I hope.

But in the mean time I thought I would share a little St Patty's Day inspiration in case you wanna be super organised and start without me :)

Four Leaf Clover Print $38 from Banquet found via Design Sponge, Homemade Leprechaun Spirits by Halligan Smith on Design Sponge,  Twig and Thistle and Irish Mash by What Katie Ate

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Fashion Thursdays

I watched the 1963 film Bye Bye Birdie on the weekend with the incredibly vivacious Ann Margret. It was one of her first films and was said to launch her career, later starring alongside Elvis in Viva Las Vegas. She has an amazing presence and I just loved the outfit she wore while performing the song 'I've Got a Lot of Living Do To'. Older films constantly suprise me with the amount of flesh shown, I guess they weren't really that strict after all, but unlike the way say the stars of Jersey Shore dress I think they did it a WHOLE lot better.     

So check out the vid above and dress like Ann Margret below and have a happy Thursday where ever you are :)
source: Polyvore

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Wedding Wednesdays

When planning a wedding you spend a great deal of time trying to find ways to minimize costs (well unless you're a Murdoch/Trump/Kate Moss) one way many brides are doing this is by DIY-ing flowers.

For me it was really important to have beautiful fresh flowers and we achieved this on a budget by filling my mother-in-law's vegetable garden with a whole mess of cut flower seeds months before the wedding and then subsidizing them with a couple of dozen roses from a local rose farm.We had paper daisies, lavender, stacy's and a few other bits and pieces.


But another option that seems to be everywhere at the moment is making your own flowers, this is great for the crafty and not-so-crafty alike the only thing you need is plenty of TIME and MOTIVATION. To save you from having to scour the internet for ideas I have compiled a whole mess of easy-ish tutorials. Just follow the links in the captions.

100 Layer Cake, Project Wedding, Greedy for Colour and Creature Comforts

Design*Sponge, Under a Blue Moon, Green Wedding Shoes and Oh Happy Day!

Martha Stewart Weddings, Le Fru Fru, Hey Look and The Bride's Cafe

100 Layer Cake, Utterly Engaged, Alisa Burke and My DIY Chat

Good luck and happy crafting :) for more ideas head on over to my Pinterest Flowering Board or if you would like to share your creations pop onto the Stepford Facebook site here

Monday, March 5, 2012

On the Table

This Tuesday instead of sharing a recipe (though we did make some yummy choux pastry filled with custard creme on the weekend) I am going to show you some lovely dinner sets.... if you have been with me long you know how much I would LOVE a new dinner set, but apparently we can't get a new one until the bowls/plates we currently have (Maxwell&Williams White Basics by the way) are chipped/broken/missing so short of dropping them down the stairs that will be a LOOONG way off.



1st Set: Habitat via Poppytalk, Organic Shaped Dinnerware Set from West Elm, Modern Dinnerware from CB2 and Scalloped Dinnerware Set from West Elm
2nd Set: Richard Ginori Dinnerware via Oh Joy Eats via Design Crush, kitchen of Yvestown blogger (note author has started blog from fresh and deleted all previous posts, see her Flickr here for more) , Home of An-Magritt on Norske Interior and David Stark Brushstroke Dinnerware on West Elm

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Money Mondays

Though Joel and I are relatively hard on money at the moment I like to think our unit is as well decorated as one we might have on a bigger budget. Admittedly we are now in a very small unit so we don't really need much but I like to think what we do have is both practical and stylish. This is a mantra I believe in for budget decorating - i.e. no nic-nacs.

So my top tips for decorating on a budget... well for starters check out Marni Jameson's 5 Decorating Mantras To Live By right here. She makes some brilliant points.

Particularly number 2 'Buy it Once, Buy it Right'
I blogged about the dramas of buying our first lounge here, we took forever to decide, FOREVER. This meant a month or two sitting on a rug and 'shotgunning' an armchair, the sole seat in the lounge room. But 3-ish years on we still have a damn fine looking lounge that though in definite need of a clean, will last us in style and functionality for many years to come. Same goes for our bed, we slept on a mattress on the floor for a couple of weeks until we could afford to get the solid, good quality one we wanted. So basically what I am getting at is, don't settle for a cheap, ugly design if you can help it, with a bit of patience, luck, searching you can find the right piece that will stick with you for years instead of months.

And sometimes you can get totally lucky, if you are willing to get your hands dirty. 
For instance in the past we have picked up off the side of the road; a shelving unit, 2 Parker dining chairs, 1 CRO chair, a Tessa T21 Swivel Armchair and once Joel's mate even found him a grill for his car. Yes these things did need a little tidying up (the T21 is still hanging about for a full restoration) but the quality of these pieces just makes it totally worth it. eBay is also a goldmine for those on a budget - we have had numerous bargains on eBay including my beautiful wooden sideboard purchased for around $50 and more recently 14 black folding chairs for $12  TOTAL. If the colours aren't right, wood ugly etc etc don't forget how a simple paint job can totally change an item with good bones. Check out Natty By Design and see the wonderful things she has created simply with a coat of paint.  

In the coming Monday's I will be sharing with you a few simple DIY decorating projects that you could easily attempt at home. In the meantime if you have a great restoration or tip to share please don't hesitate to leave a comment below or head on over to the Stepford Facebook page here

  

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Anything Can Happen Fridays

So this Friday isn't looking so cheery, it's raining here and apparently floods are on the way, lucky for us we live on top of a great big hill so nothing is likely to reach us - also unlucky for us Joel was reversing into the driveway yesterday when someone ran into him, unfortunately the woman has told her insurance company that it was his fault.... we have never been in this position before and have no idea what to do so fingers crossed it all works out....

in the meantime my Pinterest has been very popular of late so I have decided to compile a little board of some of my faves this week




Homelife via Apartment Therapy, Made By Emilie, Natty By Design, Social Proper via Oh So Beautiful Paper