As much as I love simple things with a modern edge (and a bit of rough) sometimes something sweet and pretty catches my eye and before I know it, I've handed over the dosh and it's a mine.

While I can find a place for a bit of cute in our home, I can't squeeze it all in. a) there's not enough room and b) it just wouldn't look right.

After all, it's a fine line between having an eclectic interior and one that looks more like your local Vinnies! (op-shop/thrift/charity shop). The whole "less is more" thing best describes my personal style but try as I do to resist it, I think I'll always have a soft spot for what is best described as a bit of beautiful clutter (thanks Jem x)

Some of this stuff will be given away (the china girls are for you Tam), the rest of it, who knows...

So to make me feel better about shoving them in the shed (there is nothing beautiful about the clutter chaos in there...a beautiful nightmare would be a better description!) here are a few pics of things that tested my resolve. They said "buy me" and I did. 

they had me at hello...

and

so did these two chubsters

free to a good home (just send me a note)

the chubsters have been adopted! yay!

Still on toys, this was only a dollar...

kerr-ching!

(note to self: a dollar saved is a dollar earned

did you really need a Fisher-Price cash register Kylie? )

And then there's this little fellow

his cap reads Oriental Queen (a souvenir perhaps?)

he's atop a vintage paint-by-numbers, I keep buying these as you will see because...

here are two I bought a couple of days ago

I do really like these, will we ever hang them? probably not...

btw, we had an emergency visit to the Vet this week with our real-life pooch - the naughty boy sussed out Annabel's chocolate stash and demolished it. AGAIN

Since the spectacular rise and  fall of Sweet Dreams Vintage (ha!) I've done a good job at looking (lustfully), not buying, the vintage sheets I've come across on my travels. These, however were too charming to leave behind

detail from the palest pink pillowslips, frilled edges too

forget about the little girl, this one for me is all about that cactus!

Do you lack self control when you hit the oppies? Are you charmed by a bit of nostalgia like me, or do you only ever buy stuff you know you have a spot for? Tell the truth...

I'll end with something for the Ladybird lovers out there

no room for trinkets and toys now, it's lovelies all the way!



Here's a list of my current "doubles":

Play With Us

The L.B. Book of Things to Make

The Gingerbread Boy

Telling the Time (digital version)

The Magic Porridge Pot
Jack and the Beanstalk 

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 

Books Are Exciting

Australian Mammals

if you need any of these to grow your collection please send me a note and they're yours. Be nice and only ask if you haven't already got a copy. I'll try to share them around as much as I can, ie. I will only send them to one person if I receive one response.

Newsflash 18 June: I have found new homes for all the "ladies".

Thanks for reading, I know its a long-ee.

x

Anzac Day

Anzac Day

Photograph by Helmut Gritsher.

(from my beloved copy of Life in Australia published in 1968 and found at the tip shop)

I know on ANZAC day, we all remember with a tear,

but all vets young or old they need our help throughout the year,

support and listen to their stories when they do get told,

lets honour our new veterans just as we do our old

Excerpt from New Generation Veterans, a poem written by David J Delaney, 2010. Found here

"Lest We Forget"

Vintage Tea Towel Tuesday

I got my hands on this beautiful t.towel only yesterday. A gift from my bloggy friend and mistress of modern macrame, Pippa (you might know her better as Ouchflower, although there is nothing prickly about her - she's more succulent than cactus)

Here it is:

All pure linen, made in Ireland by Lamont

(Samuel Lamont & Co have been manufacturing household textiles for over 200 years!)

There's no denying this is a gorgeous tea towel. It's got everything going for it and guzumped today's scheduled contender EASILY (poor thing didn't stand a chance when I layed my eyes on this beauty)

If I didn't think you'd think I was a total nut-job, I'd launch into a bit of Elizabeth Barrett Browning about now, but as much as I love this tea towel, I'm not going to count the ways...here are a few more pics instead:

Bellissima!

(Grazie Pippa x)

  

Larrakeyah...

a.k.a. the Butterfly or McCraith House. Built in 1956. Designed by David Chancellor who you'd have to agree, certainly met his client's brief: "create something wild and crazy" 

I  rediscovered this awesome modernist beach house while I was flicking through a pile of old interior design magazines.
I flick, then I ditch. The ditching is inspired by William Morris who famously said:

"If you want a golden rule that will fit everything, this is it: Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful"

(in other words, while I was having a bit of a tidy-up)

Anyway in the case of this issue of Inside Out, (issue 71 Jan-Feb 2008) I flicked, scanned and then ditched (the scanning made me feel better about the ditching)
Sharing these images with you guys should make me feel better still...

all photographs Michael Wee

The really cool thing about the Butterfly House (apart from the obvious) is that it remains exactly as it was when it was originally built. Same (gorgeous) interior (and exterior) wall colours, same furniture, same crockery, same bed linen! Pretty special eh?

Larrakeyah (I love houses with names, Larrakeyah is an inner suburb of Darwin and also the name of an Aboriginal tribe) is in Dromana on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula. You can read more about it here

Speaking of beach houses, one of the reasons we have decided to d.i.y. instead of going for a full-on profesh (expensive) reno is to increase our chances of owning our own. One day.

I've got my eye on this little gem, in Albany in W.A's south-west...

check the view

and the fire place

these pics and more via 

What did Blondie say about dreaming?

I spotted this scarf (it was the orange that caught my eye)

tag reads, by heil, all acetate, made in Japan

in a pile of linen so grubby and smelly, you could almost see the steam (or should that be gas?) rising from it. Really.

Sometimes though, you've just got to suck it up, quit lammenting the fact you don't have your trusty pair of rubber gloves on you (not really) and get stuck in there.
Courage has its own rewards * and all that, and this time mine was rewarded.

(although I didn't discover this until it had been through the wash and I spread it atop my ironing board)

It was only then, sandwiched between the gorgeously kitschy, tea-towel-ish images
(this is not surprising because heil are the designers of many of my vintage t.towels)
of Pemberton and the Hammersley Ranges I noticed
this

which reminded me I haven't shown you this:

yep, it's me, riding the wild wave in Hyden

(catch up here and here)

and now...

(thank you scarf, for reminding me)

you know why they called it

Wave Rock!

* this quote by Platus, should read "courage is its own reward"

Vintage Tea Towel Tuesday

Here's today's tea towel, it's one of my new favourites

Lamont tea towel, made in Ireland, all pure linen (durr! it's Irish) and fast colours.

I reckon Frank Sinatra was on the money when he said:

"orange is the happiest colour."

Don't you?

x

p.s. btw, Frankie also said:

" alcohol may be man's worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy"

hmmmm...not so sure about this one, but his comment on orange was definetely on the money. It is an exciting and beautiful colour.

Longue vie a`l'orangeie! 

A Bedtime Story

an anytime story actually...

I know it's a big ask, but I hope you'll take the time to read this gorgeous childrens story written by Robert Bright in 1962.

I have scanned all twenty eight pages (phew!) in the hope you will. I promise you, all that scrolling action will be rewarded...there's a message for us all, in this simple little book and I really wanted to share it with you. 

I'll let Mr Bright (and Willy) do the talking:
(oh! and remember you can click on the pics if you want to make them bigger - it's worth it to see the detail in the illustrations)

Fin.

x

p.s. it's this little label on the back of the book that really made me go awwwww

The Small Schools. Oh.

And how sweet is that kangaroo...

I assume small schools are too small to have a library of their own...

(I'll have to do some research on this, keep you posted)