Recyled Pencil Jar

Here's something quick and easy I made to pretty up my desk.

Here's what I did.  Got an old glass jar.  This was a jar of olives from the supermarket.  Soak the label off and clean it.

Tie some ribbon around the jar.

Add some embellishment.  I used a clay tag I had left over from when I made the clay tags for my gallery wall (see post here).  I stamped the clay with a clock face while wet, then rubbed it with a burnt umber paint wash when it was dry.  I attached it to the ribbon with beading wire.

Then I added my pens and pencils and placed it on my desk next to an old toast rack I use to hold inspiring pictures.

Simple and stylish.

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I Think I'm a Bit of a Romantic

I love pinning.  It teaches you a lot about yourself. 

beach house in the city via pinterest

My mum, who follows me on pinterest, was scrolling down her home page viewing new pins when she noticed a white/pastel romantic style picture, and thought, I bet that's one of Kylie's pins.  Sure enough, it was.  We were talking about this and I told her I was surprised to notice that so many of my pins are in a soft, romantic style.  

strandviksvillan via pinterest

If you asked me to describe my decorating style I would have said I was more Pottery Barn/Hamptons meets French with a bit of vintage and shabby thrown in, but many of my pins point to a soft romantic style.  Here are some:

Air Kiss Blog via pinterest

repinned from Cindy Gast

misstomissus via pinterest

The Lettered Cottage via pinterest

Poppytalk via pinterest

house to home via pinterest

room envy via pinterest

the little big co via pinterest

johanna vintage via pinterest

sweet pea and willow via pinterest

What do you think my decorating style is?  What's yours?

Off to do some more pinning now.

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Master Bedroom Furniture

Our master bedroom is simple and uncluttered.  I wanted it to feel peaceful and relaxing.  When we returned from London a year ago we no longer owned a bed, so this was the first thing we bought.  Our bed is the Trieste bed from Domayne.  It is a wing back bed frame and base, upholstered in Warwick Linnum fabric in slate.

I love the studded detailing across the head of the bed

and the timber feet

I love white bed linen with some textural detail such as gathers, pleats or embroidery.  This cover from Freedom has lots of detail.

The bedside tables (nightstands) are from an antique/furniture shop in Northcote Road, Battersea, London.  I bought them before we left.

I love the carved detail

And lime washed style top

They are so pretty

So the Master bedroom is nearly complete.  I'd just like a big comfy chaise lounge in front of the arch window so I can curl up and read, and maybe a pretty chandelier to look at.

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The Shabby Nest

Flower Food Recipe

Since I started this blog in May, I have tried very hard to live in the present and be grateful for the little things.  One of the promises I made to myself was to buy more fresh flowers, and I have been.  Last week the supermarket had beautiful pale pink roses in support of breast cancer.

When I bought flowers in London, they always came with a sachet of flower food to add to the water.  This helped the flowers have a longer vase life.  The supermarket flowers here don't come with flower food, so I researched recipes so my flowers would last as long as possible. 

There are many recipes out there but the one I have had the most success with is this:

1 litre of room temperature water

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 tablespoon white sugar

a dash (half teaspoon) household bleach

Other tips are to remove any foliage below the water line, cut the bottom of the stems on an angle, and keep the flowers out of direct sunlight.

The roses are beautiful but you know what - they don't smell.  They seem to be grown for looks rather than perfume. 

Still they are beautiful.

I know 3 women my age with children the same ages as my children who have all fought their own battle with breast cancer - be grateful.

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Painting the Master Bedroom

A number of years ago I convinced my husband that we needed a green feature wall in our bedroom.  In fact we painted two.  I can't live with it any longer, so I've repainted our bedroom.

Here is the before.  A green feature wall behind our bed. 

Originally we had an ensemble bed with a lilac headboard that matched the old lilac curtains.

At the other end of the room, we have a parent's retreat area and I had painted the end wall green too. (What was I thinking?)

Our whole house is painted Taubman's Arizona White which is a slightly pink/caramel white.  It works well with the Paperbark aluminum windows.  I repainted all the skirting boards and door/window trims in Arizona White to freshen them up.  After weeks of indecision, I finally decided to paint the walls in Arizona White quarter strength.

You can see how much lighter and brighter the quarter strength is.

So all the walls are freshly painted.

I think my grandmother's secretaire looks so pretty against the pale walls.

and as for the wall behind the bed ... I couldn't help myself, I painted it Taubman's Athena.  I thought a pale wall would look wrong behind the slate upholstered bed.

The neutral colour scheme is so relaxing and I love it.

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Linen Cupboard Sorted

Now that the front of my linen cupboard looks so pretty ...

See post here

I thought it was time to tackle the inside.  So the before ....

and the after....

Here's what I did.  I lined the shelves with pretty paper and painted some veranda brackets white to use as shelf dividers.

I made pretty labels for each shelf.  The scroll frame is from The Graphics Fairy.

Then I folded everything (what a difference that makes!)

I added some pretty postcards I had of Stonehenge and Bath to the back of the cupboard.  I saw this idea on a blog.  I can't remember where (I should have pinned it, then I'd know).

and some pretty blossom postcards that came free in BBC Good Homes magazine one month. I like that they work with the blossoms on the front of the cupboard.

I bought some storage bags from Spotlight to keep all the sleeping bags under control.

and it all came together like this ...

Now that's what I call stylish storage.

Sharing at  The Shabby Nest - Frugal Friday