I've been tagged

Jan over at Fancy That tagged me to play along with a wee game, all I have to do is re-post the 6th photo I ever posted here on Live Lush & Laugh. Well thats easy enough! And here it is:

I fell for this wee oil painting in a great second hand store here in Perth called Turnstyle Collectables, it is packed with amazing items and inspired my current interest in finding old but beautiful treasures at estate auctions, fairs, antique stores and online. This little painting is now part of a cluster wall with a few other friends that I have collected along the way….

To the lovely bloggers listed below, if any of you would like to play along then just re-post your 6th photo ever posted and take a wee trip down memory lane.

Tag! You're it:

Brown Button

The Lark

Bright Bazaar

Posy Gets Cozy

Blueberry Park

Jim jam jom jimlesticks

I have been a bit quiet on the blog front for a while, its been my first week of not working at the Mint and we've just had ANZAC weekend so we had all sorts going on. I've really enjoyed getting back into the 'family' business and not waking up dreading the days ahead of me.

I was doing some laundry today and I was confronted with a realisation of something quite astonishing, something that had completely escaped my attention until now, despite its quite alarming obviousness…. I have an addiction. To Pyjamas. Peter Alexander Pyjamas to be exact. Since visiting Sydney many many years ago from NZ, when i first discovered the genius that is Peter Alexander PJ's, I have always gone back for more… But this many more? I had no idea!

The Boy Person now wears them also, just because they are there… And they are there, because I buy them. I may have a problem.

But let me be clear here, this is not a thing about wearing PJ's to bed, this is more about throwing off the days business attire, and blobbing out on the couch in front of Inspector Morse or Midsomer Murders in some elasticated, brightly coloured, cotton, breathable, baggy comfy loveliness. Daggy? Yes, perhaps. But do I care? No.

I will not wear them to the shops,

I will not wear them without matching tops.

I will not wear them when visitors knock,

I will not wear them before 5 O'clock… (hmm… that last one was just for rhyming sake.. not true at all)

You get my drift.

So thank you Mr. Alexander, I love getting into your pants!

Images by Aimee for Live Lush laugh

Fridays Fancy

Just watched some episodes of Blackadder with all the Boy persons and I was reminded of my soft spot for Hugh and that I had not yet done my Friday post. So here is a very late (but still Friday here in Perth) fancy man post…

Sideboard Makeover

A few months ago I picked up this fabulous solid oak sideboard at an estate auction for an absolute steal. I loved the 40's decor detail and the fact that it was in such superb condition.

The varnished wood look does not fit with the look I want so I set about giving it a makeover for its new life in my home. After an expensive trip to Bunnings (I am incapable of leaving that place for less than $100) I set about about stripping off the stain.

This took some time.

Eventually, a butterfly emerged. Lovely and natural, light and oaky and a little bit rustic. I was torn. I had planned to paint it but this new layer that had unveiled itself was an unexpected delight.

I decided to sleep on it.

After coming to the conclusion that it would be wrong to paint over such a lovely natural piece of oak antique furniture. I went outside to tidy away the striping paraphernalia and give my new sideboard a light sand before coating it in a clear, natural, matte finish.

It was then that I learned a valuable lesson about wood, metal, the sun and what happens if you leave them alone for a couple of days whilst deciding how to finish off your furniture restoration/upcyling project.

I had stupidly left the empty paint stripper cans on top of the sideboard. I picked them up to reveal two very black rings that appeared to be bleeding into the wood in all directions like black rays of sunshine. Shit.

I sanded. I scrubbed. I even tried the left over paint stripper. (This brought back memories of a horrible time when I was about 10 and I accidentally left a hot iron face down on the carpet, and then spent ages scrubbing, bleaching and even trying to trim away the burnt bits of carpet. Before giving in and deciding my only hope was to blame my brother. Yep, I know what you're thinking…. What kind of mother makes their 10 year old do ironing?!)

So, that was it. Back to the drawing board. Well, painting (side)board actually.

As we had a party planned that night I moved it inside anyway and covered the black rings as best I could with some vases etc and we enjoyed its somewhat battered looking naturalness for a little while longer before I decided on the final look.

Many hours were spent turning pages of interior design mags, searching through blogs and staring at the wall of paint sample cards at Bunnings before deciding on the final look. Boring? Perhaps… Safe? Yes I suppose…. Do I love it? Yes. I do. You simply cannot go wrong with Black and white.

With a sort of Chanel/Mary Quant flavour in mind, I decided on sleek, glossy black lacquer finish with these adorable rose drawer pulls that I found at Anthropologie.

I think this look will work fabulously surrounded by both old and new pieces and I do prefer the crisper, cleaner, more striking look than its earlier natural state.

I am so pleased with the result and after all the kerfuffle, I think that in the end it was the best outcome. This look is much more me and with a few changes to the choice of artwork on the wall above and some fun accessories, it is now my favourite spot in the house. For now at least anyway. x

I ♡ Lonny

Issue 4 out now! Yay!

Images from Lonny

Fridays Fancy

Mr. Darcy: Miss Elizabeth. I have struggled in vain and I can bear it no longer. These past months have been a torment. I came to Rosings with the single object of seeing you... I had to see you. I have fought against my better judgment, my family's expectations, the inferiority of your birth by rank and circumstance. All these things I am willing to put aside and ask you to end my agony.
Elizabeth Bennet: I don't understand.
Mr. Darcy: I love you.

We recently celebrated Miniature-boy-person-R's' 12th birthday.

Boys seem to be so much simpler (and less interesting) than girls to please in the birthday department. Despite my visions of throwing a sophisticated, glamorous, gossip girl-esque event that we could invite all our friends to, with mountains of beautifully wrapped gifts, live entertainment, fabulously crafted and wonderfully tasty food that would show up every other parent who dropped off their young Masters to 'THE' year 7 party of the year... This was not to be.

All that is required is:

A Swimming pool with a slide.

Chicken Nuggets and Chips.
Cash gifts only.

And a store bought cake (gasp!)

According to Boy Person senior and Mrs X, this was all that was required and it would be pointless to try and do anything more. (Although if I thought I would not be treading on certain toes, I still think a home made cake would have been preferable).

Determined to add my little stamp of 'hey look at what a fun and cool step-parent I am', I decided that I could at least throw together some fun treats for the few boys that stayed over at ours after the party. The treats seemed to go down very well, even if the groovy presentation packaging that I scoured all of Perth for did seem to go somewhat un-noticed.

Feeling very pleased with my discovery that the four boys initials spelled out a very apt word for what I intended on feeding them, I bagged up an assortment of sweet treats for that ever important midnight snack and labelled them accordingly....

The labelling was also important due to the fact than one of the visiting young men, Master 'A', does not like chocolate. Yes I am Serious. Weird child. So he had to have some alternative junk thrown in.

For movie and games time, homemade, buttery popcorn was guzzled down happily, (although a couple of days later we were somewhat mortified to hear Miniature-boy-person-C announce to us that "only poor people ate popcorn at the movies". Oh dear. I think perhaps we should watch what we say, even in jest, around impressionable ears from now on!

Happy 12th Birthday Master 'R', may it be a long and happy year, because I fear it is inevitable that you will soon be turning into that teen monster that we all turn into as part of the complete life experience. Yeah yeah, I know... "What-evA". ;-) x

Happy Easter Everyone!

I've rounded up some of my favourite Bunnies to help celebrate...

The White Rabbit: Alice in Wonderland

Peter Rabbit

.

Watership Down

Donnie Darko

Aimee's Own

Have a good one everybody and enjoy some good old guilt free choccy eating! x