What's on the coffee table?....

My coffee table sits in the middle of our living room. 

It's surrounded by three couches placed in a U formation with the TV filling the fourth side.
It's like the central hub of the house.

By the end of each night the coffee table is overflowing.
It's like a roadmap of what's happened during the day. Coffee cups, lap top, magazines, note books, pens, nail polish, ipod, candles, dvds, receipts, chocolates, bangles, hair pins, etc.

Every night it's a mess but tomorrow morning it will look like this again.
Nice and neat!!

My collection of ceramic, glass and wood balls.

My tiny zombie lives in the bowl.

The brown pottery bowl was damaged in the move.

It's now held together with Tarzan glue!

The tops can be padded seats or trays.

Louis Vuitton monogrammed leather tissue box.

Gold beaded coasters found at a thrift store.

The right side has the padded seat turned up.

Storage under table top.

Time to choose a home......

Here are my first ten favorite Italian villas.

All are between 120,000 & 170,000 euros. ($160,000-$240,000 Australian dollars)

All have between 6-10 bedrooms.

All are in need of partial renovation.

Please leave a comment and tell me what you think. 

And don't forget to click the Follow link at the side bar to keep updated on my move to Italy.

 

Designers Guild does Glam Shabby Chic......

Every time I see an image from the Designers Guild range I am totally captivated. 

Their rich, glam, luscious fabrics, wallpapers and paint colors are magnificent.

 And then there are their soft pastel designs with a vibrant gypsy grandmother edge.

I want a ladies sitting room in the Villa.

Just a small comfortable space were I can totally relax, read and work in peace. 

A feminine zone.

Decorated in the colors of these Designer Guild rooms.

Simplicity in a glass bottle........

Everytime I place a glass bottle in the recycle bin I think "if I had the time I could have made this into something beautiful".

This photo proves that you don't need to do anything at all, as a plain glass bottle can be simply lovely, just as it is.

His name is Ralph.......

These images from The Ralph Lauren Interiors collection are some of my favorites.....

I feel like I should be writing this long involved description about why I love each photo but really, if you don't appreciate the beauty of these rooms then nothing I can say will make a bit of difference.

Enjoy....and wish.

The gypsy footstool.....

About a year ago I was meandering through a small cluster of stores in the South Melbourne area and wandered into a very old prop store/warehouse used by TV stations Channel 9 & 10 and the ABC. 

They rented furniture, costumes and trims to them for whatever series they currently had in production.

There was a huge trestle table full of vintage trims and curios for sale and on it in a very old paper bag were these aubergine, amber, green and blue facet cut, glass beaded tassel trims. 

It was unused old stock with 5 meters on each card roll. Each individual length of beads is hand stitched onto a 5 meter length of braid.

After pulling it all out of the bag I counted 5 card rolls. That was a total of 25 meters of beautiful glass beaded trim. 

I asked the old gentleman how much for them all and he said $10.00 for the lot. 

I paused for a minute (in shock) while I was counting my blessings and doing the happy dance in my head but the store owner thought I was hesitating over the huge price? so he said "oh, ok then. $5.00 for the lot".

I don't think I have ever whipped out a $5.00 note so quick in my life!!

I had no idea what I wanted to do with them at the time and I have resisted using them on something unworthy.

I finally decided to wait and when I am in Italy I will trim the bottom of a fabric covered ottoman or love seat with two layers of them.

I also have this vision of a pokey high glass window that catches the morning sun. It has a vintage hand dyed lace half curtain and this precious glass beaded trim is edging the bottom of the lace and shooting colored prisms of light around the room.

Fanciful thoughts I know but look at it! How could you think anything else. 

Maybe there will even be enough left over so that I could trim a small gypsy footstool similar to the ones below.

Cute aren't they?

Screen printed cushions......

I have been collecting vintage fabric for years. 

The small scrap pieces are for my crazy hexagon quilts but the larger pieces are to cover footstools and arm chairs and to make large floor cushions, laundry bags etc.

I especially love the idea of individual screen printing on vintage fabrics. 

As most of the fabric I have collected is from thrift stores at a cost of under $5.00, I can easily afford to have any design professionally printed onto a piece of fabric for the low cost of between $3-$6 depending on how many ink colors I choose.

I can't wait to make couch cushions using this idea.

Here are some hand made cushions that have been in my design/inspirational folder for a while.

Feeling inspired?