ON OUR WALLS

We spent our Sunday afternoon hammering in nails and hanging up art we've been wanting to display since we moved in (oh, around two and half years ago now... oops!).

First to go up was the gift we gave ourselves for our first wedding anniversary - a custom piece by Rachel Castle with felt letters spelling out the lyrics to The Wedding Song by Angus & Julia Stone (our very first dance together as husband and wife) hand stitched onto linen. Fresh from the framers, it's now featured with pride on our living room wall so we can look at it every day.

Next to it we placed a shadow box, an op shop find I painted a lovely coral, now a home for all my little treasures. And next to that hangs one of my favourite art pieces, bought on a whim one day and now (finally!) properly framed - a lightning bolt screenprint by Kate Banazi.

Cleaning out some drawers during the week I discovered two Shanna Murray wall decals I purchased when I was pregnant, still wrapped carefully in their packaging. So now on Everly's wall above the change table is 'You are loved' (with a picture of her and I when she was 3 months old), and on our mirror in our bedroom is a line from my very favourite song (I sing this little ditty at least twice a day!).

Yesterday, I found myself at a Typo discount store and picked up this lovely 'Home sweet home' decal for $5. It now has its place above our bed.

So many beautiful things on our walls, making my days happier and brighter!

You can see more pictures of our home here and here.

♥ ♥ ♥

The Rachel Castle embroidery artwork I surprised Mark with on our first wedding anniversary is still sitting, carefully folded in bubble wrap, in our drawer. We will be celebrating two years later this month. I really must get around to framing it.

P.S. The lovely Emily from The Beetle Shack is having a Castle giveaway (ends this Friday). Go here to enter! Go! Now!

going dotty

The husband and I always joke about our unlucky streak - the kind where it starts to pour with rain just as you get out of the car (one of us seriously must have done something awful in a past life!) - so I was super excited when I received an email from the Natalie Walton herself of Daily Imprint letting me know I'd won a print of my choice from Ubabub.

I couldn't decide which one to choose, so ended up going with the Dotty print as it seemed the most unisex and it was also the husband's favourite. I finally opened it today, after it arrived in the post before Christmas, and it's simply lovely! If only I had a baby's room to hang it in... ha! (We have made some progress - the spare room is almost cleared of boxes, so we should be able to start painting later this month when we have a weekend free.)

Our 20 week scan is this afternoon, so hopefully we'll be able to find out if the Little One is a he or a she! Knowing our luck the cheeky bugger will have it's legs firmly crossed!

wall art

We are yet to finish painting our interior walls, but I have been slowly collecting more artworks for when we finally complete the Dreaded Painting Project. I saw the above on the Real Living blog highlighting affordable artworks. At $48 including shipping, this beauty by Sydney girl Kate Banazi is on its way to my house, yessiree.

admiring

1. In awe of this beautiful home. From Freunde von Freunden, found via The Seventy Tree.

2. Silver lanterns from the very cute Israel's 1st birthday party (stylishly decorated by his very cool mum Jennifer from A Merry Mishap. You can see more pics from the birthday party here.)

3. Owls from Sharon Muir. LOVE.

4. This lovely Big Raindrop print in pink from the talented Kerry of The Seventy Tree. (I couldn't help myself and bought it immediately!) Go peek at her shop and Etsy shop.

things i am loving

Some things I am loving at the moment (but refraining from purchasing):-

1. ABCs poster by Honey & Bloom, found via Lovely Design.
2. Soft toys by MAIIKE, discovered through Lucy at The Design Files.
3. 'You are loved' garland by Shanna Murray. I could easily buy all of her decals in a heartbeat.

(I really need to get onto painting our kitchen wall in blackboard paint so I have an excuse to buy one of those decals.)

rachel castle

I must admit, I have a little bit of a crush on Rachel Castle. Honestly, when you see this beautiful polka dot bedlinen and amazing embroidery artwork, who wouldn't? And, from the interview Lucy did with Rachel, featured on The Design Files yesterday, she also appears to be a lovely person too.

I loved reading about her background in communications and PR and how she moved into her own business and freelance career. Even though I'm sure she is super busy, she seems to have the work/life balance thing sorted out. It's definitely something to aspire to!

I especially like her response to the question about her styling aesthetic in her own home: 'My style at home is very ‘abundant’ or as my fussy architect friend calls it ‘chaotic’. It’s a lot of stuff everywhere in a big white backdrop. I love clutter I must say, it makes me feel at home. I do however, like to have a specific spot for everything. This is where the jugs go, this is where all the chopping boards belong, this is where the cookbooks stand, this is where the sugar bowl sits.' This scarily reminds me too much of myself!

I have been admiring the 'Loving you is easy cause your beautiful' piece for a while, as my husband and I often jokingly sing this song to each other, with the thought of buying it to celebrate our first wedding anniversary in October. I instead decided to splurge a little and work with Rachel on creating a custom piece. Rachel and I have been emailing back and forth, and it arrived in the post earlier this week - I was like a little kid at Christmas time opening up the parcel! I have been itching to show someone, but I will just have to wait until October.

In the meantime, I'll keep dreaming about that gorgeous bedlinen and those rainbow garlands...