Precious Pieces and a Bohemian Twist

This month's brief for Graham & Brown's A Year in Design challenged me to think of how something precious in my home could be transformed by redecorating a room to showcase it in. Probably the most spectacular piece of furniture in my home is an antique, cedar dining table with turned legs thicker than my thigh. It's so stunning, and while it currently looks great among the oriental decor of our dining room, I can see it being a real star of an eclectic, bohemian dining room like those above. I would never paint this beautiful, antique table, but I can certainly see it with a bunch of mismatched chairs painted in bright, bohemian colours set around it. I also love the pink painted sideboard in the picture on the right up above. I would wallpaper in Exotica Blue from Graham & Brown and fill every chair with plush floral cushions, and lay a kilim rug beneath the table to provide a warm spot for feet to rest as I ate. The cozy vibe of the exotica print, the warm wood and the beautiful textiles would be completed by a pot belly fire burning in the corner of the room, and precious memories would be made as the family gathers around the precious antique dining table for meals, for tea and cake and for conversation.

A Little Birthday Dress Wish List

Birthday dress wish list by sunae-reilly featuring an anchor dress

My birthday has totally snuck up on me this year (it's on Monday) and I am absolutely beside myself because I forgot to buy something pretty to wear for the big day! I have been coveting a dress from Bonne Chance Collections for absolutely ages and always planned on buying one to be my birthday dress "in my next pay". Well, my next pay came and went, then came again and I still haven't purchased one and now it is too late. There is no way a dress from Bonne Chance could get here by Monday, but a girl can dream so I put together this little wish list of my favourite dresses from their collection, each of them just so perfectly suited to my style that they certainly would make me feel like a princess on my big day! 

I'm not really doing anything too special on my birthday - just spending the day with my best friend (who knows what we will get up to!) and having my aunty, my cousin and my other best friend around for dinner that night, so whatever I might end up wearing on Monday, I'd like to keep it pretty yet casual to suit the laidback way I'll be spending my day. Each of these dresses are ones I would get a lot of use out of over the hot summer months we are experiencing at the moment in Australia, and I can see quite a few of them transitioning well into autumn and winter with the addition of tights, cardigans and jumpers to cosy them up a little. 

I'm almost certain I won't find anything this cute to wear from my local shops by Monday, so tell me, which of these dresses is your favourite and if I had more time, which do you think I'd be best off buying for my big day?

Florals, Ice Creams, Tea and Harry Potter

What do florals, ice creams, tea and Harry Potter all have in common? Well they are my favourite things, of course!

They also all appear on the backs of the iPhone cases in my latest Etsy treasury list. It's no wonder I can't choose a new iPhone case! Look at how cute they all are! Anyway, my current iPhone case is starting to break and I have realised since having it just how impractical it is for me to have a case with sticky-outy things on the back of it. It doesn't fit into my car charger with the case on, and I tend to always be knocking bits and pieces off it. So, time for a new one, but I need your help to choose which one! My heart i being pulled 12 ways right now, so I'd really appreciate your input on which case you like best!

Thank you mum!

Remember how I told you all in my last Friday's Finds post about my mum giving me a whole heap of antique serving ware that she didn't want anymore? Well I finally unpacked it all and got a few photos! I am yet to find somewhere to actually put it all, but I couldn't hold off any longer - I just had to get it all out and share it with you guys. 

Pretty good score, huh?

I'm still pinching myself that she actually gave me all of this! This is the majority of the good china that I wasn't allowed to touch as a kid. Unbelievable! I feel so lucky to have grown up with parents who love antiques and nurture my own developing passion for them. I almost thought dad would pull the pin on me taking all of this, but he surprised me by not saying anything. Maybe the fact that they are moving soon is starting to sink in, and he is realising there is no way he wants to pack and unpack all this stuff which sits unused in cupboards all year long? 

Here are a few of my favourite things that mum gave me:

Alfred Meakin "Gloria" and Grindley 

These plates are super pretty. These photos don't do them justice! I love the blue and orange of the one on the left, and it fits right in with the decor that Jake and I have in our lounge/dining right now, and the one on the right just steals my heart every time I look at it! I don't know why, but I love it. Probably because I know mum loves it haha.

Delft candle holder

I'm obsessed with blue and white right now for decor because its pretty, but not so feminine that Jake doesn't like it. There are some classic patterns in blue and white and I love Delft's blue and white wares almost as much as I love Blue Willow.

Royal Staffordshire serving plate and New Hall Hanley cake plates.

This serving plate is probably my most coveted and cherished item that mum gave me. She always used to pull it out to put biscuits or cakes on when we had visitors, but for some reason stopped doing that a few years ago. I have childhood memories attached to this serving plate, and think it's beautiful. I also love these little cake plates - so simple and pretty. I think they will see a fair bit of use in my household.

Royal Doulton saucers. 

These saucers were given to my mum by my dad, and kickstarted her massive collection of Doulton plates about 25 years ago. They are incredibly special to me, even though one has a massive crack through it, and they will be displayed in my bedroom on my chest of drawers.

Lord Nelson Ware bowl and Bell China saucer

I love the garden scenes on these pieces of china. They would be absolutely perfect in a little girl's room! I used to call the Bell plate "the Mary, Mary plate' when I was little because the scene on it reminds me of the nursery rhyme "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary" which mum used to sing to me when I was little.

Price Bros. Cottage Ware

I used to think these were doll's houses when I was little, but there was no way mum would ever let me near enough to touch, let alone play with them! Mum loved them, so I love them. I can't wait til I have a coffee table or something to put them on!

Elizabethan "Chantilly", Royal Doulton "English Rose" and Pontesa cake plates

These plates are just super pretty and that's all there is to it.

Schumann Germany trinket bowl thingy

I'm not exactly sure what this is supposed to be for, but I love it! It's super classy.

Old Chelsea Trio

By now, you should all know about my utter obsession with tea and tea cups, so it shouldn't surprise you that this trio sets my heart a'flutter! So delicate and purple and pretty!

"Gloria" by Royal Stafford cup and saucer

Infinity pretties.

Old Foley Tennis Set

Oh my gosh, this is possibly going to be my favourite cup to drink out of this winter. Whoever invented tennis sets is a genius - a saucer and a plate for my cookies all in one? Yes please! Plus, it's super pretty!

H & K Tunstall serving bowls, Alfred Meakin plate and Empire Ware salad bowl

These pieces of serving ware absolutely delight me with how they look so "matchy-matchy" on the table. Plus, the serving bowls were my grandad's, which makes them extra special, because I don't have much which reminds me of him. 

So, there you have it, my whopping new collection of antique serving ware, including a breakdown of my favourites and evidence that I'm not very good at culling down when it comes to favourite antiques! Now I just need to make some friends on the Gold Coast who might want to come around for tea :)

Molly's Christmas Present - The Finished Product!

Today I finished Molly's Christmas present! Remember how I showed you the top and skirt last week? Well now the dress is done as well and all I have to do of my Christmas sewing is Nan and Mum's hand towels!

I used the criss-cross tunic pattern by Whimsy Couture for the dress and I love the way it turned out! Whimsy Couture have a way with making super hard looking patterns actually be so easy to sew! The tutorials they include in their patterns are great - they have so much detail and nice big pictures to follow so you know you're doing it right. I absolutely love their patterns!

I love that these tunics are reversible and I think the two fabrics I chose for it look perfect together for summer!

My only regret with this present has been listening to mum when she said to use puff paints to draw the edge of the bird on the top I appliqued for Molly. Look at the poor thing!

Puff paints are not easy to use - or at least not if you have unsteady hands! I struggled to make the stream of paint even, and at one stage it wouldn't come out, so I shook it a bit, and that's how I made such a mess of the birdy's beak! Oh well, I guess for the sake of a $2 target shirt and some scrap heat n bond and fabric, it's not going to be too hard to make a new one!

Are you making any of the gifts you're giving this Christmas? If so, what is it that you are making and who is the special person you are giving it to? I'm kind of worried Molly's mum won't like her present or won't appreciate all the thought and hard work I put in to making it. I tried to make it look as professional as I possibly could. There's nothing worse that handmade clothes that look handmade.