Where o' where have I been?

I woke up this morning and told myself I should spare some minutes and blog the happenings of the past month or I’ll never get to it. I know it’s been that long since I last blogged. I miss clicking away on the keyboard and sharing my thoughts on screen, Blogging is actually helpful as in way it acts like a checklist of what I’ve done and accomplished and a reminder of what else needs doing.

I am currently 8 months plus along, time flies doesn’t it? I am experiencing a fruit salad of mixed emotions. I am anticipating the birth with excitement but feeling scared and anxious at the same time. I am also NESTING like crazy. I am sure I am not the only one, the girls at my antenatal classes seem to agree. I’ve gone on a mad rampage, vacuuming, dettol-ing(disinfecting) my furniture, washing the cushion covers and rugs like I will never ever get the opportunity to clean the house once the baby is around. Don’t talk about shopping, that’s even worst coz I’ve stocked up like the shops will go bankrupt tomorrow and I will never ever get to go shopping again once the bub arrives. Mum thinks I ‘m mad like that, she say’s I’ll get bored the first few weeks and will so go shopping soon after bub is born so this theory playing with me right now are just pregnancy hormones taking me on a wild ride. I have been washing the baby clothes with napisan and have learnt that there are some baby brands that are just terrible, they look cute and all but actually stretch in the first wash. I guess the Aussie girls would be familiar with bonds and I can't help but praise them to the sky just wished they had more cuter choices for clothes. The nurse at the obgyn and I were just agreeing that babys look so clean and pure in white. It's also so much easier to wash whites and I shall treasure the time I can dress the baby in white while it lasts, afterall I am having a boy and friends have prepared me with Little Boy stories filled with a whole loadful of dirty laundry :)

Many of you girls know that I moved into our new place a few months back, moving plus getting organized plus minor renovations here and there is something I do not recommend to anyone Pregnant!!! Instead of narrowing my focus on the pregnancy and baby projects alone , I have all of these wild ideas for the house too. But enough about what I recommend or don’t recommend, Decorating for a new house is just too much fun. I have been inspired by a lot of black lately after having changed the ugliest venetian blinds to black timber ones. Had no intention of choosing black as my choice of window covering but I was pretty happy to find the timber blinds in black coz they are not the usual suspect. Timber blinds usually come in shades of browns or white but very hardly black. So so happy with my buy and it must be some sort of coincidence that a lot of the French decor shops here are playing with black and white this season. I am looking for a louise chair that I can upholster for the family room. Yet to do my rounds in search of the perfect chair. I am slowly putting together and accessorizing my new “ blaque “ room. My new best friend is a can of Wattyl Jet black acrylic paint which has had me paint my mantle console, mirror and desk thus far...totally in love with black at the moment and am glad that I haven’t had any hiccups with this choice of risky colour. I will definitely upload pictures of the befores and afters soon.

The baby nursery is finally in place, the painting pros at Bunnings couldn’t figure out why the sample pot and actual colour didn’t match, there was something weird going on with the computing calculations. Trust technology to mess things up! We ended up getting 6 sample pots to solve the problem and I got busy finishing the room. We’ve put up the furniture, I‘ve washed the baby linen but am waiting closer to my due date to put them on. A little overdue but here’s a sneak peek of the room. I know I will be adding to it as the baby grows...

Till my next addition, who knows when that will be at the rate I'm going, I have to say Thank You for all the warm thoughts and lovely girl to girl advice many of you have shared with me through email, really appreciate it.

Much Hugs and blogging Love,

Adla

Baby Blue...

Time for an update, if I was a library book, I would have been long overdue.

The pregnancy is going alright I’m just a little over 6 months. I have my days where I worry a little coz bub tends to play a little hide and seek with me. There have been occasions where he doesn’t move and then there are days when he does summersaults and back flips like an athlete preparing for the Olympics. The midwives over at the obgyns surgery have been super wonderful and entertain my silly queries and worries. I wish my mum lived around the corner but she doesn’t ( she’s in Singapore) so I have to make do with phone calls, it’d be nice to have her and my sister around to prepare for the baby’ s arrival but I’m coping none the less. They’ll come visit closer to my due date so I’m looking forward to that. I’ve been doing my shopping despite the advances I have received from some regarding it being a little too early. La dee da I say. As my personality reveals, the panic queen that I am, I live by the guiding motto that is to “Be Prepared”. Wouldn’t know how to leave the necessary things to the last minute ( blogging is a super exception), Ill end up with a massive panic attack if I did. I am looking forward to motherhood and this pregnancy has been the focus of my morning, day and night and I’m sure many of you beautiful ladies have experienced the same feeling. I am attending just about every pre natal class the hospital offers, the aqua natal classes tops it. I get to meet other mums to be and its helps relief the aches that I get, the physiotherapist who leads the class is great too. I love the water so it’s just soothing being in it, highly recommend it to anyone expecting.

I’ve started on the baby’s room too. There was a little hiccup with the paint colour. I had gone to get the right colour mixed, the so called duck egg blue I was after. So I had them mix me a sample pot at Bunnings. Came home, splashed the paint on the wall ( well not literally), left it to dry to see how the colour would work out in the day time with natural sunlight coming through the room and in the evening when I’ve got the lights on. It turned out as I hoped, so happy with the sample colour so I sent hubby to the same Bunnings to have them mix up that same colour in a bigger pot while I busied myself on this tree silhouette I’ve decided to implement in the nursery , not to waste the paint from the sample pot, I fill in the gaps with it and heres where we insert the prelude to phantom of the opera. Hubby comes home with my pot of paint, we dip the rollers in. At first glance it looked pretty similar to my sample pot colour so I happily continued filling in the gaps of my silhouette only to find out that the two colours were different. Same name but different concoction and the problem is I don’t like the second colour, It’s just the wrong colour. I have yet to get into Bunnings and get my paint colour fixed arghhhhhhh so much for trusting the paint mixing experts so there goes my baby nursery on hold!

This is what I'm talking about, can you spot the difference?

On a happier blue note,I have to share pictures of these gorgeous embroidered pillowcases made by the sweet Lisa Tutman. I was elated to have won them in her giveaway. Lisa has to be one of the sweetest people I’ve gotten to know through blog land. Thank you Lisa for your generosity. Lisa’s blog is a must visit, it’s called Celebrate Creativity in all its form and is filled with fantastic ideas, she works magic with her hands, you’ll have to check it out to understand what I’m on about. I say ‘Cheers’ to such wonderful blogging friendships!

click on the images for a larger view

Last but not least, I thought of reminding our Aussie girls that it's Jeans for Genes day tomorrow so be sure to be wearing your favourite denim tomorrow. To find out more and how you can support this cause , head down to their website.

Ok this does it for now, till my next update, have a wonderful day girls :)

Much blogging Love, Adla

Celebrate Good Times, come on!

I've been engulfed in a zillion different things that the day my blog turned one slipped pass me unnoticed. Vintage Delights turned ONE some days ago. A belated Hip Hip Hooray I say! So glad that the first blogging year has been filled with much creativity and such gorgeous new friends found.I graciously thank everyone who has supported Vintage Delights through the blog, etsy and our craft fairs. To mark this first year, my camellia plant has decided to bloom too. Believe me this plant has been sleeping for the past two years so I'm dancing camellias around here.Wishing for many great blogging years ahead.

Much blogging Love,

It's a...

Time flies, doesn’t it. If Sandi didn’t remind me that it’s been some couple of weeks since my last post, I wouldn’t have woken up from my slumber in la la land , Thank you Sandi , I have much to update about. The story is long as to why I haven’t updated, we have moved in to our new nest, my heart went a thumping a little when the settlement agents to the previous owners had lost the transfer papers somewhere in the mail. You see we bought the house from owners who lived overseas, so transfer papers were signed and being shipped across oceans. Of course it would have been very unlike Adla not to have gone a little panicky at the thought that “Oh no maybe the owners changed their minds and bla bla bla” You know those over reacting pessimistic thoughts girls like me have. After a 2 week delay from actual settlement , we finally got the papers sorted and became proud owners of our humble little abode. Didn’t need to panic after all. So we moved in, things are far from organized at this stage because I wear a t-shirt that reads "I can’t work too hard cause I’m preggers"

Well to make matters worse, my dear dear hubby had to undergo surgery last week to remove a cyst. He has half of his right arm in a cast so there goes my very handy and only man I’ve been relying on. It’ll be another 6 weeks before he’ll be able to get back into action so for now the house is a shipwreck. Boxes , furniture most things in its wrong place. I try to see the brighter light in it all, that there shouldn’t be a rush to madly organize things around here but come on who am I kidding, my targeted dateline to spruce things around here is a month before the baby arrives, That should be sufficient! Talking about the baby, the pregnancy has been going ok. I do have a little trouble finding the right position sleeping as my body has just ballooned. I went for my fetal anatomy scan and found out the baby's gender. Well Chuga chuga...toot toot...

For those who guessed Boy, you are soooo correct. Well I had that gut feeling from the beginning but because everyone in my family has been having boys lately, secretly we all thought it was going to be a girl! So out with the floral and dancing ballerinas I had in mind . I’m still in love with duck blue and found a little more inspiration from the vintage red school chair above to accent the baby nursery with.So duck blue and red , thats the colour scheme out of the way. I’ve taken this time away from House cleaning to do some baby shopping , there are soo many cute things out there and everytime I wander around the shops I chuckle to myself and whisper not at how cute things are for babies. I don’t see other shoppers doing such, they must really think I'm a bit off! So far I’ve found the quilt that makes me happy, it’s a combination of patterned fabrics and nothing makes me more happy than that. I see spots and ginghams of sorts and have gone crazy shopping for the coordinates.

The next couple of weeks shall see my crafty hands doing some work for the nursery. In the meanwhile I hope everyone is keeping well and I Thank you for coming back and checking on me often. Do excuse my lack of blogging and remember that I wear a t-shirt that reads," I can't work too hard cause I'm preggers!".

Till my next episode,

Much Blogging Love,

Is that red I see....

A short update on what's been happening around here.We have been slowly moving to the new place bringing boxes over and giving the place a little sprucing. Hubby has been working like a beeh on his DIY projects, Bunnings sees him more often than usual. I have come to the realisation that if you have the right tools , anything is pretty much do-able, same rule applies for everything else I suppose. One of the beauty of being in Australia is that people are pretty much self reliant, this place encourages independence like no other. People take things a little for granted in other parts of the world mainly in ahem ahem Asia , where a tradesman is called in for the simplest of household maintenance. I am proud to say that we are both enjoying this nesting project and learning the tricks of the trade as we go along, I am not of much help due to the expanding belly, I feel like Humpty Dumpty . The hubby though calls me a Prison Warden as I sit in my comfy chair and delegate. "Move this box here and do this and do that!". I never knew I could be quite the boss, Oooo the things you get away with when pregnant! The pregnancy has been going ok or so I pray. I wish I had an ultrasound machine at home to relieve my paranoia, someone slap me! :D The good thing is that I've been feeling the baby flutter and will see my Obgyn in 2 weeks. Thats when we'll know the baby's gender. At the last ultrasound I thought I saw a little tinky winky but the Ob wasn't willing to confirm it! I'd like to know so that I can shop but it's been good that I don't which hasn't led to any impulse shopping. I've been busily window shopping and boy I've seen sooooo many lovely things I'd like to buy and have listed it all in my trusted shopping diary. I envisage a shopping rampage soon! My sister has nicknamed the baby Molly and hopes it's a girl ... what about you girls? Do you think it's a boy or a girl? Lets hear your guesses!

By the way on another note, seeing that many of you have participated in the I saw red week hosted by Sadie Olive. I thought of joining in the fun and doing red Perth style.

Hop into my stylish cadillac with the red wheels and come along for the red ride .

Vrooom vrooom...

My first stop is the Victoria Park Post office, well thanks to the unreliable Postie I'm always having to stop by here to pick up my parcels. It's such a vintage building so I don't mind :)
Driving in Perth is pretty much traffic free, the only thing you don't want to get stuck in is one of these railway crossings. It takes like forever for the trains to pass by and I really mean forever.
When the weathers lovely, I love driving to the Perth foreshore to say hello to these Swan River inhabitants. Red is so the colour for the lips!

Then I get hungry which takes me to my next stop. It's called Kailis and I like to go to the one in Fremantle. This has to be my favourite Fish and Chips joint. After a good meal, I head home and laze around and dream of all the red things things that have inspired me. Hope you enjoyed my red tour of Perth as much as I enjoyed sharing.

Much Blogging Love

Learning to let go...

The book Cut The Clutter is available at Amazon

You would think, being the nomad that I am, I would have learnt a trick or two about packing and moving along swiftly with just the bare necessities. Beep nope, I haven't learnt a thing, packing stresses the hell out of me. I try to declutter way before hand to make this process seem easier, I let go of things, give them away and yet the collecting of things just simply gets the better of me always. No matter where I move, No continent seems a barrier for collecting. It's like I have the lyrics of Marvin Gayes song ' Ain't no mountain High Enough' stalking me every time I go shopping.

I'm sure many of you girls watched and have blogged about the program on Oprah regarding de cluttering. Yikes I' don't think I'm like that lady she featured and hope never to be but the buying for ' certain things really has to stop. I'm sure my hubby will be happy to hear this .As we pack for the big move to the new house he has happily so far noted that 3/4 of the boxes are mine and wittily labelled them with the tag Adla's Rubbish.Can you beat that! Ok I admit I had two boxes filled with just ribbons. I know I have ribbons to last me a lifetime. It doesn't help that the gym I go to has a Spotlight( a famous crafting supply shop here in Australia) next to it. So how do I resolve this, not go to the gym? I have a zillion crafting ideas doing a back flip in my mind and think the ribbons would come in handy some time.

Clean cut minimalism just isn't my style. I love Bohemian flare so my sense of style has partly to be blamed for most of my clutter. I am going to give myself a pat on the back though for decluttering this past week. " Letting go' has been the phrase of the week, I shall thrive to get rid of as much things as possible before we move. Hate it when I place sentimental value on an object coz it doesn't make it any easier. I am on a trial motto that if I bring something new into the house then I have to let go of one already in possession. Does that sound balance enough? The new house has to be a clutter free zone for all sanity and easy cleaning and remembering that there is a baby on the way. Hooray I say, lets hope the motto stays grounded. Biting nails in fear that I might go against this motto. I better get back to work, packing is the least over.

Do you have a similar dilemma, would love to hear your sentiments on this issue

Much blogging love,

Encyclopedia of me- Chapter D

Photo taken from Oh joy!

Encyclopedia of me meme is not dead. No no no. I should have done D earlier but I dozed off before getting to it. Now as far as D goes, there’s one representation, my love for Decorating. This is the chapter I share my recollections.

I have always enjoyed decorating and if I recall, I began moving the furniture around my room before I could learn to spell. The elements of Decor is like food and water to me.( Food and water is simply just food and water now that I am pregnant, since registering this theory I am happy to say that I have gained a few pounds) When I think back , where did my love for pretty Laura Ashley floral patterns and shabby rustic things derive from. Nope no English, no French blood in me . Having lived in South East Asia the earlier part of my life, there were dashes of Colonial English and French decor but they pretty much had an Oriental finish to it. More on the concept of British India designs. Having thought really hard I guess it must have been the House and Garden magazines my mother bought by the truckload. My mums love for design magazines is like no other person I know and she introduced me to a sense of style that I've come to admire immensely . Well as a little girl 9 ish- tenish flipping through the pages of those UK editions was a serious thing, I’d call on my younger sister ( who laughs donkeys whenever I remind her of this) and we’d play a game of lets flip through the pages and choose our favourite houses. Who ever had their hand placed first on the page meant that the house or furniture was awarded to her .While we did this for hours on end the other children on the block were happily playing hopscotch in the playground . When I think of it now , boy was I a boring child and I think Alia my sister ,who many would attest is the total opposite of me will blame me for life for introducing her to such dull childhood games. Don’t get me started on the real tea time sessions we had. When I was studying to be a teacher, I learnt about the importance of pretend play and it struck me how I took pretend play to another level that was no longer pretend. Super serious I was. Rummaging through my mothers’ linen closet was one of my other favourite past times and changing the valance and comforters in my bedroom were a weekly affair .I am happiest when I am decorating.One of my fondest decorating memory was when I saved gift coupons , you know the kind you get from doing grocery shopping, The deal was to collect enough so that you could redeem anything of a certain value from the shop. It took me a whole year, I had collected enough coupons to redeem a set of ceramic collectibles for my dresser . I was 13, I should have bought cool clothes , a pair of sunnies or something. When I say I’m going shopping , it really actually means I’m out looking for stuff to decorate with. Where decorating is concerned I’ve gone through the motion of having purple walls to stencilling sunflowers all over my room, painting my wardrobe yellow, stripping off my floor, sewing curtains and silk screening cushions. Decorating at weddings and for friends homes. I’ve done it all!When it finally sunk inside of me that I was getting married, the first thing that popped into my head was not ‘ Hmmm what kind of dress am I going to wear’... it was more like ‘ hmmm what shall the wedding quilt look like’. When I retell the story I laugh but sometimes I do think I’m a bit way off. Of course the wedding quilt story was a mad rush to fabric stores just to find the perfect silk fabric, then the mad search for the perfect quilter.It was crazy, I was lucky enough though that a lovely designer friend took the bulk of the madness and had the wedding quilt organized for me which gave me a breather to think about what I was going to wear instead. Decorating has just been on a role for me ever since. Many would not believe this but I actually moved to Perth with a container load of decorating knick knacks I bought during my stint in Indonesia. Indonesia is a decorating haven for the decorating enthusiast, you can get anything and everything custom made for you and should I add for dirt cheap. That’s the only good enough reason I like Indonesia.For the moment, when I think decorating, I’m thinking of my new home. I'm feeling inspired by an eclectic mix of French design, Italian ornate frames and shabby white furniture. I want it all.Of course there are a few things to be done. Taking one project at a time. The one that tops the list has to be the baby room. I am drawing out the to do’s . Choosing a colour palette, falling in love with duck egg blue .Nope I don’t know the gender of the baby yet . Oh this is so fun and its making my tummy rumble or is it the little one kicking. I hope you stay tuned as I might take you on this decorating journey with me

To sum it up for chapter D of my meme. My 3 favourite decorating must haves are :
Flowers- the fresh kind, scented is a bonus. Love bringing a little of nature inside the house.
Lighting –warm, no no to fluorescent. Lamps , every room needs one.
Fabric- I go wild for textured or uniquely patterned fabric. Fabric for cushions, drapes, and anything else that needs upholstering.The pictures above are the work of Carolyn Quartermaine. Love her fabric designs. Truly inspirational, takes me flying to a decorating wonderland.Hope you enjoyed this meme as much as I enjoyed sharing. Cheers to Decorating!

Show and Tell (Favourite Shops)

I thought I'd join in the fun of Sunday Show and Tell. Excuse me for being a day and a half late, blame it on the horse and carriage.

My favourite shopping place here in Perth is located in Guildford.The town centre of Guildford speaks colonial charm in ways that will take you back to the era of Captain Stirling. When I'm not shopping, I love taking a drive around the suburb admiring the pretilly painted quaint atmosphere .Beautiful character homes line the shaded streets and many have turned into tea rooms and shops that cater for the vintage enthusiast. These are two of my favourite shops.

You'll need a shopping cart to shop at these two lovely places.

The first is this gorgeous shop called Classic Yesterdays , filled with Victorian collectibles.

The second shop Browsing on James has everything French Provincial.

Hope you enjoyed that, much blogging love,

Hat reveal...

Time for the reveal, I have just hopped on to Ginny's blog and saw the beautiful creation she made me and I don't know if what I've created does justice. Having learnt that Ginny was from the UK, the first thing that popped into my head was snow, just because we don't have snowy winters here in Perth. So I decided to go white and go fluffy fur on a 1920's styled hat. No animals were hurt in this process I assure :) Ginny told me she likes her vintage blings so out came the pink diamantes and sequined millinery that I have been longing to use.Putting the diamantes together with a hot glue gun was truly a test of my fine motor skills so Ginny you'll have to excuse the imperfections :) And ofcourse the hat wouldn't be complete without a few feathers. I made her a matching brooch to go with it. Hope Ginny enjoys wearing the hat in one way or another.

Much Blogging Love,

Australian Vintage Living

I love this book and thought of sharing. The book by Bronnie Masefau is called Australian Vintage Living. It has great vintage shopping and decor tips. A great book rich in photography to add to the shabby chic/ vintage collection library. This has to be one of my favourite pictures in the book. I love it when adults consider children in the household decor, they too deserve the pretty things life has to offer, like this pretty corner for them to enjoy and play tea.

Picture courtesy of smh

A little peeking won't hurt...

Don't we all just love hats? Well Bristol of HoneyBendVintage organized a swap for us hat lovers some time back and called it the Kentucky Derby Hat Swap. My swap partner Ginny is from the UK. I got busy on the crafting table which was incredibly fun, which had me thinking perhaps I should have gone for a milliners course of some sort, learn the real tricks of the trade. My amateur skills had me choosing a pastel palette of pretty blings , some fur and feathers. Ginny was kind enough to let me in on her likes which made choosing the embellishments much much easier, remember it is fickle little Adla we are talking about here. Well officially, we are to reveal the hats on the 2nd of May, so I shall be good and not spoil the fun. The picture is just a little sneak peek of my wrapped swap making its way to the UK. Stay tuned for the hat party on blog land tomorrow as other bloggers reveal their creations.Till then, Much blogging Love,

Gifts to be thankful for.

I celebrated my 27^th birthday last week. I didn’t have a big affair no balloons no fancy crowd, just myself and the hubby but the best of birthday gifts has been laid to me on a platter. Insert guitar strumming here please ,we will have no drums for this one it could be hazardous for what I’m going to reveal. The first birthday happy news is that I am pregnant and 3 months along . Wish I could be literally jumping up and down but I think it's safer for me to stay grounded on my feet. For those who know me well, this is big news and I am keeping the faith strong after having gone through a miscarriage the last time. The obgyn's have been closely monitoring me for assurance and they are happy with the way things are looking so that’s one worry off my shoulder. I hope to share and learn the joys that this new phase in my life will bring.

The second birthday happy news is that we’ve just bought ourselves a home here in Perth. The last 3 years has been a ferris wheel ride of renting, rent hikes, Australian interest rate madness which deterred us from buying, then things got a bit better and we thought we better get in before it backfires again so we began the mad search for land, Yes we actually had plans to build (which in Western Australia is not the wisest thing to do). Ofcourse we learnt all that when the haggling with builders began and it didn’t take long for us to get ripped by them. We gave up on the building plans and decided to search for resale properties instead. 120 houses viewed and we are finally at our pit stop. Real nesting begins for me. I can now grow my roses out of their pots and drill as many nails as I’d like into the walls. It’s payback time for the years of decorating frustrations due to renting. I couldn’t be more than thankful that I’m receiving this gift. God knows best and has everything planned out for us at a time when we least expect and I can’t thank him enough for the gifts he has bestowed upon me .

Just as I begin to pack for the big move ( I'm not too sure if it is treasure I own or junk but packing still requires care), they had to have a Craft and Antique fair here in Perth. It’s the same fair I usually participate in but the pregnancy has me on “ slow it down “ mode so I did not set up stall this time around. However I had to visit and ofcourse found lots of tempting delights, some for the shop and some for myself. Thought I’d share all of these pretties for some eye candy.

(click on the picture for a larger image)

Till next time, Much blogging love,

Featured Friend- Hummingbird Crystal Charm

I love going to the local crystal shop to get some supplies every now and then. My recent visit to the shop had me speaking to the owner and I've decided to feature them as one of my featured friends.The shop is called Nymbodia which was named after the white water river in New South Wales. Nymbodia started it's business creating beautiful stained glass tiffany lamps which then lead to the discovery of crystal glass. Ever since then, the company has been on a role creating all sorts of crystal ornaments. Vintage Delights is happy to be featuring their hummingbird charm in our etsy shop this time around. These charms would look beautiful hung by a window sill. Allow it to catch the suns reflection and you would create a spectacle of crystal magic for sure.The hummingbird charms are available in different shades. Check out our shop for more details.

Friday Flea Find in Silver

I have not been flea hunting in a long long time but the last I went I scored a few pretties in silver/ silver plated which I thought I'd share today. I don't think I'm going to keep them.I'm on a mission to declutter. If anyone is interested, give me a shout and I can do a reserve listing on etsy. They are all under $10 plus postage. They are not in tip top polished conditioned but none the less still rustically pretty. Happy browsing!