August Empress

After coming across these beautiful bulbs now I dream about having randomly scattered diamond lights throughout rooms in my house.

There’s a new lovely little online shop on the scene and it’s name is Papercookie! Owner Leonie Cheung and her husband Simon offer a carefully selected range of independently designed paper goods and unique products for the home and office, including some of my favourite brands and designers: Rifle Paper, Shanna Murray, Knot & Bow, Elm Paper and O-Check.

I know all of you are the same as me and can’t get enough of gorgeous stationery and products so take a peek! They are based in Australia but the good news is they ship worldwide.

Flannel Receiving Blankets via The Purl Bee

Trendy Dining Table via Stylizimo

Stencil Pillow via Wit & Whistle

Colour Block Coasters via Poppytalk

Easy Coatrack via Weekday Carnival

Some great links for DIY projects around the house that I’d love to try out! Do you have a favourite home decor DIY project you’d like to share?

#1 Fuschian Violet Ombre Tights from BZR

#2 Cloud Clock from Red Revival

#3 Full Course Load Bag in Pink from ModCloth

#4 Hand Painted Black Ceramic Mug by Yevgenia

#5 Meadow Stripe Knit from Esther

#6 Initial Ribbon Banner Necklace by Rand Papele

Looking to add more colour in your home? I find this collection of photos so bold and inspiring. I don’t think painting the walls or kitchen cupboards would work in our house, but when we do put a row of bookcases in our living area (most likely white), I love the idea of the back of each bookcase being a slightly different colour. Have you tried some bold and different colours in your home?

Images: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

When we first moved out of home 5 years ago we needed to buy the usual main pieces of furniture for our rental – couch, bed, dining table etc. Like many other Aussies who don’t want to spend a fortune, we dropped into Super-Amart, where everything comes in either chocolate brown, black or white. Everything we bought was chocolate brown. These items have served their purpose, we’ve been in our new house for almost a year and a half and I have been aching to replace all the chocolate brown since we moved in.

First thing to go, the dining table and chairs. I did want to reuse our tabletop as the base for creating a new wooden patterned tabletop. I originally thought of creating a chevron pattern, but it would have been more difficult to do and chevron seems to be a passing trend. Checking out brooklyn to west made me consider a more timeless pattern that still incorporated diagonal sections.

Lucky for me, my partner is a carpenter. He took care of cutting up the lengths of pine, nailing them to the old tabletop, and finishing off the edges of the table with his super skills. My job was to fill the holes, sand it all down and coat it with danish oil for a natural look. I did want to use a light coloured wood for more of a Scandinavian feel (and obviously avoid more dark brown), so pine was the most affordable option. It is a soft wood though, so it’s probably not ideal for a high traffic area and kids.

The new tabletop was paired up with Vike Moliden table legs from Ikea, and four white replica Eames Eiffel dining chairs. We did cut down the length of the original table to suit four chairs. I love the result! I have many more projects in mind, I will be recycling two of the old chairs, and I’ve bought some chalkboard paint for another idea, more on that to come in the next couple of weeks.

A room without books is like a body without a soul. ~ Cicero

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about how to turn one of the walls in our living area into a full wall of books. Should I line up a few cheap ikea bookcases, install rows of shelves from the floor to ceiling, or custom build our own design.

One thing is for sure, I have a long way to go in building up a collection large enough to grace this big wall. A loooong way to go.

Image Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

These are some books I currently have in my pile to read.

• The Last Brother – Nathacha Appanah
• The Tiger’s Wife - Tea Obreht
• The Quiet Room - Lori Schiller & Amanda Bennett
• Open City - Teju Cole
• The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes
• Swamplandia - Karen Russell

What books are you currently reading or have enjoyed recently?

There’s certainly a popular vintage map trend seen in stationery and wall decor recently, but they also look great repurposed into lighting and lampshades. I really love the idea of cutting a world globe in half and creating two hanging pendant lights, it would look fantastic in a home office.

Images via 1. Not on the High Street 2. Czechpub 3. Apartment Therapy 4.Country Living 5. Eclu 6. Umbu 7. Ohdeedoh 8. The Old Lamp Shed