Lounging around...

This is our sofa... a 1930s tear drop art deco sofa.  An eBay find.  It only cost $99, which I was rather pleased with.  It could do with being recovered... but now that I have two young girls, I see that as kind of pointless.  It has lasted the test of time, and  80 years down the track has a bit of history and is still very much loved!

Wooden dolls...

This little gem was picked up at a garage sale on a bowling green across the road from a share house I was living in.  It cost me $2.  I have a bit of a thing for wooden dolls... namely babushka dolls, so couldn't believe my luck when I spotted it!

She sits on a shelf with a gum nut hat.  Kids love arriving and playing with her hat!

A favourite place to sit!

A long while ago... say 6 years or something like that, friends had just moved into their place, in which some things had been left.  Knowing I liked old stuff, they offered us this chair!  I love it... It needs to be re-upholstered, but apart from that it is in great condition for its age!  

My partner just got an iPhone, so I have been playing round with apps on it, and found an Instamatic app, which I applied to this picture.  It does our house justice, as the application matches our vintage furniture! 

Windows can be beautiful too!

Okay, so you have probably noticed I like a bit of clutter!  I'm not the minimalist type!  

I like to fill little nooks with bits and pieces.  
In this case, I have used a silk scarf as a sheer curtain.  On the window sill are a few treasures... the brown glass bottle I picked up from the absolutely amazing 'Resources Collectables Shop' (http://www.resourcetipshop.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=62in),  in central city Hobart, Tasmania... where beautiful and useful treasures are salvaged from the tip, then are sold.  A favourite place, and somewhere I go whenever in Hobart!

Like I said, prior to having children I was already collecting vintage toys... well, I also collected Children's books... usually ones with what I thought were beautiful illustrations. 

You can't really see them in this photo, but next to the bottle are two of my favourite possessions... a gorgeous antique ginger jar, collected from an antique shop in New Zealand... it was a little on the expensive side, but I couldn't not buy it, and its still a favourite 15 years later.  

The other item is a set of 3 Cloisonne ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloisonn%C3%A9 ), also collected from an antique store about 15 years ago, and also still a fave.  I will post a better photo at a later date!

Funny... we were evacuated almost 3 years ago, in one of our worst fire seasons when there was a fire locally... I was heavily pregnant with my first, and maybe I had baby brain... who knows, but when collecting stuff to leave, the ginger jar and the cloisonne set were two of the things I took with me.

Wooden display box

I used to trawl Camberwell Market every Sunday in search of treasures... with two young children now, I don't really have the time.  Thankfully I collected lots of beautiful things in the time I used to go.  

One of my finds was this wooden display box, which I picked up for $10, which is filled with little trinkets, including the little fabric owl(one of two) and the dog block(10 different blocks for $3), two possessions I love very much.

I'm a big kid at heart, and over the years I seem to have collected a lot of kids toys, many collected before the birth of my first.  

I will share some of these with you as my blog progresses.

Cushion.

Not one cushion in our house is like another.  I can't explain why... I just like it that way.  They all seem to work together, and create texture, colour and interest.  

I picked up two of these cute cushions for an absolute steal at $2au each.  I couldn't believe my luck!  They live on an orange trunk which we use as a bench seat at the kitchen table.  

Quilt.

I picked up this beautiful quilt from Etsy http://www.etsy.com/buy.php for a mere $40 Au.  It looks perfect on our bed. 

I am...

A long time collector and re-cycler of beautiful things, including my partner of 9 years with who I co-created my two wee girls http://goingnuts-familychaos.blogspot.com/ , worm farmer, chicken keeper, fruit grower, sweet tooth and story teller.  This is pretty much me!