Room Inspired By Marie Antoinette

We haven't even found the house yet, but I have already started decorating it!
I am going for a more grown up look for the living room this time. I figure if I go for a more masculine look with this room, it will appease Himself and I can have free rein with the other rooms!
This room was inspired by the misunderstood Marie Antoinette.


Pink china and shoes, a girl after my own heart!

One of her fainting rooms to get away from the intrigues of court life. This is in the main palace of Versailles. Here is where I started to get my inspiration for a colour combination that would not strike a man as too feminine but would appease my french provencial loving heart!


Brown is one of only a few colours I dislike. With the softening affect of the light blue it becomes more of a neutral.




The coffee table and tv bench will be mahogany, Edwardian styled pieces. They are from work as are the two french looking pieces. I plan to slip in at least the sofa table or a smaller, half moon table. These are a pale blue grey and styled on MA's own furniture in the Petit Triannon.



MA wall decoration from the Petit Triannon. I love the shade of blue paint. I plan to do the walls a blue like this with a lighter blue ceiling to give height to the room.

Where would a Versailles room be without an Aubusson rug?


You can't get much more masculine than a brown leather lounge suite. The one I want is a little lighter than this. Much easier to wipe up spills and hide marks! Our cream suite has been a nightmare. It is gorgeous but impossible to keep clean with two children.

Salon in the Petit Triannon. You can see the console or sofa table at the front is very much like the one from my work.



What better to put the jewel on the crown of a room than a magnificent tole chandelier?


Fabric samples for cushions, maybe. A brocade wallpaper feature wall would also be fabulous. C'est tout!

Bugger Inflation, Lets Shop!

Firstly a "Happy Easter" to you all from my dream pet, the German Giant rabbit, Herr umm...Hare *snort*

Bunny baskets on the chandeliers.

Bunny salt and pepper shakers.

Easter bouquet using a bunny finger puppet, lots of clip on birds and photoshop!


As mentioned in this blog before, I adore Cath Kidston and look forward to every new collection. Her spring collection has just arrived on her website and it features lots of vintage style laundry products! Click here to check it all out,




Aren't those dusters the sweetest? Talk about making a crappy job fun!

Some more Easter decorating.


Cute Easter tag designed by Jules.

Easter Treats

Here are the gorgeous, hand crafted Easter pretties that Shannon made for me in our "Easter Swap."
Shannon is such a talented girl who is going through a dreadful time at the moment. Her best friend just passed away. Please vist Shann's blog by clicking here and maybe you can leave her a comment.
She sells tussie mussies and Easter baskets on her website as well as lots and lots of delicious faux cupcakes!

Ghetto Kitchen

This post is also on my new group blog, "Pretty Chic Rooms." Click here to go to it.

This is the kitchen in our last house. We rented it off my parents so I was able to paint it however I liked.
I went a little nuts and painted nearly every wall in the house a different colour! I was young, that is my excuse!



It had the most revolting tiles. I had heaps of tin signs and artwork covering every possible inch of it. Thinking back, why didn't I just paint them?




The cupboards were falling apart. The front of this drawer used to come off all of the time because the drawer was warped. The door fell off the cupboard under the sink so I make up a fabric skirt with some Cath Kidston rose fabric. The kids loved it under there, it was a cubby house for them!
Can you see how the tiles are coming off in this picture? I thank God we are out of that dump. We may not live in a great area but at least this place is fully renovated.

Tom & Cupcakes

Interest rates rose again yesterday and it looks like they will in May, also. It has really put the brakes on us buying a new place.
Our Reserve Bank is trying to lower inflation by decreasing the amount of money consumers have to spend. We are all being told to basically, stop shopping! But hello! I work in retail. If people stop spending, I am out of a job as are thousands of others!
The house values in Perth are dropping. That is great for us as buyers, but not so good as sellers. Still, the average house price is around $500K in Perth. We are seriously thinking about moving to another state.
Tasmania and Victoria are our best bets. I am planning to go to Tasmania in July to check it out.


Tom thinks our house belongs to him. He may have a point, he gets away with murder. I screamed at him to get off the computer and this is what he did...


Turned his back on me!


This cake stand is now entirely filled with china trinket box cupcakes. You can see in the photo one last faux cupcake at the top but it has since been replaced!



I now officially hate my new camera. My old 4 megapixel Kodak took better photos than this Richoh piece of crap. Biggest mistake ever. I am sticking with Kodak next time.

Hi There

Sorry I haven't been around much what with all my jobs, kids, house, husband, etc. I am a bit fed up with it all and very tired!
One of my newer jobs is with a furniture store that sells country and shabby, french furniture. I am so hanging out for my staff discount to kick in!
I want just about every piece of white furniture that they make to replace all the crappy Ikea furniture I have.


Still playing around with my new camera, this was using the macro setting. I am getting a little better at using it.


I am taking lots of pictures of our little house as we are going to sell very soon now. I want to remember it how it was before I start packing away all the girly collectables.
Have been reading some great books about staging your home for selling. The main idea that I took away from my reading was to de-personalise your home so that buyers can easily imagine all their own furniture etc, there.


Himself sprawled out on the couch. A little touch of masculinity for a very feminine room!

Kebab Recipe & Shopping!

Firstly, the recipe for the Rosemary Skewer Kebabs I mentioned in my last post for Shann and Siobhan, courtesy of Mr Jamie Oliver!

How to make the Skewers;

1. Get a bunch of Rosemary
2. Keeping the leafy tops on, run your fingers down the stalk to remove the rest of the leaves.
3. Sharpen the tip of each stalk by cutting across at an angle.
4. Voila! Ready to use as a skewer!

Chicken Kebabs

1. Cut into 1 inch squares and place into a bowl of marinade. Jamie's is more complicated, Jon used a mix of soy sauce, plum sauce and oyster sauce. More of the plum, just a dash of the others.
2. For the veggies, we used red onions, red, green and yellow capsicums (sweet peppers) zucchini, mushrooms, carrots and cherry tomatoes.
3. Jon baked these in the oven. He got a large pan and sprayed it with the olive oil mister. Once the kebabs are in the pan give them another spray. Use good quality olive oil or it will taste like vom.
4. We have a fan forced oven, he put it on 180 degrees. Sorry, don't know what that is in the old temperature.
5. Only needs about 10 minutes. Check a piece to see if it is cooked.




I discovered a new shop here in Perth. They have a website too. The address is www.annachandler.com
The above pictured are door mats, aren't they divine?



What first caught my eye was the many different coloured flasks in the window, similar to those pictured above. I so want to go back there and get all the colours I don't have!