I’m not sure if my feelings have been exacerbated by the news of lots of babies being born to friends old and new. The very fact that new life continues to arrive even while things aren’t so rosy in the world proves that there is always hope and it blooms constantly. A friend of mine has delivered a tiny baby boy at 35 weeks weighing a smidge over 4lb5oz and so I’ve made this little hat to go to him. I hope it fits him only for a short while, before he becomes a monster giant baby with no health worries for him or his enraptured parents.

In other news, Sarah at Dolly Donations has featured me today. I’d love it if you guys could pop over and say hello to her, she’s an inspiration to us all and someone I truly hope to emulate.

Thanks for all your support, you have no idea how much it means to me.

Much love,

Vonnie

ANYWAY, I realised a few weeks ago just what a crap friend I’d been and suggested that we meet up to scour the charity shops of Glasgow. Being that Dave is a big fan of classic architecture and design, we firstly visited Glasgow Architectural Salvage which is just impossible to do justice to with mere words. This warehouse is packed to the gunnels with all kids of reclaimed stuff – my personal favourite today was a wooden crib that I had to be dragged kicking and screaming from. The chap who works there was telling me that it was deliberately built narrow in order to swaddle infants. How cool is that?

We browsed there for a while then drove to this antiques warehouse further down the same street where I insisted that the children pose with Uncle Dave for a photo:

And off we went. I wish I’d taken more photographs but my battery wasn’t looking too great, suffice to say this was yet another treasure trove albeit one out of my price range. There was a veritable feast of beauty including a vintage silk christening gown that I’m still considering going back to buy. No point if I’m not going to have another child to christen but it was just gorgeous and light as a feather. I did take a photo of this cushion though because I was so impressed with the detail! I’m just getting into embroidery and already losing the will to live so I have much respect for anyone who can create this kind of thing.

Erica and Nairn found some “holiday chairs” that they fell in love with:

And I saw this. Oh, reader. Let me tell you my dilemma. I know to the penny how much money Bob and I have. We’ve just used every single spare penny we have to get some essential work done on the house (which I will blog about when it’s finished) and to complicate matters, after consulting with you lovely lot on how to decorate it turns out that we’re going to be playing musical bedrooms in the very near future. With this in mind and knowing that the girls are now going to have a significantly larger bedroom, I saw and instantly fell in love with this (the chaise longue. I’m already in love with the child)

I need you people to talk me out of this. I have a mental pros and cons list going on.

Pros
It’s gorgeous
It’s childsized
It’s gorgeous
There is space for it in the girls new room

Cons
It’s (sharp intake of breath) two hundred pounds. £200. Two. Hundred. Pounds.
Erica couldn’t be more rough and tumble if we put a striped sweater on her & renamed her Dennis
Did I mention the price?
I’m not sold on the fabric.
Seriously. Dude, it’s £200.

I briefly talked to my Mum on the phone earlier and she suggested that I keep an eye out in the charity shops/auction houses for a similarly sized but wrecked piece that I could reupholster myself. I’m confident that I would make a good go at it but I’ve never seen one this size before. Am I kidding myself? Are these common as muck?

Anyway, we left there with Dave plotting on how to spend his as-yet-unwon lottery win and since the kids were now whinging about being starving we popped into the handily situated greasy spoon next door. Since I have been very proud of my recently-acquired ability to put Greer onto my back in the Moby wrap I decided to take a wee photo. I look hideous here:

before we headed down to Dumbarton Road. We hit a few charity shops with no luck until we stumbled into the mecca of all charity shops. I now present to you the most pissed off dalmatian you have ever seen:

At £3 there was no WAY I was leaving it behind. I also managed to get Erica two Disney dresses for £2 each that she decided she wanted and which I know cost upwards of £20 a piece. Alas, it was at this point that Erica broke a cup which was part of an 18 piece set so I had to buy that too but I still walked out of that shop only £14 lighter with a huge box of goodies.

So I had fun today! And I really must thank Dave for being a brilliant friend and excellent children-herder because I couldn’t have done it without him

Folksy is running a Christmas upcycle competition in conjunction with Sue Ryder. Check it out!

I have also decided to start a new feature called “Fabulous Friday” where I’ll showcase fabulous interiors that I’ve found. Doing my research in order to finally make my house a home has been truly awe-inspiring and I’ve found some jaw droppingly gorgeous rooms. If you’d like to be featured, please email me with a link or photo.

In the meantime, can I point you all towards a resource I found today and fell in love with? The fabulous Indie Fixx site has been running an art project called Feed Your Soul and is giving away free downloads of gorgeous prints from a variety of different designers. Free! Gratis! I can’t actually decide which ones I want to use but it’s fine because the downloads are free! I am extremely excited by this and have already selected three for the girls’ room and one for mine.

So it’s with some trepidation that I’m revealing to you, my loyal and lovely fans (hi Dad!) that I have developed a small large crush on this chappy here.

Mmmmm…

Isn’t he yummy? In a very public school la-di-dah type way, he reminds me very much of my peers at the very posh boarding school in Edinburgh I attended many moons ago. His name is Valentine Warner and he’s currently starring in the BBC’s programme What to eat now. (UK readers can watch it on iPlayer here)

He describes himself as “greedy by nature” which I can relate to. And he makes AMAZING food. Have I mentioned the public school poshness? He’s a very hyperactive bunny too, just like me! It’s amazing. Plus he has a wonky nose. I have a wonky nose. It’s fate!

Bob is unimpressed. What say you?

Anyway – today I found this post via Ohdeedoh and I’m dying from cute overload. I am massively in awe of the project this family has completed. How amazing is this?! If you click on the image it’ll take you to Erika’s flickr set for ‘La Roulotte’ where you can gasp and squee to your heart’s content. Erika also has an Etsy shop although this is closed until the 23rd July.

For me, the most amazing thing about this is that the materials used in the construction were mainly recycled/upcycled which appeals to my green side. I’m away to see if I can source some timber to create something even a fraction as funky for my kids.

What have you seen lately that has inspired you?