Friday 29 April 2011

Royal Wedding Fever

Just in case you didn't know, Prince William's getting married today! I am so excited for Will and Kate, our monarchy and country. Feeling very patriotic and proud of my heritage today and cannot wait to see the wedding tonight, yippee!

My mum is organising Pimms on the lawn (what else!) and has bought pink tulips for the occasion. I feel like I'm missing out on all the celebrations back home but she's promised to send photos.

Thursday 28 April 2011

Back from bliss


Back from the most lovely, easter holiday on north Stradbroke Island. We had such a great time over the longer than usual easter break.

Beautiful weather, amazing sunsets, wonderful feasting, lots of laughter over card games with family and friends...I just wish that was life all the time, sigh.

I don't know about you but I'm certainly feeling the effects of overconsumption today!

Thursday 21 April 2011

Just a few words...


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I just want to say big wishes for a very Happy Easter and thank you so much for your continued support of Cornflakes & Honey, I really enjoy this little world we're in and love reading your comments and getting so much inspiration, tips and advice from you all. :-)

I'm playing Easter Bunny this year and setting up a little Easter egg hunt on Sunday (of course) for us 'grown ups'. The enormous child in me can't wait! Have fun. xx

p.s. let the countdown on Kate and Will's big day begin! ;-)

Monday 18 April 2011

Vintage finds


Hello, did you have a nice weekend? Today I thought I'd post some of my latest vintage treasures, including a few of the little glass bottles I was talking about the other day. That little round perfume bottle next to the old Harrods tea tin, I found at the flea markets. It's crystal and the seller only wanted $10 for it. I don't think you can buy anything from the shops for $10 today.

The lovely trunk you can see that everything's on we picked up at the national garage sale that was on last Sunday. It is very beautiful and got many admiring glances when we took it home. It was a complete bargain for $30 and will store our picnic throws and rugs for the time being.

We have lots to organise before Easter and feel like busy bees. Hopefully I will be back before we break up for the holidays. Wishing you a lovely week :-)

Friday 15 April 2011

Having kittens

One of my favourite bloggers of all time has recently welcomed two new additions to her home and every time she posts a photo of them my whole being goes into a crazy frenzy mode of ‘oh my goodness, have to have, want, right now, so cute, oh my goodness, oh my goodness..’ and so it goes on. Here is a photo of Jeska's babies above (for more visit Jeska's beautiful website Lobster & Swan).

It’s quite funny and very telling. Mr Cornflake keeps teasing me, reiterating something I said ages ago,…’I just want a little one’ Unbelievably (I really don’t know how the powers that be could have let this happen) I have found someone who is allergic to cats!

Our solution however (beyond me threatening a special injection to cure this) is to get a little puppy this year. It will appease my rising maternal feelings and give us a bit of practise. Oh the responsibility! :-)

Thursday 14 April 2011

Bottle it

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While I have a great number of vases I still find simple unique collections of bottles, be they old or new, really charming for display flowers.

Just lately I have collected a few. Some I found at a bric a brac shop that were old nectar bottles (very small and rather milk bottle like), some I have just cleaned and de-labelled from our cupboards that were former balsamic vinegar or olive oil bottles and I have 3 turquoise ones that were a dollar each from an op shop - they look so pretty with pale pink roses in!

Some of the antique/vintage shops here in Sydney will charge an absolute premium for the washed up beachy vintage bottles that are so coverted. Tips I have picked up apart from shopping around at markets, car boot sales etc. include looking out next time you're grocery shopping for yummy condiments that come in charming bottles and (typically European) liquor or olive oil bottles. If you really want the old look then you can age them with a metal scourer and soap to create a residue (sounds lovely doesn't it!).

Love these images above - all great ideas for styling my Easter table. :-)

Wednesday 13 April 2011

Wordless Wednesday


Old Indian lady making a living by making jewellery and belts. More Wordless Wednesday here.

Tuesday 12 April 2011

Tuesday Treasures

A couple of little treasures that have found their way into our home over recent weeks.

The little gold frame on the left I bought on Etsy as part of a set of four (you may have seen this on the front cover of my Vogue the other week - the print in this one is my favourite). I couldn't resist, they're so pretty and despite all my hunting around flea markets, antique and bric a brac shops and op shops I haven't seen anything like them before.

The ginger jar I bought at my local antique shop (not everything in there is by definition 100 years old, it's mostly full of things from the 70's and 60's and this vase definitely isn't antique but it was a great price and something I've been after for a while).

Now this fresh flowers girl has gone a little faux (in some areas) and these beautiful rich plum coloured hydrangeas are in fact not real, however they do a wonderful job of looking stunning and that's good enough for me! :-)

Today I have joined My Uncommon Slice of Surburbia for Tuesday's Treasures.
Wishing you a treasure filled Tuesday.

Monday 11 April 2011

Pretty Easter styling

A lovely idea for Easter styling found via Design Sponge.

Hope you had a lovely weekend, we had the best weather. I bought some little treasures recently, stay tuned! :)

Friday 8 April 2011

England meets India

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More lovely inspiration today. This room has a very worldly feel about it with it's old English antique chairs and touch of Indian charm (I think I've got that right?).

Btw...if you hadn't heard in Australia already, it's national garage sale day this Sunday and all the media groups are getting in on sponsoring it. Who knew what so many of us have been doing for so long...recycling...was so cool! :-)

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend, I'm so excited it's Friday again!

Thursday 7 April 2011

Dream bathroom

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As the air starts to cool (which is funny that I say this today when the sun has popped back out and it's feels like summer again!) I'm thinking of having lots of lovely warm bubble baths and feeling all toasty in my fluffy dressing gown and slippers.

Isn't this bathroom simply wonderful inspiration for that very thing? Love the floor boards, old free standing bath (my parents have one like this, lucky things!) kimono hanging up on the door, mirror and all the light coming in - just lovely.

Yes, I could spend many hours in here with a good book (okay, magazine) and bath tray featuring a cup of tea and apple slices and vintage cheese (don't ask me why but I love eating apple and cheese in the bath!)

Thank you so much for your lovely comments yesterday, it really does help to hear your thoughts as I'm feeling a bit lost at the moment. :-)

Wednesday 6 April 2011

Postcards from home

My Mum just sent me these photos of their garden in Yorkshire. I love seeing the daffodils, snowdrops and crocuses in bloom at this time of year, particularly cherry blossom which I adore as it brings back so many happy childhood memories.

Still not any closer in our decision making over whether to relocate to the UK. It seems like a catch 22 in many ways as our careers here are thriving and I'm not sure the same could be said if we based ourselves in London given the economic climate and our lifestyle (minus housing affordability) would be hard to beat. But family and friends cannot be replicated in Australia. Oh, it really is very emotional and tough at the moment not to mention very distracting but I'm sure we'll find a good solution. Easter is our deadline for making a decision...

Tuesday 5 April 2011

Easter prep

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I'm getting quite excited about the imminent arrival (okay it's still 3 weeks away...) of Easter and thinking about how I'm going to decorate our table.

Lovely napkins tied with ribbons, egg cups with little sprigs of flowers in and mini speckled eggs dotted around the place is how I'm envisaging it looking. I might even have a go at making some bunting this year! Is anyone else planning their decorating for Easter yet?

Monday 4 April 2011

Last days of summer

Here is a photo a friend took at Palm Beach last year (I'm third in from the left)...Lovely sunny days like these are now drawing to a close. We've just had to put our clocks back an hour so it's now dark at 6pm :-/

Ah well, all good things must come to an end to make way for other good things like the hyacinths I now see in bloom at my local florist, being able to wear my favourite trench coat and autumn accessories and cosy up at home with hot chocolates and my favourite pink fluffy covered hot water bottle, hehe. We have a few more weeks of lovely sunny warm weather before winter so we are set to make the most of it on the weekends with lots of beach visits, walks and little outings.

I'm excited for everyone back home in England going into Spring, such a beautiful season with all the bulbs sprouting up everywhere. :-)

Friday 1 April 2011

Black & Spiro

Hello, I'm back! So great to have a mini break. Not only did we visit Brisbane we went to the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast too so got some beach walking in although the weather wasn't that great - lots of rain sadly.

Here are some shots of Black & Spiro that I was lucky enough to visit while in Brisbane. Such a gorgeous shop and even Mr Cornflake was taken in and quite enamoured with interior designer, Anna Spiro's beautiful eye for things. Fell in love with the Moroccan lanterns, paintings by Nadine Sawyer and beautiful fabrics and furnishings from India and Thailand. Like Anna, I have the blue and white obsession! When we eventually get our own place, I'm sure (I hope) there will be a feature piece from Black and Spiro :-)

I also got to visit Simone's shop, Just Plain Gorgeous but I forgot my camera (!?!) so don't have any photos for you. I bought this really sweet vintage table cloth and guess what? I left it in the back of Mr Cornflake's family's car we borrowed, doh! Will be up again soon to collect and snap - blogging is a bit like show and tell isn't it.

Have a lovely day and weekend! p.s. happy April's Fools Day x