Vacation time: Packing lists

We are heading off on a family holiday tomorrow! Whoooooo! Off to beautiful Port Douglas for 10 gorgeous days of beach, sun, warm weather and lots of good food. I am so excited to have a break from house hunting and spending time with my two favourite boys. It also is the end of my maternity leave as I am heading back to work in mid July.

Part of me is really looking forward to getting back to work, part of me is not. I love my days with the Little Man and we are so busy with the house hunt, play dates and fun activities it will be a big change. A good change. I need to keep telling myself that.

Back to the holiday prep.

It is no secret that I LOVE LISTS. I make them daily, twice daily, honestly too often. This I get from my mum. She is the ultimate list maker but she is also the most organized person I know. In the back of my beautiful Erin Condren planner I have a list: 'Things We Should Always Travel With' and I add to it all the time. From recommendations and from experience. The balloon is a big one in this family.

For holidays I make three lists, one for me, one for the Little Man and one for the plane/car/however we are travelling. Hubby gets to take care of his own packing. He is one of the those easily organised people, and he is a man so his outfits are a million times easier than mine!

Here are the lists I've just made for our trip >>

Off to pack I go!

xx Tess

Home Design Inspiration: Styled Built-in Shelving

I cannot tell you how much I love the look of built in shelving. Styled, neat, effective storage with a mantle for decorating as the season changes, this is my idea of living room perfection. There are literally thousands of shots of beautifully styled builts in on the blogosphere. Some gorgeous DIY built ins too which might be a good option for us as we are going to be on SUPER budget once we find our home.

Here are some of my favourite inspiration photos...

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xx Tess

Celebrations inspirations: For the Bar Cart

Ever wondered what the perfect bar cart contents would be? Me too! So I did some research and came up with this simple list of nine lovely items...

Celebrations inspirations: Bar Carts

Whilst I was away last weekend in Melbourne, my brother who is a graphic designer and I had a big discussion about bar carts. Yes, bar carts. Before I go any further, we are not big drinkers and I don't condone excessive drinking. We are in the grips of 'Gatsby-world' at the moment and during the roaring forties and onwards a bar cart in the living room, well stocked was a normal situation.

I have been pottering around for inspiration on Pinterest and found these gorgeous shots.

My inspiration, wait until you see what I've found....

xx Tess

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DIY: Chalk Paint and Painted Magazine Rack

Have you heard of chalk paint? Not blackboard paint to make a chalk board, but paint with an element of chalk consistency that is a dream to use? Neither had I until I discovered Annie Sloan Chalk paint and loads of bloggers using it like Shawna from Styleberry Blog and Kate from Centsational Girl.

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Baiscally chalk paint is regular paint that you add a medium to and it results in easy painting, no necessity for a primer and consistent colour smoothness.

Remember I wanted to find a basket style magazine rack here? Well, I found this one on the side of the road! Love! Free and cute. Not the most steady and heavy sort of item but it just needs to hold magazines and books and this was clean and a good shape and didn't have any random broken bits so in to the car it jumped.. along with a chair but that is another story all together.

This was the perfect chalk paint project.

I searched on pinterest for a recipe for chalk paint and found this fab one. and halved it becuase I was doing a small job...

There you have it! I wonder what else I can chalk paint....

I am off to Melbourne for the weekend without either of my boys! I am looking forward to seeing some family, sad as we are scattering my Grandmother's ashes, happy that her ashes will be with her beloved husband and looking forward to a sneeky sleep in on Sunday morning!

xx Tess

Fab Finds: Vintage/Industrial Letter Rack

There is the sweet little rustic, french inspired homewares store in Fairlight on Sydney's Northern Beaches that I love. It's only about 20 minutes from my parents place so I took a little trip past this week.

My favourite way to wind down and have some me time to to brew some tea, find a sunny spot or fill a warm bath and flick through a house magazine. However, I have a hard time throwing them out! I love flicking through a back issue, but storing them is another thing! So I have been looking for a vintage/industrial looking wall rack for my magazines. Of course I turned to Pinterest for my inspiration....

This first one comes from one of my favourite sellers Down That Little Lane but isn't exactly what I am wanting for this project. I am on the hunt for one of these vintage/retro cane magazine holders on Gumtree.

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These following styles where what I was looking for but I couldn't get a hold of them online or they didn't ship to Australia (darn living on a fabulously large Island that noone wants to ship to).

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So I took a trip over to Honey Bee Homewares and found this beauty! Snag! I love that it isn't just a magazine rack but can be styled with loads of different bits and pieces.

I absolutely love it! Now we just need to find the right house so I can put it up and use it. If only it was that simple. Cross your fingers for us this weekend, we are off to look at a GREAT house!

xx Tess