My Little Dream... Up-cycle

So after the discover of chalk paint for me, has come the obsession with up-cycling!

Vintage is new the new trend and shabby is the new chic! this is nothing new as i've always been in love with old! From historic buildings to traditional english villages.... LOVE LOVE LOVE.

We now have various tv shows and magazines telling us how to turn someones trash into our very own treasures!

I wanted to share with you a couple of my treasures so far... turning worn and torn bedside cabinets into    lovely clean new pieces, a gorgeous lamp table (but tired) lamp table into a funky new night stand and my latest venture my bargain ebay bedroom furniture set!

 This is my old bedside dresser from when i was a little girl, discovered in mums attic! I was so eager to get my hands on it... i forgot to take a picture of what it looked like before! so half way through sanding and taking off the awful rectangle handles i quickly snapped whilst i remembered. 

I managed to pick up the simple wooden knobs from B&Q a bag of 10 for just over £10. Other DIY shops so sell them, i did try homebase who only sold individually which made them quite expensive but sometimes you can pick these things up at boot sales, car boots, and trinket shops!

This beautiful solid pine bedside cabinet was my great hans! Its all completely solid, but had an awful varnish on that was pretty garish! I sanded the chest down, replaces the handles with slightly bigger ones (again from my B&Q stash!) and gave it a lick of Annie Sloan Old Ochre paint, and now it looks gorgeous in our second bedroom! 

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I would love to see your photos of what you've done!

My Little Dream... Chalk paint discovery!

Its seems like I was massively late and behind the rest of the world on this one... but what a triumphant discovery chalk paint is!!

Rummaging through my mums attic I found my childhood bedside cabinet, which in a earlier life had been painted bright purple with shiny silver drawers to match my glittery curtains and silver radiator as a child! I went to work the next day and one of my friends suggested Chalk Paint! (Ill show you the finished article in a mixture of my chalk paint projects blog!)

So i googled... chalk paint...

What amazing, weird and wonderful things people have managed to achieve! Up-cycling old furniture and pre-loved items into homely, new treasures! I was immediately excited!! 

I found my nearest stockist of Annie Sloan paint right here in Sevenoaks at Dovetails Vintage  a gorgeous little shop which sells trinkets and up cycled furniture! They also do workshops on how to use chalk paint!  You can find your nearest stockist (European and  Ireland) here

Initially the paint seems quite expensive!! but i honestly cant tell you what value it is! Its easy to use! (your toddler could slop it on with you and not get it wrong!) and so far Ive only used one coat and then  got over with a few touch ups where needed!  Ive got half a tin left of my Annie Sloan and so far Ive achieved from that tin... 3 bedside cabinets and a lamp table and a chest of drawers!! 

The key is to buy the wax!  Wax is yes an additional cost! You'll get a tin and the wax for under £30 (but wont get much change!) The coat of wax when you've finished stops the paint from chipping when you smash it, bash it and crash it (like i am always doing!)  I've gone for the clear wax but there are variations? when you initially put the clear wax on, it does make the paint appear darker but it will not stay like that!

But, don't run off to the shops just yet! There are other brands of chalk paint!

I've used Rusto-leum which i found in both B&Q and Homebase! (Although a small tester pot is £5!) there is a great variety of bright colours!

Assortment of colours from Autentico

My favourite paint so far has to be Autentico! I discovered this in a gorgeous little shop called mylittlevintageattic in Sevenoaks. I got a tester pot to try it out in Winter Sky (gorgeous dark duck egg blue colour!)  It was just under £4 for the tester. This paint seems to glide on, and the selection of colours is amazing so much more choice than with Annie! So I'm a big fan! and funnily enough mylittlevintageattic isn't a relative of mylittledreamhome! :)

Follow me on 

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or 

Twitter @littledreamhome 

I would love to see your photos of what you've done!

My Little Dream... Boot sale addiction?

Ok, so i know what you are thinking! How is a boot sale addiction a dream? It sounds completely bizarre that an addiction could be a good thing! but i am totally in love with boot sales/fairs and really don't know what i am going to do when winter comes around.

The variety, the people, the early weekend mornings, the sunshine and most importantly the BARGAINS!!

Its true! there are bargains to be had a boot sales! Someones TAT is another persons TREASURE!
I have learnt a few things whilst trawling along the South coast at a variety of boot fairs.

As i had always thought, until now... its not always the nicer the area the better the booty! Ive got some of my favourite things from boot sales in not such great areas! and have been really disappointed by some of the areas seen to be more affluent!

But, the best tip i can give you is,  to either get  to the boot sale early or get there late...  If you can get there early the 6am wake up call can definitely be worth it! as  there is more of a selection, but if you can't scramble out of bed on your weekend off (and believe me i understand this feeling) the best thing to do is get there really late on! There's not as much of a selection but, people don't want to take things home with them  and knock things down to absurd prices!

West Malling Car Boot - Every Saturday (summer)

 During a previous post i declared my love for Johnson's Brothers Greydawn and Rosedawn china! Its not a particularly exclusive china, it has value to me as my friend Sammy brought me them as my first 4 plates in my first very own home but also i absolutely love them.

I already have far too much Greydawn china, more than could every possibly be used! but i was searching for bowls!

My gorgeous 24 pieces of Greydawn immaculately clean!

At a car boot sale in Bursledon, Hampshire recently, a lady had some Greydawn and i asked her how much for the bowls? she replied
"20p each, but you can have the lot for £1"
Oh my lordy, i would love to have seen my face in that moment, i could not have got that £1 coin out of my pocket any faster!

Obviously! I took the whole lot, and took HUGE pleasure in cleaning each piece one by one that evening at home... 24 pieces in total! bargain of the century!
Especially when you check out Ebay and they are selling for £7 per plate!


 Here are a couple of other boot sale bargains to date:

Love this Jamie Oliver Bottle!
West Malling Car Boot (near Brands Hatch)

Gorgeous Oak Framed Mirror.
Bursledon Car Boot, Hampshire

This lovely glass Jamie Oliver bottle! was 50p!
and...
this gorgeous Oak Framed mirror was just £1.

One of the best bargains i've seen was when i dragged my friend Emily out with me. She managed to bag a Villeroy & Boch Mug and Latte Cup for just 50p these are still retailing at £18 for the mug and £11 for the Latte Cup (what a steal) but most importantly she loves it! and i think thats really important!

Other bargains to date have included; 2 Poole Pottery milk jugs and 1 sugar bowl for £1 for all 3!  a Brass lamp stand, shade and bulb for £3! a small side/lamp table with leather hard wearing top for £3 (I actually upcycled this and sold on Ebay for £16!!- but ill tell you more about this later!)
A brand new pack of Sharpie and Stadler Pens in all different colours for £3, a beautiful embroidered cushion for £1! and Michael even got a dress for his brother to wear on his stag do for just 50p!

To find your nearest car boot visit: www.carbootssales.org  but if one isn't up to date or doesn't look familiar, its always advisable to call first! I learnt my lesson the hard way on that one!

Good Luck!

My Little Dream... Wedding

So it was two years ago now Michael proposed after a rumage in his sock drawer meant the discovery of my gorgeous engagement ring!

At the time we were in New Zealand but knew we wanted a small family wedding at Christmas over in the UK.

I thought that every wedding decision would be a nightmare and i would turn into a complete Bridezilla! but i think the hardest thing was cutting down the guest list and seating people! We were very lucky to have the people around us to make things fall into place. 

We went for a sage green wedding theme, i originally wanted duck egg blue but it didn't look right as a winter colour and the sage was warm and lovely.

So... rather than go through a step by step of our wedding i wanted to pick out a few simple things i adored! that may be of use!

Wood love hearts!
I ordered these plain, for £1.99 for 10 from Ebay but im sure you could pick them up in craft shops, hobbycraft etc... or even make your own if you are that clever! :)
Once these arrived the girls and I painted them with tester pots of sage green and they came up so nice. We ending up hanging them on the backs of the chairs at the ceremony and they looked gorgeous!

Our table names where fun pub names, so we managed to make these awesome pub signs, by just googling images of pub signs and printing them off!

We ended up with:

• The Happy Drinker
• The Ugly Duckling
• The Sherlock Holmes
• The 18th Hole
• Dirty Dicks
• The George and the Dragon

We found ours on a pub memorabilia website! www.pubworldmemorabilia.com  but there are loads around online! 

Along with gorgeous homemade bunting and blackboards on free standing easels, a sweet table and 7 variations of cakes all on different stands. 

We had a real pub/country themed wedding and we were so lucky we had perfect weather and were fortunate to be surrounded by everyone we love. 

Pinterest was revolutionary for me when planning our wedding. Having a pin board where you can host all the pins and peoples different ideas! it was great! Definately recommend it! 

This is mine i created for our wedding, but stemmed from an aisle design from Pinterest.
It was simple just cheap hessian fabric and a permanant marker! 

My Little Dream...on hold

Sorry its been a while... the New Zealand rollercoaster is over and we moved back to the UK in August and since then we've been settling back in to English life, finding jobs, new living arrangements and even getting married!

Its been a complete whirlwind but now I am back and dreaming daily of my Little Dream Home...

The latest craze of upcycling and recycling old furniture has hit me hard and is literally a new addition. 
I spend much of my time scouring Ebay and preloved for items that need just a little bit of love.

My new husband is seriously wondering what he has let himself in for with our little 2 bed rented cottage utilised as a fun workshop for my imagination!!

I have so much to update you on over the next few posts from the discovery of chalk paint to my boot sale addition and the decor and theme of the wedding to the welsh dresser hunt and my new found instagram addiction!!

I promise I wont leave it so long next time! 

Sorry for the cheesy pic! But its my favourite ♥

My Little Dream... World Map

Years ago on an tv episode ( i cant even remember which one) the couple where buying vintage bits and bobs and went to a little store in devon where they purchased a world map!

I will always remember it because i am fascinated by maps and travel and couple look at a map for hours!
This couple brought their map and took it home to put it in their house, they put photos of themselves on the map in the various places. For instance a picture of them at the Leaning Tower of Pisa was pinned to Italy.
I was so impressed by it! I have always wanted an old world map to frame and have on my wall, my idea is slightly different in that i would border the frame of photos of my travels in various places all over the world wherever i would be fortunate enough to go!

Who knew though my hunt for a World Map would take so long. Admittedly i havent been looking every single day, in every single shop or touring the internet in desperation to find it, but id never ever seen one. Of course there are the modern maps you can get in your local stationery or book store, but i wanted something different.

After a visit to Chesapeake Mill again with mumsy we found a gorgeous 'duck egg blue again!!' painted long piece of wood i would say about 120cm long which simply said "the world is your oyster" I loved it, it was perfect and would fit perfectly above my non-existent old world map!
I made the mistake of saying to mum, "i wont get it yet, ill get the map first!" what an idiot! incase you havent learnt this lesson already ladies and gents! if you like something... buy it! especially if its in a second hand or vintage store as you may not see it again! So we left the mill and i never did buy my appropriate sign! however i figure, all is not lost as i will be able to make my own one day! (we'll see how that goes later on?)

Anyway i will stop waffling and get to the point! being... i found my map! at a gorgeous store
Willow and Stone!  

Check out my map click here 
Its wrapping paper! and cost just 3 GBP amazing!! all the countries are listed in there old form and i love it. Again mumsy came to the rescue and for christmas she had flattened the paper and framed it as my present! No creases, holes or tears completely immaculate!

One very happy bunny to say the least! now it will take me same length of time to hunt down that sign again! If you find anything "the world is my oyster" please let me know!

Robert Gordon's gorgeous new Melamine!

I didnt discover Robert Gordon or Donna Hay till i moved out to New Zealand and i didnt want anyone else to have to make that traumatic move just to discover these fantastic ranges!

I had to give this gorgeous new Melamine range from Robert Gordon

 its own blog!

If you dont think this melamine tupperwares are amazing im not sure we can be friends any longer!!! I am totally in love, but not so much in love with the price tag! this may have to go on my birthday list along with the flan dishes from the another Robert Gordon Blog! --->

 

These new Melamine Tupperwares are retailing at $39.95 AUD

I just had to share them with you!  

My Little Dream... Milk Jug

My gorgeous new milk jug from Chesapeake! Thanks Mum!

Most women's weakness is shoes, handbags or even chocolate. Mine... Milk Jugs!

Random, i know but if i see a little milk jug looking at me through the charity shop window i just have to have it!

My love of little milk jugs is fast becoming an unnatural obsession! Over the past few months i think i have purchased more milk jugs than i have ever owned milk to fill!

So saying there is such thing as 'My Little Dream' milk jug might be abit ambitious as i love all of them but i want to share them with you.

Cornishware has to be up there and they have such a variety of colours, shapes and sizes.

My dad picked up a TG Green Cornishware Jug from a boot sale! I know! a Car boot! who in their right mind would sell a beautiful Cornishware milk jug at the car boot! crazy! but it was lovely that the old papa thought of me and that he picked up such a great bargain, its immaculate too which is exciting.

To add to my beautiful cornishware collection of my (fake) $5 tea pot, i now own this beautiful larger jug and mumsy added to the collection on a trip to Chesapeake Mill. Chesapeake Mill is a beautiful little old mill filled with gorgeous antiques, second hand items old and new.

http://www.chesapeakemill.co.uk/  

Its definately worth checking out!  Mumsy and I have spent hours in there in the past! it can be a bit of a jumble sale but i love a rumage!! :) Our Cornishware find at Chesapeake was a gorgeous Blue and White stripe T G Green (real) smaller Milk jug, with MILK written on the outside and the inside marked as a measuring jug. Amazing!! i am totally in love with it!

Ruby Dunes Store in Ohope, New Zealand

Just gutted that living and renting fully furnished in New Zealand sees all my beautfiul little trinkets sitting in mumsys loft till we finally come home and get a little dream home of our own. My poor mums loft is filled with some beautiful things that should be on display!

Being in New Zealand does have its perks! and yes you guessed it they come in the form of another beautiful milk jug! Which my gorgeous boyfriend brought for me on my birthday! We spotted it in a local vintage shop (which are way overpriced) recently!

This beautiful 'made in new zealand' milk jug is in a light pastel blue colour but does come in pastel pink and green too! Mike got mine at IkoIko and they retail at $39.90 NZD which is about 20 GBP (i know ridiculous for a milk jug, but it is gorgeous!!)
So... this jug sits with me by my $5 tea pot here in New Zealand and definately brings a smile to my face!



I know its looking forward to being introduced to the others one day!

Finding the perfect cake stand...

You may have seen my earlier post about cake stands. I love baking and feeling that sense of achievement when you pull that beautifully risen cake from the oven, but nothing upsets me more than when you've given out the portions and the rest of the cake goes into a tupperware in the cupboard.

That's why cake stands are beautiful and like i showed you in a previous blog Nigella, Donna and those Gorgeous cake stands

The one i loved which i found on etsy.com turned out just to be for decoration and not to be used for food due to the paint that was used. 
So i was bake to trying to find a cake stand on a pedestal with a glass dome. Its easy enough to find a pedestal cake stand and as i showed in that blog i simply adore Nigella Lawson's which comes in all pink, white and my beautiful blue (pictured below)

My hunt for the perfect cake stand has led me to big brand stores, vintage shabby chic boutiques and even wholesale yards. Literally on both sides of the world in New Zealand and the UK and the searches on the internet proved disapointing too. In the end i even thought about just purchasing the cloche (glass dome) but to get the measurements right with the stand proved tricky. Then i thought about buying a cheesedome and painting a candlestick and adding it to the bottom to give it the pedestal effect!

I know what your thinking there would be no point to my ramblings if there wasnt an ending but there is and a successful ending too!!
Well... almost!
Trust Mumsy to come up trumps on a trip to 'Hobbycraft!' Hobbycraft!!??? i kid you not!

I absolutely adore my new cake stand, (which mum brought for a birthday present in the end) one catch... the cake stand was brought in England and im in New Zealand so i will have to wait till our return back to England to live to actually use it. In the meantime i just have to look at this lovely photo mum has sent me of it and think of the beautifully baked smelling Victoria Sponge she has promised to fill it with on our Christmas visit.

I'll make sure i post a picture of the sponge! :)

My Little Dream... Coasters

Coasters... not really something to dream about, but there are always so many to choose from!

Ive been looking at some fun different coasters!

The first design i stumbled across was on Etsy

I love this idea... something simple to do yourself with your old scrabble set and some strong glue adhesive.
You can pick the tiles up on ebay! But it might be worth popping round to Nans and I think there might be a rush at car boots for old scrabble sets!
Or for those who are less crafty you can buy this from Etsy for  $14.00 USD


Another great crafty idea for coasters! is to simply pick up sample tiles you love from your local DIY store?  Slate tiles can look funky and you can also use them to create little blackboards! and its up to you if you decide to glue the base to some corkboard?

If you do have corkboard (you can pick it up from your local craft shop) , another fun idea i stumbled across was the one below, cutting corkboard into bread shapes! Simple... and I think this is a fun and quirky idea which would also, the way its presented as a loaf make a great gift!

However, again for those less crafty! these are Avaliable at Moma Store for just $10.00 USD

As many of you know i have a thing for nautical seaside decor and i just cant get enough of Duck Egg Blue Colours and Beach Huts so here are a couple of my much loved coasters:

Left, Beach Hut Coasters By Martin Wiscombe 7.95 GBP
http://www.giftsfromhandpicked.com/view-our-full-range/beach-hut-coasters.html

This cute design (right) is avaliable from beach chic designs at 24.00USD for Four













However, my  Favourite of all favourites  is this simple design, avaliable for the absolute Bargain price of 2.50 GBP from http://www.romseybeeremporium.co.uk/2012/01/11/coaster-place-glass-here/ 

It is very similar to the 'Keep Calm and Carry on' range which is so popular at the moment