What better way to kick off Spring but with a fabulous new dress? Okay, I am one day early, but I like to be prepared.

I was tempted to give you a huge selection of all the pretties that caught my eye as I’ve shopped around, but I’ve narrowed it down to my current favorites.  While I do love shopping for original vintage, there are times that call for reproductions and vintage inspired pieces.  So rather than looking for vintage one of a kinds, I’ve put together a short and sweet selection that you can also order for yourself should the mood take you.  I’m already looking forward to chardonnay lunches, BBQ parties, marketing on sunny mornings and after work cocktails in these outfits.

Super Spy Dress from Heartbreaker

Wing Bust Dress by Whirling Turban

Vivien of Holloway Halter dress

Bettie Page dress by Blue Velvet Vintage

How can I pick just one?!

It’s decorating time again!

I’ve been humming and hawing over the state of my kitchen for some time now. Do I take up the floor, do I paint the cabinets, do I just do nothing and wait to see if I ever get around to extending the house?  The biggest cause of inaction with this decorating project has been just how far it keeps sliding down the priorities on the To Do list.  But since I got my hands on a great vintage table setting last week, I’ve been spurred into action and moved it up the list.  So today I booked the painter and I have three days to decide on my colours. Nothing like a deadline!

Originally  I was planning to go with a lighter version of the blue on this blog for the walls, but after finding this table in blue, I’m now leaning towards yellow.  So I’ve been flicking through paint swatches to narrow down the choices and will start doing some brush outs tomorrow to see how they all look on the walls. Getting just the right shade will be critical to creating that retro feel; not too pale, not too orangey.  Visiting my favorite retro blogs and Flickr streams has been a great source of inspiration, for where else can you find colour coordinated, era appropriate resources all in one place?

Thank you to American Vintage Home for these images

1. 1956 Youngstown Metal Cabinets, 2. 1955 American Kitchen, 3. September 1949 – Armstrong Linoleum, 4. 1950s Kitchen Design with a Chambers Range, 5. 1941 Yellow & Green Armstrong Kitchen, 6. 1953 Armstrong Sunflower Yellow Kitchen

Vintage Sears Colour Co-Ordination Chart

The windows in my kitchen face North, so I’m hoping to catch as much sunlight as possible and bring it inside. Given that my floor is a dark slate and my cabinets are all a light-ish Tasmania Oak, I need to balance all this without it looking sickly.   Of course the safest way to check this is to do some big brush outs on the walls and check the colour in all the lights of the day. Which means that tomorrow I will be a mess of Butterfingers, Custard Puff and Lemon Blast!

If you have any recommendations, suggestions or horror stories about yellow kitchens to tell – now is the time to let me know!

When you were a child did you have an imaginary friend? Did something live in your closet or under your bed? We may grow up but we never forget those night we huddled under the covers seeking refuge from shadows and trembling with both fear and excitement. Illustrator Meghan Killen has taken her childhood fantasies and distilled their essence into a new children’s series following the adventures of Ruby Winkle as she searches for a cure to her insomnia.

“Ruby Winkle is a tale about a young girl who tirelessly searches for sleep. Through a series of mishap inventions, imitations and insight, Ruby soon discovers that the best solution for sleep is surprisingly the simplest. “

I spoke with Meghan to find out more about how Ruby came to live inside her head.

“Ruby Winkle was inspired by my fascination with the unexplained be it a ghost or a clue. Growing up, I fell in love with Raymond Chandler and the whole film noir environment. As a child, I would spend summers at my grandmother’s house.  Adorned in my grandmother’s assortment of gaudy rings and draped in a colorful assortment of over-sized shawls, I would carefully pen any number of aliases into a ledger sprawled across the dining room table. I was always “on a case” as a child and it’s no surprise that I ended up working for a private detective at one point in my life.

The character of Ruby Winkle is not only drawn to simple things that she can’t explain (such as her lack of sleep) but she also has the tendency to over complicate the things in her life. Lack of sleep suddenly takes on a entirely new world that demands contraptions, inquiries and serious investigation.”

Meghan is in the process of self-publishing Ruby Winkle (no mean feat!) with the intention of developing her into a detective series for children.  I love to see talented people getting their work out there and changing their own destiny. 

Perhaps for Meghan, Ruby’s missing dreams will lead her to realising her own.

A BIG thank you to you all for your kind birthday wishes! I had a lovely relaxing family day on Sunday at my Mum’s and Dad kindly took some outfit photos for me to share with you all. Birthday’s are one of the best reasons to dress up.. any way you choose. Not that this outfit is all that different from my usual attire, but it is the first time I’ve worn this dress with a crinoline. Actually it is the first time I have worn this dress as it has been waiting in the cupboard for my waist to get just a touch smaller, so I was very pleased to be able to break it out for the day.

The dress is a 1980′s cotton, New Zealand designer vintage piece, which is a classic example of 1980′s does the 1940′s. I love the big cabbage rose print and the swishy skirt. I paired it with a fab reproduction crinoline picked up at Circa Vintage (where else!) and a 1950′s beaded cashmere cardigan as the sun was out but the chill was still in the air. And you may notice that I finally found an era appropriate watch,with a great winding mechanism and clear face, at the Salvo’s last week for a grand total of $15! There’s that clothing karma again.

So here’s to birthday’s and great dresses.  There is so much joy to be had in dressing up!

Outfit Details:

Dress – 1980′s vintage from eBay

Cardigan – 1950′s beaded cashmere from a vintage fair

Shoes – Zoe Wittner

Rose earrings – from Diva   Hair Rose – Metallicus

Crinoline – Circa Vintage Clothing

This Sunday is my birthday! Yay! If you couldn’t tell by now I love birthday’s- they are yet another reason to go all out and dress up.  But before you think I’ll spend the weekend lazing around having my grapes peeled, I’ll tell you about the fun I have planned.

Party – A small family gathering this weekend as a prelude to a bigger bash a little later on when  Spring gives us proper party weather.

Spa – How can a girl have a birthday that doesn’t include a facial? That’s certainly not the way we do it around here! Birthday’s must come with at least one massage and one facial to help you deal with the influx of cake.

Projects – You didn’t think I’d skip a project just because it is my birthday? This weekend sees me getting one step closer to retro-fitting my kitchen with the introduction of a beautiful late 1950′s hexagonal table setting. It is a blue marble laminate with chocolate coloured chairs in the most incredible condition.  So I’ll be having fun ‘staging’ my kitchen to make it just a little dreamier, and finally picking out the paint chips that will match the setting.

Reading – I’ve been so enjoying all the fabulous new blogs popping up of late. So much eye candy! And whilst I read, I’ll be making notes to introduce you to my picks of the best and brightest. I am particularly happy to see so many more Australians taking the journey to blog land.

image via Retro Renovation

I hope your weekend is shaping up to be a fun one too.

And as for me… all birthday shipments of vintage pretties are most welcome!