Hump-dee-do-day!

Happy Wednesday

or

Hump-day

If we were on a roller coaster we'd be on the top of the rise

getting ready to put our arms in the air

as we roll down the other side to

the weekend!

and I'd probably let out a girly and excited scream too :)

Hope your week is rolling along smoothly!

I have been taking full advantage of the quietness of our house 

with the kids being away in the country with 

their cousins!

Wearing pretty dresses 

in this gorgeous Autumn Melbourne weather 

and foofing about 

with a red rose in my hair! 

In all honestly though,

I do miss the hustle and bustle of life with my 3 kiddos,

but that said,

I am enjoying 

being free to choose what I want to cook and eat,

But some days I just don't want to cook!

 I like to eat my crackers, 

with danish feta, honey from our bees and topped persian rose-petals! 

 OR 

I like to do things that would otherwise 

not normally be allowed 

Such as eating this sweet treat - a salted caramel tartlet bought on Tuesday afternoon

and sharing it over coffee - for breakfast - this morning!

Yes sireee, I do like this little bit of freedom of choosing

when I want to cook & eat,

and how I choose to spend away the hours of the days,

working on all my little 'projects' 

uninterrupted!

Anyhoo, they'll be back soon!

With my 'Me Time'

I've been working on another round of bits'n'bobs 

to get listed on eBay shortly,

and I've bought a few more large old wire baskets,

which I find are very useful for storage of bits & pieces

while we're living in this half-finished house!

 

This afternoon I have finished stripping the paint off 

one of my french cafe chairs,

I have ground down my fingernails - in the process -

however these chairs are far more important to me

than long fancy fingernails!!!

Here is the Before

During

And the after (so far)

I'll give it a bit of a whitewash on the timber slats

then clear coat it all over to protect the metal from rusting!






I'm enjoying a bit of 
Eddie Vedder and his Ukulele songs on Youtube
as I sit with you here!


I've been listening to his tunes quite a bit lately!

Whats high on your ipod rotations?


Any musical suggestions?
C'mon lurkers,
Don't be shy


Let's get some conversations going!


IF you're too shy to say "hey" here 
you're most welcome to drop
in on me 
over on Facebook
or
Pinterest :)


Or check out my life in pictures on Instagram!




OK
That's a wrap from me here!


Time alone with my hubby 
without the kiddos
hardly ever happens

So I'm outta here!


xxxx Love & Light xxxx
Always


Rowena
VintageNobility

Juggling clocks; there's never enough Time!

Good Lord 

Where have the last coupla months gone?

OK - I'll admit it...

I kinda suck at the whole blogging thing!

At the moment, 

I struggle to juggle my time and write up about what's going on.

That's because,

I am probably just too busy

Living in the moments!

However that said - I did pledge to attempt to get good at the bloggy thing!

So apologies for the long absence

but I am back - here- right now...
so let me show you what I have been up to

and what's cookin' with me!

Please note: all the pictures here in this blog are taken by me

and if you love an image so much 

I don't mind sharing
- in fact that'd be flattering -

but please do be polite and link it back to this blog! 

Please!

Of Course,

If you'd prefer to quickly review my life in pictures 

then please join me (after you finish reading this post:) 

on my VintageNobility Facebook page

or over at

Instagram 

if you're an iPhone camera addict!

I am good at instant little updates - with my iPhone photos! 

Oh, and if your a Twitter freak...hmm...well I have linked up to that too - but I'm not an active twitter-er!

All said...

I'd love to connect with other bloggers/facebookers/twitter-er's and Instagrammers

experienced and newbies :) all welcome!

Okey dokey, so if we just rewind a bit back to February (gulp)

I will show you what we have been working on...

First lets start with the house!

For those of you joining me here for the first time,

we are into our 3rd year of renovating this house!

It's actually a rebuild and has been doubled in size since we began

with additional verandahs added all around...

It's a huge project and 90% of it has been done by me and my amazing husband (Mr VintageNobility or Mr VN for those who like to abbreviate)

Nail holes have been filled, the gap sealant is on and now we about to add the frames around the windows and paint the north wall!

It's a long as slow process and it's being done with care and devotion to details - this is not your usual 'slap bang hey presto house'.

This house is barely recognizable to it's original state 

and even though it's taken longer than we anticipated 

I am loving the journey we're in!

So meanwhile life with 3 (two big and 1 little) kiddos goes on!

Annnd...much like snakes and ladders (I was playing this with my little one recently) we have the usual ups and downs in our daily grind!

So anyhoo, 

in February we got back into the swing of school and the daily grind that happens after a lovely Summer! 

Because I can't sit still for long,

I fidgit like a 3 year old when expected to sit and wait for things to happen for me,

I have naturally kept myself entertained in my own fabulous and chaotic ways!

I am having an Aqua affair lately - I can't help it,

the Aqua lust I have held within me has finally been unleashed and just about everything I look at 

has to either be aqua or sit nicely next to something that is aqua!

Here are a few of my favourite Aqua treasures!

Yep - I heart my Aqua treasures! 

A cute little saucer I recently found! 

and an old vintage tin I adore!

Alright - that'll do - ENuff Aqua Lusting...

So yeah,

I managed to sand back one of those rusty Sebel chairs I'd picked up early in February!

Then I took some time to think about leaving it in it's natural/vintage industrial state... or giving it a coat of fresh white paint

Of the 13 I picked up - 3 of them were rusted and need some painting love! 

but eventually the Aqua lust got the better of me and I opened my paint tin up and gave it some Aqua love that would've made Barry White turn blue :)

It has been given a slight bit of a shabby-luv-scratchback - as I didn't want it looking too 'new'! 

I then spied the old bedhead/ends in the corner and so began the transformation

The intention is to turn these ends into lovely big old cafe style blackboards

Now while I love the aqua - I didn't want it to be so strongly emphasized either - so I have stripped the paint back and just left enough in the woodgrain to prove my Aqua devotion - but maintain the elegance of the old wood frame .

As I type, one of them is almost done - I just need to give it a couple more coats of blackboard paint - then find somewhere to store it!!!!

I'll post some 'finished pictures' in the next update!

Further to that...

While selling off on eBay

 kids clothes, long outgrown, I have also been 

spending the winnings on a few good eBay finds!

I have been keeping an eye out for genuine, vintage cafe chairs;

and the other week spied these and kept watch on them, assuming they'd go sky high in price by auction end...but thankfully no one else bid on them and I won them - Bargain!

In this photo they look good - but actually they're heavily layered up in paint and kinda lumpy - not in that attractive layered way either...so I have begun the stripping back process - and here begins another project!

I have progressed further than this photo shows- and this chair is almost back to it's naked state... Once I get the other one done I will probably give them a light white wash! 

Like the blackboard - I will post more pictures of them once they're done!

March 21st was the anniversary of when I met my husband 22 years ago, 2 years later I married my beautiful husband, and so, on March 22nd we celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary!

  

My husband, is the love of my life, he's my best friend, my builder and I love having those strong protective arms around me or those hands in mine!

He knows me
- and still he loves me -
I have been blessed with
this beautiful soul
I look forward to our eternity together!

In loving me, and knowing me,
he is happy to take me to treasure hunting places like
the Camberwell Market every now and again
here in Melbourne each Sunday

and he sees my love of Frenchy, Shabby, Vintage and Chic bits
 best of all - he supports my taste and style...
and doesn't mind me foofing about with bits of
glass, rusty metal, rosey china, lacey or sparkly stuff
He gets me!

Anyway, here are a few of my recent market finds...

Alrighty tighty then -
that'll do from me for today!
I'll keep on trying to get into the swing of this whole bloggin thing,
and hopefully catch you up for another post
soon rather than later :)

xxxx Love and Light xxxx
always


VintageNobility  

VintageNobility keeping it real and honest!

Helloooooooo!

Lordy...if this 'ere blog was a baby (and in a way - it is!)

I think I'd have to raise my hand and say 

"Guilty, your Honour"

to the charges of neglect!

As mentioned in my previous posts,

 one of my little challenges to 'Me/Myself/I', this year, 

is to be a little more

'Social Media savvy',

to educate myself in all things

Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Pinterest and Blogger, 

link it all together and use it to 

participate and stay connected with other busy

friends, families, strangers and businesses 

and all and sundry who choose to stop by in their busy day and

take a peek!

In amongst this ambitious attempt to become

Social Media savvy, 

we here in the VintageNobility house are 

(still)

undertaking the major renovations to take it from its original

Shoe-box size

to its new

Castle-esque proportions!

All of which we (my hubby and I)

are now doing by ourselves now!

So if I'm "Guilty" of neglect,

its because I am up there...

on the second level,

Urrrm over here - on the other side (waving hand madly - yep here :)... 

 Up here, on the ladder, holding up another piece of timber, while the nail gun in his hand - blasts my eardrums!

(Warning: Ramble sirens should probably be switched on now!)

Now let's be clear here

this is so much more than a 'renovation',

it's been a rebuild,

and long before the house grew up,

we had to prepare the foundations of the house (which at the beginning literally sat on dirt --> now it has at least 70cm of clearance underneath), 

yep and Mr VintageNobility had to re-stump, and ensure it would be strong enough to withstand the weight of what was to come!

Furthermore, it's funny, when I think in reflection of what we have undertaken physically with this mammoth effort

because it has also translated into our relationship!

Everyday, we must rely on each other, to have the faith and the motivation to wake up and work together, and step up to the challenge of another day of striving to turn what was once an idea, a dream, a plan,

into a reality,

into something which we can now both touch, see and admire, 

 inevitably,

every day 

our endurance, physically, emotionally and spiritually is tested! 

Happily, 

we can testify, that much like our home, the dynamics of our little family is stronger, well joined and feels renewed

and

I honestly feel like I'm in the happiest time of my life!

So 

Yes, 

I am "Guilty" of neglecting this baby-blog, 

however I am building it a beautiful home 

so we can raise it in comfort!

 I know you're an understanding mob,

 and you all have busy lives too ;)

And I'm  sure you'll be happy to get any action here when it happens

and here we are with this moment

ready for a quickie post!

Right?

So let's get on and make the most of it!

• 

One of the questions I have had to ask myself about this 

baby-blog

is, "What do you want for this blog, what do you want to translate to those who take the time to read it?" 

and the answer that comes to mind over and over

is...

I want it to be real and honest! 

I want it to be a real account of what we're 

doing, who we are, and what our lives entail, our hopes, our thoughts, our ups and downs, and the genuine journey I'm on!

I don't want to present myself as someone with a glamorous life,

because my life is not glamorous!

I don't want to flog pictures off Pinterest

of a house, a room, or anything I haven't laughed, sweated and cried over!

I don't want to talk up stuff to the point of being a turn off!

I'm certainly not aiming for notoriety, or celebrity blogger status,

 I am just a lass 

with noble qualities 

who wants to share and inspire and be inspired!

I am more than happy to laugh and cry with my followers, connect and be connected with others in this busy little life of mine! 

So...

While our walls are still being

erected

and my Frenchy/Vintage/Shabby/Industrial 

fancies are somewhat confined and contained 

and in storage,

just waiting to be opened up and revealed

and appreciated!

And while, for the moment,

I can't show you white walls and luxurious room arrangements,

and I can't display all the pretty purchases and products 

I have - when I can I will - but given the works happening here I just can't do that at this time,

but what I can do for now is...

I can show you little bits of 
my pretty frenchy/shabby/vintage finds 
found, here and there...

little bits of things found, collected, discovered, 

things searched for and cherished,

things I have refinished,

things salvaged and painted,

Or

I can show you more power-tools and wall studs and scaffolding...

but I know that's not the most breathtaking stuff to view either!

For certain, what I can and will show you is 

real,

mine,

me,

us,

ours,

it won't always be fabulous and sparkly,

not necessarily shiney or new!

But it Is for real!

Yep my baby-blog is intended to be a place for your parched heart

My etched glass looks so pretty and refreshing on my blue table!

to come and check in 

Recently dragged home 

for the bargain price of  $2.20 each (try buying them from the vintage shops at THAT price!)

with some serious intentions scheduled - I'll update you as soon as I start on these!

take a seat and sit down,

feast upon what is on offer,

My summer salad  

featuring, basil, tomato, spanish onion, fresh mozerella, cracked salt'n'pepper, olive oil!

My Donna Hay Chocolate Brownies - baked from scratch - not out of a box!

You can find her recipe here

 A recent baking effort of Plum cake! 

My first attempt at Faloodeh  -a Persian treat in Summer! 

and savour the moments shared!

Now if you long for more updates and instalments

inbetween

You can of course always catch up with me on my 

VintageNobility Facebook page 

or VintageNobility on Twitter

and for those who have no time to read words and prefer

pictures...

well Instagram might be more your thing - I'm loving it and can't stop clicking stuff on my iPhone!

If you haven't already downloaded that app

then stop whatever you are doing and go download it

NOW

because you are missing out 

on some fun to be had!

Perhaps you might like to join me in Fatmumslim's photoaday challenge?

Of course, if you like being inspired and oohing and arrrhing over pretty stuff,

then VintageNobility on Pinterest

might be worth a peek - I have several albums filled with 

breathtaking images, funny stuff, random bits, wise words, yummy nomnomnom stuff, kiddy stuff - check them out, if you have a bit of time to play with (waste)! 

Do your kids need clothes? Want some nice bits - without the heavy price tags? Well head on over to my Ebay sales

at VintageNobility on eBay 

have a looksee and take advantage of the BuyItNow option if you don't like bidding wars ;)

Ok that's it for me - this afternoon - 

keeping it real, means telling you I need to go cook something and eat something other than just crackers and honey!

Have a lovely evening

So have a good one and stay cool if you're hot 

and warm if ya not!

Love & Light

xxxxxx Rowena xxxxxx

VintageNobility