Random details

I'd love to share a few everyday details in random mode . Well , let the show begin...That's how the bed looks when I get up

I had to take this photo to test the makro mode

I love having breakfast in my rented kitchen especially when it's sunny

fresh from the garden

my girl's favorite colors

I love flowers around the house

a real punch of color

our rented place has 2 pommegrenade trees

proof I don't take photos all day

beauty is all around

my favorite plates and cups. I'd love to hear what you think about my styling and photography and what you like to see more in my blog . Please leave feedback and I will leave feedback ...back We are here to help each other right?

The story of my sofas

wine bottle & glass jar I painted white

  Ten years ago me and my husband were strolling down the shopping center when we spotted brand new furniture in excellent price. 
We were kind of desperate to sit our bums on a real couch and not the old mismatched pieces of furniture we got from relatives .

What we brought home that evening was a three seater coach , a two seater one and a huge armchair. It was a great evening and our little family just sat around on our brand new big sofas for the first time.

I sprayed this bamboo candle holder  white

 Of course over time the sofas that you get a glimpse of proved to be not ideal because they were a quick purchase . The color was not quite right for a family with young children  , the sofa was actually too hard to sit on for a long time and the shape of it was such that ready made covers didn't fit.

I sprayed white this chinese old fashioned bowl 

On top of that the sofas and armchairs were huge for the small living room we had and are still huge for our somewhat bigger living room in this rented place.

 I quess what I'm trying to say is that over the years I went through different emotions about my sofas first being enthousiastic later hate them and now I have accepted the limitations and I try to make the best of what I have.

PS 1 : I learnt how to sew very basic covers for both sofas. I did it twice already. I also learnt how to make envelope pillows to decorate them .
PS 2 : I'm into a beach cottage nautical kind of decoration mood at the moment and I try to find my way around it  but mostly I try to pinpoint the elements that I need to create it and how to gather the items on a budjet or see what I can diy myself.
I 'm glad to say the my sofas fit this theme nicely and for the first time I even like them a bit more.
Stay tuned.

Sunday morning ... the family edition

It's for them that I'm trying to turn this rented house into a home . It's for them I run around like mad even on a Sunday morning because I want to offer them a cosy home to live in.

The thing is that I 'm trying to offer them a family  garden , too so that our food is organic and then the rented house will feel more of a place we can call our own.

And  I'm super happy because

I get a lot of help from them . It seems that the whole family needed a creative activity in the  errr nature I mean the small garden.

And like you didn't know that already children always leave their mark on whatever they do.

P.S  :The chair above will be the protagonist in a future project of mine but for the moment it's soaked because of rain.

Another creative weekend

Hi! sweeties , it's been a week already since I last posted  and I only have to say that time flies. I have so many projects on my mind  and even more in my diy files but...grrr...I have a serious lack of commitement.
  

But seriously nothing I can't turn around during this weekend. Well for starters I struggled with some photoshop projects and some digital camera settings.
I blog long enough to know that without nice photography my blogging feels incomplete. 

I feel like documenting my domestic doings and use  blogging to help me  turn my house into a home .
In the above picture you see a glass bottle and a glass jar that I painted white last week using  this tutorial and some bread I made yesterday . In the background you get a glimpse of my very basic electric oven and one of my 3 pots . 


I'm a hard core minimalist when it comes to kitchen . I can pack my whole kitchen in two boxes and have some space left. I raised three children and fed numerous guests relying on 3 pots, 2 baking  pans and  2 frying pans.


On with my projects...  I did some planting in the garden with children and friends I  re upholstered  a stool - very basic stuff- and  shortened / cleaned my bedroom curtain. 


I will post photos soon . 

I will leave you today with just some basic kitchen decoration with minimum amount of money spent like  using glasses I painted white myself and flowers I cut from the street . We have already eaten the apples.

Driven by inspiration

It's been more than a year when I last posted in this blog . Since then many changes have happened in my little corner of the world but two of them were life changing.

First  we sold our house and my precious family of 5 had to go renting . Then we bought a little piece of land to built our dream house and then economic crisis hit Greece my country with full force and all our plans went out of the window.

So I'm stuck in an old rented house and I try to make due with a very very limited budget. Gone are the days that I would enter zara and return home  hours later with bags stuffed with decoration paradise.

Mr Tenant my husband gave me the lecture all right  that money is limited and this is not gonna change any time soon .

I felt miserable and out of my familiar ground for many reasons . You see  life has been oh so easy money wise on me it took time to adjust to only money for the absolutely necessary scenario.

However I'm a positive full force optimistic type of person and I knew I could make my way around the situation... somehow turn it to work for me and not against me .

Actually , now that I come to think of it , it was only a matter of time before I could find the solution . What I couldn't buy I had to make myself  and that's how I entered the wonderful world of DIY.

Now don't get me wrong  , I'm  not a DIY master and I don't plan to become soon but with a bit of trial and error and a lot of internet search for tutorials and inspiration I 'm slowly transforming my rented house into a home that my family deserves.

I'm a bit fixated at the moment to the beach coastal theme for decoration because it's close to my aesthetics and is uncluttered and simple and easy on the eye . And because I live in Greece and on an island and I breath , see eat  sea everyday.

My style guru at the moment is Sarah from the beach cottage who has inspired me trementusly although she has no clue . Her blog is sooo worthy to check out.

So this weekend I put a stop to the little voices inside my head ( you know the ones that tell you're not gonna make it ) and bought a small can of white paint , a brush and a white spray and turned all things you see in the photos above white .

Mr Tenant doesn't know but my plan is to white -fy our little world and you will witness the process as I go.
I want to be honest here so I have to reveal that I followed this tutorial to pretty up the bottles I've been saving and that I took the flowers from the neighbour's garden what was hanging outside the fence , that is .

So much fun

Althought the social political situation in my country is sad and unpleasant for many people in my little place of the world is still peaceful.
As the days go by I try to change many of my consuming habits ,I spend way less and I create more.I make research about alternative ways of living and I ;m writing my book slowly but steadily.

So I started by making my own bread and my own donoughts and my children love it just the same!!!
 

and just for the record I was busy making my daughter's summer wardrobe ,that is sewing but this is the story of another entry.

Internet revolution

It wouldn't be a lie to say that internet has changed the quality of my life for the better. The sooo much better. As you already know I started blogging at the end of December trying to find my way into the blogging community.
Working full time and raising 3 children plus trying to be a good wife to my husband is time consuming so apparently blogging has become the hobby I had never dreamt of .

Fashion blogging was my first attempt and now I really got into sewing and family life blogs. It's so creative and motivating and fun. My last attempt in sewing was this simple pattern

This adorable piece of fabric resulted in a nice simple blouse that only took a couple of hours to make ( I had to trace an old tshirt to produce the pattern)