New Blog! The Design Files! We have just moved!

What a day to move blog addresses and launch a new website! The madness, The madness. Not only are we featured on The Design Files today (how exciting is THAT, c'mon, really!), we have also moved virtual realestate. Don't waste your time here anymore, come where the cool kids are! If you are wondering where that is.... its here! 

Pack your bags and get moving! See you soon in the land of plenty! 

K xx

Market THIS Saturday!

©Kara Rosenlund

I have BIG plans for this weeks' market! Lots of new stock has made its way here and I'm thrilled to be taking it to the market this Saturday at The Powerhouse! I'll be giving you a sneak peek at some of my favourite pieces later in the week. Some great summer outdoor furniture, old metal troughs (fill them with hydrangeas - they make wonderful planters!) and a sprinkling of general rarities!

See you there!

K xx

p.s. still going on the floors, can you believe it!

Shanty Town Living

©Kara Rosenlund

I am so close to finishing I can hardly believe it! Above is the living room, complete with my support team Esther and Rocco, the finches. I am three bedrooms down and only have the living room and hallway left. Just a few more days and life should be back to normal. No more shanty town living! 

Talk soon!

K xx

Let the Wedding Plans Begin.........

So, in amongst the Travelling Wares pop up markets, shoots, cookbook launches and the mountain of DIY renovating, I have just realised I better get on to planning our wedding! How exciting! Are you ready for some wedding preparation posts???

K x

image from from style me pretty

New Week!

©Kara Rosenlund

Thank you to all of our new friends who stopped by at Travelling Wares. It was with such joy that I wrapped many a treasure up on Saturday, bound for it's new home!

I am super excited about the next market; Big plans in the mix indeed! I'll tell you more later!

Talk soon!

K x

Market Tomorrow - 12th!

Ring a ding ding......market reminder for tomorrow.  It's been 3 weeks since the last market, so we are looking forward to seeing you all.

Sanding- Part Four Second Coat

Just incase you had forgotten, here is before.

What do you think? I am super thrilled. Once textiles and furniture are added this will help soften the 'starkness' of the first bedroom.

This time yesterday I wasn't particularly thrilled. I was suffering from what I call 'Floor Fever'. This is what happens to people who agonise over each and every detail of the floor application and convince themselves that this was big mistake. Mixed with exhaustion = Floor Fever!

My advice would be to take a step back and get some perspective. As I was told by a friend yesterday you will never be on your hands and knees inspecting the floors like this ever again, so take a step back and see it for what it is in relationship to the whole room scape.

Application.  I have been using a brush to apply the wood wash and muslin to wipe off the excess. This technique works great, however the time that is recommended to wait before you wipe the excess off was accelerated for me as it was a rather hot day in Brisbane yesterday. This happened both to the first coat and the second. Saying this I found that I had to water down my wash in the dispenser a touch as it became quite thick.

Mistakes: When I applied the first coat I followed the instruction religiously. What happened repeatedly was that the wash was drying really fast as I mentioned above, which I thought was ok at the time. I think that this may have contributed to my first coat's 'patchiness' and some of the wood wash getting stuck in the grooves of the floorboards (enter Floor Fever). The first coat is really important to get right, this is mine here, which I was nervous about at the time, as it sets the tone for the later applications. I actually ended up giving my boards three coats to try and minimise the patchiness.

With all this new advice and technique under my wing, I start the next bedroom today!

Talk soon!

A short pause...

©Nikole Furnari

Too much happening around here for words it feels! 

I know you were probably hanging out to see the results from yesterdays second coat on the floors. Alas, my hard working web designer is doing some modifications to my new website and is importing previous blog posts, so I think it's best to sit tight and wait until all is complete! (The floors look great by the way!)

Very soon I'll be able to share with your the floor wood wash results, plus my new sparkling website! Gosh, life goes fast some weeks! .... plus there is a market this Saturday!

Talk soon!

The above image is from the cookbook 'A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That', styled by me and shot my Nikole Furnari.

K xx

Market This Saturday!

Travelling Wares Market this Saturday at the Jan Power's Farmers Market, Powerhouse New Farm!

Timothy O and I will see you there!

K xx

More Sanding

After a weekend of sanding, edging, puttying, sanding and edging, I have some results for you!

We decided to go with Porter's Paints Wood Wash in the standard colour (no tint), which I applied today with a brush and muslin. I decided to start in the bedroom, as my sensibility tells me that the bed will hide any of my application mistakes.

I'll be doing the second coat tomorrow, which I hope will even out some of the lines of the application.

I think I'm happy so far, I have wanted these floors for years, and I think it's a good way to share the journey on my blog, especially if you too are thinking about white washing your floors.

This is not for the faint hearted. Our entire house is upside down, cooking is a bit tricky, my muscles are aching in spots I have never felt before, there is dust everywhere (you just can't help it) and life is basically cluttered and cramped. Saying this, I actually really wanted to give this a go myself and not hire a professional. Was I mad?

Floors are such an important element to any room. You don't realise until you attempt to do something major to them. They form such a strong foundation in terms of creating texture and tonal colour that dictates the room.

More tomorrow!

Such a big week - seeing Sibella on Thursday and Travelling Wares will be at the Powerhouse Market this Saturday too!

K xxx

Sanding Part Three

Thought I would share the latest on the sanding adventure. After doing a few liming solution tests (Feast Watson and Porters Paints), I hired a floor sander yesterday and sanded two rooms. I couldn't believe how easy it was with the floor sander. I had used the belt sander over the weekend to do the liming solution tests and that was a nightmare, so messy and really really slow.

What we have done is sectioned the house in two. Half of the house is empty and is in renovation mode, while the other half is completely and utterly full to the brim of all of our things. Absolute Mayhem... you know that kind of mayhem where you can't even find your knickers!

Hopefully over the weekend I'll have actual liming results to share with you... I'm so excited about this part!

Happy Weekend!

K xx

Floor Sanding Part Two

So, I doubt anyone will be coveting the above shot on Pinterest, though I thought I would keep it real and show you the behind the scenes chaos at our house mid sanding the floors.

I am planning on posting a few more 'sanding' posts on route to achieving limed floor boards. So if you are interested or curious about limed floor boards, then keep checking back. Hopefully I will have some results for you soon!

Gotta love a road test!

Talk soon!

K xx

Macaron Flop!

©Kara Rosenlund

So, we all know that macarons are the new cupcake. People take them very seriously... like some sort of colourful culinary bling.

We also all know they are tricky to make and even something as slight as the humidity on any given day can deflate a batch of these pretty little things. Saying all of this I bring you Donna Hay's Almond Macaron with Chocolate filling Packet Mix.

That's right. My girlfriend Sally bought me this **packet mix** last week ( I know what you are thinking, but c'mon, if Donna thinks its ok, than its ok.. right?)... so I tried it out.

I think the low rate of success had more to do with me rather than Donna's mix. Donna's mix was brilliant, my results were poor. I don't think we make a good team. Im going to give it another crack next week!

K x

Floor Sanding

You know when you start something and really wish you hadn't... in the midst of celebrating the book launch of 'Little bit of this, Little bit of that' over the weekend, Timothy O and I decided it would be a great idea to get a start on sanding the floors before Christmas.

I wish I had some 'after' shots to share, unfortunately we are a loong way off the 'after' shots. For the first time ever I really wish we had a smaller house!

Happy Monday!

K c

Book Launch 'A little bit of this, a little bit of that'

Happy Friday! Im excited about tomorrow's cook book launch of 'Little bit of this, little bit of that' by Isabella the Junior Masterchef winner and her family, that I recently styled!

Come along to the Mary Ryan's bookstore from 1pm tomorrow to meet the girls and to get your book signed! Merthyr Village, New Farm, Brisbane!

Buon Appetito!

Crazy Crazing

©Kara Rosenlund

I have such a weakness for faults; if it is chipped and broken I undoubtedly will love it. However, if it is crazed then that is just another story!

Crazing is generally a fault that occurs in old glazed ceramics. Over time the elements such as heat cause crazing, which has a similar pattern to the Arctic ice floor melting or spider webs - lots of graphic lines and milky patterns.

Keep an eye out for crazed ware!

K xx

In the Details

I have just had a rather busy couple of weeks doing both event styling and arranging prop hire for some lovely brides to be and also mothers to be. All I can say is what a difference the details make on the day! Everybody gets so excited to see something different!

From setting the tables with old engraved silver cutlery for a wedding reception to eclectic missed matched English teacups for a baby shower, to sourcing an old piano, all of these small additions help personalise and add a dash of you to the day!

If for some reason you don't have cupboards full of old silver, shipping trunks full of preserving jars (they make great vases!), boxes full of vintage china, stacks of vintage silver trays or the time to find an old Russian piano..... well, let me know... you can borrow mine... or I can find it for you!

K xx

via 100 layer cake

Market Reminder!

See you all tomorrow!

K xx

Purple Haze....or is it maroon?

©Kara Rosenlund

Do you find that once you are attracted to a colour it just starts popping up all over the place? Last year I was mad about burnt orange (I still am), before that it was duck egg blue...just as a high lighting colour, nothing mad, just a dash.

I think I have entered a new chapter. It seems this purple / magenta hue has found me, otherwise known as maroon. (Doesn't sound very exciting does it, echoes of school uniforms and football teams).

This has come as a complete surprise. I was having some quiet time last night reading Keith Richards' autobiography (gotta love Keef) and I was admiring the purple/magenta flowers on the coffee table, when I jolted and looked down at my new trousers... yup... you guessed it, maroon! It has started! (Thank goodness football season is over).

Hope to see you tomorrow at Travelling Wares at the Powerhouse Farmers Market! Ill be the one wearing the maroon... what colour will you be wearing?

K xx

Crafting

Im getting crafty today.... don't want to reveal too much, hopefully you will be able to see my debut crafting efforts on the trestle tables on Saturday at the market. Ill give you a clue... it in involves CHRISTMAS! Yup, Christmas and Crafting, ohmy...

Can you believe Christmas in only something like 9 weeks away! I love Christmas!

K xx

Hoarders

©Kara Rosenlund

As many of you know, part of what I do is to seek out unusual and old world objects and bring them to you each Travelling Wares market - a modern hunter and gatherer if you like.

Sometimes this is what happens.... I recently had the pleasure of having a chat with someone who knew someone who had a great aunt... who had a mother who was a hoarder... follow ?.. the hoarder in question (the great grandmother) had a great grandson who had inherited the 'hoard' and was eager to release it.... **heart starts to beat very fast**......

So, this Saturday I give you the 'hoard' - jars full of curated shell collections, piles of sailors linen, old tools, empty old thick glass jars, cooling racks, plates, chopping boards, baking tins, silver cutlery, messes and masses of tangled twine, books and more.

See you Saturday.

K xx

P.S. the word hoarder is such a nasty word.... 'Fine Collector of All' is what I much prefer.

Market This Saturday!

That's right! We will be at the Jan Power's Farmers Market this Saturday with our beautiful wares! Lots of new and exciting things...... I have been sourcing up a storm! Come and say hello!

K xx

Stamp Collections

Growing up I loved my stamp collection. Hours on end archiving these little pieces of art from all over the world, stamped with inky text bound for its destination.

I think I got my love of stamp collecting from my father; he had a large file drawer in his desk dedicated to stamps, nothing fancy or ordered, just a drawer full of tiny pieces of colourful paper. I would often open the drawer and run my fingers through the mass of torn edges... digging down deep to retrieve a special one... just like a luck dip!

I still use my stamp collection when I need reference and inspiration for fonts and layouts, they really are quite exceptional once you take the time to appreciate them.

K xx

Im off to Bikram Yoga today...