I have a few items in my home that makes one of my friends a little squeamish.

She believes that the souls of the passed animals haunt the places where their remains are. In that case, I am living with a shark, a turtle and lot’s of sea creatures who once lived in my extensive shell collection. They don’t seem to mind living at my house, they seem pretty friendly, we haven’t heard any animal cries in the night.

I have a huge shark jaw that my husband brought home from the rubbish tip. Yep, the dump! A local fisherman was dumping it and hubby asked if he could take it. It was still a little yucky, and I soaked it in bleach and then left it in the sun for a few weeks to completely dry out. I absolutely love it, sharks fascinate me and scare the living daylights out of me at the same time. I have great respect for them, and am honoured to have it in my home.

I recently received a pair of custom painted antlers from Pink Deer. The antlers are naturally shed. Antlers are extensions of the skull bone grown in deer. They are true bone structures that usually grow in symmetrical pairs. In many species, antlers are shed and regrown each year. No deer were harmed decorating my home!

I adore my antlers, they are textural and sculptural, they bring a touch of nature into my home and I think they are perfect for winter decorating. You can purchase your own custom painted antlers at Pink Deer here.

I also have a vintage turtle shell which I adore. It was given to me by an elderly lady who was moving. She had been given it by the Fijian people as a wedding gift on her honeymoon over 50 years ago.

Turtles are beautiful creatures, and I was very unsure about whether to accept this turtle shell into my home. I most definitely don’t approve of killing turtles for their shells, and I do understand that by displaying them, they can become a coveted item which in turn can lead to people killing them for profit. But I also felt that this beautiful vintage shell should be lovingly displayed and appreciated for it’s beauty, instead of being stuck away in a cupboard and forgotten about.

So I hang it in my home and appreciate it’s beauty everyday.

How do you feel about having these items in your home?

What about shells? I know many of my readers have shell collections just as I do, those shells once had little creatures living in them. What about dried starfish and seahorses?

What do y’all think? I’d love to know your thoughts!

Hayley x

I had a great response from my post on Wednesday about bedside tables, and it seems that the struggle is real, many of you are having the same frustrating search for the perfect bedside table.

I did come across many gorgeous bedside tables in my search, many of them wouldn’t work for me, but I thought some of them may work for you, so I’m sharing 12 more of my favourites, starting from just $129!

I hope one of you manages you to find the elusive perfect bedside table!

Did you find any contenders?

Happy Shopping!

Hayley x

My hubby and I have another house that hasn’t been getting much attention lately. I have to admit, for someone who loves interior decorating, this house was/is quite embarrassing. It is stuck in the early 90’s somewhere with cream, apricot and terracotta everywhere you look. My gorgeous friend Michele (@michele_judd on IG) has nicknamed it ‘Apricot Central’, and is totally deserves it.

Hubby and I are finally giving it some much needed attention and being weekend warriors, like we don’t have enough going on with an impending house move in 4 weeks! Obviously we are all inspired after watching The Block and Reno Rumble, Thanks Scotty Cam!

Last week we started on the painting, when I say ‘we’, that would be – the painter started painting the interior. It has made such a difference, it always blows me away what a fresh coat of paint can do!

On the weekend we managed to get all the curtains back up that had to be taken down for the painter, remove the hideously ugly bronze terracotta backsplash in the kitchen and finish the master bedroom. We shopped our own house for furniture and moved it over there. The master bedroom is looking lovely and I’m quite pleased with our efforts.

 

And here’s the kitchen complete with that lovely splash back. I’m just painting, replacing the backsplash and adding some pedant lights in here. It’s not my style, but sometimes ‘money talks’ and we have to be smart where we put our dollars in this house, especially when we are working with a tiny budget.

And here’s a glimpse of what I’ve got to work with in the living spaces, Eeekkk! Obviously this is not my furniture and these are the old real estate pictures from when we bought the house.

We’re hoping to finish the kitchen and furnish the living areas this weekend.  I can’t wait to show you some more photos ……

Hayley x

*** All ‘before’ pics courtesy of the original home listing on www.realestate.com which has now been removed.