Room 2: fairytale dream land

Right. The countdown is on - 6 sleeps to go until we move house. I'm absolutely rapt that my little miss five is excited about moving and when we were checking out the new house she had the great idea that her little sister could move in with her. Ever since I've been day dreaming and pondering how to combine the décor ideas and patterns of my two girls’ current rooms into one, so that it suits a new, shared room for a five year old and a nearly two year old.

Princesses and fairy tales seems the obvious age-spanning choice, but I’m trying not to be obvious! So instead I’ve been searching online under my “big idea” theme of whimsical and restful. This has opened me up to a whole world of possibilities including fairy tales and vintage themes.

Miss five's room was only just recently completed using quaint Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty fairy tale fabric in pale pinks and greens from Heather Ross' Far, Far Away II collection, so that will stay. Miss Two's room was all done in vintage-styled owls and birds when she was first born - so I'm thinking that I will extend this theme while matching miss five's quaint style, and bring in some Heather Ross' soft duck egg blue-coloured Owl and the Pussycat fabric, from the same range/s.

On the bed I'll shabby-chic it a bit with a pink/brown damask and spotted reversible fabric quilt for miss five, and keep miss two's much-loved duck egg blue/brown damask and spotted fabric quilt from her old room, from my lovely sister-in-law's homegrown business, Holly Chic.

Both little girls will have gauze canopies on their beds...and I've nabbed a gorgeous old fashioned white dressing table with an oval Sleeping Beauty-styled mirror off trademe. I just need to find a dressing table stool or vintage piano stool to sit in front of it. The finishing touches will be an amazing pink, funky-styled chandelier, from Chicos online, and I have nabbed two 'tree hangers' from Mocka to sit in the corner, like in a fairy tale forest, and hang all their dress ups and dancing costumes.

I’ve also got my eye on this gorgeous “up, up and away” hot air balloon themed print from carodandelion - or this other whimsical print by sweetwilliam here, from www.felt.co.nz . Both local New Zealand artists, these talented Kiwis specialise in mixed media prints and I love the layered effects of the watercolour and whitewash-effect of damask patterns and vintage wallpapers.

I may have to sleep (or dream) on it…but only for six more nights!

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Designer love: the Rising Star of Melody Miller

OK, so if you've been reading this blog for a while you'll know I adore watching the new fabric collections come out. I wait with excitement twice a year for the new collections from my fav designers.

But tonight I stumbled across a new US-based designer who is just starting out, releasing her first line with Kokka literally at Christmas. And first her range, and then her blog, stopped me in my tracks. Like Helen Dardik, or Heather Ross, who I adore and who also prints her designs with Kokka, Melody Miller's fabrics are more illustrative than 'high seasonal fashion', and would be amazing for crafting or children's wear or home decor. Like Miss Ross her first range is printed on that awesome heavier linen mix that Kokka do so well. They're exactly the kind of fabric I'd use in my crafting, rather than my lily pads.

The 'Ladies in Natural' is what caught my eye first, and then the 'Viewfinder' range, and then the rest...the whole range is so kitch and vintage and 50s and cute, all in one. I NEED them. In my lounge, my kitchen, my girls' rooms...

I was also totally captivated by her blog, which details her journey to release her first fabric line - something I'd LOVE to do. To top it off she's an active indie crafter (check out her cute elephant softies) and an artisan - I adore the style of her photography on her blog.

Take a Kit Kat break and immerse yourself in rising cleverness!

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My creative space: princesses and castles

My creative space has been so crazy busy with my new Summer 2011 lily pad range (I will post some photos here later on today or tomorrow, but they are up on facebook now!).

So busy infact, that on the weekend my Miss Four and I decided to have a 'creative break' from being creative and redecorate her room. Now that's she's nearly ready for school, her tastes have changed a little and she's incredibly interested in fairy tales and understanding all the old stories like Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and the Princess and the Pea.

I recently finished a 'Fairy Tales' range of pinboards for one of my retailers, and she was really taken with the fabrics I used from Heather Ross' 'Far, far away II' collection - of the owl and the pussycat, and Rapunzel. We decided to make her a GIGANTIC pinboard using the pink Rapunzel fabric as the main feature. It's incredibly heavy, being made of a big piece of 1200mm MDF, so Daddy needs to work out a way to hang it yet!

Complementing the 'Princess in a Tower' theme, we've hung a gorgeous white netting canopy over her bed, and decorated the top railing of it with triangle-shaped bunting (like tower flags). I used the same idea as I did for her sister, with some free alphabetical downloads made to print.

Her dollhouse actually looks like a castle already (clever Daddy!).

The final touches will be some new bedding, I'm thinking of using this delicious pink pom pom fringing pictured above all over one side of a throw cushion, for some texture, and some lovely fabric with princess crowns on it for another cushion. Any other ideas?

For more creative spaces coming to life, visit everyone else playing our weekly bloggy game at Kirsty's.

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