these are a few of my favourite things.....

In the Odd One Out house, of course it is natural that we have some odd wee things lying around.  I think that this glass gun filled with 100s & 1000s would have to be up there as one of the oddest though! 

We found the gun at a vintage shop and I fell in love with it instantly.  I am really drawn to objects that are contradictory or made from unexpected materials - and what could be more so than a glass gun!

I have no idea what it was in a past life - perhaps someone out there knows? If you do please leave a comment, I would so love to know what use a glass gun would have had.  Perhaps it was just made to be pretty & pretty it is!

It didn't come with the sprinkles inside - that genius idea came when we decided to display it inside this vintage glass dome (another of my favourite things).  The glass behind glass idea didn't really work visually - so being the sweet toothed girl that I am, I thought 100s & 1000s would be a perfect way to make the gun stand out.  I love the bright colours and that it adds another unusual element to the gun motif.  Best of all the colours look awesome next to my vintage Tretchikoff!

(you can put anything in a dome and it looks fantastic and designy don't you think?  I love them!) 

I am always being inspired by the stuff around my house - so it wasn't long before I started to make some jewellery pieces using this idea.  These vintage glass vials were from the estate of a watchmaker and used to hold all the teeny tiny watch parts - I think they look so cute with the sprinkles inside!  A perfect gift for a girl with a sweet tooth like me!  I have been making these since I launched Odd One Out and they are one of my most popular items.  Like them?  Buy them here.

I'm so in love with.... Plates on walls! (yes still ;)

I know you know that I'm so in love with plates on walls, and yes I am still collecting images of displays I like.

Even though I am surrounded by plates and paint them every day - my walls sadly do not look quite as cool as these ones in the pictures.  I just haven't got around to hanging all my plates and it doesn't help that I keep selling them or giving them away!  One day I will show you how my walls are looking  - promise.

Here are some pictures from my travels around the internet - I love each and every one of these displays.  I love the ordered collections just as much as the randomly placed ones.  I adore the colourful groups but am equally in love with the monotone ones.  Perhaps this is why it is taking me so long to put my own collection together.  I would love to know what your favourites are.

 I have really tried to keep the sources of the pics this time - so top to bottom and left to right are......

eeek sorry! somewhere on Flickr, down and out chic, down and out chic, apartment therapy, design sponge, trulynaturallyme, design attractor, piterest, pinterest, down and out chic, design sponge, pinterest

these are a few of my favourite things.....

I really enjoy showing you all my new vintage finds in my "my vintage week" posts - it's so great to have an enthusiastic response!  Mr Odd One Out is so used to coming home and finding new (old) stuff that he can be rather underwhelmed with my finds these days.  Of course my house is already packed to the brim with crazy old stuff as I have been collecting vintage since I was wee young thing, but more seriously once I settled in a more permanent (ish) house.  Lets just say you're going to need both hands and possibly some feet to count the years (now that doesn't give away my age too much does it!) Anyway, I would love to show you some of my favourite things that I have collected over the years and give you a bit of a peek into my vintage way of life too!

These are a few of my favourite things...........

This little collection is hiding in a rather dark corner of my dining room - I think they rather suit being there as they have a kind of Victorian and a little bit Goth feel.  This isn't my usual style but I just love all these pieces so they have kind of ended up together.

Dolly is my Antique mannequin - named for her rather voluptuous figure!  She was made back in the day when one was required to wear corseted undergarments.  I found her on Trade Me, and even though she lived in Lower Hutt and was 'pick up only' I managed to convince Mr Odd One Out's lovely Dad to get her for me on one of his work trips.  I'm sure he thought I was a bit mad because she cost a fair bit - but worth every penny I think.

 
Dolly is wearing some very special things..... The jacket I picked up at one of my favourite markets in London.  It's called Alfies Market and I have found some awesome things there.  It is so old and delicate - hand sewn in handmade lace and silk tulle.  I think it's Victorian and I do wear it! Around her neck is a necklace I picked up at a store in Auckland I just love, Victorian Gilt.  I could literally spend hours in there fossicking about.  The tape measure is from the Camberwell vintage market in Melbourne - wow that market had me wishing I lived in Melbourne, I would so be there every week!  The little vintage gold trim - I wear as a necklace - is from one of my favourite places in the world (from my limited travel experience!) The Marche aux Puces is on the outskirts of Paris and is one of the coolest places to find the vintage and also the unexpected.  You could get lost in all the little alleys and ateliers - and that would not be a bad thing at all.  I've seen Dinosaur eggs and even a stuffed sabre tooth tiger for sale there! Look it up on Google images - you'll see what I mean!

Behind Dolly is a VERY large vintage New Zealand flag.  The wooden pole part is over 7ft tall and the flag is all hand sewn in pieces with applique stars.  I found this on Trade Me also, and it was a complete fluke of a buy.  It was really cheap with a very bad, dark photo, you couldn't tell the size or condition at all.  We just bid with fingers crossed and were super excited when we picked it up - I just love those scores!

Hope you liked this little peek into my vintage world - there's more to come!  

Before & After - Mr Stag gets a makeover!

Well this before and after is not a recent one, but I thought I would share it with you - as I get so many people asking me where I got the pink stags head that features in one of my postcards. 

We had been collecting these retro French plastic stag head / barometers for some time, and I always thought that they would be really cool for hanging jewellery off.  The thing is - they are not very pretty and I didn't think that they would go with the style of my bedroom very well as they were.  So a bit of dissection and a quick go-over with some spray paint, followed by a touch of hand painting and his make-over was complete!  Or should I say his gender re-assignment - he does look very pretty now but I still call him Mr Stag!

He does make such a cute model for my jewellery range don't you think!  And here is is again hanging on the wall of my bedroom.  I promise in real life it is not this tidy - and Mr Stag usually has a heap more jewellery to contend with.  This pic was taken when my home was featured in the August 2009 Your Home & Garden Magazine - hence the minimal (well minimal for me!) decor.

 

Thanks to Pugly Pixel for the cute photo template!                            

Now if I had a castle.....

Far out!  I love, love, love this awesome chandelier by awesome Dutch makers Rock and Royal.  How have I not seen this before?  They have been around since 2005!

Now if I had a castle or even just a teeny little renovated Gothic church I would so be calling them up!  (assuming said castle or church meant that I was swimming in money)

and maybe these for the smaller rooms ;)



They even do custom mosaics - sigh!

Yep that's a mosaic fly alright - a lovely piece for the kitchen!

                         

I'm so in love with.... Le Souk Wallpaper!

Ok, this store (Le Souk) is just amazing.  I'm pretty sure I could fill up a container of goodies if I really let loose and spent up big.  But my absolute favourite thing of all is their wallpaper.

You know I have a bit of a thing for vintage plates, and for vintage plates on walls.  Well, I have no words - this is just................

AMAZING!!!!!

I am so in love - of course I would probably add real plates over the top of this for complete vintage plate overload, but I'm kinda silly like that.

and these wallpaper designs are pretty darn cute too!

                                     

Flea Market Style

So, I thought I would do another book review.  (and by review I really mean just lots of photos!) I didn't think that I would be doing these on this blog but I just had to share.  The lovely book is Flea Market Style by Emily Chalmers, with words by Ali Hanan and photography by Debi Treloar.

This is one of my favourite interior books ever! - I pour over the scrummy pages all the time.  It is one of those books that you keep finding things you missed and you see and get inspired by something different every time.

While flicking through Book Depository craft books the other day (as you do - and I do far, far to much!) I came across it and it's 61% off!!!! Crazy.  Now I sort of wish I had waited to buy it, but not really as I have had good few years of ogling out of it.  Here are some of my favourite pages and quotes.....

"Some found objects have quirks; some need mending - but give any item a little tender loving care or a fresh twist and watch it blossom into new life."

"Flea-market style is by its nature relaxing and comforting to live with because junk pieces with past lives are never precious, uptight or pretentious; they have been there, done that - and lived to tell the tale." 

"If there are certain items that you are passionate about, you may find yourself buying one more... and another.  Gradually the hunt reaches fever-pitch and, before you know it, you have acquired a collection."

I just love this book so much - the interiors are just so inspiring and timeless.  This 'Flea Market' style is definitely an aesthetic that I really connect with - I would say my own house is pretty much true to this look and my work certainly takes its cues from these ideas.  I am so jealous too of some of the fantastic vintage finds in these homes - it is so hard in New Zealand to just stumble upon gems like this in a flea market.  We don't even have that many flea markets (please let me know if I'm wrong and I've somehow managed to miss a really good one!)  This book has me pining for the fantastic markets in London and Paris - if you ever go to Paris forget about the tourist stuff, go to the Marche aux Puces.  I could literally spend days there!

So have I tempted you? 

Here is the link to the book - you wont regret buying this one - promise!      

                                                         

                                                       

one of my birthday pressies and a stunning book!

So about a week ago it was my birthday - and we are most definitely not going to talk about that (I am still completely in denial over the last few ones!)  Anyway, I was given this lovely new book by Mr Odd One Out.  What that really means is that I bought it myself for him to give back to me! I love, love, love design books and this one is completely gorgeous.  It is by Geraldine James, who has worked at Harrods and now Selfridges as a design buyer - need I say more - she has a great eye. 

It is subtitled 'How to display and enjoy your treasured collections', but I don't really see it as a generic how to book.  More so a feast of visual inspiration - perfect for those who are hoarders of vintage bits and bobs and obscure objects.  Yes, a bit like moi!

I won't bore you with a long winded review - mainly because I haven't read it yet!  But I have pored over the pictures at least 5 times so that is what I will show you.  Anyway I wont lie to you, I always make up my mind about these books based on photos and not text anyway (how shallow!).  It might be dead boring who knows - but at least it is pretty!  James does seem to have a bit of a bent for the Gothic and the distressed.  Taxidermy and Victoriana fill many pages with a bit of industrial and retro thrown in.  If that sparks any curiosity then you will love it!

 

This is not a book for those who love minimalism, in fact as she states in her intro "Cold minimalism has its place, but not at my place"  Here here! 

 

There are also some lovely images of plates on walls - as there should be, so I am one very happy lady!

Oooh, and the book is hardcover and beautifully bound with a very cool textured and faded cover - it would most definitely fit into one of the homes she describes.  I brought this one from Book Depository - free shipping yay! and by far the cheapest I have seen it priced anywhere in NZ.  Check it out here....

I'm so in love with.... Plates on walls!

Ok so you know by now that I love plates, especially decorated plates.  Where I love them most is on walls.  Now this was considered until quite recently to be the epitome of un-cool, very Nana and super twee.... blah blah blah.  But yay! they seem to have had a resurgence in popularity and quite rightly so.  The funny thing is with displaying plates is that they seem to get lonely very fast.  Put up one or two and your wall is soon crying out for more - it is dangerous - but so cool to see your collection spreading outwards and upwards.  Check out these pictures I have saved in my travels.  How gorgeous do they look in groups - I am completely in love!

I'm sorry but I collected these images quite a while ago (far before even considering I might write a blog) and have no record of their origins - if you recognise a pic please let me know so I can properly credit it.  Thanks!