Shabby Chic Meets Boho

           Welcome back to a brand new year of 

FRENCH BLUE AND PEACHY PINK

There have been some big changes to blogland since I've been gone. Blogger has changed and today I find my brand new blog layout completely all messed up because of having to change my browser with the new changes. Please bare with me until I can fix it all up again)

My time away from the computer has seen lots of wonderful times with my family.  Christmas was absolutely beautiful and I could almost put my feet up on the day because the celebrations weren't at our home.

My beautiful daughter Ruby turned 17 years old and I must admit that I felt a tad sad at the thought that she will be leaving the nest in the next couple of years and will be starting a brand new life of her own.

I decided to surprise her on her birthday with a mini room makeover while she was enjoying herself at the beach.  

I paid a visit to my local florist and bought an armload of flowers to decorate her bedroom and thought long and hard about the style I would chose. Ruby is not a shabby chic kind of girl. She is more Bohemian in style and not overly frilly fru fru.  She had been asking for goldfish for the past couple of months, so off I trotted to the pet store for some fish.

In keeping with her style, I teamed up her adored Boho Indian cushions on her bed with a simple antique Marcela quilt and simple white pillow cases. (Ok I have to be honest....I snuck in a frill or two with the pillow cases !)

I sorted through my endless antique greeting card collection and found some pretty Happy Birthday cards and pegged them to a white painted length of Tortured Willow that I also bought from the florist.

Ruby loves the white painted look of shabby chic and also the natural patina of wood and natural elements such as shells so I tried to include these things in her room.

As most teenagers spend lots of time in their bedrooms it is so important for them to love their space.

Her floor was freshly painted recently and a fresh coat of sea foam green was applied to her floor to bring in her love of the beach.

After primping and preening her bedroom for most of the day and organising big vases of flowers and float bowls to display around her room there was only one thing left to do.

She didn't know it at the time but her best friend was coming over to stay so I set them up a little tea party for two. Rose tea and a beautiful box of Laduree macaroons that I bought the day before.

It all looked as pretty as a picture !

She came home with a huge smile on her pretty face  and loved her beautiful space.

As typical teenagers do, in no time at all there were cushions on the floor and clothes strewn all over the bed. Sandy toes left their mark all over the floor but for a small moment in time her room was immaculate.  

Tea for 2 !

A box of Laduree macaroons would make anybody smile :-)

and Nemo and Dory love their new digs !

and Miss Martha our cat quite fancies Nemo and Dory too ! She has been sitting by their tank ever since they moved in.  Yes we have a lid on the top of the tank but I'm certain that if she could, Martha would be licking her lips after a feed of fresh fish........

and the piece to resistance.......the flowers.

I chose bright pink and red blooms to continue the Boho feel and I completely encrusted the floral foam ball that I had wanting to use with flowers. I will share that story with you this week for Thursday Flowers.  I was amazed at how many flowers were needed to fill the floral foam. I sat the ball of flowers on top of a round glass bowl, floated more flowers inside the bowl and set the bowl down right next to her bed on a little white iron table.

They were very happy flowers and their bright blooms flowered on and on despite the very hot weather we were having at the time.

The white candle holder (below left) was a birthday gift from someone special. It's white iron tendrils of flowers dance around the room when the candle is lit. It is beautiful !

and a new birthday dress lies in wait for the birthday girl to arrive home.

Ruby loves her Indian cushions so I stacked them up on the end of her bed so that they made an impact. The bright colours against the plain white quilt cover made the colours pop !

(above) Some pretty Ginger scented perfume and some bright new nail polishes would warm any teenagers heart.

I found this old ric rac in her favourite colour green so I wrapped her birthday gifts up in it and there is still tonnes left on the roll for other projects.

and the dream catcher (bottom right) will ensure that my girl has sweet dreams.

and all together the room looks so Boho pretty and has managed to incorporate both of our tastes.

Wow it feels so good to be back blogging.

I have lots more to share with you all over the coming days and weeks.  I have found so many amazing flea market and antique shop treasures that I am longing to show you all.

Lots of love and blessings to you all !

You'll Find Fresh Flowers On My Christmas Tree

It all began with a humble bottle on a string.

It was all that I needed to have the ideas start sprouting.
At first single blooms hanging from my lemon tree in the garden came to mind and then when I decided to put our Christmas tree up it suddenly occurred to me to hang these sweet little bottles on it !

As many of you know, I began studies earlier this year to become a florist.  I have always had quite the love for flowers and my garden, so it came as no surprise to anybody when I decided to follow my dream and go back to studies. With 4 children and husband fully supportive I have had an amazing first year of studies and look forward to my final year next year.

I have never ever quite fitted the traditional Christmas mold with red and green decorations.
Each year I chose another theme to decorate our Christmas tree.  We have had lots of different themes from nests, dolly peg angels, a pink theme, feather theme and the list goes on.

This year the children handed the reigns to me and gave me full decorating rights to choose anything my heart desired. After a lot of thought I decided to gather all of my favourite things that I love and somehow feature them all on our tree at the same time.

                                  Somehow it all turned out just beautiful and I love the result !

vintage gloves, peg angels, china, home made paper decorations, nests, feathers and even an antique evening bag grace our tree.
                         A string of lights and an angel on the top complete my vintage look

.......and then as I sat admiring my efforts a rosy posy thought came to mind !   What about fresh flowers on my tree !
So off I trotted to the flower market to find  some suitable blooms.  The first flower that  I saw as I glanced at the buckets of flowers was the humble Carnation.

The poor Carnation has all but been shunned over the years as an old fashioned granny style flower which was perhaps too over used in the 1970's.  As a child I always noticed that visiting our friends newborn babies in hospitals every single floral arrangement had Carnations !  I was so fascinated that they came in bright blue. Quite the miracle of Mother Nature when looked at by a child. I of course had no idea that these blue flowers were indeed sprayed to be this colour.

So when these pretty raspberry red Carnations all but jumped out of the bucket into my hands (ok, well that may be an exaggeration) I knew that they would be happily smiling on my tree by the end of the day.  My little hanging bottles would be their new place of residence.

So these humble bottles were filled with.......

......these pretty little Carnations

and then I added a few of these

and these....

and who can resist a rose or two !

and while some were sleeping...

My blank canvas turned from this

to this !

and this was my cherry on top

Isn't she lovely ?

and before you know it I had unpacked my Christmas cottages      (but I'll show you them some other time)

My precious evening purse that I bought to remember a loved one by hangs pride of place on the tree.

It's like my special person in heaven is enjoying Christmas with us.

My antique greeting card collection came out and I selected one or two to show off as well !

Who said that this humble Carnation has had it's day !

Don't those friendly little faces look pretty and they smell so sweet as well !

and as my day is getting darker while sitting here next to my tree, I know that I will soon turn the sparkly lights on very soon.

I really do love Christmas

Isn't it so much fun !

I know that many of you will be wanting to see some close up pics of my tree decorations so I will show them to you all tomorrow.

I hope that our Christmas tree finds you smiling and inspiring you to find something special to decorate your tree with.

Think of all of your favourite things and then get to work !

I find that keeping the colour scheme simple keeps a nice balance and looks the most effective.

Let me know what you decide on, I'd love to hear some of your stories and see some pics.

See you all again tomorrow

Melanie

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