beach styling with vintage china...

g'day from my little beach house *Down Under* sweet gals...


it's tropical...warm, green & pretty lovely on our beaches today...

we're expecting more showers this afternoon- so i'm out with Miss.Lola (the puppy) this morning to tire 
her out for the day...

some days i don't mind a good drenching of the garden...the house...the puppy ;)

on those days, everything just seems a little cleaner...

today is one of those days...

but...before i head out with Miss.Lola i thought we could have a quick kitchen catch up...


the kitchen has to be one of the first rooms in any house to be sorted, don't you think?

i could truly do with a kitchen as big as my whole beach house...

i love everything about kitchens...the communal family life it holds...

the meals cooked...the recipes shared...

the chance to fill it...& the constant thoughts on re-designing it...

yep- this little baby needs some work...the floors are divine...the space, not so sorted yet...

we're moving the bench space around...& a new freestanding big stainless steel recipe inspiring
stove in there would be very loved i can assure you!

i have heard that good things come to those that *wait*...


i'm sooo waiting if anyone's reading this!

there's so much that i love about this kitchen...the light just blesses us...


the floorboards rock my boat more than tiles ever could...& it's white...


i just think, after our life in the English countryside, that i need a little more warmth to it...

can one ever have too much white?

i read many a blog about *beach living*...

many seem to spell out the virtues of whiter than white living...

i love this about the bloggy world...everyone's ideas are their own take on the world...

it's not the magazine empires dictating to us- but real people with real idea's- fresh & shared...

with this in mind...

for me, being born & bred on the Australian coast- i love our little beach house to be more french

farmhouse on the coast...

more linen & vintage china...more surfboards & beach towels on the lawn than starfish & stripes...

so...beach house styling aside...let's get back to the drawers...


i have to admit to a china issue...a serial hoarding china issue...

*my name is miss sew & so & i'm a vintage chinaholic*...

please tell me you can relate to this...


or just let me know if i'm making you feel relatively normal here!

i have to say that i am stunned by the prices of old english china in Sydney shops...


yep...it came on a boat to our coastline...

yep...it's gorgeous...

yep...it's not chain store...

but

it's still old china...

vintage....yep...but sold in second hand stores...

i had a rule of thumb in ol'Blighty- £2 a piece was my limit...my absolute limit...

as you can see, i managed to pack my cupboards on that little budget...

i seem to have drawers & drawers & drawers of the stuff...


& we love & use it everyday...

this has to be good for the soul right?


unpacking one's *vice* - a china vice that was started years ago as a HS student working in an interior

design store...

a vice that has been going strong for years...& one that i resign myself to...& share with pride

& love...

what do ya think?

c'mon sweet bloggy friends we all have one...

i've collected china from pretty much every place we've travelled to in some form...


white's & blue's...fresh & crisp...


from Japan to France...Europe to England...the South Pacific to Morocco...

& now it all has to fit into a little beach house kitchen, in need of a *wee bit* of renovation, on the Australian coast...

i love that...

& i love that i could tell you where each & every piece was from...


yep that's how great my addiction is...& how simple my life is ;)

every time i look at this silver pot stand from Paris- bought by my husband on the banks of the Seine 


i smile...& think of friendship...& birthdays...& memories...


it's not china- but it's a piece of our kitchen that holds our china...it's all in together in my heart...

so...the truth is out- i'm an addicted china hoarder...


i truly couldn't part with a piece...

it's what makes our kitchen...ours...

err...the linen drawer is pretty much the same...but it's better than other habits i could have...

as i said...the kitchen needs to be the first place in a house that's *home*...that's sorted & 

loved...

it's where we spend so much of our time...it's where we create endless family memories...

i started creating mine, with this life in mind, so many years ago...& it all makes me smile...

so how are your kitchen shelves shaping up?

hope my stash makes you feel like you've come across a fellow *chinaholic* member...

got any hoarding tips to share...!?

see ya tomorrow with litte Miss. Audrey's room...

melissa

xoxox