Home is where the heart is.

What a better way to start the New Year, than with a new home! Last week on the day before Christmas Eve, we received the news that we have been approved for a gorgeous weatherboard house. When I went to inspect the place, I fell in love immediately! As I stood outside waiting for the real estate agent, I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. It was the place of my dreams, with rose bushes out the front to boot!

                                                                  Our New Home!

Since we still have a week til we move, I can't stop mentally furnishing each room and imagining myself in this new life. I have started the awful but necessary process of throwing out and donating junk, and packing up the last 2 years of our life.

4 years ago my now husband and I moved into our first apartment together. As I had been living in various share houses over the years I had collected bits and pieces, but not enough to furnish a 2 bedroom apartment. We made the obligatory pilgrimage to Ikea to pick up the bits and pieces we needed. Over the first year we slowly accumulated the things we needed. But it was mainly out of necessity that we bought the furniture we now have. A lot of the things we own don't really represent the people we are. There is a lot of wood in our home!

I have decided to up cycle and unleash my inner shabby chic - er in my new home. The lucky thing about a lot of our things is that its wood. My first project will be to do something to my dressing table that my husband found for me on the side of the road when we first moved to Melbourne. Its seen better days, but I think there is still some life in this baby!

The exciting thing about moving in to an older style house is that it has character. Once you move in, you start

to blend in your character, style and taste. Now, I don't know if its that I am getting older, but my taste and style are beginning to change. If someone would have said to me that I would be thinking of adding a Shabby Chic element to my home, I would have laughed in their face! But here I am fantasing about the various things I can do our new abode to incorporate Florals, mexican style soft furnishings with a mix of 1950's kitsch. It can be done, right?

These Mexican Sarapes add a wild splash of colour and warmth! 

Available to order from Ruby Rebel Couture

I think the styles that my interest me the most are those that have rich patterns and vibrant colours. I love the idea of mixing and cross breeding different elements to make your own statement in your home. And of course, using the things you may already own to do this. It is so easy to get caught up in the idea of going out and buying new things when you move into a new place. I know I have been guilty of doing this on more than one occasion. This time around, I am looking to the blogs and internet for ideas and inspiration. 

I found this on my search for inspiration, I just love the mix of patterns and colours. 

So as I finish this post to head off to bed for what will undoubtedly will be another dream filled night of soft furnishings, I leave you with this thought. Why not start 2012 with a fresh start, for you and your home. Take the time to look around your home and see what could do with a "freshen up" or face lift.

Until next time Rebels! ( Of course from my new weatherboard palace)