Friday, March 25, 2011

Favourite Things Friday



Welcome to FTF for this week. I'm looking forward to wandering around to see what kind of things have made your favourite lists for this week. And if you;re new here or haven't participated before - feel free!It's easy. All you have to do is bang up a post about something that makes you happy and link up at the bottom of this post.

With Little Miss Sunshine's visit less than two weeks away , I've been thinking a lot about my house this week. What needs to be cleaned or done before she gets here, how much of my garden I could actually get looking decent before her arrival.. and whether she is really likely to judge me for the state of my oven.

But, it's the little things that make a home. Things that we might have picked up on our travels , things that are special to us and us alone , design ideas and inspirations that we've incorporated that make our homes uniquely ours. It might be a throw rug in your  lounge room, or a special piece of furniture or one piece of art.

Each of my rooms has it's own feel, with the exception of my un-renovated bathroom which is 1970's grunge. That room has no personality.

I don't have a particular design style. There's no overall plan. I like to think  that you could walk into any room in my house and get a sense of who I am without an overall design aesthetic. I like quirky stuff or unusual stuff and I put it in weird places. Shutters on a wall. A leadlight door on top of the  fridge, free standing windows propped up against windows. But one of my most favourite things is this.



I bought my strawberry cookie jar years ago and kept it boxed up for the time when I finally had a black and white kitchen. It makes me smile every time I look at it. It rarely holds actual cookies and was ridiculously expensive in comparison to the old brown cookie jar we do use for cookies which cost me all of 2 bucks at the op shop. But it was one of those things that I saw, I loved and I had to buy.  And it's my favourite thing this week.  It's one of the things that stamps my style on my house.

Have you ever bought anything ridiculously expensive and pretty much non functional that you just had to have simply because you liked the look of it? 'Fess up!


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20 comments:

  1. KirstenMarch 25, 2011 at 7:41 AM

    Love the cookie jar, love strawberries and love buying things I don´t really need. Starting from vases to candleholders to tabletoppers and so on...I even buy crafty things just because I like them, knowing I will never even start working on them...but oh well...that´s life.
    Great FTF.

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  2. seabreezequiltsMarch 25, 2011 at 8:00 AM

    I have so many things that I are ridiculously expensive but I just have to have them. There were those Havana thongs, probably the entire contents of my sewing room, my macbook, iphone... should I go on maybe not in writing.

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  3. MisteaMarch 25, 2011 at 9:49 AM

    Love the cookie jar - don't quite understand the concept of practical things which are just for show.
    The most ridiculously expensive thing I can think of that I had to have at the time is a little cabinet from IKEA I could not imagine how useful it would be. It is perfect and on wheels so I use it all the time for extra bench space where ever I am working and it is my laptop table, the drawers are full of UFO's and the shelves have supplies and DVD's on them.

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  4. KateMarch 25, 2011 at 11:33 AM

    Very fun, very cute strawberry cookie jar. I can't think of anything expensive and non-functional that I've bought. That doesn't mean I haven't, I just can't think of anything at the moment!

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  5. Michelle RidgwayMarch 25, 2011 at 12:42 PM

    I love your strawberry cookie jar and I love the sound of your decorating style - a lot like mine. I surround myself with things I love and a meaningful to me.

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  6. theaMarch 25, 2011 at 1:31 PM

    love your favorite! What a great cookie jar! We used to have one but the the Oreos just wouldn't stay in there. Good luck with the garden ..

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  7. melissaMarch 25, 2011 at 2:04 PM

    Great cookie jar Shay! you must be looking forward to your visitor and workshop coming up. Hope youve got some great tips to share with us afterwards!! x

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  8. PokeyMarch 25, 2011 at 3:50 PM

    Enjoy your upcoming visit, Shay! Marg will not worry over your oven, and you shouldn't either.
    That cute berry jar is worth the money, and charms the corner it sets in. Gee, anything that brings a happy smile is valuable!
    :-}pokey

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  9. MargMarch 25, 2011 at 6:04 PM

    Umm Pokey I wouldn't be quite so sure, I've already packed my white gloves for inspections:)
    Shay Shay Shay, I'm not coming to stay so I can check out your house, (or to see if I can get arrested). I'm coming to see you!!!!! (and maybe have a little fun).

    I love your strawberry cookie jar, but I was hoping it would be filled with cookies!
    Where do I start, how much time do you have? I'm known for buying stuff just because it looks good.

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  10. Baa-Me KniitsMarch 25, 2011 at 6:24 PM

    LOL I bought a Suede Poncho once that my Grandmother talked me into, and yes I am blaming her! ;-) I think I wore it about twice! It is way too hot in FNQ for it so it has moved onto charity....Sob, it was beautiful but a complete waste of money!

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  11. LarriMarch 25, 2011 at 10:16 PM

    My splurges are usually on fabrics, though my Bird Bowl is probably my most ridiculous and thoroughly enjoyed purchase. It makes me smile every day. :o) LOVE the strawberry jar! Great favourite. Happy Friday! :o)

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  12. SaraMarch 25, 2011 at 10:47 PM

    I'm the girl with two tablets, two mobiles, two palm pilots and a spare GPS device or two, so it would seem that for the most part, my unnecessary purchases are all tech related. Until you remember that I have enough fabric for about a hundred more quilts in my room already.

    Our house is not styled in any way, except as a very full house, with Mum, Dad, 3 daughters in their early 20s (plus 2 occasional boyfriends) and an 8 year old as well. There's drawings and pictures and random stuff everywhere, but a lot of it came from the Salvos, or ebay, or the junk shop, so thankfully none of cost too much.

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  13. AnjaliebtrosaMarch 26, 2011 at 12:18 AM

    OK, now I got the point.... I need to link my name EVERY week... sorry, it´s my bad english...
    I´ll do my blog-round this evening.. see you!

    Liebe Grüße
    von Anja

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  14. PauletteMarch 26, 2011 at 12:58 AM

    That's a great piece (see, I didn't call it a cookie jar...doesn't the word piece elevate it to an object d'art?). I think it reflects your bright, fun personality!

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  15. ShevvyMarch 26, 2011 at 3:16 AM

    Do I get credit for NOT buying an IPAD even though I really want was as I already have two laptops and can't justify it.
    Of course, the most expensive thing I have that gets the least about of use if my kitchen! It cost a lot of money a few years ago and I don't cook proper meals that much so it probably works out at a ridiculous cost per meal over the 4 years I've had it for!

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  16. TerriMarch 26, 2011 at 4:53 AM

    It was a painting of a little blond girl in a blue dress. I loved it, but every time I looked at it I could see the $35 dollars I spent on it. (We lived in a college town big on art.) I gave it to my daughter when she needed something for her house. I get to see it every once in a while.

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  17. rubyslipperz1052March 26, 2011 at 1:24 PM

    that is a cool cookie jar... i still have one from when i was a little girl (50 years ago)...

    But, my Fav Fri post is about my favorite pets... a bullmastiff and a ragdoll cat...I posted on my blog's Wonderful Wednesdays. Thanks for letting me share!

    hugZ,
    annie

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  18. Ann Marie @ 16 Muddy FeetMarch 27, 2011 at 9:03 AM

    Yep sure did, seen this vase that went from pink to purple to blue, and I had to have it! It was $99.oo It never holds anything but dust bunnies!!!

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  19. VesuviusmamaMarch 27, 2011 at 11:48 PM

    For me, it was a non-functioning Treadle Sewing Machine at an auction a few years ago. Who am I kidding - I doubt I'll ever get that thing running. And it is ridiculously heavy and my mom and I already scraped up my wood floors trying to move it to its current location, my old sewing room that is now Donald's room. He's probably the only 5 year old with an antique sewing machine in his room, but I love seeing it every time I go up there, even all covered with toys.

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  20. ElizabethMarch 30, 2011 at 8:12 AM

    I paid $150 for a doll. Don't tell Mr. Bug. But it completed the collection, was never available in the US and the idiots on eBay started bidding way too early. I watched the price escalate all week, vowing to walk away if it got over a certain number. And when it reached that amount, I moved the ceiling up a bit. In the end, I won. And she is a lovely doll, sitting in her box just waiting for the right time and place to be displayed.

    Lovely FTF. I love your countertops and the backsplash in white. And that cookie jar is SO fabulous! Sorry I didn't link up this week. I couldn't come up with an idea for a quick post in lieu of the more time consuming post I've been thinking of doing since November. It requires a lot of pre-prep time, which I promise myself that I'm going to start every Monday so that it will be ready for Friday. It's only Tuesday. Maybe this week is my week?

    ox -E

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