My Place and Your's - My Collection

images; shelley t for galmont

This week's theme queen, Kate, chose 'My Collection' as the meme theme for this week. Being a collecting fiend I could've shown you my chairs which take up every spare space I have, but you've seen many of them; there was no point in showing you my little coloured vases either as you've seen pics of those too; my French barware is scattered all around the place; and to try and gather all my Shelley china collection (mostly gifts from friends and family....I'm lucky like that!) would've taken a bit of an effort; so I took the lazy way out and took a few pictures down at Galmont.

Ah yes, my collection of original vintage posters. Of course, it is a little bigger than it once was and many people come by and check them out and some people even buy them and take them away. But they will always be my true collecting love. And it is exciting to me that other people get a thrill from them too.

PS. If you are new to Femme de Montmartre (a very warm welcome!) check out any posts labelled Home Matters Series and you will see some of the other collections I have spoken about.

My Place and Your's - Through the Front Door

image; shelley t

This is what it is to walk through the front door of Chez Trbuhovich, probably not that remarkable to anyone else, but to me it is heaven.
All my favourite things are in this picture; the grey of the hallway, vintage posters - the first we ever bought many moons ago, a new delivery for Galmont(can you see the tiny glimpse of a tube in the bottom right foreground?), family photos and art work on the shelves to the right, vintage tram scroll, my gorgeous green (chartreuse, I mean!) Eames rocker - a family gift when Petit was born, a tiny little table and chairs and baskets and pots of crafty goodness for the Petits, a fabulous 1950's French enamel sign sitting in the window by a favourite poster artist, the beautiful lemon tree in the very background and the adorable Petit-Petit doing what he does best, lurching around in a very wobbly fashion!

Thanks again, Pip, for asking me to be Theme Queen. Hurrah! (That was my impersonation of you!!) I am really looking forward to seeing what the others have done. There's still time to join in, you have until Saturday - wanna play? Go here...

My Place and Your's - Theme Queen Decides!

image of front door -which sadly is not mine - found here

Hello! If you're anything like me, regardless of how good a time you've had or where you've been, you love coming home. Am I right? Do you?! Sure, there's plenty of work to be done, not sure how much longer our kitchen floor will last, for example, but it's my sanctuary and the people I live with are superb little (and big) beings!

So, my choice as honoured (and honourable?!!) Theme Queen for this week is - Through the Front Door. What is it you see when you enter your home? And how do you feel? Whatever happens when you walk through your front door, we want to know about it!

If you wanna play Pip's meme, then pop over here and add your name to the list, we'd love you to join us!

Secret Weapon - My Place and Your's

san francisco alamo square - i was so fortunate to live in this city, image found here

i was also very fortunate to live in nyc...in a building very similar to the ones shown, image found here

This week's meme 'My Secret Weapon' has had me stumped - which is a great thing -thanks My Bricole . I've been racking my brains for material things that make me feel extra wonderful and puts a shimmy in my step. And in all honesty, I cannot think of a single thing that does that for me.....would a cheeky champagne pass?!

I keep coming back to one word...so, dear people, travel is my secret weapon!
I'm not just talking international experiences, I'm talking daytrips, walking excursions (yes, I actually stick the Petits in the pram not knowing where we'll head some days and just keep moving!) and little interstate sojourns. There is nothing that makes me feel as alive as travelling does. It opens my mind, expands my creativity and makes me think that anything is possible. I can have some sort of mind dilemma going on, a few hours/days/months/years away and clarity returns full throttle!

I will hold my overseas living and travels so close to my heart; those 7 years in the U.S taught me so much. When I realised that I had set up a life somewhere other than home where I had friends and places to go and things to do, I realised that the world was indeed my oyster. Without travel, there would be no Galmont, there's no way I would've had the confidence to just get in and have a go at creating and running my own business without my travelling experiences. And as for honing the old instincts, I have my friend travel to thank as often they're all you've got in a strange place!

But then again, I can think of many times closer to home, when life was a little wierd before my Petits came along - another story for another day - l'Homme would often put me in the car and drive, I'd silently sit in the passenger seat letting the tears flow until there were no more. And then the lull of travelling and being somewhere else for a couple of hours would strengthen my resolve and my self confidence and I'd return home with a renewed passion to make my dreams of Parenthood become a reality.

There is no doubt that travel is my secret weapon, it is my pick-me-up, my guide and my teacher. It is the thing I can 'go to in a pinch and it never lets me down'. I dream big on my travels and return feeling like Superwoman with a creative plan - or ten!


So what's your secret weapon? Pop on over to Pip's place, if you would like to join in the fun; it runs until Saturday (Nov. 14th) when the next Theme Queen (who I happen to know extremely, extremely well!!!!!) will announce the following week's theme.

Blog Headquarters - My Place and Your's

Here it is, blog headquarters....I sit like Queen Muck on my throne (I bought this Phillipe Starck Louis Ghost chair at the last Space furniture sale - I have a thing for chairs in the way that many women have about shoes) and blog away...and sometimes Petit joins me while Petit-Petit has a nap. We are so fortunate to be surrounded by things that make us smile, our beloved vintage posters, the lamp was given to us by a second-hand dealing friend as a housewarming gift (soon to be stripped and painted gloss black, wabi-sabi style!), my magazines and coffee table books and our vintage radios and barware....and our featherstone. Is it me, or are they not the sexiest chair, ever?!

These memes are such fun, this theme was chosen by Ninon who makes gorgeous softies...

My Place and Your's - Bedside

yes, they're my slippers underneath, always kept in the same place...I have winter ones and summer ones, both gifts from rellies who know how much I adore them, i'd wear them to galmont if i could.

it's imperative i have a neat and tidy bedside, waking up to a bedside mess puts me in a cranky mood. the tivoli clock radio was my gift to l'homme for an extra special birthday, which has sat on my side since petit-petit arrived.

a close up of my 'shelley' dish, part of a wider collection and my love for miscellaneous colourful vases - all ebay finds - continues, the rest of her little friends are on a sideboard in the same room
all images; shelley t

Ooo, this is a bit intimate, don't you think?! The latest theme for Pip's meme chosen by lovely Lexi over at Potty Mouth Mama. So here's mine, the usual mish-mash of books, lamp, clock radio and little dish full of change and lip balm. I looked for a side table for about seven years, the perfect wooden cube (I really wanted one on wheels) and it was Ikea that came through for only $40.00 - gotta love that!

On the Shelf - My place and Your's

petit-petit's shelf with my some of my original enid blyton's and 'toot-toot' (owl softie)

this shelf is actually twice as long as what is shown, it came out of a hardware store, perfect for petit-petit's bits and pieces. Here's a close up of top shelves incl. artwork (i drew the bird pic as a 3yr old, my mum saved it and gave it to me as a gift); family photos (that's l'homme front left and me front right), the little dolls top left were also mine, the spools were found at a flea market and have graced many shelves!

close up of petit's shelf, we have the full collection of miffy books (a first bday gift) which were in fabulous condition until petit-petit came along and decided that book bindings were part of his diet; football cards still yet to be sorted; that's a container of shells under the bird finger puppets

we paid $20 for this shelf in nyc 26th st flea markets a gazillion years ago, the woman couldn't believe someone was actually buying it, we couldn't believe we'd found a cute shelf with l'homme's name emblazoned across the top! i think it's called a win-win. this shelf has lived all around the place, but has found it's final resting place in petit's room.

I think I am about to break a promise here. You see, I've been doing a bit of - in the words of styling guru, Megan Morton - 'house-whispering' lately. I decided that the shelves that were in the Garcon's rooms needed shifting around. A simple, but very affective decision, I must say, both the little guys have noticed and are loving it. Petit is able to curate his current obsessions (ie. his personal art work, shells and AFL (footy) cards - we do live in Melbourne after all, that damn game never seems to go away!!) and Petit-Petit can reach the things he loves the most (ie. wooden animals and books - neither seen in these photos).

So then Pip comes up with an idea that we all have some blogging fun by becoming part of the meme series 'My place and your's'. The first topic - 'On the Shelf' - which is where the broken promise bit comes in, cause I'm sure a few posts back I promised to never harp about Chez Trbuhovich again....please forgive me. I really should never say never!

PS. If you want to join in the fun, then go here.

PPS. Speaking of On the Shelf, Thursday's post is extremely fitting, cannot wait to share it!!