Christy's Loc Question

Hello all! I received an email from a reader by the name of Christy. She is obsessed with picking out the lint in her loc's, with is causing major damage, including thinning of her loc's. Below is picture of two of her loc's, one healthy and one thinned out because of constantly being picked at.

I have a few suggestions from previous post (link fix & repairing broken loc's - which can also be used to fix thin loc's). Leave a comment for Christy if you also have advice on what she can do to repair thinning loc's. What have been your quick or not so quick fixes?

Dorm Room

As much as I do love the look of a gorgeous bunk room, I have found that bunk beds really are such a pain to make. Lately I have been preferring the look of a large dorm room with rows of single beds like the picture above. I love the lidded basket placed at the end of each bed - perfect for storing each person's clothes in. I personally would be much happier making these beds instead of numerous bunk beds.

image - cote maison via aged & gilded

Inspirational Photo of the day - Corinne Bailey Ray

Beautiful photo of Corinne Bailey Ray.

- Source

Decorating A New Home {Over Time}

When I look at these images I love that they are all so casual and not overly decorated. I am leaning towards this more pared back look in our new house. I want it to be a home where we can relax and not be too worried about the white slip covered sofa when the big 1 year old {yes he turned 1 yesterday} Golden Retriever jumps up on it.

I am dreaming of faded denim fabrics on sofas, washed out florals and checks and stripes and mismatched pieces of cane furniture on the verandahs - not new cane - old mismatched cane collected over time. I will retain all of our Antique pieces of furniture which Brad & I have collected over the years. That's what I love about Antiques...they transcend fashion and trends, they are the pieces we hold onto and they are the pieces we pass onto our loved ones. I find I never tire of my Antique pieces. It's the mass-produced pieces I tire of very quickly.

This time round Harry and Brad have made me promise not to have the floors painted white. My obsession with keeping our current white-painted floors clean is all too much for my boys. All the internal walls will be painted my usual white but this time I think we might just sand back the old wide plank floorboards and apply an oiled, not glossy finish.

Everything about this house will be about living and enjoying and adding to it over time. I find that so many people {me included} rush into renovating or decorating a new home. I have learnt that you must live in a house for a period of time before you start the process of change....something my mother has been trying to instill in me for years!!

This time, I am going to take my time and enjoy the process of decorating the house which my children will call home for many, many years to come.

image 1 - pamela easton's home via creative homes, image 2 - deborah needleman's home via lonny, image 3 - via charlotte, image 4 - via charlotte, image 5 via lonny

Project Sole - Charity Highlight

I don't know about you, but when my tennis shoes get to the point where the springy bounce is gone, and their not so pretty any more - I am ready to replace them. Once I buy new shoes, I often just toss my old shoes. That for me is the norm. But recently I read an article in people magazine about a man that decided to start donating his and other peoples used tennis shoes to under privileged children in other countries. What a great idea. Of course, if all things were possible, I am sure we would rather be giving these children new shoes. But for a child that has no shoes at all, something used is just as helpful. So I think that when I go to buy my next pair of new sneakers, I will check out some Project Sole as a source to recycle my old shoe.

From Project Sole:

"We are a shoe charity. We use your donations of athletic tennis shoes to supply durable footwear for others in underprivileged communities throughout the world and use proceeds to make financial contributions in our local community:

• We offer financial support to charitable causes and organizations
• We supplement educational expenses for local schools
• We provide student scholarships"

For other shoe donation sources, check out How to Donate Your Used Running Shoes.

Nursery Thoughts...

My friends keep reminding me that I have a baby's room to decorate. With approximately 8 weeks to go I decided last week that I needed to at least get a few things organised.

My few things ended up turning into a complete room scheme for our little bundle. It all started with the original joker water colour by Rupert Hamilton dated 1916 which I stumbled across at a little Antique store here in Brisbane last week. I then decided I would collect a few bits and pieces to work back with it to create an artwork cluster wall full of lovely colour.

From there I selected the watermelon coloured Brunschwig & Fils Ikat which I am having an old chair I have recovered in and a lampshade for a floor lamp will be made in the small patterned chinnoiserie fabric. I also have an old Eastern embroidered piece of cloth which I will have made into a little cushion for the chair.

Over the weekend I started to wonder what I would use as a change table so Harry and I made a quick visit to our friend Nick Wallrock on Saturday morning {the most wonderful European Antique store in Brisbane}. We purchased a lovely circa 1780 Swedish Walnut cabinet from Nick which will be perfect.

I plan to use fresh white bed linen for the turned white timber painted cot which I picked up on Ebay for a mere $57.00 {a new mattress will be made and it will be re-painted with a fresh coat of white paint} and a few little Etsy cuddly numbers will be hunted down over the coming weeks.

So I can now say to my friends...yes it is all under control, I am organised!! {Fingers crossed it will all be made in time!!}

I Love...

Every now and then I spot a room I absolutely love and this one above, as published in Elle Decor, is one of them. I think it's the lovely fresh colours against the all-white background, the dining chairs and the beautiful old marble fireplace which I love most!

image - elle decor via frolic via seesaw designs

RE: Suggestions?

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**I just watched this video again... lol. I sure did say "you guys" a lot. Well it is a bad habit of mine. I do know that the majority of the readers for this blog are women. So I do apologize if the phrase 'you guys' was a bit annoying... :-P. I will try to watch out for that the next time I do a video. 

~ Love, Peace & Happiness to everyone ~
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Interviewed by Toshia Shaw

Check out my interview on On The Road To Queendom. Thank you Toshia!

Friday Flowers

A weekend full of time spent with Harry is what I have planned. I have worked many long and crazy hours this week so this weekend will be catch up time with my boys. Hope you have a lovely weekend. See you next time.

xx

Anna

Inspired By

I save so many images in my picture files to keep as inspiration for co-ordinating different colour schemes. It's often the combination of different colours in a picture or different products or different textures which can inspire me to put together a scheme for a client's home. I love the colours in these two product images above. The first image is from Jean Brown, a Brisbane fashion mecca, advertising some of their latest offerings {I adore the bangles by Paula Bianco} and the second image is a product editorial from House Beautiful. I just love all the wonderful colour and patterns and textures in these images. I find them very inspiring.

Suggestions??

What would you like to see on this blog? I would love to hear some feedback from you all. If there is something you would like to learn more about, leave a comment. If there is a subject, hair style, product or any thing else that you want to see - let me know. One of the previous suggestions was more styling videos for people with shorter loc's, coils and afro's. So that is something I am working on. Readers contribution is also a big goal of mines. It actually makes the experience of being a part of the Natural hair community that much greater for me because there is a constant interaction where I am learning from you. So if you have comments, suggestions, questions, stories, art... or more, that you want to sure on this blog - please do not hesitate to email me at naturalhairbeauty@gmail.com. Or you can leave a comment on this post or leave a comment on the NBH Guestbook.

~ Karen

Inspirational Photos - Decas

Beautiful photos from Decas, who lives in Bermuda. Below is a picture of him and his wife. What a lovely couple.

A Verandah Vignette

One of my lovely clients emailed me this photo of the windmill she just had hung above an old work bench she purchased from us a while ago on her verandah. Doesn't it look fabulous? She was telling me that she had to hang it in a spot where the children wouldn't brush past it because the blades on the windmill are obviously very sharp. What a wonderful idea for a verandah vignette.

Black Men LUV - Photo Gallery

For facebook users, there is a cool fan page called Black Men Who Love Black Women. I like this page because there are a lot of women with different textures and styles, that come together to celebrate their own unique beauty.

"There is somethingintriguing about the black woman who loves the way she was born. So much so that she goes against the grain and chooses NOT to put a burning-hot relaxer on her scalp to straighten her hair in order to fit inside the "mainstream". This group is for all guys who recognize the black woman's natural beauty. And if you are a woman with natural hair, please join ad represent yourself."

Smile

Today I stumbled across this great poster over at Made By Girl whilst searching for pieces for a cluster wall I am currently working on. Just thought I'd share it with you...

Sculpted Symmetry

Were one to fold this particular model in half...

Both sides would pretty much amount to perfectly symmetrical equivalents. Just absolutely stunning... And yes, this is my personal definition of 'curves in all the right places' ...

Spring is in the Air

And as the winter season goes, so goes the necessity for those cumbersome coats/shirts and pants

And out come the obligatory flashing of the abs and shorts and model worthy good-looks (how I wish this were so IRL )... But yes, it's that season again for the grass to grow a little taller, and perhaps a little greener if you're willing to put in the time and effort...

...and... I feel it's also perfect timing for us to take a little trip back in time somewhat (say perhaps to somewhere about the mid 2000s), and take a look back at some of the timeless beauty that pervaded throughout that ill-fated yet overall exciting decade .

A couple of these models above and below might be familiar to some of you, while others maybe not so much. But nevertheless, for a brief moment in time, each and every one of these guys were captured by a brilliant photographer and featured in one of the hotter coffee table photography books of the past decade.

I'm of course referring to photographer Adam Raphael's 2008 compilation otherwise known as Barely Working (or as I like to call it, walking bare-ly ). But yeah, some of the featured photos in the book actually date back to the early 2000s (at least as far as I can tell), however they're just as stunning today as the day they were taken... and yes, I feel they're quite appropriate enough to usher in the new season... Or at least usher in a new rotation for my wallpapers, whichever one works best .

Mid-west Cowboy

Just handsome...

And although not exactly what I'd call a 'refined' model (at least not as of yet), 22 year-old Ohio-native Justin K. here certainly has the mid-western 'All-American' look pretty much locked solid.... As is evident from the wholesome boy-next-door appeal, to his downright sexiness range ...

And plus, who doesn't love a gorgeous smile every now and again ...

Justin's been modeling for only about a year now, so hopefully as he progresses, we'll be seeing more from him... But I think for now, this is a pretty gorgeous introduction enough .