Back to Natural

Stage one of Mission Natural

So for a while now I've wanted to get back to my natural roots but every time I attempt it there is something that stops me like the hair dresser telling me that I would get bored and it will look dull, my hair needs to be longer for it to look any good in darker shades and blonde's have more fun :)

So now that my hair is at it's longest and my desire for a more natural look is great I have started stage one of maybe many.

 My natural (which I haven't seen for over 10 years) would be a dark golden blonde / light auburn.  I've always classed myself as a red head but in reality that may not be the total truth. As a child I had golden blonde hair; it was blonde enough that with all my swimming training it would turn green from the chlorine. These days, the small amount of regrowth I do see seems to be a bit more ashy in colour, understanding that as it gets longer the sun would naturally lighten it anyway.

So since I can't get my colour in a bottle the closest thing I could find was Garnier Nutrisse Radiant Blondes in the shade 7.31 Dark Golden Ash Blonde

Unfortunately since I have been killing my hair with the occasional bleaching most of my hair doesn't take colour like it should so the colour has come out a lot darker then what the box was saying (which I expected although the roots are a lot darker then they should be too) but I hope that it will fade over time and more blonde will come through.

The goal from here is to hopefully not to have to colour my hair for a while but I do predict that I will need maybe 1 or 2 touch-ups along the way as it fades and washes out although I don't think I will use this colour again since it was so dark.


Let me know what you think :)

4 Week No Heat

Left: My hair 4 weeks ago (January)

Right: My hair now (February)

So, over the past month I've taken on the "4 week no heat" challenge inspired by a post by Anna Saccone. The challenge is quite obvious in that for 4 weeks you go without using any heating appliances on your hair.

I was a little anxious about this challenge since I've use heat stylers for a number of years now and it has gotten to the point where my hair doesn't look very good unless it is styled. I also feel that my hair would look better if were longer then it is to weigh it down a little.

My hair: where to begin :). It’s DRY, FIZZY, DAMAGED, THICK and COARSE. All the worst things anyone wants with their hair. I also want to grow my hair out longer. It's currently at the longest it's ever been, purely because once it gets to this length I've had enough with it and chop it off to about shoulder length (and the cycle begins).

When I found this challenge and discovered I was the only one to go through this cycle, I decided to put the scissors down and give my hair a go. Unfortunately I have tried going cold turkey with my heat stylers before but failed miserably. This time I had a plan. I was lucky enough that with a new baby in the house, my styling routines had reduced to once or twice a week so I only had to worry about the weekends when we would be going out to socialise and I had decided to spoil myself with a better quality shampoo and conditioner and other styling products that would help control my hair.

I was given a travel size pack of Moroccan Oil which came with shampoo, conditioner, treatment oil and styling cream. I also when out and bought Tresemme Luxurious Moisture shampoo and conditioner. These where the main products I use.

So 4 weeks later and I am very pleased with the outcome. My hair is softer, more manageable and less frizzy. Its obviously longer but I not sure I could say it has grown any faster the normally (1cm/mth). And for the last week of the challenge I was wearing my hair natural and not feeling like I had an afro. It’s still a little frizzy and wild but its far better than it was, so for me that's a win!!!

I would definitely recommend this challenge particularly if your hair is in need of some quality R&R. My hair is softer and healthier than it's ever been before.

Hope you enjoyed :)


 

Project 1: Conquer the Study

For a long time I’ve wanted to get my hands Matt’s office and redesign it. It’s not the ideal space for what he does but it’s all we have. When buying our house, it was high on the list to get a good space for both my design work and Matt’s office space but unfortunately we couldn’t find what we needed.

So the room: It’s the third bedroom / study. No built in cupboards and smaller than the rest of the bedroom. It’s used as an office / music room. Matt spends a lot of time in there to practice music and also work from home stuff. It’s also used to store a lot of computer parts, cords, electrical stuff and folders.

We need lots of storage space, shelves, drawers, places that could hide some of the ugly stuff and also plenty of bench space while leaving open floor space.

The design: I designed the room to have a full length desk which sits on two large drawers at each end. Above it there will be full length tri-shelves broken into pigeon holes.  On the opposite side of the room will be our filing cabinets which will later be replaced with a combined bookcase / filing cabinet. 

All the trims and furniture will be white with a dark beige wall colour.

 Before: Matt and Bella working hard

 Shelves falling into shape

 Getting it onto the wall wasn't as difficult as expected :)

"That's Plumb!"

 The final product.

The project took seven days to complete from painting the room to haing everything back in its place. It was a huge project but we got there. What do you think?

Stay tuned for more projects.

Welcome to my blog!

Welcome to my blog!!!

Just a bit about me, my name is Angela. I'm a very creative person who likes to create and design in almost anything I can get my hands on.  I studied and worked in Landscape Architecture for eight years before turning my hand to Graphic Design and starting a small business in both graphic design and art (mostly paintings) based in Australia. 

I have a wonderful husband, Matt and recently became a first time mum to a beautiful baby girl, Bella, in which I have loved every minute in my new role as a mother. A Poodle named Sasha and a Maltese named Chula complete the picture.

I have recently had a desire to learn more about food/cooking after recieving two wonderful cookbooks over Christmas and to pursue Fashion design in some way through design, creation and style (I have wanted to do fashion design since I was in high school...Yikes!!!).  As a stay-at-home mum, I have been looking for outlets for my desire to do something creative. Since being pregnant and having a baby, I have found it had to achieve anything due to exhaustion and having very little time to do anything for myself (not that I’m complaining) :).

Now that my little girl is a little older and is in a nice routine, I feel it’s a good time to try something new and having recently discovered a couple of blogs that I have been following, I thought I would give it a go myself.

Hope you enjoy!