24 Hours in San Francisco with Kids

We usually stop off in LA on our way back from visiting family in the US, but this trip, we decided to stay overnight in our old stomping ground, San Francisco, instead. It's a pretty special place for us; we met and started our married life in the City of Love, and wanted to share some of our favourite spots with our girls - now six and eight years old. Read on for how we managed 24 hours in San Francisco with kids...

Bondville Does "USA: Seattle 2016

It's been kisses and cuddles all week visiting my new 4.5 month-old niece in Seattle. We've been to Seattle a few times before and ticked off some of the touristy activities, so this trip we were happy to stay fairly close to home in Redmond, WA with the bub. Here are some of the fun things we got up to with our 6.5 and 8.5 year-olds girls...

Make a beautiful terrarium with the kids

I received this beautiful copper and glass terrarium from West Elm and have been enjoying it's interesting angles sitting on my sideboard, but thought the kids would love to help me turn it into a real terrarium with gorgeous succulents.

Things to do in Canberra with kids in 48 hours

What better way to spend the Australia Day weekend than in our nation's capital? Our girls have become really great at road trips (thanks to our Roald Dahl cd book collection), so we decided on a quick last-minute trip to Canberra last weekend. Read on for all the activities that we managed to cram into 48 hours, and some of things we have popped on our to-do list for next time:

Let the kids get themselves ready for school - free printable daily to-do list

Today is the first day back at school for my girls and I was so surprised that their brand new lunchboxes initiated enough excitement them to make their own lunches (hallelujah!).

Last term, I also started a checklist that they ticked off each morning (in rainbow-coloured pens of course), to help them become more responsible for being ready on time (and to stop me from repeating myself a thousand times). It worked a treat!

I've just put together this year's checklist with every step to get ready (including some pocket money duties), and included an area for extra things to take for school by day (such as news, homework, sports clothes), and after school (activities, afternoon tea, change of clothes etc). You can download it and customise it for yourself, for free, right here! (.xls file)

My girls like to start the week with red and tick each box they have completed before school. Each day they change the colour to create a rainbow by the end of the week. It's somehow self-motivating - no stickers, no bribes, no gifts, and no nagging (much).

You might like to add rows, remove some, and of course change the default activities that I have popped in. Happy new school year!

Steph x

Bondville 6 year old Puppy Party

We usually only have a day to pull together our youngest's birthday party each year as it's just after the festive season, but that is a great excuse to keep things sweet and simple which to me is perfect. Miss Six loves all things puppy, cuddly, and animal-related, so we found this super-cute invitation by Meg Bartholomy, and emailed it out over the holidays. I used the chocolate, pink and orange colours from the invites as the basis for the party decorations and food. I had also spotted fun puppy cakes in BreadTop, but on my small budget I decided I could make them myself, and with the flavours I wanted. Read on for all my tips for creating a sweet puppy/animal party on a budget!

Party: Our six year old's birthday party
Organised by: Me! (Steph Bond-Hutkin | Bondville)
Location: at home in Sydney
Theme: Loosely puppy/animal themed - based on this invitation

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas! We're enjoying the warmth and beach life at the Sunshine Coast at my parents' place. We've been to Carols by Candlelight at Peregian Beach, made a gingerbread house, drove around to look at all the house Christmas lights, the girls designed and printed certificates to award to the best lights, sneaked in a date night and Star Wars (yay!!!), and spent as much time as possible on the beach. (Few pics up on Instagram).

Today we've opened pressies, feasted for breakfast, walked to the local park, and now we're getting ready for our P lunch/dinner (pork, peaches, prawns, pudding). I'm pretty sure that we'll crack out Apples to Apples for a family game and that's all we have on the agenda. I hope your Christmas is just as relaxing and that you get to spend it with loved ones.

See you here tomorrow for the low-down on the Boxing Day sales!

Merry Christmas!

Steph xxx

Dyson V6 Absolute cordless vacuum review

Cleaning the carpeted stairs in our home is one of the banes of my life. I dread the thought of clunking my heavy vacuum cleaner up and down the stairs, precariously balancing on a tread and inevitably falling/hitting the wall/scaring the kids. Nightmare. So I procrastinate and never do it; unless people are coming over. And that makes for an un-pretty situation re: the stairs.

Naturally, I jumped at the opportunity to receive and review the new Dyson V6 Absolute cordless handstick. It has a trigger control and futuristic style that reminds me of a Ghostbuster's GhostZapper gun. Or maybe a robot's hair dryer. It looks cool, but will it solve my procrastination issues around the problem spots in our house and car, and will I ever have clean stairs without the effort? Read on for my experiences using the V6:

My top picks for living rooms for Supa Centa Moore Park

I recently had the fantastic experience of writing a piece for the Supa Centa Moore Park website, choosing my top 3 picks for lamps, coffee tables, side tables, shelving, artworks and rugs from the Supa Centa stores. Here are a few of my favourites from my shopping excursion in my own living room:

Adam Liaw Asian Cookery School masterclass + Win a cooking class

We've got a well-used wok in our kitchen, a steamer I have used only once, and all the right condiments for Asian cooking; but I find myself falling back onto the staples - fried rice, stirfry, and sometimes wonton soup. Lucky, then, that my cooking inspiration has been given a big boost with a private masterclass with Adam Liaw at the gorgeous Williams-Sonoma Sydney Cooking School kitchen at Bondi Junction.

Ten of us eagerly absorbed every word, then were put to work creating Steamed Ginger Chicken, Rice Paper Rolls and Nuoc Cham from Adam's new book Asian Cookery School. So fun! Read on for photos and your chance to win a spot at a masterclass with Adam Liaw to experience for yourself.

The place-settings were gorgeous, with calligraphy by Anastasia (The Articulate), sitting on denim napkins.

My Freedom Spring Summer 15 Style + Win $100

The challenge: using just a brick-wallpapered background and the Bonnie sofa, pick any products from the new collection at Freedom and pull together a living zone you'd like to relax in. Fun, I know! I was invited by Freedom to visit their Alexandria store recently and choose my favourite items from the new Spring Summer 2015 catalogue to style up a corner of the store. I started with the 3-seater Bonnie sofa in River Charcoal against a great brick-wallpapered wall, and went to town with the accessories. Read on - you could win a $100 Freedom gift voucher!

Cheap and easy DIY Alice in Wonderland costumes for kids

It's Book Week - that week that sends dread into many a non-crafty-parent's heart, and joy for the rest of us. Our school celebrates every second year, and this year the theme was Alice in Wonderland, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the book's publication. My girls were very specific about the their characters - the Queen of Hearts, and the White Rabbit (during the croquet game, which is apparently important to note).

The Blue Mountains hiking with kids

I've been to the Blue Mountains several times before having kids, eating at cosy cafes and making the obligatory pit stop at Echo Point to jostle with the thousands of tourists to take a quick snap of The Three Sisters. This time, we went with family friends (four adults and four kids 5-8 years in total) and had the kids' interests firmly in mind. The plan was child-friendly hiking and good, casual food.

Taking Stock - June 2015

I love this Taking Stock list developed by Pip at Meet Me At Mike's, that I've also spotted over on Jodi's blog Practising Simplicity and Briar's blog Sunday Collector. It's a nice opportunity to look at all the things going on in your life; writing them down seems to get them out of my head where they don't need to be swirling! If you would like to join in too, head to Meet Me At Mike's for the blank form.

Freedom and Real Living magazine eiderdown

I thought you'd like a peek at the sweet eiderdown from the Real Living magazine and Freedom collaborative homewares and bedding collection that has just been launched. I'm sharing all the photos from the sumptuous lunch tomorrow here on Bondville, but in the meantime, here is the Sunny Heart quilt that I received at the launch. My 7-year-old adores it on her bed:

Pillowcase from Kip & Co. | Eiderdown from Freedom | Zedd mini chair from Freedom | my old Enid Blyton books that my daughter now loves.

Image: Steph Bond-Hutkin | Bondville

Easter Egg Hunt 2015

I hope you all had a fantastic, relaxing Easter. Our girls had a ball making their own hats for the Easter Hat Parade at school on Thursday, and then of course hunting for eggs on Sunday. I had a great, relaxing break spending time cuddled up on the couch with my loved ones in our new pyjamas (our Easter tradition) from eeni meeni miini moh and Four In The Bed, cleaning up around the house, trying out new bike paths, catching up with friends, making banana split sundaes, enjoying a special Passover Seder meal and trekking to the Royal Easter Show. Here are a few shots from our Easter Egg hunt - so much excitement!

Four great movies for kids this Summer

We're one of those movie families. We love going to the movies together, eating popcorn, gripping each other's arms, and snuggling in the dark. This Summer has been particularly good for kids' movies, and I thought I'd share the four movies that we have seen (and loved) over the last month. My girls (age 5 and 7 years) wanted to weigh in with their critiques too!

Paper Planes
Website
Rating: G
Running Time: 96 min

Mini Get Ready For School guide

Hands up who has a little one starting school this year? I'm kind of in denial, but in one month, I will have both of my girls at school. My youngest is pretty ready as she has been shadowing her big sister for the last two years, but there are still some rites of passage that I'm using to prepare her (and me!) for the big step to big school. I've collaborated with Officeworks to put together a mini get-ready-for-school guide!

Mental preparation for growing minds

Bondville 5 year old blue, peach, pink and green girl's room

Would you like a peek at my daughter's room? It's very real - look... no ironed bed linen! It's a brand new quilt cover and pillow scored in the sales at Country Road, and new Rosie The Dreamer pillow case from One In A Melon Designs that I bought for her for her recent 5th birthday. It's a pillow and a softie all in one! We usually pop a favourite toy on the bed, but I can't bare to cover up Rosie's face. Here are all the details of the room:

Room: My youngest daughter
Age: 5
Designed by: Mum Steph Bond-Hutkin (Bondville) - that's me!
Location: Sydney, NSW

Bondville 2014 favourite interiors, fashion and parties for kids

2014 was the year of the cool kid's room here at Bondville. You all loved the real room tours and kids' interiors products. Want to see the most popular?

Your favourite kids' room in 2014 was all about the colour - Georgia's pink, mint and gold bedroom by Little Dwellings.

Maisyn's lovely room by Maisy Dee came in at number 2 - very boho-cool: