Drink up

This cute carafe would make it easy for me to keep up my new year's resolution of drinking more water. Did you make any resolutions this year?

Found! (finally)

I have been looking for the perfect pendant light for my hallway for ever (or 4 years since that's how long we've been living here) and I finally found it! It's so gorgeous and fun :)

It's by dóttir & sonur, " a multidisciplinary creative couple; serving design, creative direction and cunsultancy in both digital and printed media". They also make this amazing wallpaper.

Cozy nooks

Autumn is all about cozy, and what's more cozy than a nook?!


Some reading nooks:

Here's an idea for the nook that is now my closet.

What a fantastic use of a very tiny space!

Kids love nooks!

Perfect for utilising the space under the stairs.

How about this for some jaw-dropping fabulousness!

Or this one! Words fail me!

On to a couple of office nooks:

I wouldn't mind my office being a nook, if it was as fabulous as this!

Love the white, the colour provided by the books and the lovely Danish chair.

A sleeping nook:

How I would love to cuddle up on a cold winter's night, the open fire burning.

And finally, how to make a nook:

If you have a tiny space in your home that you don't know what to do with, such as the end of a hallway or a built in closet (on the remote chance that you wouldn't need it for storage), why not make it a cozy nook? The basics of a nook, for me, would be wall to wall seating (or a desk if you're making an office nook) and some shelving all the way around. This defines the space as a nook, as opposed to just a small space with some furniture in it.

Click on the images for the sources.

The smallest shared bedroom ever!

When it was time for Sam, our younger son, to move on from his crib we decided to switch bedrooms, George and Sam got our big bedroom and we got George's small room. Ella, our youngest, is now sharing this room with us... it's about 9 square meters (just over 90 square feet) so it's pretty crammed (double bed, crib, changing table, small closet). We chose to go all white in here, not just because of the tight space but also because I just love a crisp clean bedroom... it's just so relaxing to wake up to a non fussy, clutter free space. We've added a few personal touches though, and I'm planning to hang a couple of pictures similar to what I did above Sam's changing table. A few pics:

White Raven hanger by my friend Ingibjörg Hanna

Ella's bed

A wall blanket that was given to my mother as a Christening present 57 years ago

A blanket my grandmother made for me when I was a baby.

The room is tiny but we love it. Later, when George starts school we're giving him his old room back and Sam and Ella will share the bigger room. Terry and I will move into the smaller living room (we have joint living rooms and we hardly ever use the bigger one. I'm exited about this change, it will be a much better use of the space and I'm looking forward to decorate our "new" living room.

New retro kitchens!

I live in a house that was built in the mid forties but the kitchen is a sad little mint green/beech wood eighties affair, as it is in many houses from this period. I guess it's because the kitchens were by that time just too old and out of shape and also the style just wasn't that popular in the eighties. I just found out that you can get a brand new retro kitchen from Kvänum, this would be so perfect for my flat... they are actually done in a fifties style, but who's being choosy... I mean look at those pictures!

Bubble and Balm

Have you tried the all natural soaps from Bubble and Balm? I have the antibacterial luxury handwash as I have two kiddos in diapers and I don't want to use harsh disinfectants on my skin many times a day. It contains rosemary oil and tea tree oil and it smells gorgeous! I also have the citrus soap bar that I'm also loving. Even their packaging is beautiful (and recycled). Here they are, sitting pretty in my bathroom :)

Idea for my entrance hall

We really need some storage space and I could actually do this in our entrance hall. In fact, we could get two of these little cupboards as we have one long and narrow (well not so long... just extremely narrow) storage room off our entrance hall, and by knocking down a small drywall and building a partition in the middle of the room we could do this, and get the kids winter clothes, our tools and cleaning supplies and all those little things that have no place... well, into place. This one goes to the inspiration folder. Found here.

Environmentally, Family and Neighbourhood Friendly House!

This family home in Belgium, by BLAF Architecten, is built on Passivhaus principles, and has a front yard that asks all the neighborhood kids to come over and play! What more could you ask for?

(via inhabitat)

A new sofa!

Our old sofa was turning into a health hazard, so I couldn't believe my luck when I found a second hand yellow kramfors sofa online for a very reasonable price. Love the yellow, and it was just in time for easter! The photo is not from our living room though, it's from Jan's light and bright living room. The colours in his home are similar to ours, I just haven't had the chance to photograph ours properly... I'll have to do a house tour soon!

Little Baby Company

I was so lucky to win a giveaway recently at A Cup of Jo, from the Little Baby Company. I just have a big problem choosing what to get, but I think I've narrowed it down to these two items:

A set of two ISAK lidded porcelain cups

And a cute little owl LED light

But then they got all this new stuff in, so now I'm undecided again!

YUM RUM!

The march issue of RUM magazine is out... check it out here. This is my living room...

... in my dreams!

Cute baby bed

I like this cot bumper for its graphic design, the lack of fluffy teddy bear characters, and because it's white on the side facing the baby and therefore doesn't overstimulate an infant that is supposed to be sleeping.

(photo from The Brooklyn Home Company)

Something I might make

I've been looking for a lamp for the living room for the longest time, something cheap and gorgeous of course, and this might just be it!

(Found here)

Was not expecting this!

Loving pink, and a dark floor! I was never the girly girl, and I spend way too much energy hating my dark wooden floors! It's never too late to love <3

(from Milk magazine via Ólöf Jakobína)

Feeling sorry...

...for the lack of posting
...for myself

I've been coughing my guts out for the last four weeks and I finally gave in and got an appointment at the doctor's. Been feeling soooo tired, sick, sweaty, sticky, ugly, awful... I've been going to sleep at the same time as my little boys, between 8 and 9 pm and sleeping through till 7 in the morning, still feeling I want some more sleep. Now I dream of the perfect bedroom, and guess what! Design*Sponge has a best of bedrooms roundup! Here's my favorite:

As a sign of my sickness, I would even let hubby roll the TV in there for me... oh no, did I just say that?!

PS I don't even know what day it is, so the weekly schedule is out the window for the time being.

And mondays for home and design...

... and that completes the week's schedule...


Emma always finds the most fantastic things, her blog is so incredibly beautiful that sometimes I can't even bear it! Isn't this flat gorgeous?

Still life for the frustrated houswife

Need a little outlet for your artistic talent? Why not turn your fruit bowl into a masterpiece?! Still life fruit bowl by Barnaby Barford & André Klauser. Who needs a Vermeer anyway?

Corners of my home

I always have a million projects going but very seldom finish them. Once I showed you my bedroom before, but never got to the after. We have since switched rooms with the boys and have a completely new before situation... too horrid to share right now! I don't know when we'll get to the after. The living room is also under constant change and so is the TV room where the gallery wall is. So, since I cannot show you a finished room, I will show you a few corners of my home instead.

My grandmother's clock that my father inherited. My mum didn't feel it fitted in their new place after they moved, so I'm keeping it until they want it back. A little sneak peak from our living room into the TV room and the gallery wall in progress.

The 'new' sofa on loan from my friend. I still haven't changed the curtains and the vintage suitcase coffee table is a temporary solution... although I quite like it. It's all going to be white when I'm finished; the pillows, the table and curtains.

I'm sure our moss green seventies fridge is an environmental disaster and as soon as I can I'm getting a new one. In the meantime though, how classic is that colour combo: green, orange and a bit of faux wood?!

(P.S. I desperately want a new camera so I can snap some better photos... got any recommendations for me?)

More living room inspiration

So I sold my sofas and I'm borrowing/storing a friends sofa that looks a bit like the grey one in this picture. I'm still getting my living room to work and found this image on Rum magazine's website.

While I was browsing, I came across these two images (totally random, nothing to do with my living room). Don't you think the views are to die for?

Get a glimpse of the August issue here.

I'm selling my sofas!

No, not the sofa in this picture! But this is the picture that made me decide to finally go ahead and do it. I want a living room like this! I desperately neeeeed a living room like this! I swear I went weak at the knees and my heart skipped a beat when I saw this picture over on poppytalk. 

So. It's decided! Below is a picture of my sofas. I'm also going to change the curtains, get some light-weight white ones. Sadly, I can't do anything about the floors right now, but I would love to have white painted wooden floors... aaah, one day, one day!

...

I just can't get over how perfect that living room is... *sigh*