The best christmas present

More christmas decorations

I did eventually put up all the christmas decorations, but I have to admit that my heart was not really in it this year. I opted multiple colors in the tree (as opposed to last years silver one). I also added some wraths to the sunroom even though we will hardly use it at this time of the year.

Pot of gold

I was lucky to find several gold and silver pots for about 1 € each at the local thrift store and I used three of them to create a center piece for our sofa table. As the large one was broken (which meant I got it on a discount) I lined it with a napkin and filled it with nuts.

I love how the three of them compliment each other, and I added some pearl garlands to give some extra christmas feeling.

I used two golden ones to display some flowers at a side table. I think it turned out quite nicely.

Thrift store finds

I went to the thrift store a while ago and came home with loads of new plates. I like to have some plates with more character and charm than the IKEA plates we normally use. These were all less than 50c each and will be perfect.

Christmas decorations

I have a hard time finding the inspiration for christmas decoration this year. Despite having three full boxes of christmas stuff, it feels like I don't have the things I would like.

Very unlike me.

Visitors

They came at last.

My christmas gift

Here is the lovely plaid we got from work. Fantastic.

My only challenge is to keep it away from the cats, as they love the cozines just as much as I do.

For those cold winter nights

I just got the loveliest wool blanket as a cristmas present from my work. I will take a picture of it tomorrow, because the one I just took didnt turn out to well.

Very suitable present, considering it is -15 C outside.

Paris

I spent last weekend visiting a friend in Paris. From the pictures it seems like we did nothin but eat and drink, and this was in fact quite a big part of the trip, but there was also a major shopping spree and lots of catching up. 

I used to live in Paris. Sometimes I miss it like crazy, but right now, considering how chilly the apartments are, I am kind of happy to be in scandinavia where the houses are well isolated and warm. 

The kitchen, part one

I am having some trouble deciding when and how to post about our projects. Since we have lived in the house for two and a half year, a lot of things have already been changed and almost all walls have been painted.

However, there is one thing that remained unchanged until only a month ago and that was the kitchen. I have to admit I really didnt like it (you can see the before pictures here) but for some reason I felt that it would be to expensive to change the doors. I thought about painting them, but everybody advised me against it, so in the end it just stayed there - a soar spot to my eye.

Until some day a couple of month ago, when I was at IKEA and suddenly decided to buy a cabinet door to see if it would fit. It did! And from then there was no going back.

The new doors are STÅT, and there is an embarassing story to this where I suddenly changed my mind and decided that ÄDEL would be better, packed it all into the car, went to the stor and changed in, only to come home and realize that ÄDEL was definitely not good. Thank you IKEA for your lovely return policy (I went back and got my first doors back) and a good lesson to me that I should take me time before I decide on something.

 Meanwhile...

Change of plans? Or?

Finally (almost) ready.

Stay tuned to see where this will end.

The christmas wreath

One of the big advantages of living in the country is the closeness to the wood. I found some branches that our neighbour (who owns the land next to ours) had cut and created a wreath from it. Darling is allergic, so I can not bring it into the house, but I think it looked great on the door.

The small apples were bought in the store and I hope to add some red ribbon around it to cover up the string I used to tie it together.

It might not be perfect, but not to bad for a first try. (Especially not considering that my fingers were numb from the cold.)

Handwash

I found these good looking soap and hand lotion at a local cheap store for only 1,5€ each and bought them purely because of their packaging.

I suppose they are no luxury soap, but living as we do the real luxury brands would be a waste of money. Soft lather and sweet smell is great, but when your hands are litteraly black from dirt, you really don't care.

Still, they look very nice, don't they?

IKEA

While IKEA is and will probably always be my number one supplier when it comes to  anything interior-related, I must admit that they have been a bit disappointing lettely. It seems to me that these last three-or-something years they have lost their own style and not found a new one.

I remember loving their catalogues and dreaming about the white, clean rooms they presented. It felt truly like a scandinavian style, and I loved it. These last years, the trend in general seems to have  changed towards darker colors and a more unstyled decor but I feel that IKEA has failed to capture it. The last catalogue looked like they had taken pictures of anybodys home, and it didnt give any of that inspiration rush it used to.

I can't really see why, because there are several quite big trends out there that would go so great with IKEA's white/light/scandinavian style. Trends such as shabby chic, french vintage and new england would be so easy to incorporate along with their existing products and would give the feeling of IKEA as a leader in design with a clear vision.

I feel like they just gave up on leading, instead trying to do with whatever they had. Or maybe that's just me.

Anyway, all that beeing said - I did find some nice stuff at IKEA last week. I love these napkins and they will be just as great for a summer brunch as for a christmas dinner. The only sad thing is that there was also a fabric with the same star pattern (big grey stars on white background) that was amazing. Oddly enough, this was a seasonal thing and sold out quicker than ever. (Another thing that makes me feel that IKEA has lost something - how can they order a fabric like that and not order lots of it?)

I also found these sweet little bowls. They look more chips-and-a-cold-beer-on-the-deck than christmas to me, but either way I am sure I will use it.

Archive: White, baby, white!

Needless  to say - being one of those white-loving persons - we hardly moved in before we began to paint. The first weekend after our move, Darling went to a festival (that was planned long before we bought the house) and I invited my friend S and my mum over to help me paint.

It was almost 30 degrees C outside and the sun was shining, but we resisted the temptation and kept on painting - even if it meant that we had to dilute the paint with water because of the heat.

In retroperspective, I think we did quite a good job! (Although, as I am writing this two years later - I wish I hadn't rushed quite that much and been more careful around the power outlets.)

Before:

After:

The before pictures

What better way to start this blog than with some of the before-pictures? These were taken before we moved in and as you can see, the former owners had chosen a lot of wood panelling. I am acctually quite glad they did, because honestly, I think it scared a few potential buyers off.

(As to why they did it, I assume we all have different taste and different interests.)