Monday, February 28, 2011

An engagement gift

We are getting married this summer, and we got this lovely and very big linen cloth from my mother-in-law-to-be (now that's a long word). We already have a smaller one with the same pattern and I think the classic look of it makes it useful for everything. 


I have come to like linen better and better over the years. It can be used for so much, both in decoration and in clothing, and it only gets nicer the older and more worn it gets.
The only thing I fear is that I will be to careful with this one and only use it on special occassions. I don't think that is a good philosophy, because I think it is better to use things than save them for later, but it's hard with precious things. On the other hand - it really doesnt matter how fantastic it is if it will spend it's life stucked away in a cupboard.



But one thing is clear - it is so big that I will have to wait until we get a new dining table (which we desperately need). 

Sunday, February 27, 2011

A little space for sewing

This weekend I finally got around unpacking my little sewing machine. It was a birthday gift from my mum a couple of years ago and I am ashamed to say that it have been staying in the box it came in for way too long.

I eventually put it up in the guest room as I do not expect guests any time soon (and even so, it's not that hard to put it away), so that I do not have to take it away every time I finish.



I also unpacked all my fabric swatches, hoping that seeing them will give me inspiration and motivation to start sewing. I like buying fabric and I am usually way more motivated at the store than when I get home. 


The ones below are supposed to be curtains, but I no longer know where I want to put them, so maybe they'll just end up as something else. There are also several pieces that I mean to turn into throw pillows. I often buy old table cloths to turn into pillows, so there is quite a stack of it now.



Let's just hope I acctually get around to use this place.

Friday, February 25, 2011

The best find

I forgot to show the best find from my vintage hunt.


This bowl is from Rosendahl, a set of glass wares that I adore. I love the sleek lines of it and the price of 3€ was definitely enough to label it as one of  my best vintage finds so far.


When I looked up the link above, I noticed that the line is a lot cheaper in Denmark (nor suprisingly as they come from there) then they are here in Sweden. I think that next time anyone I know is visiting Denmark, I just might slip along a shopping list.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Living decoration

I have a cabinet/cupboard that have became one of my favorite furniture pieces since I painted it. I love the open shelves and the fact that I can display my favorite things without having them on my counter tops.

But the other day, it kind of re-decorated it self.




Maybe we should try another color? It might look better?


There really is nothing like a cat when it comes to home decor. In double meaning.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Vintage shopping

I went vintage shopping the other day.

We are getting married this summer and we plan to host the wedding ourselves, in our garden. I am hoping for sunshine, but I know we will have to prepare for rain just in case.

We found most of the china at IKEA, but for the glasses, the coffee cups and the dessert plates we wanted something more special and we decided to try to collect "vintage" or second hand china. I went on my first real search a couple of days back and was happy enough to find a lot of nice cups and saucers as well as many plates. It was harder to find glasses, especially wine glasses, but we still have several months to go.


Most of the china have roses or other flowers on them, and I think the final result will be gorgeous. I am so happy about this find!

Monday, February 21, 2011

Spring flowers

This weekend came with more sunny, but very cold, days. Even without the cold the snow is making it hard to walk anywhere because the roads are all slippery and uneven.

I have been adding flowers to the house to remind us that spring is indeed on it's way even if it is hard to believe at the moment. I love the color of these tulips when the sun is shining at them and I think they are at their prettiest when they are at this stage - not bulbs anymore but still a few days of beauty left..




Wednesday, February 16, 2011

A white basket

One of my favorite finds in the thrift store are baskets. I love when I find baskets that I can paint, because the white paint really transforms them from old to brand new.

Like this one that I bought for 4€.




Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Dreaming of summer on our indoor balcony

We have an indoor balcony in our house and these days, when the sun is shining but it is too cold to be outside, I love to sit there and read, or even have my lunch there in the sun and pretend it's already summer.

The sofa group is acctually made for outside, but it is not weather persistent and we have no other protected outdoor space than our sunroom (which is already full), so it ended up here as a temporary solution. I think it fits quite well, but I long for when I can put it under the apple trees again.






Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentines

Happy Valentines to you all. 

I be back tomorrow with new posts, today will be about choclate brownies, tea and lighted candles. 

I am not home in the house today, so I hid some gifts for hubby in his drawers. I like little gifts on valentines, but they should not be taken to seriously because then it only turns into preassure.

That said, back to my brownie.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Winter wonderland

Today was truly a winter wonderland with lots of snow, a blue sky and sunshine. 

So beautiful.

But I have to admit I cant wait until everything is green instead and those bushes will be full of yellow flowers.




I have to admit I was sceptic when we got the tractor, but it's been so useful this winter.

Friday, February 11, 2011

My little blue stool

This project is an old one (as you can see on the green grass in the first picture), but I thought it would be nice to share. I found a gorgeous looking blue stool  in an ad from one of the local furniture stores, and decided to do something similiar.

The below stool is something Darling has had for ages, but it's worn and torn and doesnt really fit in the house. I rescued it from the storage room and painted it blue, simply beeing more gentle on the brush on big parts so that it would get a more distressed look. The end result turned out better than expected and the blue adds a nice touch in our white house.





(I am linking this up to Miss Mustard Seed even though the post is a bit old, because I haven't shared it before and I am still very fond of it. If you arrived that way, please click here to get to the new posts. And welcome!)

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Bedroom makeover and how to build a four poster bed for 40€

 When we moved in our bedroom was only just that - a standard bedroom with quite boring wallpaper. The picture below is from the prospect, and all furniture belongs to the previous owners. 

I quickly painted the walls white and some months later we whitewashed the ceiling. This is what is has looked like for the last two years (with some minor changes every now and then).


I really did like it as it was, but lately the house has felt a little bit too white (it might have something to do with the fact that everything outside has been covered in snow for the last three months. Even if I love white there is a limit on how much of it I can take.). I wanted to make the bedroom more cozy.

This is what it looked like when I was done. Not bad, huh?

I originally planned to paint the wall dark grey because I thought I had several containers with that shade, but upon opening them I found out that they were all light grey. Indeed they were exactly the same shade as the hallway, even though that one is called grey and these ones were dark grey. Oh well... 

Off to the paint store I went and looked at the samples. Unlike some more profesional DIY-ers I hardly ever have the patience of bringin home paint swatches and trying differend shades. I'm definitely more for panting first and thinking later.

I chose between dark grey, dark navy and brown and in the end I decided on brown. I thought that would make the room more cozy, yet elegant.

Halway through it looked like this. It felt strange to use such a dark color because I usually only paint white or other light colors.

I was a bit nervous about what Darling would say when he got home, but after the first shock he like it. This is what it looked like then when I had also changed the fauteuil for a dark one and moved the (terrible) cow skin from the living room.


However, I was not done!

I have been dreaming of a four poster bed since forever, and I am really in love with the modern one that are basically just four posters, no drapes, nothing. I have been looking for one, but as our bed is 180cm, it is almost impossible to find a moderately priced one. IKEA has a nice one, but that one is only 140, which is not enough for two people and a couple of cats.

The next day I continued my make over with a trip to the lumber store. It always make me a bit nervous because the guys there are not really used to (fairly) young women buying lumber on their own. I also could not fit the original pieces into my car so I had to cut everything right there, but maybe that was just as well because that meant I did not have to do it at home.

This is my bed-to-be, for less than 40€.

I began putting the pieces together like this. Basically, what I had was four posters of 2,4 m (I simply decided that was good height), 4 pieces that were the length of the bed (one up on top and one down to keep it steady) and 4 pieces that were the width of the bed (same thing - two on top, two bottom). I later realized that the "bottom ones" were to high on this picture, because it meant we would sit on them when we got into bed and they could not take that pressure, so I moved them further down.

The mattresser are still standing on their own legs, the frame is simply built around them and does not support anything.

Next part was the beadframe. I chosed unpolished planks that are usually used outside the houses (but without any chemicals - of course), cut them the same width as the bed and nailed four of them together using these little metal brackets.

Then I put it up and fastened it with long screws (it will be agains the wall so it does not need that much support) and began painting the whole thing.

The finished result looked like this.

In daylight.

I am not a photographer, so the colors arent the best, but I am quite satisfied. The whole project took me maybe 1,5 days and cost less than 50€. That means I will not have to feel bad about it if I throw it out in a year, but before that I hope to add some curtains to the frames and turn it into something more romantic for the summer. Stay tuned for that.