COLOURFUL ART BY CATHERINE NOLIN

Today, I'm featuring some really colourful interiors. Catherine Nolin is a self-taught artist who paints room portraits in a delightful, naïve style. Her paintings are also available as prints in her Etsy shop.

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I love how she's made a wordplay from Picasso's name in this cat themed print! There are almost always pieces of art in Catherine's pictures; I'm sure you'll recognise a couple of very famous paintings on the walls in the interiors below.

As a piano teacher, I'd very much like a studio like this one:

STOPPING BY

This summer, I won't get to see much of my apartment... I'm just passing by after having spent some time with BF; in a few days I'll be going back to my mom's. It was nice coming home to my apartment - I added a few touches of *aqua* and *lime* in my main room just before I left, so it felt very cheerful and summery to return to.

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As you can see, I just bought napkins and tea candles. The cup and plate are a gift from one of my piano students.

I've considered adding a bit of purple, but decided against it - except from the tea box.

(I can't decide where to put my pencils)

You can see more from my main room if you click here.

BUTTERFLIES AND BIRDS

As I suspected, the crayons I bought at the local shopping mall were not very good. But I did a bit of messing around with them anyway. As a kid, I loved drawing, but I stopped when I grew up. I'm thinking it's about time to start again! When it comes to anatomy and perspective, I haven't got a clue, but I use my fantasy to create make-believe versions of things I love, like birds...

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I start with an idea, but I always end up with something that looks different from what I initially had in mind. It's very interesting to see what comes out!


I also did a bit of cutting and glueing to make a paper butterfly collection. It's a lot more humane than real butterfly collections, I think! I got the idea from my Lucas Allen post (click link and check out the last photo).

Mine look different though:

From the photo on the left above, you can see that I drew shadows behind the butterflies. But I don't think this is necessary -

- the real shadows created by the butterflies are so much softer and add more depth.

PRETTY SUMMERY

This photo is perfect DIY inspiration if you've got an old side table or tray table that needs a little sprucing up.

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Maybe you've got a lamp or a coat rack that could do with a lick of paint as well?

Photo from Northern Ireland Homes and Lifestyle via iSubscribe.

Ps. I've done some extensive posting the last couple of days, so if you arrived directly on this post and think you may have missed something, check out July's archive here!

JUST FRUIT

I'm not turning this into a foodie or photo blog, but sometimes I like sharing what I see around me.

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I've never seen such large clusters of cherries before. There are ten on this one -

Photos by me.

THE WHITE BOOK - ESSENTIAL INTERIORS

I just discovered this Irish interior book series. They've got a few stunning photos available online on their website www.thewhitebook.ie

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Another style altogether, but still beautiful:

A PRETTY BEDROOM

I'm doing at least three posts today. This one is just because the picture is so pretty.

From Homes & Gardens via iSubscribe.

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DARK NATURALS ON WHITE

Here's some stylish dark wood combined with white!

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Photos 1,3,4 from Northern Ireland Homes and Lifestyle via iSubscribe.
Photo 2 from The White Book - Essential Interiors 2009 via iSubscribe.

ENCHANTED FOREST

Hope you're having a lovely, enchanted Sunday...

Photos from Jab Anstoetz, which I found through a French magazine/book called Les plus beaux Intérieurs. Both the magazine and the site are a bit high-end... but the pictures are so lovely! How about grabbing some inspiration to make a chandelier?

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RETROUVIUS

Retrouvius is an architectural salvage and design company based in London. Partners Adam Hills and Maria Speake's motto is "bridging the gap between destruction and construction". They're doing it quite well, I think!

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I think these images inspire us to try to use more salvaged materials when we build or renovate. More photos at retrouvius.com.

HAPPINESS IN LITTLE THINGS: COLOURFUL CRAYONS

Yes, I know - I did a Happiness in Little Things post only yesterday. But I just bought new crayons, and they're so colourful and lovely that I had to post a couple of pictures!

I picked these crayons up at the local mall where I'm staying, so they're not artist quality, but they'll do for what I want to do during the holidays: just mess around a bit.

And they're making me happy just by sitting on my desk!

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Photos by me

FABRICADABRA

A little bird whispered into my ear about a company called Fabricadabra...

The bird told me that this company makes pillows that are organic and fairtrade.

Seems like a company with a heart!

I'm very fond of birds, and embroidery is en vogue at the moment, so I had to show you these:

- but you'll find pillows in all kinds of styles, colours and materials here.

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HAPPINESS IN LITTLE THINGS: CHERRIES IN A MATCHING DISH

A little vignette from my BF's rental apartment abroad, where I am now.

I love rooting around in the cupboards when I'm in new places, seeing what other people own.

The dish is a bit chipped. It's probably a cast-off from the apartment owners, but it goes perfectly with the cherries...

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Photos by me.

THE SOUND OF SILENCE - DECORATING WITH SOUND

When we bloggers talk about interior design, we naturally focus a lot on the visual aspects. We write about trends, styles, colours, shapes and textures. I've read a few posts about how we're affected by colours, but so far, I've never seen a similar blog post about sound! So I've put down a bit of what I know about this subject, as sound is such a big part of our daily lives.

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The beginning of our life

Many parents put a lot of effort into creating a quiet environment for their newborn baby. Many children can sleep through ridiculous amounts of noise, but it still seems like we want to provide quietness for our babies.


How our brain tackles sound

Before you read on, I'd like you to do a little exercise:

Close your eyes and listen carefully. What do you really hear? How many of the sounds that surround you at the moment were you actually conscious about?


One of the assignments of the unconscious part of our brain is to filter the information we get from our environment through our five senses. Most of this information is actually deemed unimportant by our unconsciousness and doesn't even reach our conscious mind. The filtering process takes some capacity and energy, which is why we might become tired when there's a lot going on around us.

How well our filters work will vary a lot from one person to the next. For instance, people with ADHD struggle a lot with concentrating because far too much irrelevant information is let through the filter.


The impact of music




Music affects us in so many ways that it's impossible to include everything in one blog post. The most important thing to keep in mind is that the impact music has on us goes much, much deeper than "just a mere question of taste".

Different soundwaves affect us physically. Research shows that animals and plants also might be influenced by these sound waves, even if they don't have the cultural tools to understand the language of music.




Different music styles affect us culturally, socially and psychologically and is often connected with strong feelings, both positive and negative - which is why we disagree so much about it!


How should we use music at home?

And what about all the other sounds?


Sound is the kind of information that is difficult to handle because we can't protect ourselves very well against it physically since we can't close our ears! So sound will put extra demands on our "impression filter".

The living room



This is usually the place where we put the TV and hi-fi equipment.

The question is: does it disturb as much as it delights because it forces some family members to use their impression filter when they try to concentrate on other things?

Many of us can't afford the luxury of a tv room, so if there's more than one person in the household, maybe you could invest in headphones.


Eating and entertaining

Do you watch TV when eating? How does this affect the experience of eating, how the food looks and tastes?

I've learnt that music is important to create the right ambience for a party, which undoubtedly is correct - you can use it to lift or calm the atmosphere. But do some of the guests actually become more tired and unfocused because they want to concentrate on the conversation, but have to use energy to filter out the music?


Work



Lots of people listen to music on their iPods when they work because they feel that this makes them more efficient - but they also use music to block out noise from their co-workers. In other words: we use sound to block out sound, which I actually find a bit ironic.

Children's workspaces

Extensive studies from USA and several Eurpoean countries show that children who are exposed to chronic noise - aeroplane noise in particular - have reduced reading skills and are less motivated to solve assignments. Their memory is also affected. This may seem like an extreme example, but it shows what sound can do to us.

There is also new research that indicates that music influences the way we learn, so your kid's school work might be affected by what she listens to when doing her homework.


Household machines

These are a blessing, but we all feel a slight relief when they're finished, don't we?

Washing machines and dryers are noisy, but you probably can leave the room when they run...

...even though not all of us are lucky enough to have a laundry room.

For instance, I've got my washing machine and dryer in the bathroom, and I try to avoid running them when I'm having my shower. Bathroom time should be relaxation time!

Relaxation is also a key word for the bedroom.

In Norway, it's quite rare to have a TV in the bedroom. Do you have one? And if so, how do you couples agree on what to watch and when to turn it off?

In general, it seems that it's very common to have TVs or radios in several rooms at home and to use iPods. Together with household machines, sounds from the neighbours and traffic noise from the street, it seems like we're under constant influence from all kinds of sound.

I'd really like to hear your opinions on this subject!

How do you use sound? Have you thought about how you want to use it - or not use it - to your benefit? How do you handle the sounds that you can't choose to turn off? Do all persons in the household agree on the subject, or does it generate disagreement? Do you use music to get in a particular mood, for company, to relax, to get energy, to block unwanted noise, to concentrate, to avoid silence?


Do you have the privilege of freedom to choose silence over sound at home?


Links to the photos:

nursery
sustainable wood radio
dog
living rooms
dining room
red kitchen
pale blue kitchen
laundry room 1
laundry room 2
workspaces
child's room
bathrooms
bedrooms

A QUESTION OF COLOUR

Hi guys, I was wondering whether you could help me out a bit? As you know, English is not my first language, so I'm a bit confused about a couple of colour names.

Which one of the below colours would you define as violet, lilac, and purple?


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I did a search on Wikipedia and got these results:

Violet
Lilac
Purple

- which sort of confused me even more because there were so many colour samples for each colour.

There's also a page with shades of violet...

In Norwegian, we've got two words; fiolett (violet)- which I use for the darker shades of blueish red, and lilla (lilac), which I use for pale violet. This is what Wikipedia says about violet and lilac, too. As for purple, Wikipedia basically says that in the English language, this word is used for any blueish red.

I'm curious - how do you use these words?