PAINT YOUR WORLD!

It's Saturday, and I've got time to blog, yay! I realized when I had at look at a pdf from paint company Nordsjö that I've never blogged any stairs. So here goes:

I know, there's nothing special to these stairs, but combined with that incredibly happy red it suddenly becomes a sculpture.

This is a really discreet way of jazzing up the stairs - and cheap, since it's only a few steps! This would look so good with my Argentine tango shoes...


The next photos are from the same pdf. They're not stairs, but they're so happy that I needed to include them!

This is also a cheap way of sprucing up a panelled wall. You just have to do a few stripes for the room to change.

I want a summer house with a kitchen like this!

Aquas and turqouises are so great with reds and pinks!

Hmmm, actually - that broom reminds me that it's time to do some serious vacuuming around my (stairless) apartment. But before I do that, I just want to say a big thank you to Claudia over at The Paris Apartment, who included me in her reading list and said some really wonderful things! Pop over to visit her; there are several great blogs on her list and her blog is so glam...

SPRING DELIGHTS: INTERIOR DESIGNER KELLY MCGUILL

Oh dear, it's Thursday already and I haven't blogged anything since my Happy Monday post... I've been a bit busy; I'll tell you later why! Anyway, the first signs of spring is starting to show here in Norway. The light is slowly coming back, and I'm really looking forward to the first green buds. What better way to celebrate than posting some delightful photos from interior designer Kelly McGuill's web page?

(oh, to have a piano room like this one...)

Hope your weather is nice wherever you are in the world!

HAPPY MONDAY III - WORKSPACE INSPIRATION

Ok, Monday. I've got something happy today too: a workspace that would make anyone want to work...

Photo from Apartment Therapy via Ellmania.

Hope this can inspire you to spruce up your office!

Have a lovely day!

BLUE AND BROWN INTERIOR INSPIRATION

Do you get hangups on stuff? I do! My most recent one is on red and pinks, and I've also got a massive one on pale blue/robin's egg combined with red. But I also think that this colour is lovely with brown and beige - just look...

(photo Trine Thorsen)

I love this delicious inspiration board from Helles Interiørblogg/ Klikk.no. It inspired me to find these rooms:

House To Home

Shirley Browne Interiors

House Beautiful

If you like these colours, check out this post as well!

Have a great Saturday!

HEY OVER HERE!

I've been wondering a bit about Blogger's comments function lately. I've been having a lot of trouble publishing my comments on other blogs, and I'm wondering whether you're experiencing the same? Half of the times I hit "publish" the page just goes empty, the comment isn't published and I've lost what I wrote. It's very annoying!

I've just discovered that if I hit "refresh", the comment goes through.
I hope you haven't experienced any problems while posting comments on my blog! If you have, please send an email!

(photo found here)

I've been a bit busy this week, but I couldn't resist posting this photo from a hotel called Rough Luxe. It's situated in London, and the idea behind this hotel is that you can achieve a feeling of luxury from experiences, not through consumption.

I'm not quite sure about the peeling wallpaper, this sort of thing usually works better in pictures than in real life. But the room has got lots of natural light, and if there's some heating in the floor and lots of hot water to run a bath I think I would get a feeling of luxury after all!

And the "hey over here" painting is really cool! It should be possible to do at home, too.

What's your idea of luxury??

HAPPY MONDAY II

Hello guys, hope you had a great weekend and a nice Valentine's day! I've promised to try to post something extra happy each Monday, so I've been browsing Domino magazine's website for some really colourful pictures! The theme is contrasting colours, and I've added a low-budget tip for each of the photo.

Left: kid's room.

Low-budget inspiration: If you can't afford repainting an entire room, you can change the feel of the room from too sweet to pretty cool just by repainting one wall or even only part of a wall. Photo credit: Paul Costello.

Right: Flat inspired by a Roy Lichtenstein painting from the artist's "Interiors" series. The black "frames" are electrical tape!

Low-budget inspiration: scan or photocopy silhouettes from books or print out from the Internet. I'm not sure, but I think this is allowed as long as one doesn't sell the finished result. If you have Photoshop, you can even change the silhouettes' colour! Photo credit: Francois Dischinger.

Left: Low-budget inspiration: Paint just the nook or the shelf in a different colour. You can find really cheap bookshelves in second-hand shops! Photo credit: Justin Bernhaut.

Right: Low-budget inspiration: A painted headboard is a lot cheaper than a "real" one! Stencil from The Stencil Library. Photo credit: Paul Costello.

Low-budget inspiration for the two last photos: make pillows from second-hand clothes - for instance from the Salvation Army stores. You can also use your own clothes that you never used anyway!

Link to explore:

Roy Lichtenstein's "Interiors" exhibition at www.lichtensteinfoundation.org.

KATRIN CARGILL INTERIORS - A BLUE POST

As you probably have noticed from this blog's content, I'm not very much into blue. One of the reasons for this is probably that I overdosed on blue when I painted the kitchen in a previous apartment some 15 years ago!

But when I browsed the website of British interior designer, Katrin Cargill, I couldn't help falling for these photos. This variety of blue is said to become one of the trend colours of 2009. I'm not into trends either, I'm afraid it makes us buy-and-discard consumers, but I like this combination of blue/brown/cream!

The colours in the last photo actually remind me quite a lot of the blue kitchen. Wonder if this makes me a hyper-trend forecaster, and that I'm able to predict colour trends 15 years in advance?? Hmmm... probably not...

PS.


This was supposed to be a blue post, but I also found this photo, which I've blogged before in another context, on Katrin Cargill's website!

The photo is taken by photographer, Chris Everhard, and you can see the entire post I did here.

NORWEGIAN STYLISTS JANNICKE KRÅKVIK & ALESSANDRO D'ORAZIO

In October, I wrote about how Oslo based stylists/interior designers, Jannicke Kråkvik and Alessandro D'Orazio use secondhand stuff in their work. At the time, I didn't check for a website, but they do have one! It's time to go a bit easy on the colour today, so I've picked some examples of how it looks like when they use a natural palette:

These walls are so cool! I also like that they've added a few red details to the decor.

Look closely at the couch with the mismatched cushions! This is a really cool idea if you're decorating on a budget - it's easier to find small amounts of fabric on sale. And if you're building your own table: why not use the leftover materials for...

...a tiny table? The bedspread is brilliant also.


When I get rich (i.e. probably never) I want a home like the one below. What I like here is the rough structural concrete combined with the delicate colours and textures!

I know I said no colour... But I had to include this photo:

(last five photos: Trine Thorsen)

For more inspiring photos (with lots of colours as well), have a look at the portfolio on their website!

HAPPY MONDAY I : INTERIOR PHOTOGRAPHER GABY ZIMMERMANN

As you can see a few examples of here, I've become slightly obsessed with red combined with pink! I found the German photographer Gaby Zimmermann during one of my frequent Google searches, and some of her photos fit the bill perfectly:

Especially the last photo is simply unbelievably gorgeous...

I'm going to try to make a Happy Monday post every week - we need it, don't we?

RETRO LAMP REVAMP PROJECT

My project is finished, yay! It started with a woolen sweater I recently bought at the Salvation Army Store. I was going to use it for my living room décor because the colour was perfect, but I wasn't sure how - until I remembered this photo the other day:

(photo credit: ijm)

I then took a long, hard look at another of my Salvation Army Store finds:

This lamp worked perfectly fine until I started getting this craving for colour in my apartment, but it doesn't do anything for me now. But the shape is great! So I decided to revamp it instead of putting it away and buying a replacement.

Here's what I did:

1) cover the lamp base with yarn from the (now sadly demolished) sweater:

2) make a new shade from thin cardboard plus
3) draw, cut out and glue one my favourite words onto the shade:

Et voilà!

The retro lamp has got a new life! It sits on top of a shelf in my living room at the moment, waiting for the perfect placement as I complete my red-and-pink makeover.

And now I've started looking at the other lamps in the living room...

DIY ORIGAMI FLOWERS

Here's a sweet DIY project for the patient person: Lovely origami flowers! Why not make some for Valentine's day?

I love the way they remind me of spring!

I found this project here on Curbly. A couple of their other Valentine's day DIY projects can be found here and here.

Have a lovely Sunday!

RECYCLE WITH STYLE!

This supercool photo really makes me want to upgrade my recycling system!

From Living Etc's photo gallery.

50'S LAMP MAKEOVER

Do you remember this (blogged here)?

I'm making it into a DIY project for this weekend. Result coming up later!

Have you got any exciting plans?

JAMES MERRELL PORTFOLIO UPDATE!

Actually, today was going to be a day off from blogging. But when you read that James Merrell has added lots and lots of new photos to his portfolio, you just have to get a move on!

I think that all these are new. Some of his older photos seem to be gone - I blogged a few of them in a previous post, so if you're not content after visiting James Merrell 's website, you can have a peek here.

And don't miss out on Anne Sage's great blog The City Sage, where I found out about James Merrell's portfolio update!

FRANCESCA'S PAINTS - ECO FRIENDLY AND INSPIRING

Today's post is a bit long, as most of my posts... I've discovered Francesca's Paints Ltd; which is a leading producer of eco friendly paints in the UK. Their photo gallery contains some absolutely gorgeous pictures! These rooms are of course a bit high end, but I still find them really inspiring.

Casa Bruciata, Italy:

I think this is a great example of how to use leopard patterns with style!

Looks like the hands are done with chalk - great variation on the blackboard paint theme we've seen a lot of lately.

Residential property, Italy:

A real Diva Divan! If I owned this, I would stop working and just lounge...

Residential property, England:

This combination of yellow with blue and pink details makes me happy =)

Walnut Cottage, England:

I love robin's egg blue combined with red...

I also love the colours of the glasses on the middle shelf.

This paint is called "Arabella's Pumpkin" - such a lovely name! The tiny decoration on the wall to the left adds freshness.

This photo really makes me long for summer...

...and this surprise made me smile broadly! The bathtub is painted in "Pigi's Piggy Pink", and IKEA used to carry similar mats.

If you're considering repainting, check out the eco friendly alternatives!

Photos 4 - 10 are by Annabel Moeller.

TABLE STYLING AND A HOME OFFICE BY INTERIOR DESIGNER ERINN VALENCICH

Here are a few examples of interior designer, Erinn Valencich's work. I love the way these tables are styled - very simplistic!

Variations on a theme 1 - dressing table:

Simple modern with Asian accents:

Luxurious bedroom:

Green and pink make a summery hallway:

Coffee table with deco contrasts in shapes, style and pattern:

Variations on a theme 2: side table display.

What do you think of this home office? I love how the zebra pattern is echoed in the wallpaper!

This mirror and the couch's upholstery would work sooo great with my current living room décor...

Erinn Valencich's slogan is "Every home tells a story, what does yours say?" I think mine says something like this: "The person who lives here gets easily bored with her décor"!

All images are from HTGV's designer portfolio.

LIVING ROOM PREVIEW

My living room is starting to change into the new, fresh look I was talking about here. I've started looking for stuff that is either a bright red; a dark hot pink; or a pale pink.

I've only bought napkins and the decor sand for this project. The rest of the decor will be things I find in my drawers and closets. Plus I've been to the Salvation Army shop again and found a pièce de résistance that I'm going to share later...