house industries and uniqlo

As of lately I am always a step behind and I did not even realize one of the companies I have a crush on collaborated with Uniqlo and created a series of t-shirts with their numbers, lettering and patterns that arrived in the stores in August. Did I mention I was a step behind, after writing this it sounds more like two or three steps behind. Have I ever mentioned that I love fonts and symbols? Well I do and if I had found out about the collaboration with House Industries sooner I might have been able to pick up one of the tees with an ampersand on it, big fan of the yellow ampersand print and the striped arms. When I finally realized that the collaboration was out there the store was pretty much picked clean but I managed to grab the first tee in the collage below. There are still some designs left online in case you are in interested, they are on sale too. What are your company/store crushes you cannot get enough of?

houndstooth

Some of you might remember that I posted a picture on Instagram of me trying on a houndstooth coat at Zara back in August. Well, you gave me the final push to make the decision to splurge on it and I ran back to the store a couple of days later. I love houndstooth and apparently others do too, for instance the people at Ligne Rose, who celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Togo seating collection with a special edition upholstered in a houndstooth print fabric by Alcantarra. Do I have to mention that I want want want it? But it is not going to happen, we have two nice sofas and we won't change a thing about them. BUt a girl can dream, right? 

Have a happy weekend! Any fun plans? I have a friend flying in from Germany today and tomorrow our driveway will be poured. I still cannot believe this is finally happening...

1. coat 2. sofa 3. duvet cover 4. pillow 5. area rug

ikea dollhouse furniture

On Wednesday I browsed the new section on the IKEA website and one of the first things I saw was this set of tiny dollhouse furniture. So cute! I want it even though I don't need it. All items that are part of this set are from IKEA's regular sized furniture collection.

Happy Friday and hope you get to enjoy the long weekend! I will have to start clearing out the guest bedroom as it has become more of a storage room lately, in order to store some of the stuff away I will have to reorganize the basement. Sounds like fun...not! Do you have plans for the long weekend?

1. lack side table 2. klippan sofa 3. expedit shelf 

4. stockholm rug 5. pillow 6. ikea ps lounge chair

keep calm

The last two days I was busy oiling and finishing the dresser for our living room, so there will not be a real post today. Hope I will be back on track on Friday. I am trying to make Keep Calm and Get Things Done my motto for the rest of the year. It feels so good to cross things off the list, especially when they have been on the to-do list for so long like the dresser. It took me two years to finish it. Actually it is not fully finished yet, I still have to polish the hardware and we have to carry it to its final location in the living room. There will be a post about the whole process and the new set up in the living room soon. Happy hump day everyone!

cos - collection of style

After writing about one of my favorite Swedes on Friday I want to introduce you to another one of my favorite imports from Sweden: COS, short for Collection of Style. I do not really write about clothes and fashion on this blog but this does not mean I do not have any interest in fashion, but I do not consider myself very fashionable. Unfortunately COS has not crossed the pond yet but that is hopefully going to change, although no date has been set yet. COS is a brand owned by H&M and they promise high end design and good quality at affordable prices. I really like their simplistic and minimalistic style but sometimes you really need to try on their clothes because on the hanger it just looks like a sack. So far everything I own from them has been great quality and some items have lasted for years without looking worn or faded. Every time I visited my parents in the last years I had to make a trip to the COS store in Hamburg, my hometown, preferably after Christmas, when they start their sale. Talking about sale, they have a great one going on now and of course I could not resist. I ordered 1, 3, 5 & 6 plus another dress, as well as a black merino wool sweater with batwing sleeves. Unfortunately they had to delete dress 3 from my order because it was sold out. Since I had to sent my order to my parent's house I still have to wait until September to see my goodies, which is ok as it is too hot right now to wear most of the clothes I ordered anyways. My sister tried on all the clothes and she and my mom think everything will fit and I will be happy with it too. There is just one dress that I might have to sent back because of the fit and my mom has an eye on the batwing sweater, as it might be a little big on me. We shall see...

What is your favorite clothing store? And are you such a sucker for a good sale, like me, as well?

1. melange boat-neck top 2. textured pencil skirt 3. leather and wool dress 

4. panelled jersey dress 5. wool and silk shirt 6. sleeve detail top

waiting for the new ikea catalog

My mailbox is longing for the newest IKEA catalog to come out. The time is finally here and I am counting the days until I will hold it in my hands until then you can already check out the online version.  I do not know why I keep waiting for this day every year but it has been like this for quite a while, I even kept a lot of my catalogs over the years. Since 2007 I have kept all of them, not that I really have browsed through them in the past years but I always feel giddy flipping through the new catalog for the first time and I will immediately pick my favorite pieces and dream about redecorating the house. Of course I will not buy many items but a girl can dream, right? This year the walnut veneer pieces from the Stockholm 2013 (available in the US in August) collection really speak to me or the yellow nightstand, you all know that I cannot resist yellow. And what about the green velvet sofa? It looks comfortable and might age well. Are you waiting with me for the new catalog to come out? 

Enjoy your weekend! Stay cool!

beat the heat

Phew, this week was all about beating the heat. As I mentioned on Tuesday the A/C in my office broke on Monday and we have been working without A/C or decent ventilation. In the morning I was fine but by mid afternoon my brain would strike, I have the feeling that the heat and the lack of oxygen makes me dumb. Of course my feet would swell and by the end of the day I was left with beautiful cancles. But I am not a complainer so I kept dreaming about all things that could keep me cool on a hot summer day. Who wouldn't like a kiddie pool under their office desk to stick your feet in? Squirt gun fight in the office? Sign me up. Usually those long infomercials on TV bore me and I never want to buy the product, not so with the chillow. I want one!

During the summer months I love to end my days with a glass of refreshing Summer Shandy or Radler, or as the people from my hometown would call it a glass of Alster(wasser), which translates into Alster water. The Alster is a river in Hamburg and it is believed that people think the mixture between beer and lemon soda/lemonade looks like the water of the river. Not true because then nobody would drink it, at least I wouldn't. In order to mix your own Radler just fill about half a glass with your soda or lemonade of choice, my favorite is 7up and fill the rest with your beer of choice, I prefer lager. If you want to forgo the alcohol it also tastes great with non alcoholic beer. Cheers!

Have a great weekend and stay cool my friends!

1. umbrella with spf 2. chillow 3. kiddie pool 4. squirt guns 

5. reusable ice cubes 6. summer shandy

spammer's mash-up

I was just deleting spam comments from this blog and I am always amazed at how funny or weird some can be. Here are the best or the worst of my recent spam comments, however you might look at it...

Thank you so much! But why did you have to link back to a wart, mole and skintag removal site?

Who are you calling brain dead mister? Here is nobody who's brain dead but you for thinking I might click on the link of your obscure website.

Hmmm, what are you talking about? The post was about a table I found at an estate sale. I'll see maybe I can find the battery hiding inside it if I look more closely...

Uh huh and how do I get rich exactly? I guess I'll have to click over to your site...

Can you please explain this for people like me, who are not native speakers of the English language? I have no idea what you are talking about. One quick tip for future comments Andrew Shue and Elisabeth Shue are not only buddies they are actually brother and sister.

Happy hump day my lovelies! Do you get weird spam comments like this as well?

birdfeeder part II

Today's post has been sitting in the draft folder for a while but I am glad I realized I had something started I could use for today's post already. It has been so cold this week that I am suffering from acute brain freeze and having not prepped any posts last weekend did not help either...

Because the first DIY birdfeeder I made in October was such a success with the birds I made another one with a lamp shade I picked up at an estate sale a while back. I still have another glass globe lamp shade that I want to use for another still top secret project. For all the DIY challenged I have rounded up a selection of my favorite non traditional bird feeders you can just order online without getting messy with silicone and a string. Do you have a bird feeder in your garden? 

Have a great weekend and stay warm!

1. egg bird feeder - j schatz 2. bird feeder - eva solo 3. bird table - eva solo 

4. bird feeder - perch 5. bird feeder - utopia 6. 21l - architectural pottery 

7. city birdfeeder - jayson home 8. nido bird feeder - blomus 

9. city dweller bird feeder - chiasso

10. flight bird feeder - chapelwood 11. mobile bird feeder - j schatz

liebster award

During this month I had the honor to be nominated for the Liebster Blog Award, not just once but twice. It's not so much an award that you can show off to your friends, instead it is a great way to connect with fellow bloggers and also to discover new blogs.

In order to qualify for the Liebster Blog Award, I have to: 

- answer the 11 questions asked of me
- post 11 random things about myself
- nominate 11 more up and coming bloggers with less than 200 followers 
  (not  always easy to tell the number of followers)
- notify them and link them to my post
- create 11 new questions for these bloggers to answer
- tag backs are not allowed

First I want to answer Alex's questions from the blog Around Minetta who already nominated me in the beginning of November. 

1. What's your favorite cocktail? 

The St-Germain Cocktail (Champagne, St. Germain & Club Soda) or Gin Fizz

2. Three words that define you? 

Optimistic pessimist, dreamer

3. Job of your dreams? 

Having my own furniture/accessories store where I sell goodies I find during my world travels

4. The 3 songs most played in your ipod?

Somebody that I used to know – Gotye

Debaser – Pixies

Next Year – Foo Fighters

5. Favorite celebration of the year?

Christmas

6. Best tv show ever?

The Muppet Show

7. Best place for living?

Our house or wherever P is living

8. Dream destination for travel?

Peru – hiking Machu Picchu, as well as exploring more if the country

9. What's the last movie you've watched in theater?

Premium Rush

10. Do you buy books or take them from the library?

I buy but I have the application form for getting a library card at home.

11. Why did you started to blog?

To document making our house our home

Next up are Tina's questions, who blogs at Tina & Design. She also nominated me two weeks ago. (Man I am slow...)

1.Why did you choose the shoes you are wearing?

They are comfortable, which holds true for most of my shoes…

2.What is your favourite colour?

Orange and Gray

3.What sunny destination do you like best?

Hawaii (Kauai)

4.If you could rethink your career path would you have chosen differently?

I think I would only tweak some minor issues but still choose the same field

5.If you were to eat out tonight what kind of food would you choose?

Pasta, I can eat pasta every day

6.Would you rather swim or run?

Swim! Because I hate to run. Could never pick up jogging as a sport.

7.Do you prefer country music or rock n roll?

Rock’n Roll, Baby!

8.Do you have kids?

No (not yet?)

9.How would your best friend describe you in one sentence?

A good listener

10.Where were you born?

Hamburg, Germany

11.Are you a party animal or party vegetable?

I am a little bit of both, depending on the mood. 

11 random facts about me
1. I love licorice
2. I am (almost) always cold
3. I love to read 
4. Although I am an early riser, I am not a (happy) morning person
5. I am not wearing a watch, when years ago I could not function without one
6. I am bad with names but good with remembering faces
7. I have quite a boot collection at home
8. I like to ride my bike
9. I am scared in the dark
10. I love lists, especially crossing things off of them
11. I am allergic to apples and peaches

Now my 11 nominees

All were taking the BYW Boot Camp class with me. Not sure how many readers they have because sometimes it is not that obvious. In one case I know that the writer of the blog has more than 200 followers but I nominated her anyways. Always the rebel ;) I think everybody deserves some love!

Dwelling in Style
Feather and Nest 
Musings of a pale girl in the Sunshine State
Fluxi on Tour 
It's so Suburban
Raincoast Cottage
Chuzai Living
Jennifer Eastman
Insta Design 
Girly Obsessions
Swish and Swoon 

Here are my 11 questions. Don't feel obligated to participate but of course I would love to see you spread the love as well...

1. What is your favorite time of day?
2. Sunshine or rain?
3. What was the last thing you ate today?
4. Pet peeve?
5. Cat or dog?
6. What is your favorite season?
7. Where did your last vacation take you?
8. What book could you read over and over?
9. What languages do you speak?
10. Favorite band/singer?
11. Why did you start blogging?

PS. This post will be nominated for the longest blog post ever on my blog ;)

we are ok!

We are safe and sound but we lost power during the storm. Visiting a friend who has power right now, recharging phone and laptop batteries and wanted to give you a quick update..

Yesterday we walked around our area to assess the damage and witnessed this rescue effort. A woman and her two dogs that got trapped in her apartment were able to get out with the help of this contraption. Good to see people looking out for each other! 

Talk to you soon! xx

getting in shape

Last week on Monday my blogging your way boot camp course started full force and of course I am already lagging behind but that is ok because it does not affect my motivation. The class is taught by Holly Becker from Decorate and she also enlisted the help of two guest teachers, Nicole Balch from Making it Lovely and Jeanette Lunde from By Fryd.  

I did sign up on a whim just shortly before the class started because somewhere along the way I felt lost on what direction my blog should take or if I should just stop writing all together but honestly I enjoy writing this little blog. I hope with your help and the help of Holly, Nicole and Jeanette I will get my mojo back and finally implement the changes I wanted for my blog for a while. I definitely need a push in the right direction. For reasons unknown sometimes I thrive under pressure and now the pressure is on! Hope that my other reaction to pressure does not make an appearance because it is complete paralysis. Not that I don't have enough on my plate already with my upholstery class, planning of a bathroom remodel and life in general. Please bear with me during the "construction" phase. Looking forward to all the changes to come!

What keeps you going when you feel uninspired or just plain lazy?
 

Me sitting at my desk will be something that P will definitely see more often this month but right now it does not look as neat as in the photo, there is paper scattered everywhere...

happy weekend

I though I had a post scheduled for today but I had to find out I didn't. So I thought I would show you what I did in my upholstery class last night but unfortunately all the photos I took came out blurry. I had decided to work on the Saarinen chair I found on the street a couple of weeks ago and started to take it apart. Should have done that sooner because it must have stood out in the rain and assembled it couldn't dry properly. The chair smells a little bit like wet and mildewy basement but I am sure once the foam is off and I gave the frame a good scrub with a bleach solution it will be fine. Of course I will show some progress shots soon...

I will be back with hopefully lots of photos from this years Open House New York next week!

Happy weekend everyone!

painting lounge

Last month a friend of mine asked me to go to Painting Lounge with her. They offer different paintings each night and you basically you do a paint by numbers, without the numbers ;), for grown ups. To make it more fun you can bring your own beer or wine, liquid encouragement if you will. We thought we would be chatting throughout the class but ended up working in quiet concentration on our paintings. It was so much fun and I can't believe I was able to pull off a van Gogh in two and a half hours.

Happy hump day!

kitten update

I have not been feeling well the last couple of days so I didn't finish my Yayoi Kusama post but instead leave you with some kitten photos. Unfortunately the cat family moved out of our backyard. I fed them Monday morning and in the evening when I got home after work they were all gone. Wednesday night just as I was about to fall asleep I heard a kitten desperately crying for her mother and sure enough I saw a black kitten run around our house. I guess he was checking all familiar places for his family. We went outside to try and catch him but to no avail. Try to catch a black cat in the dark. Hope he was able to find them...I am so sad that they left us, I was already getting used to the company and saw myself as a future cat mama. Maybe they will come back...

Have a great weekend everybody!

cuteness alert

For the lack of finishing a post I will post some cute kittens instead. A stray cat had a litter of five in our neighbors backyard but they like to hang out in ours as well. The little black and white guy is super curious and last night I caught him on our deck. Maybe he wants to move in with us? P promised when we moved to our area, which has a lot of strays, that if I can catch one I can keep it. This little guy is asking for it ;)

Are you cat people or dog people? Or are you like me and like both?

 

experiment & my first guest post

How cool is that experiment? I would have been one of the people who would have picked up one of the chairs if I had found one...

You're probably wondering why I am posting on a Tuesday but I had to let you know that today my very first guest post is up on like/want/need where I'm sharing one of my greatest vacations with you. Erin is on her way back home after traveling through Europe for the past week and let a bunch of guest bloggers take over her blog to share their vacation stories. I have to admit it's kind of scary writing for somebody else. I had a big case of writer's block and turned in my post in at the last minute.

vacation

Last Friday I snug away for a little vacation in Florida. I did not bring my laptop and I didn't even check my emails on my phone, in fact my phone was off most of the time. It was all about recharging and relaxing. And that we did. Now I have to catch up on all my emails, favorite blogs and the comments you left during my absence...

Have a great weekend!

keep calm

poster KeepCalmShop via etsy

This was my mantra for the last couple of days. Thursday night while working on new blog posts my computer got infected with a virus. It's not working at all, can't open any files or programs so after an initial panic reaction I turned it off and called a friend for help. Unfortunately he is away for the weekend but he'll try to fix it tomorrow. If that doesn't work I luckily backed up everything last week so lost data would be minimal. In the meantime I resurrected my old laptop and can't believe how sloooow it is...

Yesterday my husband went grocery shopping and I asked him to bring home some tea for me. He got this one because he thought I might enjoy the retro packaging and I do!

advent 4th

Today we tried out our new Muuto Gloria Candleholder that I bought at the Design Within Reach Outlet in Secaucus yesterday.

We drove there to look for a new chair for P's desk because now that my work space is almost finished we can work on setting his space up. He found one and was already standing in line at the cash register when I took another look through the store and then I saw the candle holder. I had to have it! Already had spotted it in magazines and on blogs but thought the $99 price tag was a little too steep for my taste. The one at the DWR Outlet had just been marked down to $40 the day before and with an extra 20% off on everything in the store that day it was mine for only 32 bucks. Yay! :)