trendey

Just a quick note as this year’s outdoor furniture & decor is slowly beginning to be launched. Alongside the nature theme, colour is the thing. And solar-powered lighting! Might be the balcony/outdoor item of the year. Even IKEA has a range, named SOLIG. In white, red and turqouise.

The Lively colourful balcony pots are high on the agenda this spring, with a choice of eight colours and a great feature: the selfwatering attachment.

As for seating, I’m looking out for the chair that will beat my design favourite, the top-trendy Forest chair from Italian Fast.

And of course, every outdoor space needs a (colourful) garden gnome.

| pic: living etc |

| photo: Pia Ulin |

Yesterday night, me and Mike planted some seeds. Some pre-cultivation is going on, in prep of the balcony season. Since we live in Swedish hardiness zone 2 (corresponding to approx. American zone 6) we need to be proactive. Seeds of Tobacco flower, Tomatoes, Basil, Wild Strawberries, Chili and Busy Lizzie are now set in fertile soil. We’ll see who makes it to June :) Beauty is under waaaaay. Let the sun shine in!

Manne the Clown has travelled all the way from PeachyChic in California, now found himself a happy corner @ Södermalm, Sweden. He has asked for a line of colourful pennants on the wall – and I’m right at it! Using this great DIY-tutorial. Ladies and gentlemen, a spring fresh and funny circus theme is under way…*drumroll*

| Irina Graewe |

Next item on the list of neglected rooms are bathrooms. I.e. said from a Swedish point of view. Tile and re-tile…! We do believe bathrooms must be sterile. Reason for this is unclear, but it certainly has its historical explanation. Yes, we are a timid bunch! Pic below, my dear readers, I appoint the typical Swedish bathroom. (more…)

I don’t have any kids. Yet! So I haven’t ever thought in terms of decorating children’s rooms. However, I have seen a lot of sloppy kids’ rooms. As if they did not agree to be furnish fine or *has* to be decorated in a completely different way than other rooms in a home. Of course, childrens’ rooms must be practical and tailored to games and other pursuits. But they can still be stylish! Three interesting examples, all including recent trends:

| pic: veranda.com |

| pic: real estate ad – Oscars |

| pic: livingetc |

…in the forest by the sea, I have this wallpaper, Vergel, by fashion designer Miriam Ocáriz.

| Via Sköna hem |

| pics: Living etc |

Aren’t chairs and stools the funniest decor pieces of them all?! I think so. In our kitchen we have a table by the window for fast breakfasting chews whilst watching the traffic on the bridge outside. To sit on, we got 2 IKEA Bosse stools. Bosse is small and handy, seat has a hole makes it easy to move. Here’s what I chose for personalizing our Bosse’s: the cool pale-blue hue havsbris (“sea-breeze”) and the warm light sand-yellowish hue strå (“straw”) from the Alcro Design Collection. Painted with a twist.

I’m not influenced by the Olympics and the roar popular hat, I promise..!! But I recognize the colours are hot these days (at least in my home country :)) There’s plenty of inspiration around, I got mine from images of browsing past. Think I fell for the light yellow colour on the cover of the book Cheap Chic (an excellent book btw) and various funny stool and chair ideas blogged, such as paint company Beckers’ inspirational photo via the blog Husligheter and Chair Personality Socks from Charles & Marie via High Fashion Home Blog. And not to mention the lovely Wood & Wool Stools. Imagination is the only limit when it comes to chairs and stools!

A sense of pearls from Mint, Malin Lundmark, Globen and Rosalie de Kruyf.

The Swedish official Olympics hat has made remarkable success. Swedes of all ages are now frantically crocheting a thick cap of blue, yellow, white and black. Crochet tips are highly demanded as hat spread like wildfire on a growing number of heads. The pattern of the hottest trend accessory right here right now comes from the yarn shop Trassel (link to crochet pattern).

|pic: video from svt.se/os |

I really like the thought of Swedes sitting in their sofas crocheting like mad right now. And as for olympics hats, I fancy the Swedish Olympics hat of ‘94 as well. Little did our athletes know their style would stand the times. Pernilla Wiberg in Norwegian Lillehammer:

| photos: Damian Russell |