Trendey has been awfully quiet lately..!  I’m busy saving the world, and if not Henen decides on a sudden comeback, this slow is how it’ll stay a couple more months. To spice up the place a little, here’s some views from my favourite room. Firstly, note that I put my grey skirt on the Ge’-lamp. Made it much nicer…Though I miss wearing my soft skirt. And that’s Grandpa’s well-used stool.
I finally found some gorgeous old birch-bark lamps at a flea market up in the north. Put 2 on the cupboard.

And below you can view our son Cliff (born in 1965 at A.D. Sutton & Sons factory) and also another birch barch lamp; this one is mismatched with a wooden ball lamp stand I painted the same colour as the wall.
The sunny & warm colour scheme makes me happy. What I cherish most is our kilims, they make the room so inviting and homey. I’m a sucker for rugs, the more of them, the better.

One of my favourite DIY departments is lamps & lighting [check out our DIY sub-category named Creative lamps]. The coolest lamps consist of various stuff put together (be it bottles, odd china or well, anything), handicrafted lamp shades (knit wool, braided birch bark, etc) or just some old thing made into a lamp (like a hat – think Jeeves & Wooster). Or a lamp shade hat put on a porcelain dog (- think Abigail Ahern’s lighting collection). Or perhaps a reclaimed neon sign. In this field of decor (as any), only creativity’s the limit.

And, most importantly: you can Do It Yourself! It’s one of the greatest way to create something unique because lighting can hardly ever look ugly or wrong. Especially not if you’ve put your soul in it. Few people have too many lighting sources in a room, problem is usually the opposite. Best of all, there’s plenty of inspiration around. Personally, I still love the idea of painting a globe, I think my wor(l)d would be o y s t e r :) And just take a second look at Henen’s DIY:ed hallway lamp: Purely made of branch, tape, paint and a good dose of creativity (there’s also a white smurf hidden among the twigs (!)). And it certainly casts both personality and amazing shadows at night. Interestingly, many of the brand new lamps in the market are upcycled, hodge-podgy and/or homespun. Definitely DIY-friendly.

Good examples: A creation of vintage rulers  /

a bunch of old lampshades (similiar cluster spotted at the AW 2011 Formex fair)…

And lastly, a slightly odd (but simple) one – to light up the kitchen of course – a colander.

| sources: 1, 2 & 3, 4 |

Welcome to my place! And where better to start off a housetour than in the hallway? My favourite items here are the quirky clown bust and the vintage-find mirror.

Another view. I really enjoy the colour infusion from the purple wood floor (painted in Farrow and Ball’s “Pelt”) and the roughness of the diy branch chandelier – which casts great shadows in the nighttime.  Still a lot of unfulfilled decoration potential and empty walls around, but slowly and surely I aim to fill them up!

Finally, a glimpse below of the living room… The glam flowers in the Chinese urn are from my husband on our wedding anniversary last week – regrettably not a permanent fixture in this room! :) That’s it for now, but the housetour will continue shortly. Next up, dining room and kitchen!

| photos by mia @ trendey |

This weekend we visited our overcrowded store room in the attic (how come storing rooms always so quickly turn into a mess?) on a mission to find stowed away Christmas decor. We found an old electric candlestick lamp in oak. Boooring. But look -  a left-over paint sample (powder white) and some plastic lingonberries later:

Can’t light it until Sunday though. Those are the rules.

An excellent n’ easy DIY example! And I am not primarily thinking of the gorgeously granny-esqish lace-pimped speaker – or the lovely wall colour -  but the rice lamp with flowers. Just take a cheap boring rice lamp, glue and anything you fancy. Go slaughter a bunch of old plastic flowers (like in this case) or some beautiful gift wrap you saved, or this that and even those, yes!….and tada! Your own design is the very best design.

| via underbaraclara |

I just love the circus-theme. It makes me happy. Here’s my latest DIY-trick. Take some vintage lamp foots add some coloured bulbs. Tada! A retro classic from the 80s. With a twist.