trendey

Itty-bitty boho slash folklore inspiration for you this Friday. A sweet mix I think! To the left, a photo by Ditte Isager and to the right, the beautiful Mamma Maria lamp from Lekfull Design and some lovely vintage signs from Three Potato Four.

….from the book True Scandinavian – Contemporary Living with photos by Pia Ulin. Also mentioned a while back; a particularly well-caught illustration of Swedish style. The pic above is one of my favourites, it has such a homely atmosphere and a smooth grannyesque vibe in a Scandinavian setting. Equally Scandinavian is the pic below, from Sköna Hem. A cooler, fresher, an all in all – whiter -  version…

Gorgeous and trendy, black walls provide a dramatic backdrop for light coloured furniture, art work or accessories. I particularly like the sharp contrast between black, or really dark grey, and white and/or gold. It really makes the objects pop out!

The above photos come from Apartment Therapy, Living Etc and Marie Claire Maison, The last bedroom pic, which is a favourite of mine featured before in Go French in the bedroom, also comes from Living etc.

…is what Ben Brougham calles his style. With the reservation ”I’m still not sure if that exactly defines it”. Whatever the definition – it surely is difficult to label personal style – this is an interesting style! As featured in the superb e-magazine Lonny. Seeing that Mr Brougham also contributed with some interesting comments and advice we pick up this track with some hightlights.

The wall in this room is painted in Benjamin Moore’s Surf Blue. This strong teal colour could have been overwhelming, but the collection of pictures and heirlooms break up the colour and prevents that. A very clever – and inspirational – move is that he left the opposite wall white and hanged some mid-century vintage mirrors (collected from car-boot sales) on it. This makes the mirrors pick up the teal and the collection from the wall opposite.

As for collections, Ben’s advice is to only collect things you love. Base a collection on a common theme – this can be anything from colour to material to subject matter. Play with scale; group objects of varying size and scale. His choice collections includes e.g. portraiture: old pictures of people, old family objects, and he also has a passion for vintage photographs of sailors.

Full story of An Eclectic Collection can be read here, at Lonny mag. To close this, let’s hear Ben Brougham’s advice on mixing patterns: be brave. People worry about things matching too much, but design never advances if it’s not pushed. This is entirely consistent with my decor philosophy. Don’t worry, push it if you are a push-it-person, and always surround yourself with things you love and feel at home and happy with. And of course this last inspirational advice:

In his new book Let’s Decorate, the intrepid British interior designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen sets out his recommendations for how to best go about being your own interior designer. The place to start when designing a room, he advises, is with a cold glass of Chardonnay. This – my favourite tip in the book! – is intended to illustrate that it’s important that you are as relaxed and unconstrained as possible as you start to build up a mental picture of what your dream room might look like (if you’re a teetotaler, I’m sure it works equally well with a cup of tea and a sit-down!). Said and done, halfway through a glass of wine (in my case Merlot), the decision was made! As the first project of our new house - the main bedroom – already looks rather Swedish (pine floor, pine windows, pine most things), we decided to go for a modern Scandinavian look (think pale wood floors, grey, white, bright and uncluttered).

So, on to the second step as advised by Laurence – seek inspiration pictures and visualise colours and type of furniture. I was surprised to discover that the photos that best seemed to contain my image of a modern Scandinavian look did not come from Sweden, or even Scandinavia, but from Australia! More precisely from an alpine retreat called “Fjall” in Falls Creek, an Australian ski resort.

I would like to inject a few more bold colours somewhere, go easy on the wood on the walls and add some more quirky touches, but overall here’s some excellent inspiration pics on Scandinavian style courtesy of Australian Fjall! Go figure!

Every now and then, I slip into the subject ‘Prevailing trends in styling and decor in Stockholm’. I find it interesting and therefore we certainly have *quite a few* mentions of “Stockholm-White” and entries on this city’s homogen real estate ads here at Trendey. Then again, we are 50 % Stockholm-based.

A very welcome feature in the Stockholm home style department is Fantastic Frank – a new real estate agent. Fantastic Frank deals with homes with character, in a new way. Fantastic Frank looks at the character of the home or house in question, and takes that as a starting point. Only then you can see who will stay there next. Therefore, their aim in managing property sales is to reach the few who loves the place, rather than to reach the very many who likes it.

Fantastic Frank works with renowned fashion photographer Anders Lindén and stylists in their concept and offers the seller six different themed packages to choose from (i.e. including styling, brochures, ads, etc). Emma’s design blog featured one of these themes the other day, Fantastic Frank’s first object on the market which was Wallstreet – themed: quiet, elitist and designed. Another theme or interior design profile is Scandinavia; below is a few photos from the very first apartment for sale within this theme.

I love the carrots and the dala horse! Other themes are the Newyorkish and sleek The Loft, the traditional and academic Boston, the classic noble Gustaf - think period features and herringbone parquet – and lastly the creative and warm Boheme. Oh, and did I mention Fantastic Frank also has a blog.

Now why is Frank Fantastic? I think these (freely translated) words from Founder and Creative Director Tomas Backman says it all:

I have always admired my grandparents for their careful concerns of their homes. A curtain change to cooling white for the summer, or bright red for Christmas changed the mood of the whole apartment and made the home change character several times a year. A home is more than the size and space between the apartment walls. Our minds are more affected by the light and colours, the sounds and structures, than of a design chair.

We feel good when we are inspired, when we know that there is a purpose with what we surround ourselves with. Once a home has character we can have a relationship to it.

I’m drawn to the lush atmosphere in these rooms. Urban yet green and fertile. The granny vibe and those unexpected branches in the lamp are crucial elements: It’s fresh and botanical, and at the same time urban eclectic. The bathroom below in particular, has such a snug healthy feel it makes me want to jump right into that tub and stay for days.

[ pics from Russian Seasons No 65 2010 ]

Finally, after nearly ten years in a smallish two-bedroomed flat and one looong year of very active house-hunting in London, my husband and I have had an offer accepted on a new place, yay!! We’re so excited!! =) =) =) We’ll be getting some more space and a small garden at last!  As the deal is not 100 per cent final until the contracts are signed and the fat lady sings, I’m not sharing any pictures yet for fear of jinxing it, but in CELEBRATION please join me in drooling over three truly inspirational London homes which feature the best of London style – oodles of creativity, fearless individualism and plenty of eccentricity!

No 1: Victorian townhouse in North London (Hampstead Heath) owned by Sam Roddick – daughter of Body Shop creator Anita Roddick and owner of erotica shop brand Coco de Mer. The boldly blue living room is a very original and personalised space with family pictures, drawings, paintings and vintage furniture. Underneath a glimpse of the trendy industrial style kitchen (love those lights!) and of an inviting seating area with more well-loved vintage furniture. Striking, unique and rather cosy!

No 2: Equally original, but in a completely different way, is this quirky and colourful home of furniture designer Lisa Whatmough (of London label Squint) in Hackney, London. Here, uniform and minimalistic backgrounds allow the happy, multi-coloured granny-esque lamps and vintage-style furniture to take centre stage and really sparkle joy and friendliness. A brightly bohemian and homely fantasyland!

No 3: Third up, is this 1930s arts and crafts house in Brondesbury, London, owned by Joy and Daniel Isaacs.  While a little more “sober and grown-up” than the other two houses, this home is still full of charm and eccentric touches. I love the dark blueish grey on the walls together with the deep red accessories and the vintage stag head - which contrasts beautifully with the modern coffee table. I also really like the minimal yet full impact hallway. It’s bright, uncluttered and spacious and the zebra hide looks great in there.  All in all – a stylishly decorated home with a robust and timeless feel!

[all_images _via Marie Claire Maison and Living Etc]

Although I like the layout of this room, I have a tangible feel something is missing. Question is: what would you do to this room? How would you furnish and decorate?

I think I would either want it to be a faded glamourous, granny-esque bedroom (with a French headboard of course). Or, and I’m leaning towards this one, I’d have a go with colours. I’d want to make it a cozy attic with an artistic eclectic vibe. Carefree, with lots of warming, overlapping rugs, comfy seating, interesting lamps here and there and a mishmash of things I like. One could always ask oneself what Pippi would do. Ms Longstocking wants you to do things differently. There’s lots of room for that. No rules apply.

| pic by photographer Andrea Ferrari |

…excitement! I usually do not read Russian interior magazines, but as I was playing with my fiance’s iPad I stumbled across a wide assortment of digital interior magazines in the Zinio app. I read a Taiwanese mag, one from Belgium and another one from Mexico. That is, in all sorts of languages I do not understand. Most fruitful, yet very arcane, were the magazines from Russia.

In order to give you some inspiration from a slightly different angle, from an infrequent cardinal direction, I brought some pictures. Let’s have a sneek into the latest (available) issue of Russian magazine Seasons, #66 – 2010.

When I saw these pics I was flabbergasted..! Amazed to find this cool eclectic content. But well, what was I expecting? I know people don’t all live in those richly decorated palaces of the Tsar era, neither in homes filled to the brim with babushka dolls. And there is not nouveau riche all over. It’s trendey!

Upon reflection, it was not too long ago that Russian winds breezed in over the interior design world. Russian folk style and The Mystique of the East are themes that every now and then pop up as interior decor trends. All in all, that’s enriching and inspiring I think: it is slightly different vibe. Now the conclusion from the Russian mag study is: If you wish to have a look at contemporary decor trends from a Russian perspective, Seasons is a good choice.

Some slightly more odd parts from the Russian scene can be found if you (more…)

I love the red chinese cabinet to the right (from John Lewis, 299 GBP). It would be so great in a black and white kitchen or dining room to add a global eclectic touch and a splash of vibrant colour!

[right: morton holtum, left: John Lewis]

I've got some news for you
Fembots (fembots) have feelings too

Are-n’t the-se fo-bots lo-v-ely! Found object robots - in artist Amy Flynn‘s versions made up of various bits and pieces such as old tins, handles, tea infusers, a pocket watch and hydraulic fittings. Very creative, quirky and fun. An assortment of Amy Flynn’s Fobots can be found at Anthropologie.

I think there are several elements that make retro robots, and fobots in particular, an interesting decor item of our time. It’s recycled waste: Old parts transformed into something new through pure creativity. Each piece is unique. Vintage. The retro look of these robots has aesthetics of a bygone era: Reminiscent of technology beliefs in the 50s and 60s that maybe, around the distant year 2010, robots like this will be serving us humans…(!) Hm, wouldn’t that be something! :p

The fobot is charmig and an excellent eclectifying detail. Retro robots of course feel at home in an industrial vintage style, and may for sure add interest and fun to any scheme. There are quite a lot of robot stuff around, including some nice posters/prints. Below are some examples: Doreen Box Art Robot Print and The Warmth of Your Metal Heart Print from John W. Golden and a Vintage Robot Retro Pop Art Print from Moster Gallery. Also, I couldn’t let this cute thing out, a Robot Corkscrew from Urban Outfitters.