Today, I adore this scene. I keep nagging about my dream summer house, but here it is again!

A city girl’s dream, a day in July :)

| via country living uk |

Pitchers are the best for flowers. And hey, Happy July 4th!

Last year, I celebrated this day with an awesome wall sticker; today I just work by the sweat of my brow…

The perfect guest room design. So calm & quiet, enchanting & downright pretty.

My mind decorates a dream summer house. I keep coming back to it, and it’s like I find scenes I don’t necessarily want in my regular home, but it fulfills the idea of my summer escape – my resort in the forest by the sea. These are pieces of my cottage, please step inside.

This is where I sit and have a glass of fine old port to my bookreadings [via Inredningsbloggen], the bathroom atmosphere [via gingerella], a lovely lovely curtain [via dottieangel ] and the charmig ‘wedding sign’ by OldNewAgain [for all other pics in this post: click to source ]

Let’s have a great summer now! See you when I see you.

I never promised you a rose garden! I (Trendey) is a bit on the offline side at the mo. All work, no play.

This lovely photo – with the afternoon tea menu on the table cloth – comes from Norwegian magazine LevLandlig. And so does the beautiful summery interior scene below…Again, it’s like a summer house dream!

thrifty chic. Interior style on a shoestring is a book by Liz Bauwens and Alexandra Campbell. Unlike this spring’s fresh new book Undecorate, Thrifty Chic has been around for a while, both as a book (from 2009) and as a (partly overridden) concept. This beautiful book is packed with re-ideas. It shows you how to “reuse and restore, revive and revamp, and recycle and reclaim”, in order to create a stylish yet individual home without spending a small fortune.

As you can see already by the cover, the overall style is relaxed country – and vintage charm is all around. The concept of thrifty chic (and same meaning related concepts) is highly sustainable. Inspiration on how to paint up a tatty old chest, cut old curtains into cushions or give an old chair new life by means of some fabric – will never grow old and mossy. Reusing, restoring, reviving and revamping are things creative people have practiced for centuries and that – nicely enough – will contribute to less consumption and environmental destruction as it includes being cautious with both money and property. As if that weren’t enough, this book is pure beautifulness. It’s friendly written with lots of insider advices. This is one of my favourite photos from the book (photography by Simon Brown):

Gorgeous. All these furniture and stuff came from auctions, thrift stores and local sales.

The book has a feature on colour in hallways I found really interesting too (p.34-35), and some beyond lovely photos of thrifty bathrooms. See p. 118-127 for more pics and great advices on 2nd hand sanitaryware, etc.

It’s a must-have in the design book collection!

Sometimes, the city life gets a bit wearisome. Too many people, too little space..What suits better then, than to take a glimpse into the life of blogger Jonna Jinton. She’s the 21 year old city girl who decided to leave town and move to the remote far Northern Sweden countryside. She found herself a new place – an old cottage – in the midst of the Northern Sweden wilderness: in a very tiny village surrounded by beautiful natural scenery. I think her activities and whereabouts actually are interesting, liberating, and calming. She chops wood and struggles to keep her house warm, takes care of her property – and no, she’s not into that 50′s housewife glamour and cupcakes – she works in the local grocery shop and simply enjoys the changing of the seasons and the earty life in the outback countyside.

Every now and then she visits Grandma and Grandpa for a fika (that’s quite simply a cup of coffee and 7 cookies) and you’d guess they live next door, but it’s actually approx 40 miles of winding roads (and that’s no distance to speak of, in the wilderness!). Jonna Jinton has now the chance to get a scholarship for being such a nice representative of the district she lives in. I think she and her blog without doubt deserves this price (if you do too, the pic below will take you to the voting form). Jonna and her cottage. It’s a miracle she’s managed through the lengthy winter up there! :)

Update: In this post Jonna has a collection of pictures from her house!