Feeling sleepy and undecided? In need of a vitamin injection? Here’s good news. Paint your wall(s) in a brave red-pink and your heart will beat stronger, faster and happier. It’s hotter than ever! Not pink the girlie-girlie way, but ethnic, country, eclectic – whatever style you fancy.

| photo: mikkel adsbol |

| photo via house to home |

| photo via house to home |

And yeah, it’s the colour of the year 2011.

Oranges and reds! Together with gold, copper, brass and 70s yellows… (and charcoal and clay). And may I add to this pic, the trendiest style. Hodgy podgy and homemade. Sightly odd but lovely. Pic via Plaza Interiör. This kitchen below, in a Spanish farmhouse, really took my trend breath away….Full marks! Orange is a suberb accent colour, in particular when paired with copper & gold. Pic via the style files.

Now if you don’t believe me, ask Gwyneth. What makes her happy this season is orange, perfectly combined with smoking red shoes.

Rag rugs have gone from being a standard element in (at least Swedish) homes, to almost oblivion, to newly awakened wide popularity. Just have a peek though our rag rug tag, there’s quite a lot of fresh decor scenes with this feature. Like well, our hallway! ;) Of course, rag rugs are right on target in today’s passion for reusing and recycling. Personally, I have always loved – and lived with – these handicrafts, which are often a hodgepodge of old t-shirts, bed sheets and other scraps of fabric. And I’m happy I managed to save the ones woven by Grandma from being thrown away. And also, that we got some – beautiful blueish ones – form Mike’s Grandma. Fine as stuff, as we say in Sweden.

A neat manufacturer in this rag rug wave is the Swedish company RugCycle, with the (from the name obvious) concept of recycling rugs.  Their new 2nd collection is actually a homage to rag rugs, designed in collaboration with the TV-profile and Northern Swedener Linda Lindorff. The staring point has been simple, countryish rag rugs, crafted by local women, often with local designs and techniques. These traditional rugs are hand-picked in Northern Sweden and sewn together in various combinations. The fascination of the craftsmanship and female force behind the rag rugs was crucial throughout the design process. So, the most Scandinavian of flooring traditions is here adapted to modern homes and needs by reusing the old and beautiful crafts. Available for purchase this Autumn. Hurray for this!

Update: And I just need mention this other new rag rug – product. From Danish super-brand Nordal‘s summer 2011 collection: rag rug placemats !

I love patios and verandas with an indoor feeling – i.e., decorated outdoor rooms! I really long to have one roomy outdoor space. Our little balcony isn’t much to decorate and we are also limited by some rules, e.g. do not attach anything to the facade, and if we want a protective textile around the balcony it needs to be in the most boring shade of blue (to unify and ‘match’ the house). So, I stick to flower pots and planting some seeds and just keep dreamin!

| These are pics from the book “Under bar himmel” by Ulrika Grönlund via DN Bostad |

Today I got a bit of X-mas feel. Saturday before Christmas and we decided to go shopping. Prepared for the year’s worst crowdedness on the Stockholm streets we were amazed to be almost alone in the department stores! Only us strolling around, some staff and the Christmas songs. No queues, no stress. Here’s the trick: When in Sweden, always do your late X-mas shopping between 7 and 10 pm on a Saturday.

| pics via NZ House & Garden, Better Homes and Gardens India ed.dec 2010, Boligmagasinet & Sköna Hem |

…is hot chocolate on a cold day.

One home decor chapter spiritless and neglected in Scandinavia is window dressing. There is mainly either naked windows (Stockholm style) or panel curtains in linen: two of the same one on each side, sometimes two in different colours on each side, very boxlike. Often curtains are too short, they hang in the air above the floor. It is hard to find curtain inspiration in the Swedish home decor scene. Nicest arrangements can often be found a few generations back and particularly in the countryside. So one of my interests, not to say missions in life, is to collect pics of windows well dressed! Like this one below. Also note the interesting wall paint..

| pic source: unfortunately forgotten.. |