I love bathrooms like these! With a vibe. I’ve said it thousands of times and I say it again: Swedish bathrooms are the most boring in the world. More often than not they look like a surgery room; all tiled, all clean and desinfected. All white or some other boring colour. Rarely decorated at all…Not sure what it is exactly with this bathroom, but I guess it’s the wonderful sunny wall and the relaxed look of things that makes it. The stoney thing next to the shower. Oh and I just adore the colourful toilet paper :)

| via 1 kind design |

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.

In the meantime, while Trendey sisters focus on their regular careers & professions, we have the greatest blog tips for you: Dos family. As always, you might already know all about it, but if not: this is a blog by decorator (slash designer, columnist, TV-presenter, etc)  Isabelle Halling McAllister and photographer Jenny Brandt (who also has the sammy rose blog + shop) The lovely pics above are shot by Jenny at Isabelle’s. I think the black wall display is fabulous! And there’s loads of more inspiration on playful and charming kids’ rooms (like the one right) on their site. It’s undoable (and unnecessary) to define their interior style tastes, but I’d summarize it Happy Scandinavian :) Clearly creative, retro, personal, arty, homey, free-spirited and fun. Below is a really nice example of a ‘Dos Visit’, photographer Jenny Brandt visits Lisa Grue’s home. More of this lovely retro charm can be found here.

I think these two rooms below are very interesting! The decor is simple, yet the Josef Frank wallpaper looks nicer than ever together with the retro/vintage caramel sofa. The bathroom could have been downright boring but the pink pastel door (and a photo display or something hidden behind it) and the orange rug on the grey patterned floor is ‘all it takes’ to give the place some interesting character.

| all photos: Jenny Brandt @ DosFamily |

Now, lastly, I will join DosFamily’s upcoming blog battle – no idea what it will be about, but I will take the challenge :)

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!

| stylist lara hutton – the names agency & petra bindel – agent bauer |

| the house that kat and fred built via solid frog |

…so begins the editor’s column in Living Etc’s June 2011 issue. And why is this new (and yet old and always existing) home decor paradigm so great? Because personal style is inclusive, manifold and rule-free. No one can say that someone else’s personal style is wrong. Ugly, possibly, but then again we all know taste differs; there are different strokes for different folks. In decorating freely, personally, creativity is truly a locomotive. When I feel uninspired and dull, creative pictures & persons are the very best stimulus. I enjoy house tours, and most often, I’ve noticed, the ones that deals with variations of “style on a budget”, like this luxury home on a budget or like this one below via Hus & Hem:

Often these tours comes with some thoughts. People explaining their choices and sharing their views. As much as I respect the knowhow and downright brain physics of decorating guides like Decorate, people’s own thoughts always tend to make more sense. Here’s some thoughts from the habitants/decorators of the lovely homey home above:

t hey collect things they are fond of. Basically their theme is a desire to mix anything and everything – and let the odd piece stand out. It is about daring to combine freely.

t hey haven’t bought everything in one store. By shopping at flea markets, second-hand stores, online auctions, etcetera it gets inevitably personal – and the interiors may emerge gradually. In addition, you must not use everything you buy or own at once. These people have in their attic storage a stock of furniture and stuff, of which they can pick when the urge takes them there.

t heir mix of different styles was not carefully planned, layed-out and calculated, but there are some thoughts behind it. For example, that the old and worn comes out better if allowed to stand in contrast to something new. Therefore, they combined the second-hand sofas with a brand new minimalist coffee table.

Tada! That was nice, I think :P In the last 24 hours I’ve actually done two pretty creative and very budget-friendly decor projects. I’ve fantasized on how to spice up grandma’s old kitchen sofa, which I have already painted, by replacing the seat cover. I cut and pasted different fabrics together (on the computer) and ordered a bunch of cloths. Design: ready (and as always: result very unpredictable :)) Secondly, I got stuck swooning over some lovely bedroom designs at design-vox and suddenly got the idea I should remove the legs from my bed (!) Or our bed, Mike was actually already lying in it, not asleep, mind you! although it was passed midnight he helped me lift it up and a few minutes later the traditional IKEA-style bed (or mattress with legs) looked like a japanese design dream…The whole room swayed and the atmosphere was one step more relaxed.:) Pics later!

And hey, check out estate agent Fantastic Frank‘s creative styling – new house out today! Happy Friday!