Hello everyone! I’m packing today (not heat, boxes!) but I was able to escape the sea of brown boxes for a moment to write to you. This is truly my happy space — whenever I need a place to escape, writing here gives me such a boost! How are you today? Yesterday was a very special one for us because we received the shiny new keys to our place and then went out for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants to celebrate. The mood was so perfect too — the air was fresh and crisp, it was slightly foggy, light showers… the smell of wood burning in stoves… so cozy. And dinner by candlelight made it even more memorable and special. More than ever before, I can’t wait to move in a few days!
My husband and I feel so relieved to have found a place after so many months of intense searching. You know how hard it was for me, especially if you follow me on haus maus. Today I will have an engraved name plate made for our doorbells – yes plural – we have two of them with a fancy intercom and wall phone in the front of the house and in the back – it feels kind of posh to have two but as you get older there is ONE truth you come to realize = time is precious! You have to have at least a few things that you want in life today because mere expectation (all work/no play) can really take its toll on you emotionally. So yes, we have two doorbells – one for decor8 (ha ha, my blog has a bell!) and one for us – isn’t that cool? This will make it so much easier now for package delivery though because many times people forget to address things with my name on it, only decor8, and because we have several different couriers there is usually confusion. It’s funny how the little things, like a name plate, can mean so much. The comforts of home.
Speaking of the comforts of home, I must show you some glimpses into the new catalog from Danish brand Villa Collection. These things are available in Germany at shops as well which is good. I own some products from Villa Collection and am very happy with them – I buy them from my friend Daniela at Sommerflugl in Hannover – she is great if you are local, and she can order things for you if they are not currently in stock in her store (like furniture, lighting, etc.).
Villa Collection has four specific moods this season, all accurately reflect the trends that you see in stores in my part of the world, northern Europe. One of their moods is Hot House, which is Asian minimalism meets industrial elements of the west with dots of fresh, energizing citrus hues. Another mood is called Scandinavia Today and it is a young, fresh trend rooted in nature. It is care-free, modern, minimalistic… Lots of natural wood tones, white and gray with silver accents along with lots of texture so that it feels warm and comfortable. Their next mood is called Pale & Pure which is “soft living with a modern, classy touch”. The foundation colors are dusty, chalky tones… Lavender, coral… along with natural woods and materials like raw silk and wool. It can also be less girly by using tones of green and blue. Their final mood is called Tribal Tasting. This is a colorful, spirited and spicy collection. It’s very bohemian but also quite modern with a focus on fine craftsmanship with indigenous roots. Here are some glimpses below of these moods. The nice thing is that you can mix and match elements from each to create your own custom work – something I encourage to personalize your space.
I hope that you enjoyed this glimpse into some northern European trends — which one do you connect with the most? Or perhaps you see yourself merging a few and if so, which moods would you mix? Hot House, Scandinavia Today, Pale & Pure or Tribal Tasting? Mine is a mix between Scandinavia Today and Pale & Pure for sure.
(images: villa collection)
Hello and happy Monday to you! It is Leslie here with September’s Color Me Pretty column. This time around I am using muted purple, cream, grey, silver and a touch of black. I was reminded of some of these colors in Holly’s post here where she discusses a décor possibility for her new home, which she moves into this week! The palette was inspired by Sibella Court’s paint line which I am sure most of you have checked out on her website. I tried using this palette loosely in a much smaller scale with a few little projects to get your creative wheels turning.
I have been seeing many of these colors appearing in my catalog pile as well and, once again I can’t help but tear out images. They are clipped into my journals, stuck onto my mood board and taped on my wall for further inspiration. Today you will see images in my photographs from the Noa Noa, J.Crew, and Himla catalogs.
Purple hues seem to dominate the flowers in my garden too, like lavender, salvia, geraniums, verbena and solanum. I plucked a few sprigs and popped them into my vintage Amethyst bottles for the series. For some of the bottles I put on a little white paper with Japanese silver tape to balance out all the purple. You could tape any patterned paper on any kind of glass vase or jar for a similar effect. It is simple and shows you do not need to spend much time or money on flowers to have a nice display for your home.
I had fun using my watercolors to create little studies on small 2” by 3” cards. Sometimes it is nice to do really small creative steps towards a larger project, especially if you are feeling stuck or unmotivated. Like myself, when it is 95 degrees and I have no air conditioning in my studio! As I painted, stitched and glued sequins on these little cards I began to feel inspired and ready to work on the entire photo series. Do you have suggestions on how you get motivated for your creative work?
I hope you have enjoyed the series today and I look forward to seeing you back here next month. Take care, Leslie.
(images: leslie shewring)
I’ve really enjoyed our week together, thank you for your visits, comments and general amazingness! This week has been busy for me but I went and got myself a nasty little head cold so I had to lay low today as I’m finally starting to feel better after a week of moaning and whining… so I chilled a bit today because I need to get my energy up — I’m moving next week and so there is no time to be sick!
I found this image in the latest copy of VTWonen, a Dutch mag that I subscribe to, and I just love the idea of taking tears from magazines to form a house-shaped inspiration wall. Fun! It also put me into the “moving into a new house” mood. I went into the new place a few days ago to measure the windows and have a general look around and I left feeling so inspired and happy because I really “feel” this space. I need to pack and get things organized because I am just dying at this point to move in. So, that’s what I’ll be up to this weekend in addition to some fun social stuff that I have going on.
What about you? What will you do? Want to come help me pack? :)
See you on Monday!
(image: vtwonen)
There are some lovely rooms to be inspired by over at House Beautiful, do you visit them regularly online? Reading magazine websites really help to keep you plugged in to the world of design and decorating — no matter where I live I always feel like I know what’s going on in America which is great because that’s where I’m from.
It’s a nice feeling to have such resources at our fingertips, don’t you think? I’m an expat and now more than ever before I see the value in reading magazines online that I once could find at the local newsstand. It has been a huge source of comfort at times when I wonder what’s happening or what’s new — I just go online to sites like House Beautiful and feel instantly plugged in.
If you are also an expat, you must find this super helpful to you, too. I often think about what it was like many years ago before planes and the internet when people left their homeland on a boat and traveled many miles over the sea to a new country — I can’t imagine what being a foreigner was like back during such times! Once you left your country back then, you were truly cut off and could only carry your home in your heart and then, try to recreate it a bit in your new surroundings. Even in the 80s and early 90s before the internet really took off — how did foreigners cope I wonder? I think it took a lot more gumption to make a success of yourself as an expat back then – much more than now even – don’t you?
Many of my friends in the states admire me for selling most of my belongings and moving to Europe, but I don’t think I’m that courageous at all – I have it easy with the internet, international shipping, i-Tunes (for TV shows), DVDs so I never miss the films I long to see, cheap flights, cheap long distance (or skype), fast snail mail (I get most letters from the states within 3 days – when I was dating my husband writing him letters by hand back in 1999 it took around 10 days for them to arrive in Germany from Boston), I personally don’t feel like moving took much courage at all. When my family came over on boats through Boston back in the day arriving from Europe, that took way more strength than my move to Germany.
These photos are so nice to look at, aren’t they? One thing I notice since moving to northern Germany over a year ago is how very American things look to me suddenly! I never noticed or really thought about how American design looked to those in other parts of the world but living abroad has really given me an alternate view and that is something that I cherish immensely. When I see certain styles, whether it be in fashion, interiors, product packaging, trends… I immediately can tell whether or not it originated in the states. House Beautiful reminds me of the differences between decorating trends and styles in Europe and those sought after in the U.S. and it is quite fascinating to consider.
If you are an expat, can you comment on what differences you see in design/decorating in your new country vs. your home country? I’d love to hear your thoughts, no matter where you live in the world – it’s a fascinating topic I think!
(images: house beautiful magazine)
Sara Olmos is a graphic designer in Rome who is currently exploring illustration as an alternate means of communicating her vision of the world. She sells her sweet drawings in her etsy shop, Mamau, if you’d like to take a peek at her work today…
Her current series of illustrations, le petit monde, or Little World — is inhabited by characters who interact with objects that are drawn out of scale in order for them to explore new meanings and relationships with these everyday, ordinary things. Giant cupcakes, larger than life dandelions, an April shower from your very own showerhead up in the clouds… They would be lovely combined in a whimsical children’s book, don’t you agree? So imaginative!
(images: mamau)
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