great style, part II

Here is another home style I love, also found in Rom 123 (like this). It's the home of the Norwegian photographer Trine Thorsen.

great style

These are some photos from the home of the Norwegian stylist Margrethe Gilboe. It was featured a little while ago in the Norwegian interior design magazine Rom 123. I love her style!

happy minimalism

Ann Sophie Stærk has been one of my favorite artists for a long time. Her work is often called happy minimalism and neo pop art. I would love to have one of her painting on my livingroom wall. Ann Sophie's boyfriend is Leonardo Annecca, he is an Italian designer and architect. Take a look at his inspiring work here.

the table

I love that table.
(Via the style files)

PS: I updated the blog header some days ago. June is the month when summer officially starts. Doesn't feel like summer today though. It's so wet and grey outside...

Montana

Recently I told you what kind of bookshelves I like. The Danish Montana shelving system is another one I like a lot.

for the love of light

I just ordered my copy of the book. Did you?

Get it here.

a travel story

Let me take you to Greece. I have uploaded all my photos from my recent travel to Halkidiki, Greece. See them all in this set. The photo above is from the last day, when I packed my backpack to leave.

String

Bookshelves filled with books, magazines and other inspiring things are great furniture. They add so much personality to a room. I must admit I always seek a peak in people's bookshelves when I'm visiting. Do you?

I prefer simple (white) bookshelves. If I were to change our white IKEA Billy shelves for something else, String would be a very good option. A Swedish design classic.

PS: I love the wishbone chair to the right in this photo. But I already told you that.

Everyday Holy

...is the name of this cool cup from Muuto. This is how the designer, Ilkka Suppanen, describes it:

I wanted to create something different from the iconic coffee mug with handle found in office cubicles around the world. Modern people don't just have coffee; They have lattés, cappuccino, espresso, tea or Chai. So I wanted a mug which would look and work equally well no matter the content. On a more emotional level I was thinking that the time we share over a cup of tea or coffee is often a sacred break from our hectic everyday lives. Among other things this inspired me to work with the iconic Holy Grail in the shaping of the mug.

I have mentioned Muuto before, here and here.

traveling

I'm so glad the airport strike is over so we can get to Berlin this weekend.

Here are some Flickr favorites that in one way or another fit the theme "traveling": 1. viv love... (and love this cross-processed expired kodak ektachrome 320T too..), 2. Perfect lighting., 3. lost highway. this way., 4. Untitled, 5. west, 6. 31, 7. Untitled, 8. ug, 9. Untitled

Speaking of traveling, here is an article (in Norwegian) I enjoyed about American motels. If you don't read Norwegian, at least take a look at the photos, by Sune Eriksen. They look much better in the magazine.

beautiful bowls

I love the shape of these bowls from Höganäs Keramik.

the vase

I'm not much into interior decoration knick knacks. For example, I love cut flowers yet I only have one "real" vase - the one to the right in the photo above. It's beautiful. So simple yet elegant and timeless. Normally I put flowers in carafes or old Norgesglass, but I think I might want to expand my collection of real vases. Of course it has do be from Iittala's Alvar Aalto collection. I'm a big fan of this Finnish designer and architect. I'll show you more of his design later.

al fresco

Don't you just love al fresco dining? I'm planning to have outdoor meals this weekend.

1. Untitled, 2. film 14, 3. The first breakfast of this summer, 4. Untitled, 5. enchanted evening, 6. iced coffee tuesday, 7. 8/20/05, 8. film8, 9. Real or fake?

bed light

I think I want a couple of Seed lamps by our bed. This is what Northern Lighting writes about the lamp and the designer in the catalogue:

Seed is a wall-mounted night lamp. Seed creates a unique reading environment through its filtered light source from a low watt energy saving LED. The focused yet soft beam emitted from the diodes makes it possible to read in bed while your partner sleeps. The ‘revolving arm of light’ can point in a variety of different directions and can be easily fixed to the wall in any desired position. The front-end light switch makes it easy to turn the light on and off and since the lamp does not emit heat Seed is safe to touch, even by children.

Seed is available with four different colours of fabric. The package also includes patterns, tips and suggestions of how to create your own personalised cover. The lamp is inspired by a seed - rising and growing into a plant.

Designer: Hedda H. Braathen
Hedda Heyerdahl Braathen is head designer in Accendo, an Oslo based industrial design office. She and her team have won several awards for their designs. Accendo works with a variety of design projects, mainly related to lighting, furniture design and consumer good packaging.

“With the Seed lamp I wanted to create an arm of light which lets your partner sleep while you read, nurse or knit. I also wanted to challenge users of the lamp to create their own design element by changing the cover according to their mood, the season, fashion trends or simply a change of the bed covers”.

You might remember that I have mentioned Northern Lighting before.

dinner time

I've been away from this space for too long. Time to do something about it.

I'm cooking dinner and waiting for Sølve to come home from work. I'm making the same thing we had yesterday, which turned out to be super yummy. This is it:

- green asparagus
- snow peas
- fresh fillets of salmon with salt, pepper and olive oil
- spring onion
- little gem lettuce
- lemon juice
- feta cheese

The ingredients are listed in the same order as I put them in the frying pan. The asparagus needs more time to cook than the little gem lettuce. Keep the temperature on medium, and make sure you don't over cook the vegetables. I prefer vegetables to be "al dente". The heat will make the feta melt a little, and with the lemon juice (from half a lemon) it makes a nice kind of sauce. Quick and healthy dinner - which is now served!

everyday stories

I had a photoblog called stories, which for a while I found hard to define. What kind of photos will I have here? I already show my photos on Flickr. I started a few projects, which are now (some of favorite) sets on my Flickr - traveling and lights. lamps. But I wasn't really happy with it.

Then 2008 came, and I found out that I wanted to do a "a photo a day" project. The stories blog became the place where I shared my daily photos - the ones that I didn't upload to Flickr. My rule was, and is still, that I have to take and post a photo each day. Even if it's a crappy photo.

But then I needed change again. So I decided to delete the stories blog and start a new Flickr account instead, called everyday stories. This is my new place where I share my daily diptychs. One of the photos is uploaded to my Astrid. photostream, and can be found here, the other one is new. Please visit if you are interested. By the way, the photos can be viewed bigger if you click “all sizes” above the photo.

Everyday stories is inspired by a few lovely ladies, which you might know: 3191 and mebetweenyou. It is also inspired by my own fondness of everyday life – the group that I started some time back in 2005. I also wrote a little about everyday life photography here.

I must say, I really like this kind of photo journaling. How about you?

nice

I like this photo. Found at Boligmagasinet.

old becomes new

Fretex is the Salvation Army's secondhand outlet in Norway. Fretex has now made petty little dresses in a cute, nostalgic 40s style out of old curtains and table cloths. The dresses are sold in a few chosen shops in Oslo, and I nearly bought one when I was there this weekend. They are really pretty. What put me back was the price - 1400 kr, which is about €177/£142/$280. I love the concept though.

Read the article (in Norwegian) here. The photos above are from this article.

Also, take a look at this (make sure you have the sound on). "Se din kjole" means "look at your dress" and it refers to a children's song called "Se min kjole" meaning "look at my dress". The song is about all the colors of my dress.

The model in Se din kjole is Hege Golf. Read more about her here.

In other news, I bought the shoes for my wedding dress when I was in Oslo this weekend. They are flat silver sandals, and they were much cheaper than the ones I found at NET-A-PORTER. I'm happy! Also I decided to continue using my IKEA dinner plates. Thanks for the great argument, Emma!

new dinner plates?

I think I want new dinner plates. I'm not sure. The ones we have now are from IKEA. I wonder if I want something more fancy (and more expensive?), yet I like dinnerware to be simple. White. Preferably round. That's it. The food plays the main role, not the plates. Oh, and I want it to be Norwegian design. Here are a few pieces I like from Porsgrund.

The top photo are designs by the very talented guys in Norway Says, mentioned here. The bottom photo are products designed by Tias Eckhoff, which I have also mentioned before, here. Click on the images to view them bigger.

The photos are from Porsgrund catalogues, that can be downloaded from the website.

the shoes? part II

I'm still thinking about shoes for my wedding dress. I think I have decided that I want flat sandals, either gold or silver. Flats because I'm taller than Sølve, sandals because it's a summer garden wedding. Now I need to choose a budget...

From the top: Jimmy Choo, Juicy Couture, Miu Miu and Pedro García. All images are from NET-A-PORTER.

By the way, I already bought the dress. It's from a Norwegian designer, and I'm going to Oslo to try it again this weekend. Yay!