Blogging to stay in touch

Some 50's stuff for the studio

Finally we got to the point when it makes sense to spend some money and efforts on finding actual furniture for the studio, rather than just on paint, security systems, and electricians who never show up anyway. This is when the fun really begins! We spent some time last week browsing the internet and the vintage furniture stores for some used stuff.  (And IKEA, for some new, which was such disappointment. For the first time ever I left IKEA without buying anything, not even napkins - and I felt very very good about it!) Instead we ended up getting this credenza from the 50's from a little store in the neighborhood. So much better! The teak credenza is Swedish design, and it even has a stamp from the factory and the designer's name in it (which I can't remember right now so it's probably not one of the most famous, but still). I love this piece of furniture, and can't wait to unpack the boxes after more than six months, and arrange the books and things in our new beauty!

For the walls we're also "going Swedish" with String shelves in teak and black. We bought two of them, and have gotten the shelves (i.e. the wooden pieces) but are still waiting for the "strings" to be delivered. I feel very happy with this purchase as well, and for not ending up with a crappy IKEA shelf like this poor woman did – it's so easy, we were also very close... (sorry, the link is in Swedish. What she says is basically this: "S-t what mistakes one does when decorating one's home. I could have gotten a super nice designed String shelf for exactly the same price as I've spent on ugly IKEA shelves. Things like that make me furious. I hate IKEA.")

Well, I shouldn't praise ourselves too much for our decision as the shelves aren't on the wall yet, but getting used, solid furniture from your neighborhood feels good straight throughout, for many different reasons ... evironmental, financial, social ...

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We might make a set-up similar to the one below (picture "borrowed" from Swedish Craig's List Blocket). We will have black end pieces on ours though.

When looking at the picture below, you guys will probably think that Nothing happened with the hall in the studio since last time I posted a picture of it in May or so... But it actually did change a lot. The walls are sanded and painted, the drop ceiling torn down, the pine floor is there – and we put up some lamps the other day! J and M also did some "IKEA-hacking" (great blog!), and put nice, black, fabric covered cords from Byggfabriken on the lamps, instead of the cheap-ish ugly, white, plastic IKEA cables that they came with. (So yeah, we did get a few IKEA things anyway).
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What just happened though, that made the hall look all crazy again, is that M & F started building their recording studio. But with the speed that these two Irish (male) & Swedish (female) carpenters are moving along, I'm pretty sure they'll be done before I even unpacked my first box...

ps. Thanks for posts and emails! (I'll reply soon!) I'm glad to hear that everybody happily and safely made it back from Japan, if so a little bit exhausted :)  I'm still envying the beautiful photos (here are some of J's pictures), and would love to go some time soon!

Lazy Sunday

It's a gorgeous Sunday afternoon, the very first day of October. I could have gone to Kallis to go swimming, believe it or not – we're in Sweden and it's October! According to the newspapers it hasn't been this nice at this time of the year in a hundred years or something (well, that's what they always say). I didn't go to the beach though. I preferred staying home by myself (J and the kids went to the park), sunbathing on our bed and reading magazines. Yes, it's true, our bed is the best balcony ever, at least if you don't have the real kind. I just open up the window, lie down on the bed and let the sun kiss my face. What a beautiful last-days-of-summer treat.

This blog has now been around for a year and a week. Things have changed over this past year, naturally, and I'm starting to feel that I'm slowly getting used to being a mother of two. I'm definitely more exhausted than ever, even more so than when the kids were newborn. It's funny, when I'm exhausted I always think that I have to "cut off" everything that's my everyday life for a while, and think about something completely different – or nothing at all – to re-energize. What happens instead is that my thoughts pretty soon, especially after having a large coffee and some chocolate, drift away on things I try to avoid, like new business ideas – my own or other peoples, apartment issues – to buy or not to buy, to move or not to move, rearranging, refurnishing, repainting etc... These are all things that usually stresses me out and that I definitely don't have time for, especially not with two kids and a new business, but apparently I need it to keep myself going and to stay excited...

Yesterday I bought the magazine above, Milk. It's in French so I'm not exactly sure what it says, but I love the photos of the interior designs and the children's fashion. I can't wait to show Ezra the pictures of kids dressed up as super heroes (see the cover). He's suddenly all into costumes and dressing up after being terrified of it since birth. Very inspiring was also the feature on the home of the woman who recently started a business for children's vintage clothes, Zoa. Now I really have to stop myself from rearranging the whole apartment to give the boys their own room before the rest of the family comes back from the park...

Oh, and here's Ezra as Pippi Longstocking. (He's still into Dan Zanes, but the dear Dan definitely got some competition.)

Summer in the city

It's been forever since I posted on the blog so I better just pop up some pictures to show a little bit of what summer's been like so far. The weather really is spectacular, and we're enjoying parks, gardens (friends' and family's...), Kallbadhuset (see "pictures" of our all-year paradise!), the beach, picnics, little trips, and our July-empty, spacious office where we're working on getting our web site (still just a place holder) up and running soon! The other day when I got to work, this little guy greeted me outside the door! I have no clue where he comes from, or who put him there (sort of an "Amelie story"...) but isn't he cute - a real "hustomte" (house gnome) as you'd say in Swedish. Get familiar with all types of gnomes here.

A good thing about staying in the city in July is that I can actually make it through the flea market with a double stroller without having to struggle as much as usually. We need to add some more kitsch to our house, so this past Sunday I bought this - hm - mannequin head...

I also bargained a Weimar Quartz clock from GBR. It's in great condition and I can't stop looking at the bold, beautiful typography of the numbers. Good I don't have too much time to spend on sitting watching a clock. Some more watches and design on Tibor Kalman's web site here. And I can't help also linking to Undesign, where there's even more interesting stuff on Tibor Kalman - and his watches.

Despite the heat, we had some fun with a hoodie and the new "family member":

Summer time is reading time! We got this beautiful book by Laura Lundkvist (another Swede living in Brooklyn) from CarolSue the other day. I love the bright colors, especially those in the "gardening spread", and the way Laura is using the continuous line throughout all of her work is great. Check, for example, out this cover of Enemies, a Love Story (one of the best books ever!) by Isaac Bashevis Singer. We're lucky owners of a copy with this cover!

The package from Philly also included two hand printed onzies, one with a sun and one with a cloud, made by Carol's friend, and one of our absolute favorite children's books authors and illustrators, Alexander Stadler. Ezra is all into Beverly Billingsley - again - and this onzie is perfect for summer-Leo.

This is obviously the summer of great handmade gifts! For Midsummer we got a hand printed towel made by Ulrika. The print is of an English herring recipe that Ulrika ran through one of those translator programs, and it's hilarious. Great idea as a Midsummer gift for clients! Check out her web site to read the whole thing, and I'll try to get a picture of the print itself, not only the packaging even if it's nice. The light conditions when I took the photo below weren't the best, sorry about that.

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Well, last but not least, some street art to enjoy below.
It's so funny now (after having lived in the land of 100 % humidity and very intense heat, New York City in the summer) to hear people, if not complaining so at least constantly "pointing out" how hot it is here at the moment. Well, it's in the high 80's and almost no humidity. It's just like heaven if anyone asks me!

The used clothes store in our neighbor hood keep putting this sign on their door these days. It basically says "Today closed at 3 pm due to the heat"...

One potato, two potato, three potato, four... Yeah, I could totally think of spending some time as a couch potato, dozing and reading books. I guess somebody else could too, as I saw this little drawing glued onto the back of a street sign at the playground today. I wonder if it's a coincidence that they placed it at the playground..?

A few good fleas

This is a flea market finding from last Sunday. Isn't it bright and nice! I love the design and the typography from the candy (click on "Se vårt fantastiska sortiment") that I used to munch on as a kid - and still frequently do... Hard core marketing but when the design is beautiful... The clock is pretty big, around 15 inches diameter, and the plan is that it's going to go on the wall in Ezra's and Leo's room. Ezra is very pleased with the clock and the two tools, plastic wrench and pliers, that we bargained for only 50 cents. Oh, the clock was two bucks by the way...

Treasures from the 60's & 70's

The doll above is my old doll whose name I can't remember... It's now Ezra's doll to play with at my parents' place, and he calls him Emil. Yesterday afternoon when visiting my parents, my dad for some reason brought out a bag of old clothes from my and my brother's infancy. I can't believe he didn't display this hidden treasure a few months ago, when Leo still could fit into them without looking like a wrestler! I love the patterns and the bright and simple colors - so different from all the violent and stupid prints you find on lots of children's clothes today!

This is a little onezie without sleeves, that my brother wore in 1978.


This is a tiny jacket that we think that I must have used, looking at the ancient label...


My least favorite - the rabbit on this shirt (with same color green sleeves) actually looks a little bit mean - but I still like the clear green and old fashioned feeling of the print.


Last but not least. Leo stuffed into the snowman jumpsuit. Isn't it great! It was my brother's. He wore it for Christmas 29 years ago.