Finnish interior designer Enja Vironmäki is one of my oldest favorites. She has been designing homes for decades, to me she has been visible from the Finnish interior design magazine Avotakka. There is something unique in her work - often, when something really catches my eye in the magazine, it has been her work.
It is really hard to say what it is - perhaps her use of colors, perhaps the details she adds to her work. When I was younger, my first small apartment was decorated by her; perhaps that's why her work always feels...right.
It remains to be seen whether I will be able to get the old articles I've requested to share with you what I mean!
About Home decor, interior design, and travel
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Interior design
The definition for interior design in Wikipedia is:
'Interior design is a multi–faceted profession in which creative and technical solutions are applied within a structure to achieve a built interior environment and home lifestyle enhancement. The interior design process follows a systematic and coordinated methodology, including research, analysis, and integration of knowledge into the creative process, whereby the needs and resources of the client are satisfied to produce an interior space that fulfills the project goals'.
And moreover;
'Some use the terms Interior Designer and Interior Decorators interchangeably. However, in general Designers tend to produce more drawn information and plans, whereas Decorators are more associated with finishes and furnishings.'
So what do I do? I design (in the narrow, less academic sense of the word) and then decorate. And what style? Hmmm. That would be a Classic International Lofty style spiced up with some Shabby Chic items :).
Really, isn't that what it almost always becomes? You don't tend to have an empty white space to start with. You have the furniture you have, rarely you can, or WANT to change it, at least at the same time. You have your house decoration items - paintings, vases, lanterns. You have your lamps, baskets, curtains, other textiles. And - you have those items in your house that you just love, perhaps they don't match perfectly with the rest, but perhaps you've got them as a gift, or just bought something at some point somewhere, and you just adore it.
My solution: have classic furniture in colors like brown, white and beige. Simple enough to match it with almost anything. My address: http://www.boknas.com/. Each room you then decorate around the items you want to keep visible. It might be anything. I've furnished a kitchen around some storage jars :) (those jars still haven't found their way there...), decorated a bedroom under a lantern, and decorated a kids playroom around curtains.
In this section of my darling blog I'll try gather works by the interior designers I just ADORE. Now, I have to say, they've stolen some of my ideas :), which means that I come up with some detail, then go and check out their websites at some point, and there it is!! Must admit, more often, it happens vice versa...
'Interior design is a multi–faceted profession in which creative and technical solutions are applied within a structure to achieve a built interior environment and home lifestyle enhancement. The interior design process follows a systematic and coordinated methodology, including research, analysis, and integration of knowledge into the creative process, whereby the needs and resources of the client are satisfied to produce an interior space that fulfills the project goals'.
And moreover;
'Some use the terms Interior Designer and Interior Decorators interchangeably. However, in general Designers tend to produce more drawn information and plans, whereas Decorators are more associated with finishes and furnishings.'
So what do I do? I design (in the narrow, less academic sense of the word) and then decorate. And what style? Hmmm. That would be a Classic International Lofty style spiced up with some Shabby Chic items :).
Really, isn't that what it almost always becomes? You don't tend to have an empty white space to start with. You have the furniture you have, rarely you can, or WANT to change it, at least at the same time. You have your house decoration items - paintings, vases, lanterns. You have your lamps, baskets, curtains, other textiles. And - you have those items in your house that you just love, perhaps they don't match perfectly with the rest, but perhaps you've got them as a gift, or just bought something at some point somewhere, and you just adore it.
My solution: have classic furniture in colors like brown, white and beige. Simple enough to match it with almost anything. My address: http://www.boknas.com/. Each room you then decorate around the items you want to keep visible. It might be anything. I've furnished a kitchen around some storage jars :) (those jars still haven't found their way there...), decorated a bedroom under a lantern, and decorated a kids playroom around curtains.
In this section of my darling blog I'll try gather works by the interior designers I just ADORE. Now, I have to say, they've stolen some of my ideas :), which means that I come up with some detail, then go and check out their websites at some point, and there it is!! Must admit, more often, it happens vice versa...
Friday, April 15, 2011
Easter time!
I love celebrations - it gives me a perfect excuse to re-decorate :). At least go through the boxes in the storage room, see if I can find something I want to look at for couple of weeks, and even perhaps buy something new...
After moving to Sweden from Turkey, I've always bought the ready handicraft packages from Panduro (http://www.pandurohobby.se/) - they are not cheap, but then on the other hand, you don't have to buy excess - you consume everything you buy. Below our last Easters achievements (these photos from Panduros website):
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| http://www.pandurohobby.se/ |
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| http://www.pandurohobby.se/ |
This year, the eggs will be getting this kind of coating:
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| http://www.pandurohobby.se/ |
And something for me, as well:
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| http://www.pandurohobby.se/ |
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| http://www.pandurohobby.se/ |
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Summer House Decor - Part I
I have to get these wonderful lanterns from pb home to the summerhouse, they are something like below - also for candles :)
Decorating the summer house is really a different story from the rest of the to do's; you are there, you want to spend time with the kids and relax. So you write down lists what needs to be done and purchased. The next time you remember the list is when you are at the summer house AGAIN. My very DYNAMIC to-do list has been alive since 2007 (actually having items from 2007...), and still going strong. Today I should be getting my order from Ocean House (http://www.oceanhouse.se/), yihuu!! Check this out - perfect, got the tip from my brother-in-law :) http://www.oceanhouse.se/res/Galleriny/productcatalog_2011.pdf
Small Projects - Part I
Why is it that when spring is at the door step I get this crazy urge to change everything? All of a sudden all cushions seem dull, well, everything seems dull, and there is just a need for...CHANGE? At the moment, the list seems quite endless:
1. Transforming the upstairs hall from a walk-through space to a cozy TV corner
2. Hanging up all photos and ting that needs hanging up
3. Finding curtains to the study and boys' room
4. Getting proper furniture for the study
5. Trying desperately to find a suitable mirror to the dining hall, and a shalk board to the kitchen - seems that SevenArt in Finland is the only option - custom-made, that is
6. Finding those cushion covers that are printed in my mind but don't seem to exist
7. Finding a right place to Philippe Starck's (Kartell) Louis Ghost chair - want it, but don't know where to put it. I have this picture on my mind that it needs to be by a window through which I see a green birch tree. Perhaps the picture has landed in my subconsciousness from some magazine...??
8. Painting the living room walls and getting those prints up on the wall that exist currently in my mind (will need probably that I take the pictures myself and get them printed and hang them up)
Why is it actually? In my mind there is a clear picture of something I need. Well, okay, want. But it doesn't exist. It may exist a couple years later, after I've gotten it custom-made, or had it shipped from the end of the world to this corner of the world called Scandinavia. Yes, I live in the wrong place - I just don't get the Nordic simplicity, sorry. I love the Asian simplicity, so it is not about simplicity - the problem is with the Nordic simplicity. Well - there are a couple of nice things. Like Harri Koskinen's Block lamp by Design House Stockholm http://eur.shop.designhousestockholm.com/lighting/block-lamp. Or - well, theres a few more. Later about that.
1. Transforming the upstairs hall from a walk-through space to a cozy TV corner
2. Hanging up all photos and ting that needs hanging up
3. Finding curtains to the study and boys' room
4. Getting proper furniture for the study
5. Trying desperately to find a suitable mirror to the dining hall, and a shalk board to the kitchen - seems that SevenArt in Finland is the only option - custom-made, that is
6. Finding those cushion covers that are printed in my mind but don't seem to exist
7. Finding a right place to Philippe Starck's (Kartell) Louis Ghost chair - want it, but don't know where to put it. I have this picture on my mind that it needs to be by a window through which I see a green birch tree. Perhaps the picture has landed in my subconsciousness from some magazine...??
Why is it actually? In my mind there is a clear picture of something I need. Well, okay, want. But it doesn't exist. It may exist a couple years later, after I've gotten it custom-made, or had it shipped from the end of the world to this corner of the world called Scandinavia. Yes, I live in the wrong place - I just don't get the Nordic simplicity, sorry. I love the Asian simplicity, so it is not about simplicity - the problem is with the Nordic simplicity. Well - there are a couple of nice things. Like Harri Koskinen's Block lamp by Design House Stockholm http://eur.shop.designhousestockholm.com/lighting/block-lamp. Or - well, theres a few more. Later about that.
Dreaming...
With 3 kids, I feel I just DON'T HAVE TIME to do anything reasonable. Even though I am Stay-At-Home-Mommy. After buying a 3rd house (yes, crazy, I know), and doing a minor renovation job on it (work that will continue for the next few years, I presume), I DON'T HAVE MONEY- in the spare sense of the word. Perhaps my SAHM status might have something to do with that, as well, but put that aside. And - I DO HAVE ENERGY, and a GREAT PASSION FOR HOUSE DECORATION. So what do I?
I DREAM. I plan and dream; what would I do with this room in that house IF..., what would I do with those walls in the summer house IF..., how would I renovate the bathroom? The terrace? The yard? Turn the 2nd living-room into a pool, perhaps? And dreaming - dreaming of having the chance to participate some interior design courses, perhaps open my own boutique with wonderful, beautiful things to sell to people who appreciate the same style I do, perhaps do some interior design projects on the side...Or vice versa...
This blog is where I've decided to gather my like-to-haves, my notes and plans - and dreams. Some of them might become the reality, majority of them not. Let's see what it will turn out to be!
I DREAM. I plan and dream; what would I do with this room in that house IF..., what would I do with those walls in the summer house IF..., how would I renovate the bathroom? The terrace? The yard? Turn the 2nd living-room into a pool, perhaps? And dreaming - dreaming of having the chance to participate some interior design courses, perhaps open my own boutique with wonderful, beautiful things to sell to people who appreciate the same style I do, perhaps do some interior design projects on the side...Or vice versa...
This blog is where I've decided to gather my like-to-haves, my notes and plans - and dreams. Some of them might become the reality, majority of them not. Let's see what it will turn out to be!
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