my home office needs a face-lift

Organizing my office, that is. I have a really nice home office - it is large, one wall is practically windows, it even has a fireplace! There's a 2-meter-wide mind map board on the wall, my desk is a dining-table-turned-office-desk, so it can fit everything needed. But the all over lying stuff... it sucks all energy out of me, just looking at it. There's product samples, material samples, yarn samples, PR material, marketing material, packing material, office material, studio equipment, products coming to photo-shoot, products leaving a photo-shoot, brochures...shall I continue?

I gathered here a few inspiration photos  - this is where I want to be with the office!

Enough jars for the small stuff on the desk:

A fur on my chair!!

A chalk-board for notes (a big one!)...

...organized shelves (and papers)

...and some pretty stuff. Photos and flowers and such. That window, as well, please :).

I'll try to put it together with the below combination - we'll see how the end result will be. About half of it I already have in the office (somewhere under there...), the other half needs some work. By end of April? Deal?

All the images in this post (and many more) you can find at http://pinterest.com/weranna/home-offices/

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Kotitoimisto, toimiston sisustus, työpöytä, työnurkkaus, työhuone

about luxurious and difficult silk

http://www.cbif.gc.ca/

Silk is difficult, isn't it? It is so lovely and luxurious, and still - the making of it requires killing the mulberry silkworms inside the cocoons, usually by boiling. Doesn't sound too nice, does it? Just to get some understanding on the scale - it requires about 50,000 cocoons to produce one silk sari!

There is the wild silk, which is produced by caterpillars other than the mulberry silkworm. With this the challenge is the color variations, plus the silk thread that makes up the cocoon has been torn into shorter lengths by the pupa emerged before the discovery thus the quality of the silk suffers significantly.

But but but - I ran into the following article, so we have hope to have fully feel-good silk in a larger scale in the future!

"Kusuma Rajaiah, an Indian man, has developed a new technique for producing silk that does not require killing silk worms in the process. Rajaiah has won the patent for producing the "Ahimsa" silk. Ahimsai s a religious concept which advocates non-violence and a respect for all life. However, the production of the silk is more expensive. For example, a saree which costs 2400 rupees to produce using regular silk, will cost 4000 rupees when made with Ahimsa silk.Rajaiah says: "My inspiration is Mahatma. He gave a message to the Indian silk industry that if silk can be produced without killing silkworms, it would be better. He dreamt but that did not happen in his lifetime. I am the happiest person that at least I could do this little thing."

Rajaiah says he started giving a serious thought to "Ahimsa" silk when in the 1990s. Janaki Venkatraman, wife of the former President, asked if she could get a silk saree that is made without killing silk worms. Yarn for a silk saree is usually produced by throwing live cocoons of silkworm into boiling water. A single saree needs up to 50,000 cocoons. Rajaiah allows the moth to escape from the cocoon by waiting for 7-10 days and then uses the shells to produce yarn."

(You can read the whole article here http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-fashion/new-silk-production-technique-does-not-require-killing-worms.html)

Eagerly waiting for this new technique to spread!

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Silkki, silkin valmistus

Lovely dining

We were invited to a 3-generation birthday party Saturday evening, and were dining around this pink and white table. White from the host, pink linen runner and napkin rings made of leather both by Himla was a gift. The dear host decided to use them right there and then, and of course I had to dig out my phone and take some pics. Isn't it pretty? 

Mateus plates, which are hand-made in Portugal, are so beautiful you wouldn't necessarily need anything to accompany them at a table.

Pink roses and pink champagne...with lovely appetizers and main course of shrimp, reindeer meat, salmon, beetroot casserole...it all matched with hints of green. 

You've seen some pics from this beautiful home before, as well, in my 'Light Innocense' post a while ago. The little lantern you see gives a magnificent light - it is hard to catch with a phone camera, but at least the idea is visible :).

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Pöydän kattaus, kattaus, Himla, valkoinen sisustus, ruokailutila

Chic loft style home I visited last week

designsponge.com

Last week I visited a friend to discuss some future co-operation schemes (The pictures on this post are NOT from her home, just her style!).We will start working on some new, exciting things - looking at her home she truly has something special to give to the homes of this world (including mine, I might add, those before-after pics I will happily post here when the time comes!).

matissecolor.blogspot.com

Their house - it is all so neat and nice and beautiful, and at the same time - it is a family HOME. They've fully renovated it from a standard 1970's house - adding ankles and small spaces, knocking down walls and you know - all the stuff only very talented people can visualize when looking at something completely different. Their home is not a show-room created by an interior designer, but clearly a mix and match of things they love.

Upstairs they have one open space from kitchen to the living room. They've combined modern high-gloss kitchen cabinets with moroccan tiles and Tolix chairs, eastern lamp stands to Scandinavian designer pieces. Works perfectly! Their dining area ceiling is at 3-4 meters height, and as a lamp shade they have a huge, upside down basket.

I tried to catch the chic loft style open kitchen/dining area more precisely on the below mood-board - let's see ;)!

Above you find a combination of DYI (the lamp shade), Chinese jar lamps, Balmuir mohair blanket and Iittala Aalto vase, all happily in same space.  All images in the collage you can find at http://pinterest.com/weranna/chic-loft-interior-style/.

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keittiö, keittiön sisustus, ruokailutilan sisustus

Look at this home in Plaza Koti magazine

This black and white home was introduced in the Finnish version of Plaza magazine last month. I promised to post the pictures, and here we go! The text is by Carola Sahlén, photos by Bodil Davidsson, so my guess is that the initial article has been published in the Swedish version, as the home featured is also in Sweden.

 I feel such envy for this family! For their energy, and for their strong will to be done with it - all of it! My house - hmph. We bought it a year ago, did the necessary, and after that - nothing. Well, there are reasons for this, good reasons, but still.

There's been some inquiries from some magazines if they could come and do a story on our home. I say of course, but then I will decide which rooms you get to see...

But this home - everything is perfect! Every single detail. It is actually a new house, even though it looks like an old 'gård'. But perhaps (I'm now defending myself, I know) it is easier that way? I mean - our house. Nothing needed to be done, we were able to just move in (except that upstairs bathroom I wrote about - I need to actually show you the end result of that renovation, I haven't done so yet! Let's make next week a bathroom week!) and your eyes just get used to the things that are not like they should be.

Perhaps with a new house - you invest a lot, it is such a huge project - if you are interested in home decor, you surely want your dream home to be perfect, and EXACTLY like you dreamed?

Look at that drawer - m-mmm. Imagine having all the small stuff in one large drawer like that! The kids stuff in the lower parts so can reach it themselves, and all the billion, necessary small things you need everywhere else - scissors, needless, yarn. Chargers, pens, envelopes.

Well - I think I would be a lot happier person (and my family, when I don't go around anymore like I do now - I know I put it somewhere, I know, but have no idea into which room to start with, and which drawer or which basket!!).

The kitchen:

Their bedroom with a walk-in-closet:

And some details from their bathroom:

Pure lovely.

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Uuden kodin sisustus, mustavalkoinen sisustus, olohuone, keittiö, makuuhuone, kylpyhuone

Defining a new style - Sköna hem rules

Don't you just love this Rustic romantic style the major Swedish interior desing magazine sköna hem is promoting in their 3/2012 edition? I do! Of course I'm a bit biased after taking their interior design courses some time ago. But the course also made me understand that this magazine isn't made by enthusiasts like me, rather professionals with university degrees or similar on the area.(This article by Per Wennberg and Charlotte Petterson, photos by Martin Cederblad). I will keep this edition visible for a long time, as I sooo like the cover of it.

Dining area:

And the bedroom - the look and feel becomes perfect by combining natural materials in textiles: linen, cotton and wool.

I feel so inspired by this style that there will be a couple of more posts of  images from 2 Finnish magazines!

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moderni mummonmökin sisustus, olohuoneen sisustus, ruokailutilan sisustus, makuuhuoneen sisustus.

Wonderful Georgia

Have you ever experienced a true Georgian dinner? With lots (and this is an understatement) of wine, delicious food (layers of plates in front of you) and most of all - lots of speeches.

They salute Georgia, they salute the company they work for, their friends, their family, and women. To mention a few. As a female, it is okay to follow the choreography without participating too much on the wine tasting side, it is fully up to your own wishes - for male - well - don't know if they remember much after participating the traditional way :). The commander of the table is called a Tamada, who gives the floor to the speakers. They speak from their heart, they are funny and they even make you emotional. No, you don't want to decline when the floor is offered to you.

Did you know that Georgia is actually the bio-geographical birth-place of wine, where as the cultural birth-place is somewhere in Central Europe? The best wines of Georgia are delicious, strong and tasty. The toasts are enjoyed from a wine glass, but as often from a bowl, or a horn made of bone. The horn you need to finish on one gulp, as you can't put it down. The horns come in all sizes - beware of the largest one, which can hold almost 2 bottles of wine!

And the people of Georgia? Wonderful, kind, the most friendly you can imagine. Their hospitality is out of this world. If you haven't visited Georgia yet, DO! Wonderful restaurants, perfect skiing, a bunch of international or local hotels to choose from - and very, VERY good red wine.

Inspired by thoughts to the wall

Ville Tolvanen, a Finnish entrepreneur, strategist and growth consultant, is one of those people who make you smile. You know the wonderful people who instead of sucking all energy from you just seem to glow it around them? Well, he's one of those people. With his straight-forward, to-the-point statements which he makes with his eyes smiling.

He's blogging for a major web-published magazine Taloussanomat about marketing (www.markkinointijohtaja.com) and marketing strategies (www.markkinointistrategia.net) and growth strategies both in the internet and outer world (http://www.villetolvanen.com/blog/). His blog posts are to the point, frequent and sometimes make you sweat (he answers to his clients questions by blogging). More often they make you THINK. He's there and screaming silently, clearly annoyed, please comment and have a discussion with me!!, sometimes succeeding, sometimes not.

Unfortunately he is still writing only in Finnish - a while ago he wrote under a title 'every lived life is a piece of art'. Probably his most inspiring post of all to us entrepreneurs who are trying to survive out there  - trying to stick to our beliefs, doing the thing that makes us wake up 5 am and start eagerly working.

He wrote about people who work completely exposing themselves to outsiders - stand-up comics, actors, authors - how hard can that be? I can't imagine - I feel naked enough starting a web shop selling stuff I love and have hard time letting go.

The above is to Ville after recent discussions - and the answer to below is Amen to that. This world could use many more crazy people.

All the wall inspiration on this post can be found at http://pinterest.com/villetolvanen/, the official pallet-geek :).

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Huonetaulut, inspiroivat ihmiset

Grey and yellow knits

When reading the Finnish magazine Plaza Koti, there was also an article about Jonna Hietala, who is the blogger behind a Finnish blog mmmustatuntuu.blogspot.com which I am following.

mmmustatuntuu.blogspot.com

I thought to go check her blog, as I haven't done so for a couple of weeks, and was laughing happily to see her post from February 17 about a knitted tube / mini poncho she had made (also admiring her beautiful daughter who is acting as a model like a true professional :) ) - it would fit perfectly with our charity Nepal hat from the Knithitkit collection. It truly is a small world when it comes to trends - she had come up with the same color combination with stripes as Ms. Maiya from Kathmandu valley.

Knithitkit Nepal hat

And how did this hat model end up in the Knithitkits, our product range created together with Novita? The chief editor Minna Kivioja from Novita magazine fell in love with it :)! When visiting Kathmandu last fall, I took some photos of the different models available and shared some of them with Minna.

The original models in Kathmandu, Nepal

We decided to make a joint product, and give part of the income to the original creator of the model. And the fair trade organization in Kathmandu has been very happy to see their product succeed!

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Neule, neule harmaa ja keltainen, Knithitkit, neulottu myssy, neulottu pipo

Apartment in Soho, N.Y. part III - bathroom

Take a black and white checkered tile floor, a shower corner built with old factory windows and a sink bench with an open shelf (the most reasonably priced bathroom item, btw). Combine this with a round mirror from Bruka (yes, they have it in their collection still, these are HARD to find at least in Scandinavia) decorated with a silk garland, some bamboo textiles by Chakra and a vintage zinc pitcher from www.rubylane.com, for example.

Add a lilac orchid. 

<3

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kylpyhuoneen sisustus, kylpyhuonetekstiilit, bambutekstiilit

Apartment in Soho, N.Y. part II - bedroom

This post is part II to my previous post! The above bedroom was introduced in Design Shimmer blog, and I would for sure try to introduce something similar to my SOHO loft. Only - if my bedroom was like this, I don't know if I would ever be able to get out of bed!

My love for linen won't be fading anytime soon, so I would use linen voile or similar for the bed.

Some Iznik ceramic tiles for the wall, Himla linen and Himla cushion covers to build the bed. A vintage foot stool together with Harri Koskinen's block lamps, vintage wrought iron chairs for bed side tables, and a small color splash with Svensktten wall paper. Perhaps add a room divider for dressing up?

Vintage room divider from Kateysgarden.com

All images from http://pinterest.com/weranna/dream-home-in-n-y/

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makuuhuoneen sisustus, vintage rahi, vintage palli, pellavaverhot, pellavatyyny

Apartment in Soho, N.Y.

I've become majorly hooked with Pinterest, I love the tool! There it is possible to build anything with pictures on a board! One of my boards is called 'dream home in N.Y.' (You find all the images on this post from there!)- if I was given the task to decorate a home in N.Y., specifically in SOHO, what would it look like?

Let's start in the living room:

We would have the must-have old brick wall, of course, to start with:

We would dig out the old wooden floor:

A bookshelf

And some other items!

You think it would work with a vintage leather chair (I think I would NEVER get out of it), IKEA Ektorp 3-seater (it is perfect for a 'background' furniture), some canvas prints, Balmuir lanterns, Himla silk cushions, Harri Koskinen's block lamps and a Louis Vuitton vintage trunk (DREAMING, remember :))?

We add a cozy work space:

http://www.aperfectgray.com/2011/04/ghost-chair.html

With the Louis Ghost, of course..

A kitchen with a SMEG fridge, and some vintage Tolix chairs

The crate spool table I would change to some upcycled table made of vintage doors from Ruby Rhino to fit as many dinner guests as possible.

I would smoothen the style with a hand-made linen rug, photo frames made of recycled wood, and some Festivo vintage candle sticks by Timo Sarpaneva. Kitchen linen made of 100% linen, and this kitchen would be everything I dream of.

You like? I will be continuing with the bathroom and bedroom sections - - -

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olohuoneen sisustus, keittiön sisustus, kierrätyspuu, valokuvakehykset, ruokapöytä