Giving your bathroom a facelift

Bathroom facelift - kylpytiloihin piristystä

Need a facelift for your bathroom after summer? Perhaps your towels have been rolling in the beach basket for a few weeks now, and some small feet have managed to stain the bathroom mats. Shouldn't be bragging too much about products we are selling, but really...these Chakra towels and bathmats are just out of this world (ONLY remember to wash the towels before use). I had never really understood, how big of a difference there can be between a cotton towel, and a cotton and bamboo blend towel before using these now for 1,5 years. It can be quite huge. The kids refuse to use anything else at home, as the bathtowels are just so SOFT. And keep on getting softer with each wash.

Because of the bamboo, they smell fresh even after a few day's use.

The bathmats - the Pebblestones bathmats we've had on our bathroom and restroom floors the same time, with 3 kids running back and forth, so they get washed every few weeks. I wash them in 60 degrees, I guess can't recommend it, but I do and then I tumble dry them and put back on the floor. No signs of usage so far. Love <3.

Also pictured some hand-made Cottonhut bathroom accessories together with Chakra baskets.

If you wish to purchase some, use code CHAKRA20 in the shop until July 31, 2013. You get 20% off the whole shopping basket.

Bathroom facelift - kylpytiloihin piristystä

Bathroom facelift - kylpytiloihin piristystä

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Tarvitseeko kylpyhuoneesi piristystä kesän jälkeen? Ehkä pyyhkeet on vähän muussaantuneet uimakassin pohjalla, matot pinttyneet jatkuvasta ulkoota sisälle juoksemisesta, ja olisi kiva vähän uusia molempia. Ei saisi vissiin kehua omassa kaupassa myytäviä tuotteita, mutta näitä nyt kehun. Chakran kylpyhuonetekstiilit on aivan mahtavia! Meillä on ollut kylpy- ja käsipyyhkeet käytössä nyt 1,5 vuotta (muistathan pestä ennen käyttöä!), ja lapset eivät kotona enää suostu käyttämään mitään muuta. Enpä ollut ikinä ymmärtänyt, mikä ero voi olla puuvillapyyhkeen ja puuvilla-bambupyyhkeen välillä, mutta nyt ymmärrän. Nämä ovat niin PEHMEITÄ. Ja muuttuvat kokoajan pehmeämmäksi, mitä enemmän niitä käyttää.

Bambukuidun vuoksi ne eivät ala tuoksumaan tunkkaiselta useammankaan päivän käytön jälkeen. Täydellisiä siis.

Kylpyhuonematot meillä on olleet lattialla vessassa ja kylpyhuoneessa saman aikaa, ja niitä tulee 3-6 lapsen juostessa edestakaisin pestyä muutaman viikon välein pesukoneessa. 60 asteessa, vaikka sitä ei ehkä saakaan sanoa, mutta niin meillä. Heitän pesun jälkeen kuivausrumpuun, ja takaisin lattialle. Vielä ei käytön jälkiä näy.

Kuvassa myös Cottonhutin käsintehtyä keramiikkaa kylpytiloihin, sekä Chakran romanttisia koreja.

Jos innostuit, käytä kaupassa koodia CHAKRA20 Heinäkuun 31, 2013 mennessä, niin saat 20% alennuksen koko ostoskorin sisällöstä <3.

Preparing the smoke sauna for midsummer

This spring and summer I've been so crazy about dark blue, lavender and pink that I couldn't help myself even for midsummer...last year it was birch tree, this year it is clearly the road-side wild lupines.

The sauna is now almost ready, so this will be now a quick post with photos - enjoy you all out there, we certainly are :)!

So hard to capture the smoke coming out of the door - but it's there :)

Old fish-net - from 1948, it says.

Our tradition - the men go first and use the sharp heat from the stove. Ladies turn...milder, with some champagne ;).

The water is there so you can rinse your feet when running back to the sauna from the currently freezing cold lake...

Our above Peshtemal towels from Turkey have been in great use in the smoke sauna for years - some of them have faded a bit when they've spent too much time drying outside (like over the winter or so...), but I can't do anything except recommend these.

Ready to go...

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Savusauna, juhannus, juhannussauna

this summer it is really back to basics

What are your summer plans? Travelling? Staying at home? Visiting friends? Ours - staying at our summer house and taking it easy. Enjoying the silence.

When one is made in Finland, you just sort of need the silence. Here - some hundreds of kilometers away from everything, by Lake Saimaa and in the middle of the forest - yes, it is quiet. Yesterday, when driving, I had this vision in my mind - after crazy 2 weeks and with little sleep (way too little), I will sit somewhere alone in peace and have a glass of wine. 2,5 hours after we arrived we are still going on like madmen, carrying stuff (like the Clematis here in the awfully heavy copper vase...) and hungry and  - you know all that.

So what does this mother do? Pours herself that glass of wine and volunteers to start the sauna (pictured above). And finally enjoys the quiet. Ahh - heaven on earth.

It has been kinda hectic year - full of happy moments and good memories, as well, but  - well, not getting into that now. So this summer it will be REALLY back to basics. Sleeping.

Spending a lot of time with the kids doing DIY stuff - I've thrown some ideas to Facebook already, there is a dozen more to come. Stay tuned :). ECORATING it can be called - almost anything old (enough ;)), as long as it is made of natural materials, can be upcycled to something beautiful. The Finns are traditionally world champions on this, especially my mother's generation after experiencing the war in their childhood.

Some small projects around the yard and the buildings - some painting and tuning and adjusting - you'll see ;).  And knitting and crocheting - for Knithitkits, for sure, but also just ideas to share.

And - some personal development - learning to use a camera. THIS will be the challenge of the summer.

But, but - my dear readers; Enjoy the summer and the slow mornings, have colorful picnics and eat lots of raspberries, and just BE. And while at it, visit www.werannas.blogspot.com every now and then :).

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mökkeily, kesämökki, kesä, tuunaus, tee-se-itse

Smoke sauna



Again it is midsummer time in Finland...this hasn't been so nicely reported at BBC's Finland's midsummer madness, but I love the celebration! The sauna, nice BBQ, sparkling with strawberries, the midnight bonfires...

My husband is very fond of sauna, but the traditional smoke sauna (pictured here) we use for a bit more special occasions. The only reason for the occasional use is that it takes 6-8 hours to make it properly warm. I took a little head start for the decoration, as we received a big load of firewood yesterday on our yard, and I just had to try, if I can loosen the birch bark!

And I managed, even though I then later today found out that you should do this during the spring when the sap of the tree is still in the trunk. Anyway - one thing led to another, I cut out some hearts, and it turned into a door decoration. Simple, but very midsummer!

My father-of-law was here a few days back, and when he had left, we found 6 of the below bath whisks on the porch. Couldn't wait until tomorrow to use them :)! We use the vihta or vasta, made of fresh, preferrably young birch twigs, to beat ourselves to get the blood circulating in sauna. Sounds very medieval, but the scent of birch leaves is delicious in the sauna!

Our smoke sauna is built on a rock, and it looks like a small, centuries old hut. Designed and built by Kuortaneen hirsitalot, a bunch of talented guys from Pohjanmaa, the western part of Finland, it really fits the Finnish nature.

Have a good Midsummer!!

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juhannus, savusauna, mökkisauna