Month: October 2015

Pillows and pillowcases

pillows

Pillows and pillowcases. Image borrowed from the internet.

One of the simplest tricks you can use to change the look and feel of a room is to change the pillows and pillowcases in the room. Just by changing their color themes can change the whole room.

pillows, kuddar

Pillows and pillowcases. Mainly from Ikea. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

If your sofa or your chairs are in one color, no patterns, and colors are neutral, it is even easier to create a combination that works well. Keeping the pillows in approximately the same colors but different patterns makes the combinations calm and interesting at the same time.

pillow, pillowcase

Elephant pillow from Svenskt Tenn. Image from the internet.

Pillowcases and pillows come in various materials, patterns and styles. They also come in various price classes.  The pillow above from Svensk Tenn and costs SEK 950. I think that is a ridiculous price for a simple pillow. This is printed on linen. I would never pay SEK 950 for a pillow, no matter it being a famous pattern like this one, or that it covers a down-pillow (just guessing that it does).

pillow, pillowcases

Nadja Wedin pillow. Image from the internet.

Some pillowcases are made by famous designers, like the above by Nadja Wedin. Costs SEK 695. I think that is ridiculously expensive as well.

pillow, pillowcase

Pillow from MIO. Image from the internet.

This one is from, MIO and costs SEK 359. Still too expensive in my opinion.

It is EASY to make a pillowcase all by yourself. The pillows inside can be of any kind and you can find inexpensive ones at IKEA for next to no money. IKEA also has pillow cases for reasonable prices.

All you need to make the simplest pillow case is cloth of the size of the pillow it should cover + some extra for the sewing. If you make a pillowcase in envelope-style, some more cloth than the actual pillow. You can close the pillow case either with a zipper, or buttons, or straps. If envelope style, the cloth itself closes it.

pillow, pillowcase, knitted

Knitted pillow case. Image from the internet.

For some time now pillows covered by knitted or crocheted covers have been seen in various interior design magazines and pictures. The above is about the simples model there can be to knit yourself. Why pay a lot of money to buy one? Unless, of course you have no knowledge of how to knit… You only need yarn of some sort (preferably thick yarn) and 2 knitting needles. How you close the cover is up to you.

pillow, pillowcase, knitted

Knitted pillowcase. Image from the internet.

If you Google the internet for knitted pillowcases you will find plenty of descriptions about how to make them.

pillow, pillowcase, knitte

Knitted pillowcase. Image from the internet.

If course you use colors according to your own wish, and patterns too, just as if you were knitting a sweater…

Or crochet the pillow case. Use your imagination. Pillow cases do not need to be expensively bought.

pillows, pillowcases, crocheted

Crocheted pillow cases. Image from the internet.

Posted by nini in decoration, Design, Furniture and Decoration, Interior Design, textile, 0 comments

The Tube

lamp, thetube, tuben

The Tube Photo:©nini.tjader.2015

I have this 70-ties fluorescent lamp called “The Tube”, designed by Anders Pehrson for Atelje Lyktan. It is a table lamp, shiny black. I bought it in the 70-ties because I really loved its form and look. It has followed me from flat to flat over the years.

This lamp can nowadays be found at various auction sites for around SEK1000. In various colors. You still see it in various interior design articles. Google “anders pehrson tuben” for more pictures and colors. No, I am not selling… I love this lamp.

tuben, lamp

The Tube. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

It was problematic the last couple of years and didn’t really want to be lit. Sometimes I managed to turn it on, and sometimes not. Exchanging the fluorescent light didn’t help.

tuben, lamp

The Tube. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Now, when the cold season is coming and many of the plants that I’ve had outside over the warmer season had to be moved inside, I needed some extra light for the plants. The Tube, with a timer, would be perfect for it, standing on the higher cupboard over the plants in the bedroom.

Decided I needed to have it repaired so i could put a timer to it for putting it on and off. Found via recommendations a firm that could do it. They changed most of the electricity inside it and the lamp is now as new. And the electricity in it is secure again. They did a good and fast job for a reasonable price.

It will live on for many years yet.

tuben, thetube, lamp

The Tube. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Posted by nini in Furniture and Decoration, Interior Design, Various, 0 comments

Finally, a new bathroom cupboard!

bathroomcupboard

My old bathroom cupboard. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

This, above, is my old bathroom cupboard. All emptied in preparation for the new one. The light above it broke back in this spring, and I have since not have any good lighting in the bathroom. It is not enough with only the light from the ceiling. My bathroom does not have any windows.

As the cupboard itself was quite OK I first looked for new lighting, including an electricity outlet as there are none in the bathroom. Which means that I had to have a long cord from the nearby walk-in closet every morning to be able to use my hair-drier.

To find just a new light turned out to be difficult for two reasons. The amount of space above the cupboard was very small. The ones I found did not have any electricity connections for hair-driers etc. The attachments in those I found did not correspond with the number of cords coming out of the wall for the light.

So, an entire bathroom cupboard with light and electric outlet had to be found. Found one, ordered it, and ordered also the job to have it attached to the wall and the electricity. The cupboard arrived faster than expected (delivery time was estimated to two weeks, but in reality it only took five days from ordering). Last Friday I got it all mounted and attached.

bathroomcupboard

The new bathroom cupboard. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2015

Very happy about it! The quality of the light in a bathroom is important. I can now see what I am doing when in front of the mirrored doors (mirrors on bath outside and inside, like the old one had). The fitter also actually asked, when noticing that I am not all that tall, if I wanted the new cupboard a bit lower than the old one. Of course I did! I am so used to bathroom mirrors sitting too high on the walls for my heights that I hadn’t even thought of the possibility to get it put a bit lower on the wall.

The cupboard doesn’t look all that different to the previous one. It is 10 cm smaller in width, but the the same heights. The light is LED. Both at the top and, new to me, under it, down onto the sink. The doors are self-closing. Still haven’t got used to seeing more of myself in the mirrors, but… Love it!

bathroomcupboard

The new bathroom cupboard. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

The cupboard is called Skärgård from Camargue and is bought at Bauhaus. I ordered the fitting and electrical connection from Bauhaus as well.

Posted by nini in bathroom, Furniture and Decoration, Interior Design, 0 comments

Visited the Hem, Villa & Bostadsrätt fair

hjältevadshus

Hjältevadshus. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

On Thursday, the opening day, I visited Hem, Villa & bostadsrätt. A fair about living and tending ones home. It is an odd fair. It gets more odd for each years that I visit it. This year they even built an entire 200 something m2 villa inside the fair.

hjältevadshus

Hjätevadshus. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Nice villa. Wouldn’t mind living in it. I also like the outside veranda.

mittens

Mittens. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Mix that with handknitted, lined with some soft material. The creator of the patterns also made trays with the knitting pattern on it.

glassfish

Glass fish. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

What about a large fish in colored glass with enormous lips? Could be bought for SEK100 at the fair.

soles

Wollen soles. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Or woolen winter soles for your shoes…

granitwalls

Granit walls. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2015

On display were also granit walls. Nice ones really.

leila

Leila in Leilas General Store. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Leilas General Store as a pop-up store was there as usual, and so was Leila herself.

leilas

Leilas General Store. Photo: ©nini.tjader,2015

I am no big fan of what she sells. Too many pastels, and rather expensive. She sold nice jeans-aprons though. No, I didn’t buy any.

The vegetable guy. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

The vegetable guy. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

As on any fair in Stockholm, the guys that sell tools to make various things with vegetables was there, showing off what could be done with the tools.

wallpaper

Wallpaper diamonds. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

To show off current wall paper patterns as small diamond shaped forms… Not really a way to show the wall-paper in my opinion.

adventchildren

Tray with the advent children. Photo:©nini.tjader.2015

Now that the advent children by Lisa Larsson are no longer produced, they’ve made an illustration of them and put it on a tray… I much prefer them as the candle holders they originally are.

garlicgrater

Garlic grater and jars. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

hemovilla_14

Garlic grater and jars. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

The stands that sell garlic jars and plates for grating garlic, were there as usual. They appear on every fair I’ven been to the last couple of years. Nice stuff actually.

pillows, trays, nadjawedin

Pillows and trays by Nadja Wedin. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Another appearance at every fair lately, is the stand with pillows, trays, cloths, postcards by Nadja Wedin.

tray, nadjawedin

Tray by Nadja Wedin, Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

I like her stuff, but they are far too expensive. Almost always very colorful patterns.

nadjawedin

Patterns by Nadja wedin. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2015

But sometimes also in black and white. She always mixes flowers and animals in her patterns in intricate ways.

pillowbynadjawedin

Pillow by Nadja Wedin. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

I wouldn’t mind owning one of her pillows. Or two. But I am not prepared to pay something around SEK850 for a pillow…

sofa

Sofa. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

This is not a fair for furniture. But there was some. I liked this grey sofa.

bathtub, brassbathtub

Bathtub in brass. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2015

This firm, www.sidsid.se, were showing handmade products for bathroom and kitchen. This bathtub in brass was a bit much in my opinion…

coppersink

Copper sink. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

A sink in copper…

Items from sidsid.se Photo: ©ninitjader.2015

Items from sidsid.se Photo: ©ninitjader.2015

But they also showed more normal things. like Moroccan tiles and porcelain sinks.

brassitems

Brass items. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

And the above items I really like. Have no idea what they are supposed to be used for. Very North African/Middle Eastern items.

lampshades

Lampshades from MIO. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

MIO showed parts of their furnitures and lamps. The two above I like. But I presently do not need any new lamps…

fireextinguishers

Fire extinguishers. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Designed fire extinguishers were also on show. I don’t know if I would like to have fire extinguisher with a skull on… To me, that gives the wrong signal. It is absurd to have skulls on them as I see it.

paintsamples, farrowandball

Paint samples from Farrow & Ball. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Of course several paint companies were represented at the fair. The above one apparently is new to Sweden. I like the texture of their paint. Not chalk paint, but matte and soft.

sweaters

Sweaters. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

What do sweaters do on a fair about house and home? Really? who let those in?

trendstefan

Trendstefan. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

I also attended half a free seminar by Trendstefan about current trends in design. Unfortunately I missed the beginning of it as I lost track of time.

trendstefan, doreenmånsson

Trendstefan and Doreen Månsson. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Doreen Månsson, often seen as a TV host for various programs, was the host for the seminars and the one posing questions to Trendstefan. I always enjoy listening to him, be it on the radio, TV or as here, a seminar at the fair.

bathducks

Bathducks in hottub. Photo:©nini.tjader.2015

This fair always have plenty of hot-tubs on display. Huge things… Above illustrated with a gang of rubber bath ducks floating around in it.

bakeandchocolate

Bake and chocolate fair. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

In a nearby hall the Bake and Chocolate fair was taking place. Lots of sweets to taste and look at and to buy.

chocolatebars

Chocolatebars. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

I bought two choclatebars. One white with raspberries and candied violets, and one dark with freezedried strawberries and blackberries.

sugar

Sugar. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

The other thing I bought was Muscovado syrup and sticks with cane sugar.

freestuff

Free stuff from the fair. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

The above is a collection of some of the free stuff that was handed out at various stands. Lots of sweets, apples, pens,…

This is an odd fair as I noted at the beginning of this post. And I haven’t even mentioned some of the stuff shown, like heat pumps, windows, staircases… or anything else that can be used in a house/villa.

Posted by nini in Fairs, Thoughts, Various, 0 comments

Plants and Flowers

plantsandflowers

Plants and flowers. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

The above is from my kitchen. The plants and flowers are taking over my kitchen windows this time of the year. And part of the table on and off.

plantsandflowers

Plants and flowers in the kitchen. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

I normally do not cut off flowers either from the garden or from plants. I usually think they look the best where they grow and not cut off.

plantsandflowers

Plants and flowers in the kitchen. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

This time of the year though it is necessary sometimes to cut off flowers. It is getting cold outside (-1C° this morning) and the pelargonias die when the temperature drops to under 0C°.

Their mother plants had to be cut off when moved inside as they were too tall and wide to get placed on the window sill in the livingroom. Some of the cuttings have been planted into soil and with a bit of luck they might root themselves and survice.  I doubt the cuttings with the flowers will sprout roots, but you never know… I know you are supposed to cut off all flowers of pelargonias if you want them to get roots.

plantsandflowers

Plants and flowers in the kitchen. Photo. ©nini.tjader.2015

I’ve just made space for the flowers in the window instead of on the table (by cutting off all basil leaves from the basil plant and freezing the leaves and thereby getting rid of one pot in the window).

To the right of the pelargonia flowers (the pelargonia is called “Mårbacka”) is my huge hanging Australian Violet, which also has been moved inside. That one too does not survive in frosty weather. It is full of flowers. If it survives the winter indoors? We will see. It started its life as an indoor plant. If I get company I have to temporarily move the violet away from the window where it gets the most light as one of the chairs at the table cannot be used if it is there…

Below the present state of parts of my kitchen windows.

plantsandflowers

Plants in the kitchenwindows. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

ujblogo100

 

Posted by nini in Flowers, House plants, kitchen, Plants, Urban Jungle Bloggers, 0 comments

Autumn skies

autumn, skies

Autumn skies. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

This time of the year, if the sky is relatively clear, and you remember to look outside in the early evening when the sun is setting… then you are rewarded with the most fantastic autumn skies.

autumnskies

Autumn skies. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

All this red from the setting sun, with patches of blue in between the thin clouds.

autumnskies

Autumn skies. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

It is simply beautiful.

(So where did I disappear to the last couple of days? I updated the OS to Al Capitan. And got some problems with it. Updating the OS always means it takes some time to come back and have everything working again).

autumnskies

Autumn skies. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

 

Posted by nini in Nature, Various, 0 comments