| to sleep like a baby |

This post is a small but very needed rant of a sleep deprived new (5 months) mother...

Some weeks back (I don't know when, time is a blur) I returned to blogging after having had my baby boy. I told you he was sleeping 7 straight hours a night and that allowed me proper rest and some surplus of energy to work on my blog. Well....Jinxed! Just a few days after that he went into a sleep regression and started waking up every 45 minutes...

And so my husband and I are back to feeling like zombies...dragging ourselves through the days... happy with the little one, obviously (he is actually a little angel in all other aspects), but so damned exhausted! We have some better nights, and some really horrific ones. Like when there's so much tossing and turning that we stay awake anxiously just waiting for that moment when he loses his pacifier and starts screaming.

So seriously, who was the genius that thought that "to sleep like a baby"should be synonym of sleeping well?!?! The expression should be "to sleep without a baby"!

photo by April and May

photo via EEF lillemor

photo via ByNord

photo by Kjerstislykke

Kitchen Crush | White on White

This kitchen is in a house in Milan but it could be Scandinavian. The family knocked down some walls to get a kitchen "allrum" (family room), a concept which is very popular up here in Scandinavia. Also very Scandinavian is the use of white, lots and lots of white, that grant a relaxed and bright atmosphere to the whole space. And notice the great mix of clean modern lines, furniture that looks a bit more traditional and an industrial touch with the Tolix chairs.

Yup, I definitely have a kitchen crush on this one!

photography: Morten Holtum
via: Bo Bedre Norway

| Spring Feelings | Scandinavian Interiors

A very small but very sweet and feminine apartment, from Fantastic Frank.

The brightness of the white, the soft pastel tones and lots of plants spread around give it that extra touch of Spring Mood.

all images via Fantastic Frank

Gorgeous Apartment in Grey | Scandinavian style

Before going fully into Spring Mode, I want to share this beautifully styled apartment for sale on Stadshem. A typical scandinavian interior in tones of grey (and still quite bright) to put end another grey Winter. 

I love the little concrete table in the living room. 

And the kitchen is just perfect - fresh and yet cosy with the wooden utensils on display - I wouldn't change a thing!

all images via Stadshem

Grey Atmosphere

A book, tea, beautiful interiors, amazing view...

Vipp Shelter

via Vipp

Boy's Room Inspiration | graphic + black and white

If you read my last post, you know I'm expecting my first child - a boy - and that I've been looking for inspiration for his future nursery/room.

One of the styles I'm more fond of is the graphic + black and white room.

I found this example from SISSY+MARLEY (you can see more of their portfolio on Pinterest here) and I'll tell you what I like more and less about it. 

project by SISSY+MARLEY

all images via: Project Nursery

I like the black and white. There!... I can't help it. I'm not a big fan of a lot of colour. I absolutely hate those rooms that are all pink or all blue and everything matches. They give me nightmares and I simply can't have it. I love neutral colours as a canvas, and then yes, then I can introduce some colourful details: with the books, the toys, some clothes...

I don't really like the starts on the wall... to me it's too much. A white wall there, maybe with a frame or a poster, would have been much more to my style. 

I'm also not crazy about some of the pop design elements that we've been seeing spread and repeated till exhaustion in many interior design blogs: like the batman poster or the big Lego head. But once again this is due to my personal taste. I much rather prefer the vintage vibe from the leather trunk dresser.

Now the best part for me, and something that tends to be a theme in black and white children's rooms, is the chalkboard wallpaper. There's just so many things we can do with it, so many inventive and fun ways to use it that I'm 100% sure that that will be part of my little Matheus' room.

It's a Boy! | Looking for Inspiration

Three weeks ago we found out the gender of the baby we are expecting. And just in case the tittle of this post didn't give it away...It's a boy!

I can honestly say I had no preference. I wasn't rooting for one or the other and was sure to be very happy either way. And all that was true but I hadn't realised one thing - the last two babies in my family were girls, I'm a girl, I know what girls like, what they dress what they play with and... somehow when I imagined the baby's room I always pictured a girls room! 

So my first thought, as I was lying on the ultrasound table, was that my nephew will be hysterical that I'm having a boy (he really, REALLY, wanted it to be a boy). My second thought was...oh oh, a boy's room...need to figure out a boy's room!

So for the last three weeks I've been immersing myself in baby boy's stuff. I've got some really adorable clothes (one word - overalls!), and have been looking at tons of images on Pinterest  (I have a [ Kids ] board with images both for boys and girls) searching for inspiration for his bedroom.

I narrowed it all down to three styles that I really like: 1. black and white graphic, 2. soft tones nature inspired, and 3. vintage/retro details; all with a Scandinavian feeling. Knowing myself I'll probably end up trying to manage a mix of these three. But I'm planning a series of posts with different examples to explore each type a bit more deeply, and maybe inspire some of my readers. 

image source:

1 | 2 | 3 

Turn on the lights! | Styling for Autumn

It's true that during the Summer we get these wonderfully long days, here in Denmark, with lots of light from early morning until very late in the evening. But in the Autumn and Winter we get (suffer!) the exact opposite...

Now that the days are noticeably shorter I wanted to share with you this apartment from Fantastic Frank, beautifully styled to translate an Autumn Mood. The lights turned on on every room are necessary even during the day because it's very dark anyway, unless the sun decides to grace us with it's presence and that doesn't happen often. 

The various lamps give the rooms a warm colour and cosy - hyggeligt - atmosphere, that is absolutely fundamental to survive the Winter blues (it's that and chocolates). I only wished they had also used some candles because that would give it an even more Scandinavian feeling.

styling: Thomas Lingsell

photography: Emily Laye

via: Fantastic Frank

Black and White Stairs

Today I want to show you these wonderfully graphic black and white stairs. They were introduced in an old apartment in Stockholm during it's renovation by Andreas Martin-Löf Arkitekter. 

The result is a beautiful and extraordinary new architectural element that stands out while still belonging to this space.

architecture: Andreas Martin-Löf Arkitekter

styling: Sofie Ganeva

photography: Emily Laye

via: Fantastic Frank

Dark&White Scandinavian Kitchen

Today I want to show you this gorgeous kitchen in a 155m2 Danish apartment from 1908.

I love that it looks so elegant and yet cosy - with big contrasts of dark and white and a masterful mixture of vintage and contemporary design pieces. 

A perfect fit for this wonderful, huge space with it's old, high ceilings in plaster.

 

photography: Birgitta Wolfgang Drejer

all images via: Femina

Product Help:

In the dining space, the wall lamp - 265 - is from Flos, designed by Paolo Rizzato, and the chairs are a mix of the Eames plastic chairs from Vitra

The kitchen furniture was specially made for this apartment by the Danish company CPH square, and the beautiful and huge pendant - Taraxacum 88 S - is designed by Achille Castiglioni also from Flos.

On the side wall you can see the Stendig Calendar, designed by Massimon Vignelli and to the left a Gubi black stool.

Black and White Kitchen

Today I'm loving this kitchen - with a bit of a dramatic flair - found on Fantastic Frank.

The black walls covered with photo frames are a consistent theme throughout the whole apartment. But I find them particularly original and interesting in the kitchen. 

The black frying pans against the black wall is a beautiful, almost understated, detail and allows for the contrast between the black walls and floors and the white tiles and carpentries to be more accentuated.

A single pop of a bold colour, with that ceramic pot on the stove, and we have a truly inspirational kitchen .

styling: Ida Cederlöf

photography: Emily Laye

from: Fantastic Frank

Two | Fantastic | Spaces

Today I'm drawing inspiration from the Swedish real estate web site (or should I say institution by now?) Fantastic Frank...again!

Both spaces are uncluttered and bright, with gorgeous white floors...very Scandinavian like.

I can see myself spending hours on that reading corner, beautifully styled in black and white, surrounded by wall art and my favourite magazines.

And the kitchen looks amazing with those white subway tiles all the way to the ceiling.

styling: Thomas Lingsell  

photography: Martin Wichardt

via: Fantastic Frank

Bedroom Inspiration

styling: Thomas Lingsell 

photography: Martin Wichardt

via: Fantastic Frank

Tine K's Summer cottage | scandinavian style

About two years ago I shared with you some beautiful photos of Tine Kjeldsen's home (from the danish company Tine K Home), and today I want to show you some images of her Summer cottage. 

A typical Scandinavian summer house with a fresh and romantic style, white, grey and neutral tones prevailing, and a mixture of rustic and design pieces.

all images via Isabellas

Looks cozy (hyggeligt) doesn't it?