Happy New Year & Peace In 2015!

Happy New Year, my friends! May 2015 bring happiness, health and peace to all of us - I wish nothing more than that! I hope you all kicked off 2015 with your beloved ones and let us all work on a fantastic and good year to be proud of!

This January starts with a lovely home story for Happy Interior Blog. I am very honored to be the cover story of the January issue of Heart Home Magazine. A little home tour and story about my rooftop apartment in Munich is now available to all interested readers HERE.

I truly believe that happiness needs to be the strong fundaments of our homes. If we are happy and content, we will spread this happiness and share it with the world. Even the slightest dash of happiness will brighten our world that is so often darkened by crazy, incomprehensible attacks against a human and peaceful world. I am still under the oppression of the recent attacks in Paris, France, the city I call my second home. One sentence needs to unify all of us today: Je suis Charlie!

Let us remember that happiness and peace are the bond between all of us, that it is the essence for a better world and a better life. Let us all work on that in 2015!

Have a great one, my friends!

Photos by Igor Josifovic via Heart Home Magazine

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Home Tour: Relaxed Scandi Feeling In London

Here's a little thought: If I had money and owned such a small apartment as the one I currently live in, I would hire a good architect to help me redesign the interior in a smarter and better way. I am often amazed by the work of experienced architects and interior designers when they create a small apartment. But I digress. Today I am not taking you to a small apartment but to a spacious and beautiful home in London.

This home is located in London's Furlong Road and was recently recreated by London based architects at Matteo Bianchi Studio. The home owner briefed the architects to create a stunning and flexible space - fun for kids and adults alike - with a scheme to set the scene for evening entertaining. 

The team at Matteo Bianchi Studio opted for shades of cool blues, warm dusky purples, greys and mixed textures. They opened up the internal rooms and the external back wall to ensure natural light flowing into the entire apartment. The soft yet bold colours are a great setting for some iconic furniture pieces to enhance the entire look and feel of this home. 

For the open kitchen area they created a sort of bistro feeling with a breakfast bar and opening up to a lush garden. This creates a very social kitchen for entertaining. Beautiful tiles were used for flooring and the splashback and great lighting solutions round up the entire design. 

I like the contemporary yet relaxed and airy feel of this apartment. It looks sophisticated yet unpretentious, it has a cool Scandi feel and warm and inviting colours. It definitely looks like a good home for a family with kids who likes to entertain and socialize. In a nutshell: I think the briefing was well understood and executed.

How do you like this example of interior design?

Photography via Matteo Bianchi Studio

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The Home Of Artist Ana Kras

'It's an improvisation of an apartment' says Ana Kras, the Serbian designer who has relocated to New York City's Lower East Side a few weeks ago. Most of her belongings are still with her parents in Belgrade, Serbia, and in her previous home in L.A. And yet, she has added a witty and artsy touch to her new home with just a few pieces. 

I love the work of Ana Kras and I blogged about her two years ago and I am fascinated to see her career going from great to greater. Her new apartment showcases one thing: you don't have to fill up a space. Sometimes just a few practical items and some personal details will make a home. Some knickknacks, some art pieces. And a few houseplants of course. 

As an artist she is not surrounding herself with her own work - it is a personal decision. However, you can see one of her famous Bonbon lamps on her dining table - it is an early model of an ongoing series that was included in the 2014 NYC Makers biennial at the Museum of Arts and Design in Manhattan. 

Her initial quote made me think: isn't every home a sort of improvisation? It reflects our current state, lifestyle, situation. It changes and evolves with us. We improvise. Every day. And that is good. Anything else would result in stagnation and idle life. Here's to more improvisation in life!

Photography via T Magazine

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Growing A Home With Love & Reflection

It's almost three years ago that I started Happy Interior Blog. And it all started because of my love and passion for interiors but more than that because of my love for personal homes with a soul and character. Homes that mirror the owner's personality. Homes that grow over time. With its dwellers. Even though I have not moved from my apartment ever since I started blogging, it has grown over time, it has changed, shaped and has gotten more mature, more reflective, it has become a tad more serene. And what is even more important - it is far from reaching a point of perfection. Just like myself. That's why I want to encourage you to love your home, to grow it and to be comfortable and content with the home you are shaping yourself.

Home has a peculiar meaning to me. As a kid belonging to the so-called second generation of foreigners living in Austria, I grew up being at home in Austria with my parents, but everyone kept telling me that our real home was back there what then was Yugoslavia. I grew up in a feeling of not belonging here nor there. Or belonging here and there. I've developed a feeling of being at home wherever I found myself at any point in my life - be it in Austria, Greece, Germany or France.

Growing a home takes time. Like growing anything in life: partnerships, kids, or simply plants. It requires time and attention. And lots of reflection. This applies to homes too. Let your home flow and go with your life. Bring things in, take things out. Just like in your mundane life. Stick to things, cherish them and don't part with them. Again, just like in your everyday life. Make your home not only a safe haven, but also a reason to be happy. Let it make you smile, let it make you unwind, ponder, and feel at ease. After all, it's your home, it's you. It's where you belong. Wherever that may be.

Happy weekend, friends!

Photography by Igor Josifovic

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Home Tour In Llamas Valley Magazine

I am pretty happy about all the positive feedback I get whenever I share some glimpses into my tiny apartment. Most friends tell me that my apartment looks way bigger when I take photos and share it, but in fact it still is and will remain a teenie-tiny rooftop apartment with 32 square meters. Nevertheless, this was not a scary obstacle for the folks of the interiors e-magazine Llamas Valley and they approached me and asked me to invited them for a little home tour. My answer was quick: Yes, you are welcome!

A few weeks later I welcomed one of their freelance photographers, Lina Gavénaité, to my home and invited my friend and fellow blogger Bridgee over too. I thought it would be nice to invite them to a cup of coffee and then we will discuss the Hollywood-like settings and angles to make the best out of this little cave. 

But Lina is a professional. From the moment she arrived she unpacked half a dozen of objectives, her tripod and screened with her eyes all corners and photo opps. While I was brewing the coffee, she was half through the shooting. Oh my, can I be a professional photographer too one day? Pretty please?!

The editor-in-chief of Llamas Valley Magazine sent over a few interview questions and you can see and read the full home story in their latest issue HERE. And well, if you ever happen to be around, you're welcome to join me for a cup of coffee, too!

Happy weekend from Munich!

Photography by Lina Gavénaité

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Design Chair Crush: Leya By 'Freifrau'

Design chairs are something like 'hot stuff' for interior design aficionados. You know, just name dropping like Eames chair, Wishbone chair, Egg chair, the CH07 or 'Smiling chair' by Wegner - just to mention a few. Design lovers get big eyes and phrases of awe and praise cascade out of their mouths. Very normal! But as many things in life, the story has another side too. Most of those highly appraised chairs have a price tag that requires either a hereditary fortune or several years of saving - and then we've gotten to one chair! Moreover, some of those amazing chairs (not all of course) seem to lack one important feature - a comfy seating. Good for the eye, not so good for your back. Many aspects to consider!

And then I met Leya. A chair with an exotic name like a beauty from the shores of an unknown country. However, Leya is German, yup, she's literally my neighbor. Better yet: she is my new roomie!

Leya is the dulcet name of a beautiful chair from the German manufacturer 'Freifrau' and designed by Birgit Hoffmann. The design label 'Freifrau' was founded in 2012 and is specialized in the design and production of top-notch chairs. Leya is one of their flagship chairs: It is the chair of contrasts, it combines warm and cold materials, hard and soft surfaces, a masculine and feminine touch. The wired base has an industrial touch whereas the soft leather upholstery recalls a lounge feeling. Plus it comes at a very affordable price tag for a design chair. But the best is yet to come!

Visually, this chair is definitely appealing to my eye. But the moment of revelation occurs once you take a seat. So far, this is the comfiest chair I have ever sat on. It is solid yet soft, stable yet puffy. Ever since it moved in with me it has become my favorite chair to read and work. My apartment is too small for a dedicated home office, so this chairs takes the position of a home office slash reading nook. And in fact, I can't wait for the day when I move into a bigger apartment and have a proper desk. Guess which chair will be accompanying my desk then? Yup, her name is Leya. And I like her very much.

Photography by Bridgee Melling & Igor Josifovic

This blog post has been brought to you in collaboration with 'Freifrau'

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Israeli Design: Visiting Studio Cheha

This Monday I kicked off my blog posts about my recent Israel trip and today I want to share a very special design discovery I made in Tel Aviv. Thanks to my design savvy friend and fellow blogger Chedva I had the opportunity to meet a super cool young Israeli design couple, Nir and Aya from Studio Cheha.

This young couple lives in downtown Tel Aviv and their studio is actually part of their apartment. At first, it was a bit intimidating to enter someone's home and privacy without knowing the people, but Nir and Aya are such an easy-going and friendly couple, they made me feel at ease and welcomed me like a friend. The open door to the studio caught my immediate attention and I asked Nir to show me around and tell me a little bit more about his latest design called 'Bulbing'.

'Bulbing' is a magical lamp design that combines simplicity, technology and a whimsical 3D-effect. A warm LED light is set in a simple and solid wooden base and exchangeable acrylic shapes with 3D-effects can be 'plugged in' - the light is warm, soft and soothing and creates a cosy atmosphere. As simple as the idea seems, Nir has put a lot of work and thought into this lamp design. His early works include those large scale faces made on wooden panels with nails and thread (you can see them on the pics of the studio) - a work of hours and hours. He initially designed the shapes on his computer and projected the image on wooden panels and recreated the design with nails connecting them with thread thus creating a 3D-effect on a two-dimensional surface.

The entire apartment of Nir and Aya was filled with his creative works inducing various wall decor items. Their home reflects their creativity and dedication - I loved how comfy it was and how relaxed the atmosphere was. Moreover, Aya prepared some delicious Israeli sweet treats for us - little tahini-chocolate bites that were so delicious that I had to get the recipe from her!

Even though the 'Bulbing' project is pretty new, they have already gained international attention and lots of support - currently the project is being crowd-founded on Kickstarter (and I am a proud backer of them) and if you want to support this creative couple join in and secure yourself one of those cool lamps!

Photography by Igor Josifovic

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