Happy Interior Blog Recommends: Intimacy Under The Wires By Sivan Askayo

Last month, during my trip to Israel, I had the pleasure of meeting my friend and travel photographer Sivan Askayo in Tel Aviv for a dinner (see us HERE). I was pretty lucky taking into consideration that Sivan is an avid traveler - mostly for her work she travels the world on a constant basis. And as a passionate traveler and restless inspiration hunter myself, both Sivan and I have a solid basis for our friendship. 

During our dinner she told me about a project she hs worked on since 2010 and was now ready to launch. A project with a pretty alluring and intriguing name: Intimacy under the wires. I was curious to hear more about it and so she showed a few of her photos which are now part of her limited edition sold on Artfully Walls. 

I loved the idea that Sivan found inspiration in something rather mundane, especially in cities in the south. Hanging laundry above streets is not so common here in Germany, but very normal in many warmer countries. And it was her domestic ground that set the tone for a series born out of her ongoing inspiration hunt: she snapped the first pics in Tel Aviv's Jaffa neighborhood and continued this series on various other trips to cities like Barcelona, Naples, Florence, Buenos Aires and many more. Whereas hanging laundry seems to be utterly mundane, it carries so much more for the curious observer: it tells an intimate story about its owners and ignites interpretations about the people wearing and using the exposed laundry. 

Ten of her exclusive snapshots of the 'Intimacy under the wires' series can now be bought over on Artfully Walls. 

Happy hump day!

Photography by Sivan Askayo

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Telling Visual Stories With A New App: Steller

Most lifestyle blogs have one thing in common - they predominately tell visual stories. Pictures are an important way to communicate and transmit emotions quicker and easier than words. Now if you add short video clips to this and a few chosen words, what you get is a little visual story that manages to take you away in an instant. If you imagine all this on your smartphone, you get the visual story on-the-go, wherever, whenever! This is where the brand new Steller app comes into action - now it is as easy as a few clicks on your smartphone to tell your visual story.

I've joined Steller recently and uploaded a few first stories. I like how easy it is to come up with a visual story when you go through your pictures and videos on your phone. This can be anything shot in your home, favorite places, cooking, your travels etc. You can group your stories into collections and use known social interactions: you can follow others and be followed, you can like stories, share any found story with your followers and share your own or other stories on various social media accounts.

What is inherent to most of the published stories so far is a high quality of images and a compact length - the majority of stories is told in seven to ten images. When setting up a story, Steller offers you various templates to lay over your images - you can add headlines, short paragraphs, you can crop pics and more.

If you love to snap along nice pictures and if you are a visual storyteller, I strongly recommend you join this fab new app and get inspired and inspire others with your stories. You will find Steller in the app store on your smartphone. I am waiting for you - in Steller! 

Photography by Igor Josifovic

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From Place To Space: Traveling To The Sea

This Monday travel post is very belated, I know. But I have a very good excuse: I spent the weekend in Paris and today I was spending the day with two friends visiting me in Munich, my friend Cécile from Paris and my friend Maria from Cyprus. Whenever I unite with these girls I reminisce about our great and fun times together: we studied in Athens, Greece, and later Cécile and I traveled to Cyprus to visit Maria. Hence most of our common memories are related to the sea - the Mediterranean in our case. And whenever I am spending time with them I remember how much I love to travel to the sea.

During September and October I traveled to the Pacific Northwest and Northern California and I couldn't get enough of the boundless views of the Pacific Ocean. At the seaside my thoughts and worries, plans and concerns, pondering and decisions seem to disperse into the eternity of the sea. They seem to scatter into numberless pieces and fly over the captivating blue and grey hues, to the horizon and beyond. 

Traveling to the sea has a cleansing effect on me. Which is why I have to do it a few times per year. To reboot and refresh my mind, to clear my brain's cache if you want so. I've compiled a few of my favorite sea shots from my last trip to the USA and hope they have a similarly calming and cleansing effect on you, too. 

Moreover, I've decided to immortalize one of my favorite shots as a canvas and hang it above my bed since my bed nook has a sort of nautical theme. I've used the new MyPhotos app by Allposters.de which allows you to turn any iPhone snapshot into an instant piece of art for your home. It's quick and the quality is really good - so it's a great way to turn your favorite shots into art or perfect Xmas presents! The MyPhotos app is available on the iTunes store. 

Photography by Igor Josifovic

This post has been brought to you in cooperations with Allposters.de/MyPhotos

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Happily Ever After: Slø Magazine

There is one thing I know very well: Whenever something arrives from Paris it can only be good! And yes, there was yet another proof of my conclusion. A few days ago I received a little envelope from Paris with a pocket sized magazine inside: Slø Magazine, the slow lifestyle publication made by Sophie Denux and Caroline Gomez from France.

'Travel and Savour' - that's what the magazine proclaims and suggests. Slø Magazine embraces the slow lifestyle, those everyday bits and pieces, people and places. It reminds us to take time, slow down the fast-paced life and see things differently. Its virtuous mission is conveyed through leisurely articles about food and travels, interesting conversations with hipsters and simple yet wonderful photography. 

I took the magazine's mission for serious and decided to have a very slow early morning in bed, savoring the first sunshine, indulging in my warm sheets, reading the third issue of Slø and enjoying its beautiful photography. Well, I guess I've turned into a slø boy…

Oh, if you want to turn into a slø girl or boy, here's the easiest way to do so: Get a copy HERE and enjoy! It's worth it.

Happy Friday, folks!

Photography by Igor Josifovic

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Ideas For A Happy Weekend

I think I am a pretty visual person. Someone who detects and reacts to visual cues. I assume most of you are of the same kin as me, right? That's why I love beautiful art, pretty things for my happy home, colourful goodies for my kitchen, great photography and so much more. And that is why I also love Pinterest. Truth be told, I have been a bit quiet on Pinterest over the past few weeks, mostly because my work-blog-language course schedule keeps me rather busy. But whenever I buckle up for a visual joyride, I can't help but pin away into a world of enchanting photography. 

And you know what I love in particular? After I've pinned a bit, I look back at my pins in the stream and I see wonderful sets and compositions, pins that seem to belong together, that make for a harmonious set - even though I've pinned randomly. So here is my set from today. I pinned along and looking back at the stream I found these four pins so strikingly beautiful as a visual composition and I instantly decided I want to share this with you. Have a happy & beautiful weekend, friends!

Photography: Flowers via Peonies, Pearls and Promises; Bed via Woof x Meow; coffee via Life is Great; Mountains via Light and Shadow.

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Ideas For A Happy Weekend

My biggest plan for almost every weekend is to have a good downtime. Time to relax and zoom out, sleep in and have looong breakfasts. However, this weekend is a bit different as I am in the middle of a few projects and need to finish some planning this weekend. A rather adorable 'little project' is the upcoming Valentine's Day. Yes, next Thursday it's time to pop the question again: Do you want to be my Valentine? Luckily, I've sorted my planning for a fabulous and romantic Valentine's Day, to be precise, Valentine's weekend. What about you? Are you getting ready for Valentine's Day?

Happy weekend!!

Photography by Rowell Photography via Style Me Pretty

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Friday's Favorite Snapshots

This week I was invited by fellow blogger Christine of 'Somebody's Home' to guest blog on the topic 'home away from home'. As a passionate globetrotter and someone who has lived in various cities across Europe, I could easily connect to the topic of a home away from home. And this made me think: what makes us feel at home? What gives us the soothing comfort of our safe haven even when we live abroad, far away from our beloved ones? And what gives us the good feeling of being an eternal traveler, someone who's at home wherever he settles? 

I won't give any answers to those questions, in fact I can't cause I think it is a very personal idea of feeling at home. I tried to grasp my idea in the guest post here. And I snapped these pics with little memories from my times abroad. Knickknack that makes me reminisce of happy times abroad and that come in handy to decorate my little home. My home away from home. Happy Friday!

Photography by Igor Josifovic

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Ideas For A Happy Weekend

Yesterday's post was all about 'colourful happiness'. But there is another side to happiness, too. I love black and white photography. Especially shots of foreign countries, cultures, people. These days I've stumbled over the fascinating work of one of Greece's greatest photographers, Kostas Balafas who passed away last year. Many books have been published with his amazing black and white photographies taken in the past century. I particularly love the book 'Ta Nisia' (The islands) depicting the life of the inhabitants of the Greek islands. Here are four favorites from this book - I would love some plain copies to stick to my wall as eye-catching art pieces. Incredibly gorgeous. Incredibly sumptuous. Incredibly fascinating. I am wishing you a fascinating weekend!

Photography via Kostas Balafas

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Sponsored Post: Hello Canvas!

Have you ever thought of this: How much do you love your digital snapshots? For example your Instagrams? I love mine. But I have never thought of bringing a tiny on-the-go Instagram shot onto real canvas. Not until I was approached by the German company 'HalloLeinwand' (literally: Hello Canvas) and asked if I'd like to give it a try.

Honestly, I hesitated at the beginning. A photo on a canvas for my home? Nay, I am not so fond of. But then I gave it a second thought. I remembered how much I love my quick Instagram shots and how much I like to share them. Now having a canvas with one of my personal shots could be a cool one-of-a-kind decoration for my home or a super unique present for a friend. So I said yes. And I was very surprised.

I quickly chose a simple Instagram shot I'd taken on my last trip to the Italian Lago di Garda in May. The only requirement was that the pic has a minimum of 250 KB. I was pretty sure this will not work and not look good at all. A few days later I was proven wrong. The canvas surprised me tremendously. The quality of my shot is incredibly high and the colours are very vibrant - the lightsign seems even to glow on the canvas. Now I am pretty happy with the outcome and think it is an ideal and personal piece to decorate my kitchen or a breakfast nook in the future.

For anyone who likes this idea I am pleased to tell you that HalloLeinwand offers a 15 % reduction on any order by using the promotion code 'Happyinterior'. Now the hardest thing is to choose one of your cool Instagrams or digital photos. And then there will be more happiness in your home, too! Happy Tuesday!

Photography by Igor Josifovic

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Happily Ever After: Robyn Thompson

Happy Friday, friends! Time to dedicate some space and time to a talented person. In my blog series 'Happily Ever After' I try to find interesting and inspiring artists who catch my eye and attention with their work. This week, I got all dreamy and inspired while browsing through the sublime portfolio of the photographer Robyn Thompson. 

On her website you will find beautifully curated folders with topics such as Marrakesh, Paris, the Mediterranean or a leisurely weekend. Click here to see more of her impressive work. 

Do you wanna get enchanted by the colours of Marrakesh? Wanna get seduced with the savours of the Mediterranean or rather stroll the cobbled streets of Paris? Whatever you feel like today and wherever you are, Robyn Thompson takes us there with the click of her camera. Do you feel inspired?

Photography by Robyn Thompson

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Ideas For A Happy Weekend

Why do we love weekends so much? Well I'll tell you why I love weekends. Because I finally have some time for myself. Selfish? I wouldn't say so. I strongly believe that we all need a little 'time out' just for ourself. To be by yourself gives you the opportunity to rethink decisions, to clean out your thoughts, to reboot your inner system. To silently enjoy the moment and the beautiful things you like to surround yourself with. To listen to your favorite, old song. Maybe to sing along. Weekends are good to remember that you have to be your best friend first. Only then you'll be able to be someone else's best friend, too. Enjoy a good cup of coffee alone. Oh, and don't forget to smile. Happy weekend!

Photography by Eldrid via Eldrids Blog

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Happily Ever After: Stella Harasek

If only my Finish was a bit better. Ok, ok, if only I understood Finish at all. Then I'd be able to tell you if this is the home of the Finish freelance writer and photographer Stella Harasek or this stylish home was just shot by her. Either way - this lady has style. Oh yes. 

I don't even know where to start with my devoted admiration. Do I point out that classy Butterfly chair by Jorge Ferrari-Hardoy? Do I favour the neutral colour palette, the abundance of natural light, the quirky magazine rack? What I love most about this home is its honesty. Its unpretentious being. Its personality. Its lived-in atmosphere. This is not a neatly styled high-gloss mansion. It's not a museum-like collection of paraphernalia. It is not an over-stylized design gallery. And that is predominately why I love this home. It is a real home. One that you'd love to come back at the end of the day.

Photography by Stella Harasek via Divaani/Hima

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In Love: The Paris Print Shop

Some of you might know that I am emotionally bound to Paris. The City of Light. The City of Love. Well, above all it is a fascinating city. Now, this weekend I am off to Paris again for a four days retreat and it came as a sort of coincidence that just yesterday one of my fellow bloggers and great Paris lovers, Nichole of Little Brown Pen, has announced the opening of her new web shop 'The Paris Print Shop'. 

In her new online boutique you will find some of her finest shots of Paris. Her artful eye captures those tiny, little moments that convey the unique spirit of the city and enchant every art loving and Paris adoring heart. And how charming are the colour stories of her shots? Well, this weekend I will pay due attention to all those fine little details in Paris! Á bientôt, mes amis!

Photography by Nichole Robertson for The Paris Print Shop

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Happily Ever After: Ingalls Photography

When it comes to interior design or more generally to the beautiful things in life, we all aim to capture those precious moments forever. I am speaking of photography. With handy tools like smartphones and perfect apps like Instagram this not only becomes perpetually possible but fun, too. However, nothing beats the quality of professional photography. I happened to discover Brooklyn based Ingalls Photography through a little online research and literally fell in love with their portfolio stretching from interiors, travels, food to lifestyle.

I've spent clicks and clicks on their website and felt the immediate urge to share this discovery with you. Click here to see their amazing work and if you are in need of a professional photographer in the States, this might be a very good source. Have a happy Friday, folks!

All photography by Ingalls Photography

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