Happy Interior Blog Recommends...

Yesterday evening I had one of those random decoration attacks out of the blue. Oh, I love the expression 'out of the blue'. First of all I love the colour blue, and secondly it has a connection to my decoration attack: Since my living room is predominately decorated in grey, blue and dashes of yellow, I felt irritated by a couple of books with red covers on my sideboard. It was literally a disturbing fact so I had to get up and take out all the red books and pack them out of sight. Now I feel way happier.

When it comes to a sort of visual consistency, I think of my favorite German interior design studio: Studio Oink. And the best thing is that they recently launched an online shop called 'Studio Oink Selected' selling off some of the goodies they use for their stylings, mostly one-of-a-kind vintage pieces. So here comes my little board of recommendations from their current offer. I hope you will like it as much as I do!

1. Danish design plate
2. Enamel breakfast bowls
3. Glass vases
4. Vintage desk lamp
5. Vintage blankets
6. Vintage Danish vase

Happy hump day!

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Why This Room Caught My Eye

After all my travels I love to come back home. Especially to come back to my own bed. Don't get me wrong - I do get to sleep in very, very comfy beds in great hotels and homes, but there's always something that's not quite as at home, right? Well, with this in mind I am sharing a lovely bedroom inspiration with you today. And as usual on Tuesday, I want to show you why this room caught my eye:

• Statement Art Piece: Do you have a statement art piece above your bed? I do have one but on the wall to the side as my bed is perched under a roof pitch thus not ideal for hanging art. But if I had a regular wall behind my bed I'd go for a statement art piece like in this example. It draws the eye's attention instantly and it is a great starting point for stylings in the room as you can draw inspiration, colors and themes from the art piece.
• Matching Cushions: One pair of matching cushions with a print can be excellent to balance the bedroom styling. In this case, two throw cushions with a bold circle print do the trick - they mirror a color hue from the above hanging art piece and create a balanced look. Plus the mustard yellow pompom borders perfectly tie the image together with the bedthrow's color.
• Knitted Bedthrow: I love chunky knit throws - they not only create a comfy feeling but also add great texture to a bed or sofa. This mustard yellow hued throw is fabulously placed in the lower third of the bed and fulfills the styling by tying everything together color-wise: the art piece, the cushions and the bedthrow. Visual pleasure!

Is this bedroom styling catching your eye too?

Photography via Techne

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Highlights From The Stockholm Furniture Fair

The fourth design show in a row since January took me to Stockholm recently. Last week I shared with you some highlight stands seen on the Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair and today I want to take you on another stroll through the design fair with me. And promised, this time it is going to be a bit more colorful (though color remains scarce in Scandinavian design).

This time I'd decided to skip the obvious Scandinavian favorites like Muuto, Normann Copenhagen and others since I had seen them on the other fairs earlier this year. I was roaming around in search for new discoveries and inspiration. Here are a few highlight finds:

A2: A2 is a young Swedish furniture brand with a fresh twist on Nordic design. The contemporary collection is comprised of individual objects as well as furniture families and stands out due to visually interesting accents like creative fronts, integrated plant basins and color accents. The young brand is deeply rooted in the Swedish furniture tradition and every single piece is produced in Småland in Sweden. I particularly loved their funky cabinets and furniture pieces with plant basins. 

Northern Lighting: This Norwegian brand offers a wide range of distinct lighting solution for all kind of interiors - from sleek, typical Scandinavian pieces to colorful and more playful designs. They call themselves 'mood makers' and claim to produce designer lamps and lights for different moods which are inspired by the Nordic nature, culture and society.

Fjordfiesta and Røros Tweed: Two further Norwegian brands that caught my eye at the Stockholm Furniture Fair. Fjordfiesta produces furniture in the typical Scandinavian design tradition but spiced up with a certain Norwegian flavor as they call it. I particularly love the Krobo bench, a design from 1960 with practical accessories that will launch in summer 2014. Røros Tweed is a Norwegian home textiles producer with high quality woolen blankets and pillows and they have been around since 1940. I am afraid I fell in love with their Konfetti blanket!

Hanna Dalrot: In the so-called Greenhouse section young design talents and design schools exhibited their creations. One of them was the Swedish designer Hanna Dalrot who caught my attention with fascinating textile designs named 'Textile Landscapes' in monochromatic hues with dashes of blue. I adored her beautiful, hand painted designs that combined the individuality of brush strokes with a repetitive pattern structure. I hope she will launch her products soon!

Noi Doi: Another young brand in the Greenhouse are was the Norwegian label Noi Doi. The two designers Kathrine Lønstad and Cosmin Cioroiu showcased a multifunctional bench called 'Pulse' and a great lighting design named 'On the Edge'. Very Scandinavian, very cool!

Frama: The Danish design label Frama is not unknown but I was curiously inspecting their stand as I noticed many pieces I didn't know. Frama exhibited furniture pieces, lighting, tableware, accessories - all in a wide range of materials such as wood, steel, stoneware, canvas, concrete, glass, marble and cork. Their designs stand out due to their simplicity - they almost seem Japanese. Frama puts it this way: We present a graphical and plain aesthetic approach to appearance. 

Maze: The Swedish design label Maze aims to amaze the beholder's eye with a refined use of natural materials such as wood and leather and a playful twist in form and structure. The brand pays due attention to sustainability and its entire range of furniture and home accessories is produced locally in Sweden. I really liked their side tables. 

Enough design fun for a Monday! I hope you enjoyed the little tour at the Stockholm Furniture Fair with me and I am wishing you a successful and happy Monday!

Photography by Igor Josifovic & Riikka Kantinkoski

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Meet My Happy Sponsor: Freundts

For quite a while we have seen the trend of using vintage letters - sometimes illuminated ones - in interior decoration. Now finding a really cool vintage letter can be a tricky task - you need to visit lots of flea markets, vintage stores or surf the web for hours. And even once you've decided to settle for a new made letter instead of a vintage version, you often end up finding super expensive examples. In this is where my new happy sponsor Freundts comes into play.

Founded in 2005 by Sabine and Yves Freundt, the Hamburg based online store has gained quite a reputation as an ideal source for vintage and new letters, vintage rarities, kitchen accessories and more. Up to now Freundts is the online store with the most extensive range of letters for interior decoration I have found so far. You can find every letter in various sizes, colours and shapes, illuminated and non-illuminated, vintage and new. Moreover, you will find pretty signs like the famous ampersand, stars and entire words. But their range encompasses more vintage finds and other kitchen utensils. A real treasury!

Whether you decide to hang one of those pieces, lean them against your wall or style them on a console or shelf - the vintage touch of every piece is exceptionally cool and true eye-catcher. My favorite pieces are the bright blue and yellow letters and words like the blue "Co"-sign. 

What do you think of vintage letters in interior decoration? Do you have vintage letters at home? I have a small vintage wooden G but I think I need another letter from Freundts!

Oh, and just so you know: Freundts sells internationally and if you want to know and see more check out their website and their Facebook site.

Happy decorating & happy weekend!

Photography by Freundts

This post has been brought to you in cooperation with Freundts

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Our Blogger Apartment In Stockholm

Yesterday I announced that I will tell and show you a bit more of our blogger apartment in Stockholm. During our Bloggers Tour in Stockholm we were lucky enough to sort of move into the headquarters of the hyper stylish Swedish real estate agency Fantastic Frank. We had their entire upper floor to style and create an apartment feeling with the support of our generous sponsors. Emma was the leading mastermind in styling the entire space which was pretty important because we hosted a design party last Thursday night for the creative scene in Stockholm.

I need not tell you that the party was a full success - design journalists, designers, bloggers, brand representatives, stylists - all flocked at our party and made themselves at home in our blogger apartment. But all of this would have not been possible if we had not have an excellent set up of interior goodies for the apartment:

One Nordic Furniture Company provided us with stylish furniture pieces like chairs, a dining table, sideboards, a magazine ladder, a sidetable and beautiful and comfy cushions. 

No Early Birds added more furniture bliss to our apartment - a desk, stools, another table, and other accessories.

Granit was kind enough to offer us their brand new collection of rugs and cushions that were not even available in stores at that moment.

Auping took care of beds - two brand new models like the super stylish Criade boxpspring bed were added to our apartment including bedlinen by Auping - this bed was a hotspot during the late hours of our party as people flocked in bed for comfy chats & drinks.

Bang & Olufsen and B&O PLAY added to the real life setting their latest home entertainment products like the sleek BeoLab 18 wireless speakers with oak lamellas, a huge home cinema TV and the latest product called BeoSound Essence, a handy round device to control your sound by one simple touch. All this was also put into full force the day after our party when we had our own private movie afternoon - enjoying the full force of picture and sound!

I hope you enjoyed the little tour through our one-of-a-kind blogger apartment in Stockholm. Hopefully we can carry on the concept into other cities all around the globe! And another big thanks to our private driving service during the Stockholm Design Week offered by Uber - such a cool idea to call you private driver through a smartphone app!

Happy Thursday!

Photography by Riikka Kantinkoski

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Happy Interior Blog Recommends...

Good music for my ears and beautiful furniture and home accessories for my eyes - sometimes it doesn't take more for a chilled day at home. While I was in Stockholm, my blogger friends and I threw a party during the Stockholm Design Week in our so-called 'Bloggers Apartment'. The apartment was created in the headquarters of the famous real estate agency Fantastic Frank and we equipped the entire apartment with furniture and accessories from our generous sponsors. But I will tell you more about our 'Bloggers Apartment' tomorrow!

One of our cool sponsors was Bang & Olufsen who was generous enough to offer to everyone of us a pair of personalized BeoPlay H6 headphones - thank you so much. These cuties actually inspired today's product recommendations and I hope you'll like what you see and enjoy some of your favorite music in your stylish homes!

1. BeoPlay H6 headphones by B&O PLAY

2. Nelson Sepuvelda lamp via Body & Fou

3. Jaeda rug via Lulu & Georgia

4. Sticks coat hanger via milanari.com

5. Glass bottles by House Doctor

6. Bitossi ceramic 'Blue Sun' by Aldo Londi via Markanto

7. Why Wood coffee table via John Lewis

Happy hump day!

Photography at top by Igor Josifovic

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Why This Room Caught My Eye

Today I was shuffling things around in my home. I moved books, stacked them differently, added a few books to my windowsill, changed the placement of vases. After all the commotion I finally sighed and said: oh, well. Everything felt ok but not perfect. But on the second glance I realized that the perfection lies in the imperfection. In that little aspect that makes our home look real. Lived in. Not like an over styled home tour in a glossy interiors magazine. Do you know what I mean?

Even today's eye-catching room seems to be in this category of a warm, lived-in home. What exactly caught my eye? Here we go:

• Grey & Blue Scheme: Oh yes, my kind of colour scheme here. I love grey and blue hues in combination. I mean, that is how my home looks like too - with a dash of yellow injected for visual happiness. Here the colour combination creates a perfectly comfy and serene atmosphere.
• Home Plants: Here he comes again, the 'Urban Jungle Blogger' in me - show me some home plants and I'm all smiling. The cacti/succulents on the windowsill and the fig tree in front - just the right addition to this lovely room.
• Various Patterns & Textures: The equation here is classic in interior design: calm and neutral walls, rug and sofa create the best stage for a plethora of patterns and textures to add interest to a room. Play with cushion sizes, shapes and patterns, throw in a variety of textures like the sheepskin in the front, and the visual impact is spot on. 

How do you like this living room?

Photography via Stadshem

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