Best use of treadmills. Ever.

There aren't many benefits to having the flu, but one is lying on the sofa catching up with MTV again. When I saw this one, I felt SO much better. It almost made me want to get up and dance. On a tread mill. I must be getting better.

Retro garden furniture

Time to get out in the spring sunshine and relax! (A bit cloudy here at the moment, but I'm optimistic).

OK, so these chairs are on a 1:12 scale or something, but I really wouldn't mind having them in a real life size. They would go SO well with my pink plastic flamingoes... The chairs are vintage, bought in a second hand market. I don't really have anywhere to put them at the moment, but I'm thinking my son might like them for when he starts playing with (Barbie?) dolls :-)

Tea towel from New Zealand, grapes from South Africa.

Have a great weekend!

I want to move to Brooklyn...

...when I look in this book. I received it from Amazon today. I have only been to Brooklyn once and only for a few hours, but I really liked it there and hope to go back again soon.
Since subscribing to a lot of great interior and design blogs, I haven't had the need to buy as many interior books as before. This one I just had to have, though. Author is Diana Lind, photography by Yoko Inoue. It features amongst others, the home of designer and blogger Lena Corwin and has an essay by local Brooklyn blogger Grace Bonney of Design*Sponge.

Shop update

These new cushions are now available in my web shop JB design.

The site is still in Norwegian only, but if you would like to purchase from overseas, please send me a mail.

Coffee time

It's high season for fleamarkets here, and I came across 4 sets of these vintage teal blue cups with plates at the weekend. They are Norwegian, and I believe the maker is Stavangerflint, although it says GC underneath. If anyone knows any better, I'd be glad to hear from you :-) I guess these are actually tea cups, but I like a big cup of coffee.

The matching tea towel is by Skinny laMinx. Thank you,Heather!

Dream house

One is allowed to dream, right? Check out the New York Times slideshow of the Kaufman House in Palm Springs. Architecht is Richard Neutra.

Coloured glass vases and bowls

Some pictures from my small collection of mid-century coloured glass. The only one I know anything about is the small amber coloured dish (ashtray?) in front (and out of focus) in the second photo. And that's because it's signed and numbered.. By Vicke Lindstrand for Kosta. (I found it in a brick-a-brack section at a second hand market and paid basically nothing for it. It was one of those :-)

My workspace

This is where I do most of my crafting, on a very narrow Ikea table crammed in by the living room windows. I use the nearby dinner table for cutting fabrics etc.Between the windows I've hung a Figgjo wall plaque (Turi-design) that I found at last weekend's market. I thought it quite fitting (in more ways than one).

Recently thrifted

My shoulders and arms are still aching from Sunday's trip to the second hand market at Birkelunden in Oslo. I met up with lovely Cecilie of Happymeat, and despite the cold and wet weather we managed to spend hours thrift shopping, and the result was somewhat heavy to carry home. But well worth it, of course! I got these three nesting bowls there. The little sugar and creamer set is a vintage Stavangerflint set that I found online.

More from the market later, I'm sure.

Midwinter Stylecraft

It's probably ten years ago since I first came across Midwinter's Nature Study coffee set, designed by a young Terence Conran. It was in a second hand design furniture shop in Oslo, and I have wanted it ever since. Had I known how long it would take me to get my hands on some of these beautiful pieces, I would have bought it there and then! At last my collection is started, and now the hunt goes on... (As if I needed another collection. Of anything.)

For me this is the ultimate coffee set pattern. The simplicity and contrast of the black and white combined with the delicate yet striking line drawings... ah!

Elvira, FiggjoFlint

Here's a little beauty I forgot to post yesterday. It's one of my favorite vintage patterns. It's Turi-design again, hand-painted, and the design is called Elvira. I only have this little sugar (or jam) pot, but I think it's one of the nicest parts of the set with the motif going around the whole pot. Although I'm not a big fan of pink, I think it works to perfection on this design.

HM's tribute to Marimekko (again)

Today saw the launch of H&M's 'Tribute to Marimekko' collection. I ended up with these pieces + some accessories. I could easily have wanted more, but I decided to only go for items that I know I will wear. (Photos courtesy of H&M)

Kiddo was very happy with the pink and orange Marimekko teddy :-)

Folklore, office vs. kitchen

Aren't these great? They are part of Turi-design for Figgjoflint and the pattern is called Folklore. Probably from the late 60s or early 70s. I got the pair for nok 60 (about $12) online. Bargain! Now my dilemma is this: do I keep them in the office to hold pens etc. as first intended, or are they better suited in the kitchen to hold fresh herbs (or not so fresh, as the the case might be..)?

Ikea fabrics

These are four of my favorite Ikea fabrics at the moment. I love Ikea's fabric patterns and they are so reasonably priced it's a joy!

Drawstring bags for kids

Here's a sneak peek into my latest project. I initially wanted to make these from vintage fabric (no surprise), but thought they should be made from oilcloth in order to withstand the wet weather we often have in these parts. One of my favorite shops, Åhléns, happen to do nice retro prints on oilcloth, so that's where I got these fabrics. I now send my kid to kindergarten every morning with his own little bag containing his lunch box and favorite teddy bear.

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Vintage cross stitch pillows

I found this picture on ebay. Sadly, it was the cream colored pillow kit that was for sale and not any of the funky patterned ones. Some of these reminds me of Jonathan Adler's tapestry pillows.

Latest project, part II, or: Crosstitch makes cool kitsch?

This is the first result of my embroidery project. It would be wrong to call it a prototype as no two cushions will be the same, but it's the first one out. And I will not make many of them. This one is 60cm x 60cm, and I am working on two bigger ones that can be used as floor cushions. They will be in my web shop when finished. I'm going fleemarket again tomorrow and I hope to find more embroideries then.

This cushion I think I'll keep.. It makes me smile to think that some old woman embroidered that vulgar but lovely gypsy picture. Just the idea of making an embroidery from the motif of a (bad) painting is fascinating.

Latest project, part I

My latest craft project involves old granny embroidered pictures. I've been collecting them for some time now, and have spent hours upon hours of freeing them from their frames. Most of them have been professionally framed, which I think is great in a way as it shows that the crafter has been proud of her work. But it's a pain to remove all the nails.. What hit me when I was pulling away at some nails yesterday, was that here was (probably) an old woman stitching away on her artwork and later it's been handed over to a man (I'm guessing) for framing. The soft fabric and yarn meeting the brutality of the nails and rough tools.

Sometimes I find interesting pieces of old posters or other card board behind the embroideries - the framemakers were good at recycling even 20-30 years ago :-) And other times I might find greetings written on the back of the pictures. 'To so-and-so on your 70th birthday', for instance. Or 'This picture was handed down to me when so-and-so passed away'.

Another thing that caught my eye was the color swatches that's printed on the side of the embroidery canvas (what is the proper word?). It's like information graphics meeting color theory. Great combo of colors too.

I love HM in the spring time

Well, I love HM all through the year, to be honest. In a week from tomorrow, on April 11, Swedish high street fashion giant Hennes & Mauritz are releasing their collaboration with Finnish design legend Marimekko - a clothing collection for women, men and children, consisting of retro items with bold vintage graphic prints. I've waited months for this! I might actually be one of those sad people queueing up in front of the shop doors Friday morning... (All photos courtesy of H&M).

In the paper today

So, here it is: the newspaper article about my blog! It was printed today in the Norwegian newspaper Varden. (Click on the image to see a bigger version.) I apologize to all my readers who can't read Norwegian. The caption translates to something in the region of 'Blogging for a better home' and the main point of the story is about blogs being the new place to find interior inspiration. And to all my blogging friends: I'm quoted saying that the best thing about blogging is the nice networking and feedback. So thank y'all!

(Photo courtesy of Carl Martin Nordby)

Fab houses III

My last two houses for you today are Scandinavian. The first one is in Skåne, Sweden and was built as a holiday home in the early 70s. Architect is Karl Koistinen. (Photos: Lena Koller for Sköna Hem). The second house is in Odense, Denmark. It was designed by furniture architect Kurt Østervig in 1958. (Photos: Bjarni B. Jacobsen/Pure Public for Elle Interiør).

Fab houses II

This house is in the UK, but very influenced by Californian modernist style. It's situated in Nottinghamshire and was built in the mid- to late 60s. Architect David Shelley. (Photos: Graham Atkins Hughes for Elle Decoration).

Fab houses I

For years now, I have collected articles of houses and interiors that interest me. I'd like to share some of my favorites here with you. From the top: Fab 1930's house in LA, by architect RM Schindler, a former employee of Frank Lloyd Wright. (Photos: Hugh Stewart for Marie Claire). The second house is Hugh Buhrich's in Sydney, and built between 1968-1972. Regarded by some as Australia's finest modernist house. (Photos: Nicole Rowntree for Wallpaper).