Best wishes for the summer

Finally june, that definitely means summer, right!? We can't let a minor detail like a day temperature of 13 degrees get in our way... Erm,

Anyway I'm dropping by to wish everyone a great summer and share a lovely summer tune - one of the most beloved folk songs around here that people like yours truly grew up with:

Enjoy! I don't expect to have a lot of interior projects on my plate this summer as I'll mostly focus on my career for the next couple of months. But I'll drop by with inspiration pics for sure :)

Bookshelf completed

Seriously long overdue, but nevermind. Here's finally the result of the bookshelf renovation. As previously mentioned, I first thought about painting it white, but fell for a pale blue colour.... let's face it, I can rarely resist blue!

I knew this was going to be a big project, which is why I decided against using primer. I hoped a light sanding and two coats of paint would do the trick. But to be honest, it didn't look too promising after th first coat. I thought for a while there that I was looking at both three or four coats before I was done.

Thankfully two coats were enough! Here is after sanding the beautiful details on the edges.

This is hands down my fave decoupage project to date. The napkin pattern was just beyond perfect for this.

I love blue hydrangeas so much that I decided to pattern the back wall a well and I'm absolutely in love with it. I almost didn't want to re-instal the shelves and put it to use!

And there is the finished project. I'd love nothing more than to keep it on show in my living room or something and just keep a few gorgeous nicknacks in it, but sadly there's no room for the time being.
It goes in my bedroom and serves the purpose of a dresser as I finally got to throw out the one I already had (a failed IKEA project as it were). So now it's filled with boring plastic bins and clothes.
But one day....!!

New project for Easter

Lookie - new furniture in the house! 

So my parents have been renovating their house the past two weeks and decided to get rid of some furniture. And as long as I got carte blanche to paint at will, I decided to take on these two pieces. The table originally belonged to my granmother who passed away this January. She'd probably have freaked out if she had seen what I had done to it

Voilà. No big surprise if you've been following my blog for a while, but just to specify: A light sanding, two coats of paint and decoupage. Granma would probably hate it, which means I love it.

It's now replaced the IKEA nightstand I pimped last year, which has now moved into my bedroom, resuming its original purpose as a nightstand.

Whereas the table was a quick project, that book shelf is a bigger one. I plan on starting during the holidays - if I can make up my mind when it comes to the colour, that is!  At first the plan was to paint that white too, but then I came across this picture on pinteres and I totally fell in love with that colour:

(source: puttingonthegrits.com)

It's like a really pale aqua, now isn't it? I friggin love it!
I've been to my crafts store and bought a pot of aqua interior paint and some napkins I'm going to use on the drawers:

My plan has been to mix this paint with the rest of the white to make it paler, but after painting a small test patch on the shelf, I've now just confused myself. It looks OK in the picture I think, but in real life it's way darker than the colour on the Pinterest picture. Basically now I can't decide if I'm just going to use the colour as is or mix in the white paint...  Oh those darn luxury problems ;o)))
Guess we'll have to wait and see! I'll be back with a newly painted books shelf either way!

Have a great Easter!

Again with the chair

 I've you've been following my blog, you've probably noticed my going on about wanting a new living room chair. For the longest time I've been wrecking my brain to figure out exactly what I want only to realise that I wouldn't find it in any furniture shop anyway.

I've been leaning towards something antique lately so when someone posted this chair on a interior group on Facebook, it immediately caught my eye:

I think I casually commented something like "Wow, I'd give a lot to have that in my living room" and the next thing I know, the owner contacted me an offered me to buy it. Turns out the lovely lady runs another Facebook group "Morella's private antiqshick" and she restores old chairs on order! 

Now, the chairs cost about NOK 5,000 - 8,000 which isn't that expensive for a hand restored antique chair if you ask me, but being busy saving up for a new place, it's not something that's in my budget at the moment. 

But believe you me, as soon as I can, I am ordering one of these divine shairs for my house!

This is my fave I think, the fabric is actually linnen. You'd want something you can actually use as  a furniture, right?
So yes - chair hunt is oficially over! I am excite!!

Things around the house

I'm back with a few snaps of things around my house that I really like.

Did I ever show my kitchen window curtains? Got them this winter and I actually think they're meant to be Christmas curtains, but no matter.... they're still up and I have no intention of changing that.

I've been wanting to try the Yankee Candles for ages. Unfortunately they're pretty expensive, but a few weeks ago I finally decided to give them a go. My fave interior store carries them and there are dozens and dozens of scents to chose between! It was such a luxury getting to chose which ones to buy. i finally decided on "Costal living" and "Clean cotton", both very fresh scents. And OMG! They are amazing, especially the latter which smells just like fresh laundry. I am seriously in love with these candles now and will definitely buy more!

Speaking of scents, I have also taken a liking to difuser sticks like these. Never tried them before, but I got this as a present. The scent is blackcurrant and fig and it's just gorgeous! Right now it lives in my bathroom, but I can definitely see myself filling other rooms with these goodies.

Although Easter is still two weeks away, I have already sneaked in a bit of decor as the shops are already filled with them. The twigs are fake which is a disappointment to a certain furball who likes to chew but at least they will last. And they look so cute and springy! 

And at last... had to whip out my decoupage mojo again, didn't I? This little drawer I bought at IKEA a while back (I'm sure you all have seen these) and I keep my makeup in it. You buy them un-painted and rather boring. I've painted it like this a  couple of years ago but now I'm tired of it. Thankfully I had som pretty napkins left! 

There we go. Much better!

What do you watch on YouTube?

Happy Friday all!
I don't know about you, but in my opinion YouTube is the best internet invention of the past decade and the one website I use the most for entertainment. You can just find everything on there, now can't you!? I was browsing through my subscription list earlier and realised my preferences are all over the place (like I said, you can find everything). Few of them are directly related to my interest on this blog, but what the hey -  I thought I'd share with you my top four pics when it comes to YT channel. You might get inspired!

Gone The Snow Dogs:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKTaE3ie9ZyTSQnBrAUzDYg

Now I guess you could say I'm a cat person in the sense that I love all creatures feline and I'm owned by one myself. But just because I would probably not get another animal, doesn't mean I don't love them. This channel belongs to a lovely Michigan-based couple who have three gorgeous husky ladies: Oakley, Shelby and Memphis. The love and care these dogs receive from their owners (err, servants... ;o) ) will make any animal lover's heart sing. My very fave videos are the ones where they make home made snacks for the dogs and they have a whole playlist full of any good thing you could imagine - all dog friendly! This channel will definitely make you smile.

The Luxury Travel Expert:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYxsXxbjJO1YYa9yQ3lKC8w

If you're like me and you love travelling, you need to check out this channel! It belongs to a lovely gentleman who I think is Dutch and he travels all over the world.... first class. Oh yes, baby! :o)))
But what I love most about his videos is that they are not vlog-style ie. with lots of talking. They all come with calm music and written info. The owner focuses on showing the facilities on board business or first class flights and five-star hotels. Basically watching these videos gives you a relaxing experience all the while it REALLY triggers your globetrotting fancy.

Vasseur Beauty:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVKFs0cesQUEGtn8gQmhbHw

This lovely lady is the high queen of all things domestic cleaning and organizng! Don't know about you, but at this time of the year with spring approaching, I always get the urge to re-new and organize. And this channel is a gem to be sure. Feeling a bit un-motivated to clean your house, watch a cleaning video from this channel and you'll jump up and start making your own cleaning solution. I'm not kidding, I've seen it happen... to me. And cleaning is not among my fave things. The organization videos have also helped me a great deal, And check out the DIY videos, this lady has a natural talent when it comes to turning anything into something nifty and useful .

Cupcake Jemma:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoMum0pwewO8_WtTlUQxGHw

Gotta have a baking channel, right? Lovely Jemma runs a baking shop called Crumbs & Doilies in London which is definitely on my bucket list when I go there the next time. In the meantime I enjoy and inspire myself by watching  videos of all the deliciousness she bakes. Even if you don't bake yourself, just watch the videos - they're so satisfying! I especially recommend watching her rainbow cake video, it's a triumph. Nuff said.

There we go! Hope they're something you'd consider checking out. What do you watch on YouTube?

Inspirational Friday

Still forced to put anything interior-related on hold (I'm just lucky I manage to make time for cleaning about once a week!) but maybe, just MAYBE sometime next week my time is my own again! Until then, I browse Instagram for interior goals. Here be a few:

 (source: thesparklylifestyle on Instagram)

(source: Housekaboodle)

I dream about a guest room/study makeover. I doubt that will happen in the near future, and maybe not until we move house, but something like this would be my goal. Both desks look like something you can get at IKEA so happy days!

(source: ninahofland on Instagram)

Not much to say other than I love love love this display and I'd gladly take everything on in this picture! 

(source: hagbacken.blogspot.no)

So my living room table is only a couple of years old,  but I'm already sick of it and want something new. I wanted a white one (well duh!) and the IKEA table I orginally wanted they didn't have in stock so I went for a cheaper and very ordinary Lack table. 

But what I'd really like is a table like this or similar. Problem is of course that I've not seen anything even similar in any of the furniture stores around here. Keep on dreaming...

(source: misskatyenglish on Instagram)

Finally, this isn't interior-related, but I just had to share this stunning picture! Who wouldn't want the front of their house to look like this!?! Mindblowing!

Have a good weekend all!