Ch-Ch-Changes

Big changes indeed ! Which for the moment mostly involve making a gigantic mess...

... moving out furniture and selling off a whole bunch of stuff on ebay (and still finding the time to flip through Design Sponge at Home ) ...

... and blogging on the coffee table while od'ing on coffee... How 'à propos'.

Yes, you guessed it, I had the brilliant idea to tackle a complete overhaul of my bedroom right before Christmas and the end of year marathon to get all the school projects in.

I'm pleading the temporary insanity card and blaming flipping through too much 'Design Sponge at Home' for all this foolishness.

So how are you guys getting on with your Christmas preparations ?

My home in IKEA FAMILY LIVE magazine

Probably the most exciting news around here for a long time. 'Cos let's face it, I'm kinda in a slump on the whole interior decor/thrifting front. And let's be honest, how excited can you get about finding yet another sunburst mirror ?

Over the past twelve months, I have been contacted by various Ikea editors to see if I was interested in having some photos of my home published in their magazine. Hell, yeah ! 

But talk about things moving slowly. Case in point. The whole thing took over a year to come through...

Anyhow, it's now official. Drum roll please ! I got a two page spread in their Autumn 2011 edition and if you disregard the most horible photo ever taken of me (thank god, they only used a tiny black & white insert!), I'm very happy with how it all turned out. They used both my photos and my actual text. And yes, I really do think that Ikea does amazing textiles. But despite my hint about needing a new sofa, I didn't get any material rewards for my troubles. Not even a gift voucher for some cushions.Cheap bastards...

Ikea ! I still love you though, even if you're an ungrateful mistress.

Mirror, Mirror...

Home projects continue to be slow and far apart.

Being back in school does have its perks though. Like getting an extra day off last week in honor of the "Fête de la Communauté Française", the main funding organism of french-speaking education institutions in Belgium.
Needless to say that when I still worked as a legal secretary for various American and British law firms, we were never granted a holiday on that day...

Why am I mentioning this ? Because I used that unexpected day off (and the beautiful weather) to indulge in my favourite open-air activity : rummaging through the Brussels flea market ! And of course, I didn't leave empty handed.

Lately, I seem to be set on finding mostly sunburst mirrors. After scoring that oval one at a local antiques store (for a mere 10 eur), my trip to the flea market saw me coming back with the very ornate (and probably slightly kitsch), top left specimen. Still at 20 eur, I didn't hit my budget too hard and it actually goes nicely with the four others.

At the rate I'm going that wall should be covered in no time.

Scandinavian Finds

Things have been kinda slow around here - decorating wise at least. School has started again and studying for my programming classes is taking up most of my energy these days (I'm learning PHP and ASP.Net if anybody's interested).

Plus, I've declared a spending freeze after living way above my budget for most of 2011. No more ebay this month and so far, I've done pretty good.

Of course, that doesn't mean I've become a total thrifting abstainer. And when I come across an incredible deal, I might just be tempted enough to go for it.

Like these wonderful Arabia Finland storage jars - 20 eur for the three of them. Yes, 20 eur !

I'd never even seen the gooseberry pattern before this find.

Which brings me to another amazing Arabia find. This one already dates back a few months, but since it's the same range of ceramics and the price was even more mindblowing, I think it's about time I give it some attention.

So, I dug up this ceramic board from the bottom of a box of junk at the Brussels flea market. And paid... 3 eur for it !

It's not really serving any purpose other than decorating this little area next to the kitchen sink. But a vignette like this makes doing the dishes just so much more pleasant.

The Scandinavian theme even extend to the soap holder...

I brought this Figgjo Flint dish back from the UK earlier this year. I think I paid something like 10 gbp for it. It's from the Turi 'market' series which is one of my favourite FF designs.

And while I'm at it, let me also present the latest in a long line of Scandi finds. A cast-iron candle holder from Dansk Designs - which I think is actually a US brand (correct me if I'm wrong).

Love those spikes !

And look. It even came complete with its original box. That and the fact that it's in near perfect condition gladly made me cough up 25 eur for it.

And you ? An interesting finds lately ?

Autumn

Autumn is here. It's cold, it's rainy, it's windy. I'm back in school. And the mood is just generally miserable.

It's that time of the year when you get home and it's already starting to get dark. And try as you may, you can't take anything but grainy photos.

It's that time when an extra blanket pops up on your bed again. And you just need to hang up some retro brass mirrors. You know, just for that tiny bit of extra light and warmth. And also because the sight of yet another budding collection just brings a silly smile to your face.

It's that time when you splurge on a new bedside lamp - one that gives off the most beautifully cosy light.

Like I said, the season of blurry pictures has begun.