Home Design Cool

Hello and welcome to a new week! Hope you had a lovely weekend! I didn’t get anything done and it. was. awesome. No projects, no cleaning, no decluttering, no organizing – just being lazy and hanging with my family and it was a welcome change.

I’ve mentioned a few times that I have a large family – both extended and immediate. I have six sisters and brothers (a mix of full, half and step) and with the addition of some grandkids now, the our group is BIG. It gets harder every year to get together for holidays because there are so many of us now. :)

Family means everything to all of us I’m sure, but my Dad is one of those people who is truly bursting with joy when his family is around. So every year now he and my stepmom rent a cabin so we can all get together and have a fun fall weekend with just family.

This year we had an amazing view:

It’s a little early for the leaves to change but you can see little explosions of color starting to happen. :) We were near Lake Monroe in Bloomington, Indiana and if you are nearby it is an amazing time of year to visit.

I didn’t get many pics inside our cabin because I was usually either eating or laying around and I was just too lazy, honestly. (It was fantastic.) It was a big place with plenty of room for all of us – not overly cabin-like, but rustic.

Saturday we rented a double decker pontoon boat and took off for the afternoon. This was especially fun for me because every weekend growing up was spent on this lake with my Mom and Dad. Most of my memories as a child (up till about seven years old or so) were camping and then hanging on that lake in our teeny tiny metal boat. There was room for the three of us and that’s about it. ;)

I’ve only been back to this lake as an adult a few times so it was special to be there again, especially with Dad. As a child I remember thinking the rocky shores were so beautiful and I was still taken with them as an adult:

Some people aren’t lake swimmers – are you? My husband is not – I think it freaks him out. :) Even I was a little hesitant at first, but then Dad and the siblings started jumping in and I finally did the same…and then you couldn’t get me out:

I’m in the middle with my boy. :) My son is so like me when it comes to things like this. We watch and take it in for awhile…then we do it and love it and you’ll have to drag us away. I was SO proud of him for getting in to swim (he’d never swam in a lake). The boy is a FISH.

When you sit on the life jacket just right you can just hang out there forever…it’s bliss. ;) The water was chilly at first but within minutes we’d get used to it and it was perfect.

I don’t share many pics of my son on the blog but I am so in love with this one:

He drove the boat with Grandpa pretty much the entire time. Like a boss. ;)

On Sunday it was raining and chilly (a perfect fall day in my opinion) and we took the long way home through Nashville, Indiana and Brown County:

Downtown Nashville is a treasure. A quaint little area with shops, wonderful food and fun stuff to do:

And of course this is the BEST time of year to visit!

It was SO lovely – the rain made everything smell amazing and the mums were popping:

Every single shop and restaurant is decked out for fall and it’s just gorgeous:

We also stopped at a roadside pumpkin patch on the way out of town:

We saved the regular pumpkins for when we go to pick them at the local patch but got a bunch of really unique ones here. I’ve never seen a selection of gourds and pumpkins like they had!:

I was giddy, I must say. It was just a lovely weekend all around.

I am so blessed for so many reasons, but one of the biggest is that I am a part of my big beautiful family. Thanks to Dad for forcing us to hang out together at least once a year. ;)

Have you been to southern Indiana in the fall? Do you have a favorite spot near you that you like to visit this time of year?

Hope your weekend was wonderful too – this week I’ll be sharing more fall-inspired posts as we continue our parties again tomorrow! See you then!

Karin Björklund

So many pieces I'm not sure where to start on the 'I spy' front! Chinese stools: Lovely & Company, Gold bedside table lamp: vintage, Wall light: Hay, knitted throw and linen bedding: H&M Home, Peacock chair: flee market find, Book shelves: DIY by my husband, plant, plant pot and pendant light: IKEA. Picture behind bed side table: Muuto designed by All The Way To Paris.

My bedroom is not really finished, the next step is a lovely new rug to keep us toasty this Autumn / Winter. Any tips?

PS If you're up for a great give-away today, enter here to win a fab Lee Broom Crystal Table Lamp (hurry, you need to enter by midnight tonight!). I don't know why I'm telling you, I'm hoping to win it myself!!

Have a lovely Monday!

Hey y’all. I’m talking about the south today so I can say y’all, right? I always want to spell it “ya’ll” by the way – must be the northerner in me. ;)

Last weekend I took a quick trip to Nashville to meet up with the Haven team – we were regrouping after this year’s conference and doing a little planning for next year. After meeting for a long while we took a break and drove to Franklin, TN to eat and shop just a bit.

I fell in love with this smaller city because, well…it was super cute and the shopping was amazing. But it also very much reminded me of the area we live in too. Felt like home in a way.

I just had to share some of the places we stopped along Main Street. The stores are not cheap – by…a lot. ;) But there was SO much inspiration, it was worth it to just walk around and take it all in.

We started by eating at 55 South, and didn’t realize till the end of our meal that we actually sitting in a place called Cork and Crow. I think they must share a menu. The food was amazing but the decor was what I was mostly focused on. This wood wall was so cool:

The meat cleavers even add a little something. ;) I loved the look of the wood in combination with the really delicate glass chandeliers. Just stunning.

On the other side of the room was a bottle light fixture that I loved too:

Not a great picture, sorry. I noticed while there how beautiful the light is coming through those bottles – it truly glows in ambers and greens…really cool.

We walked around a bit and one of my favorite spots was a shop called The Iron Gate. As soon as we walked in I knew I would love it:

It was a mix of industrial and glam with a little bit of shabby chic thrown in. None of which are necessarily my style, but I loved every bit of it.

They had a lot of older pieces, like these massive old doors:

They were perfect as they were – no paint needed on those!

This clock was just massive – probably five feet across? Maybe more?:

Loved the huge clock hands. :)

Like I said, they had some shabby chic decor and it was beautiful. I loved the touches of gray and purple on this bed:

And this one was just dreamy. Seriously, let’s not thinking about dogs or cats or kids getting it dirty for a second and just think about falling into that every day:

Lovely, right?

I thought that large metal table next to it was awesome too:

I thought it would look so cool on a big front porch. I can just see it.

The lighting in their was spectacular! Any one of these could have gone home with me:

If I a.) could have fit it on the plane and b.) had eleventy million dollars and c.) was cool enough to pull off that funky starburst one. None of which happened. ;)

Of course there was plenty that we would see and whisper to each other “Do you KNOW how easy this would be to make??” I’m sure the shop owners love people like us. :)

This nursery art was just adorable:

And…they were $44 each. Get a coupon for a canvas at the craft store and you could make this for less than $10 (if that). Just saying. If you wanted to. ;)

And I just loved this display of coral:

It was just so delicate and beautiful – they had some HUGE pieces. That blue one on the shelf really struck me and we determined it looked as though it was painted. (Is blue coral a thing?) Makes me want to grab some chalk paint and have at it.

We had such a lovely time walking around and ohhing and ahhing at everything. Then, being the DIY/thrifty girls we are, we headed over to the antique shops. :) I found a little old copper pot that was in my post earlier this week: 

It’s the one on the candlestick table by the chair – I lined it with some plastic and put a plant inside. LOVE it.

Later that night we took in downtown Nashville and it. was. crazy. We even had an Elvis sighting:

:)

I’ve been to Nashville a few times before and it was NOTHING like last Saturday night – so busy but fun!

So have you been to Franklin? We didn’t have time to visit many of the stores that I wanted to so I may have to check it out again sometime soon. It would make for a great girls weekend, that’s for sure.

Have a great weekend…y’all!

Imagine if you could simply transport your home somewhere else this weekend? Crazy idea right? Wrong! This portable home concept by Ábaton architects means you can pick up your entire house with a truck and transport it wherever you like. Makes me smile. And with an interior like that I'm totally sold.

Abaton architects Via Jelanie Blog with thanks

Where would you take your home this weekend?

I think I'd go for the beach in Uruguay - so I can live like I own this home (hey....I didn't say it needed to be realistic...).

PS - Since it's Friday I'd like to do a big shout out to all my fabulous sponsors who make this blog possible. For very cool children's clothes try Loja Dada, Babyssimo and Smallable who all have something different to offer. For fab Scandinavian design furniture Design Collectors (15% off with code MYSCAN) and Nest are a great bet. For art there's AAVA Helsinki and for the coolest, cosiest knits around there's Tjockt (15% off with code SCHOME). To update your flooring - The Reclaimed Flooring Co. Thanks guys!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Hello all! Thanks so much for your wonderful comments on my fall mantel and to everyone who linked up theirs! As of right now there are about 270 mantels linked up – be sure to check them out!

Today we’re sharing crafts over at Layla’s and I’m excited about this one too. It was fun to get a little crafty again – it’s been too long! I spent an hour just wandering around the craft store the other day and it was BLISS. I forget how fun that is to do when I have the time.

I had one idea in mind but it was while walking around the store that I came up with another crafty idea instead. I really, really love how it turned out.

I’ve had this shadow box from Goodwill for years:

It’s one of those things I keep hanging on to because I knew I’d really want it when I wanted it…you know what I mean? I knew I would eventually do something fun with it, and eventually is now. ;)

The front part of the frame was a little busted up so I took that off and spray painted it white. There’s a little damage to it but the new coat of paint kind of hides that.

Then it was time to create. I found this felt table runner (at Michael’s) and my mind started churning…

I decided to use it as a stencil – I thought it would be so pretty with the cut outs in the leaves!

I dug some of my favorite metallic spray paints out of the garage:

And decided on these two – copper and gold.

I cut the runner apart and situated the two pieces so they covered my paper, which was just poster board I cut to size. (First I sprayed the backs with adhesive so they would stay put):

I tested this out a couple times, hence the spray paint already on there. :)

I sprayed the copper paint first, then did a light coat of the gold over it:

Isn’t that so pretty? I almost left it just like that! The middle where the two parts of the runner met was a little blurry (my error), but otherwise it looked great. And I was covering that part anyway.

Last fall I found an autumn quote that I just fell in love with – “Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower,” by Albert Camus. Beautiful eh? I dressed it up a little bit in Picmonkey and created a printable (just like I showed you how to do here).

You should be able to click this and save it if you’d like:

I printed it out in an 8 by 10 size card stock and the font was a little blurry, so just a warning about that. It’s not super crisp but it still looked fine to me.

I just used spray adhesive to stick it on top of the leaf stencil and then added a little more bling. I couldn’t resist this glitter tape and used it to frame out my quote:

   

And then found these cute acorns and pinecones for $1.50 on clearance and stuck a few in the corners:

I gotta say, I’m pretty smitten with it:

I just LOVE it. And I love that I can just take it out and reuse the shadow box for another season. Now I’m looking forward to making something for Christmas too. ;)

It’s not super crafty, but it involved scrapbook supplies and I’m all about that. I’m a scrapbook supply hoarder who doesn’t scrapbook.

I especially love the metallic tones this time of year, and really love all of them together in this “art”:

Now it’s time to lug the bins out and get the rest of the house fallified! :)

Can’t wait to see all the projects linked up at Layla’s!

Set in a former piano factory built in 1917, this Stockholm loft has a ceiling height of up to 4.5 metres, floor to ceiling windows and an open plan design   - what a wonderful feeling of space! I particularly love the upstairs area with the bedroom and desk, very serene.

Fantastic Frank

Admittedly it's a little to minimalist for my taste but that doesn't mean I can't admire the tranquility of clean living :) What about you - where are you on the scale of minimalist and, I want to say 'maxamilist', but is that even a word? You get the idea though right?!

PS Tip of the day - have you heard of Designer Box? This cool company has come up with a concept to promote new design stars. You pay a small monthly fee and each month an international designer creates a beautiful, unique object which is placed in a box and sent to you in the post. It could be anything from a vase, mirror, or candle holder....I was lucky enough to receive Box No.3 yesterday as a gift and not only was the box itself beautiful. but the porcelain object inside, designed  by Aldo Bakker was simply stunning! What a great initiative! Thank you Designer Box :)

PPS - Just done a little research and the chairs in the kitchen are the Magis Chair One and the stool is the &Tradition Raft Stool....