Living room snaps

The gorgeous spring sun seeping through the blinds inspired me to take a few pics around the livingroom.
I'm constantly arranging and rearranging my String shelves. I love them to bits, but never seem to get the setup just how I want it. But I guess that's part of the fun, right? I've never been big on color, especially not red. I've always leaned towards neutrals, however, these crazy colored germans have really won me over (they're all Scheurich). Apart from the crazy germans the shelves are currently holding WG planters, a Pantella lamp, a Muuto vase (a birthday present chosen by my dad!!), vintage Hadeland pieces, danish studio pottery, small model Panton chairs and books... My comfy leather chair is a Siesta chair, designed by Ingmar Relling in 1965 for norwegian manufacturer Westnofa. It's still in production, although by another company. Relling was the norwegian Wegner, a great designer from the Scandinavian design movement. You probably know that The Chair by Wegner was made famous by Kennedy in a tv debate, but did you know there are 16 Siesta chairs in The White House?

 

 

 

Ingmar Relling also designed these great daybeds for norwegian manufacturer Ekornes in the mid- sixties. They're called Combina and were part of a vey successful line of furniture that could be combined in many ways, hence the name Combina. We used to have them at home when I grew up, and one of them became my bed when my parents got new couches. The seat could be lifted to store my pillow and duvet when I had friends over. It's a classic mid- century piece of furniture, similar to several other daybeds of the era. These are not the ones we had back home, I found them in the exact same color after I put an ad on FINN (the Norwegian equivalent to Craigslist) What are the chances?

 

The aerial photos on the wall are for a project I did a few years ago. It's the last time I did one that didn't have a client. These are diagrams of the energy content and direction of waves and mapping of the topography on a site for a wave powerplant. I did it out of pure obsession and a solid dose of concern for landscape preservation and it turned into a thesis....

 
There's gotta be a solid dose of greenery in a home, right? I looove plants and planters. My most treasured planters are the 100 year old brown storage jars from Sandnes, near my childhood hometown. They were made by Graveren (later Gann Graveren) while they were still producing ordinary storage jars, baking bowls and roof tiles, before they started attracting artist and produced more colorful, patterned pieces. They're so rustic and cosy and remind me so much of home. My parents were kind enough to pick up these for me from an antiques store back home, they sometimes prefer driving instead of flying when they come to visit. They even found me a really large one.

 

My mom and dad are so sweet. They even found me this credenza in ... you might have guessed ... Stavanger!! It was made by a local furniture factory called Svena møbler, that was really big in the 60s. It's got such a great shape and so many gorgeous details, I just love it! Through the door you can see my new kitchen. My goal was to get a better connection between the living room and kitchen, color and material- wise, and I'm so glad it's finally done! I'm trying to convince my husband to paint the wall behind the credenza black. It would be such a great contrast to the teak and the kitchen wall that you see through the door. No luck so far... The big old radio next to the door used to belong to my husband's grandparents, and we were so lucky to have it handed down to us. I'm not sure if it's working, but it sure is a great place to put some pottery.

 

Finally, I'm sneaking in some pics from the kitchen counter- new use for old pottery, Stavangerflint Sera and Brunette. Have a great week!! 

  

Kitchen redo

I've splurged a little bit... I've been drooling over these two for quite some time, and after a week of improvising a kitchen in the hallway and carpenters walking in and out of my home with their dirty boots, I felt a bit sorry for myself...
Both are designed by Barbro Tryberg Boberg and Maria Holmer Dahlgren for BoM UNITED and Formverket. I love the 60s vibes, especially on the whimsical tray.

This is how my kitchen looks like just now... Everything in boxes, and I can't find anything! I'm going mad, and it's still 3 weeks to go. Worst part is the constantly dirty floors. Luckily having two floors makes it easier to keep half of the house clean. Eyes on the prize, I keep telling myself, I'm SOOO looking forward to the end results!

Electrical outlets and switches need to be moved, so we're taking down the wood panels on two walls to hide all cables. Everything will get some fresh coats of white paint, and we'll have some new wooden flooring.The picture in the middle shows the existing walls. My house is quite nostalgic, and my strategy is to keep renewing it with modern contrasts on the inside, while letting the walls and floors reflect the style of the house. I'd love to design a house for us one day, but I tell you it's A LOT easier to draw other people's houses! A colleague who lives in a house of his own design once told me "I'm confronted with my own choices all the time, it's quite exhausting!"

When I started planning our new kitchen, I searched everywhere for some great wood surfaces, but they were hard to find. White is big here now, alongside the lighter nordic woods. I just threw out a white kitchen and wanted something else this time. Some time ago, I found this cabinet maker called Tingbø, whose small family business is in the southwestern city of Egersund, home of the great pottery. They started their business just a few years ago, and have already gotten some well deserved acclaim in glossy magazines. I had more or less decided on walnut cabinets, but when Tingbø told me he could make me something in teak, I was sold! They have a small, but very nice selection of designs, but they can pretty much make whatever you want. As mentioned in a previous post, they made the display cabinets and interior for the Egersund pottery museum.

Our kitchen is going to be the first they make in teak, so there's no photos to show you yet, but the following images showes the type of drawers I've ordered. The cabinet doors have the same type of minimal slots. The kitchen below is in walnut and has a bit more pattern than teak, but it gives you an idea. The counter will be white stone, hood, induction top, oven, light switches and electrical outlets black. I've found some very simple matte black cylindrical lamps to put over the counter and I'll order a String shelf (wall hung) in walnut (the closest to teak they have) with black sides to store some of my Figgjo and Stavangerflint pieces. I've also planned to let my Wiinblad plaques add to the black and white theme:-) I have january, february and march, I hope to find some more! Wishing you all the most fantastic weekend!

 

Are you kidding me?!?

All you teak lovers out there- have you seen this? I found it in this shop on Etsy. At first glance I thought it was real wood, but after a closer read it says "Made from the highest quality film, to replicate the look and feel of real wood." So sadly, no real  teak... I guess it would break very easily. But certainly good looking! Images coutesy of the shop.

 

 

 

New shelves!!

The String shelves have arrived! I'm so thrilled. Designed by swedish architect Nils Strinning in 1949, they're a great piece of mid century scandinavian furniture. They made a great change to a former quite dull area of our living room. They still have some free space, I'm still arranging and rearranging, trying to find out which setup looks best.

We chose a combo of black sides and walnut shelves. They remind me a lot of the Tomado shelves, and provide some contrast to the pale walls. Walnut very easily changes color when exposed to daylight and sun, the color becomes warmer and very similar to teak. This has been the case with our other walnut plywood furniture, they are now very similar in color to our teak pieces. Which, of course, is no disadvantage.

I'll leave you with some images of the String shelves as well as a few other living room snaps. I'm noticing how big my living room looks, it's really not!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Small treasures

My mom just gave me these wonderful teak coasters they bought when they lived in India in the sixties. They have great sentimental value, I remember I used to play with them as a child. To the right is a little wooden box my husband bought for me on a worktrip to India a few years ago. It's wonderfully smooth and well crafted, and I think it might be rosewood.

 

I've paired these objects with my no- nonsense IKEA- lamp, I think they make a nice little trio of related rounded shapes.