These gorgeous gold plated earrings are available from YOOX for 260 €.
Just a smidge (not really) over my budget. But they are stunning.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Today I covet...
These gorgeous gold plated earrings are available from YOOX for 260 €.
Just a smidge (not really) over my budget. But they are stunning.
Renovating: the kitchen
Yup, another installment of our apartment, I thought I better do this in sections. This being a one bedroom apartment, there won't be that many sections anyway. First of all, yes this is a teeny tiny apartment, it only has a little under 35 m2 including our lovely teeny tiny balcony. But the prices of real estate in Slovenia are absurd, well compared to our average salaries anyway.
But all that aside, it's our first very own flat and we're ridiculously excited and proud about it!
So on to the kitchen: this is basically our living area and the place where we spend most of our day. When I first saw the flat I fell in love with it immediately. One thing about kitchens: they should only be designed by people who actually cook. By that I mean it has to be functional. It's not something I can put into words it's something I immediately recognize in a kitchen. For example our kitchen, though small has three different light sources: one above the sink, one above the counter and one installed in the fume hood above the oven.
Our kitchen is painted in the loveliest shade of blush. Somehow I just can't get a right photo of it. It's actually my favourite of the three colours we picked for the flat. Very unassuming and subdued but I think it brings a sophisticated quality to the room.
A very old photo of our kitchen, right after it was painted, notice the tools on the counter.
Another indispensable kitchen appliance: a tiny dishwasher designed to fit under the sink and we really really love this gal, yes it's a she and she has a name too. In fact most of our appliances have names. People may think we're crazy (heck we probably are!) but I think if you name something you will be kinder to it and treat it better. Also I believe you should buy the very best you can afford and then take care of it to the best of your abilities.
Other than the kitchen the room had to house a large dinning room table that dubs as the sewing table, this is where we would entertain our guests, since we don't have a living room.
Notice how the table is bare, no decorations at all. It's not my ideal option either but as I said before this table is used mostly for sewing, almost on a daily basis and I got tired of moving things around every time. That's why we got those lovely mini shelves on the wall to display little trinkets and our Cristmas decorations:
And finally my favourite piece, our computer desk, which is actually so much more (sounds like a cheesy commercial). You'll just have to bear with me while I ramble a bit about this stunning piece of furniture. It all started with me having a small computer desk that was also my work space for jewellery making, sewing and any other crafty endeavour. Imagine the frustration of schlepping things around anytime I wanted to do something. But the worst part was when we had house guests, I had to clear everything up, sometimes in a moment's notice when people were coming to visit. So this was the idea: a large, no a huge desk hidden in a closet with plenty of space for all the stuff I needed for my hobbies. It also had to house our computer of course. Four months and a team of extraordinary carpenters and ta da...
Remember that little wall we threw out? That is where we put this monster of a closet.
Notice how our computer is suspended from the floor, wonder why? Well computers generate a lot of dust. It used to drive me mad in our previous apartment, especially since I didn't want to move the computer around every time I vacuumed. This is an elegant solution, cleaning up is a breeze now.
Oh and that steel rod is a foot rest, I've had stools underneath my work desk ever since I was 8 or 9 years old and I simply can't sit behind a computer without a foot rest.
Wait there's more, extra work space that slides out, double ta da! With a shallow compartment perfect for storing jewellery tools on one side and office supplies on the other.
Also the doors are fitted with plexiglass, so there's natural light coming through and the reason we chose plexi instead of real glass? Confession time: I'm a huge clutz, no really really! I was afraid of having real glass on account of me tripping and falling into it and that could happen, I kid you not!
And today our office/DIY closet is quite full: top two shelves house my fabric stash and haberdashery, middle shelves are for books, documents and games. Bottom left shelf is for my Burda patterns and my sewing machine and the right side is reserved for computer related paraphernalia: speakers, printer, internet connection.
A few random objects: you may have noticed a large cherry red blob next to our dinning room table, that's a sitting bag and it's oh soooo confortable. We have two of them, one in the kitchen and one (obviously) in the bedroom, we'd have more but there are no more rooms :-) The window shelf is reserved for Rufus and he has his own little (daytime) sleeping cushion made from the same material as the sitting bag.
And yes, we have no curtains and we never will! It's a highly controversial issue here in Slovenia, where people are very very private. Not to have or want curtains is a such a strange concept and I can't begin to tell you of the countless arguments I've had with friends and relatives over this matter.
But all that aside, it's our first very own flat and we're ridiculously excited and proud about it!
So on to the kitchen: this is basically our living area and the place where we spend most of our day. When I first saw the flat I fell in love with it immediately. One thing about kitchens: they should only be designed by people who actually cook. By that I mean it has to be functional. It's not something I can put into words it's something I immediately recognize in a kitchen. For example our kitchen, though small has three different light sources: one above the sink, one above the counter and one installed in the fume hood above the oven.
Our kitchen is painted in the loveliest shade of blush. Somehow I just can't get a right photo of it. It's actually my favourite of the three colours we picked for the flat. Very unassuming and subdued but I think it brings a sophisticated quality to the room.
A very old photo of our kitchen, right after it was painted, notice the tools on the counter.
 |
| This is our brand new oven with induction and we love it! |
Another indispensable kitchen appliance: a tiny dishwasher designed to fit under the sink and we really really love this gal, yes it's a she and she has a name too. In fact most of our appliances have names. People may think we're crazy (heck we probably are!) but I think if you name something you will be kinder to it and treat it better. Also I believe you should buy the very best you can afford and then take care of it to the best of your abilities.
Other than the kitchen the room had to house a large dinning room table that dubs as the sewing table, this is where we would entertain our guests, since we don't have a living room.
Notice how the table is bare, no decorations at all. It's not my ideal option either but as I said before this table is used mostly for sewing, almost on a daily basis and I got tired of moving things around every time. That's why we got those lovely mini shelves on the wall to display little trinkets and our Cristmas decorations:
And finally my favourite piece, our computer desk, which is actually so much more (sounds like a cheesy commercial). You'll just have to bear with me while I ramble a bit about this stunning piece of furniture. It all started with me having a small computer desk that was also my work space for jewellery making, sewing and any other crafty endeavour. Imagine the frustration of schlepping things around anytime I wanted to do something. But the worst part was when we had house guests, I had to clear everything up, sometimes in a moment's notice when people were coming to visit. So this was the idea: a large, no a huge desk hidden in a closet with plenty of space for all the stuff I needed for my hobbies. It also had to house our computer of course. Four months and a team of extraordinary carpenters and ta da...
Remember that little wall we threw out? That is where we put this monster of a closet.
Notice how our computer is suspended from the floor, wonder why? Well computers generate a lot of dust. It used to drive me mad in our previous apartment, especially since I didn't want to move the computer around every time I vacuumed. This is an elegant solution, cleaning up is a breeze now.
Oh and that steel rod is a foot rest, I've had stools underneath my work desk ever since I was 8 or 9 years old and I simply can't sit behind a computer without a foot rest.
Wait there's more, extra work space that slides out, double ta da! With a shallow compartment perfect for storing jewellery tools on one side and office supplies on the other.
Also the doors are fitted with plexiglass, so there's natural light coming through and the reason we chose plexi instead of real glass? Confession time: I'm a huge clutz, no really really! I was afraid of having real glass on account of me tripping and falling into it and that could happen, I kid you not!
And today our office/DIY closet is quite full: top two shelves house my fabric stash and haberdashery, middle shelves are for books, documents and games. Bottom left shelf is for my Burda patterns and my sewing machine and the right side is reserved for computer related paraphernalia: speakers, printer, internet connection.
A few random objects: you may have noticed a large cherry red blob next to our dinning room table, that's a sitting bag and it's oh soooo confortable. We have two of them, one in the kitchen and one (obviously) in the bedroom, we'd have more but there are no more rooms :-) The window shelf is reserved for Rufus and he has his own little (daytime) sleeping cushion made from the same material as the sitting bag.
And yes, we have no curtains and we never will! It's a highly controversial issue here in Slovenia, where people are very very private. Not to have or want curtains is a such a strange concept and I can't begin to tell you of the countless arguments I've had with friends and relatives over this matter.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Falling off the face of the Earth for a year
No I haven't been in witness protection programme or had amnesia, the reason why my blog has been neglected for a year: We moved! Yet again, only this time we bought our own flat. And as happy as I was, when this actually happened, I was and am still very exhausted. This was our fourth move in eight years and I've had quite enough.
So the past year has been both exhilarating, sometimes scary, like signing a 30 year mortgage, wow it's a life time, but mostly exhausting.
Here are a few picture of the redecoration process:
Here is the kitchen, notice the little separating wall, we threw that one out.
Wall is out and we gained a lot more space.
This is our bedroom before we painted it, (ignore the shoe on the left!) yes we did everything ourselves: paint job, plumbing and fixtures.
Another view of the bedroom, notice the terrible terrible colour choice: apple green and aubergine, yikes! Don't get me wrong I like those two shades, but not in such huge amounts and they definitely don't belong in a bedroom. That is a place that should invoke serenity and calm.
We decided on a lovely shade of lavender. First of all much more bedroom appropriate and since the room is very bright the colour din't dull it. Yes that's me painting, not the most attractive photo of me, but we can't all look like supermodel when hard at work.
In the background you can see a little bit of our entrance room which was orange when we moved in and we decided to keep in orange but we went for a brighter and intenser shade.
So the past year has been both exhilarating, sometimes scary, like signing a 30 year mortgage, wow it's a life time, but mostly exhausting.
Here are a few picture of the redecoration process:
Here is the kitchen, notice the little separating wall, we threw that one out.
Wall is out and we gained a lot more space.
This is our bedroom before we painted it, (ignore the shoe on the left!) yes we did everything ourselves: paint job, plumbing and fixtures.
Another view of the bedroom, notice the terrible terrible colour choice: apple green and aubergine, yikes! Don't get me wrong I like those two shades, but not in such huge amounts and they definitely don't belong in a bedroom. That is a place that should invoke serenity and calm.
We decided on a lovely shade of lavender. First of all much more bedroom appropriate and since the room is very bright the colour din't dull it. Yes that's me painting, not the most attractive photo of me, but we can't all look like supermodel when hard at work.
In the background you can see a little bit of our entrance room which was orange when we moved in and we decided to keep in orange but we went for a brighter and intenser shade.
The trouble with knitting...revisited
The update on my cosy cardigan: well I decided not to finish it. After trying it on and after several unsuccessful attempts to fix the fit I realized it wasn't going to happen. Being apple shaped, the chunky knit wasn't doing anything flattering to my figure. I looked like big bird (in grey)! So I decided to unravel it and save it for some other project, still awaiting inspiration.
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