My home captured by karin: bedroom

I hope you had a lovely weekend? I loved all your comments here and on Facebook about where you'd transport your house for the weekend! I stayed right here at home this weekend so I thought it'd be apt to show the second part in my mini series: my 'My home captured by Karin'. This is my bedroom. We've only recently moved up stairs to the top floor (from this room) and I am so happy we did. I love the high ceiling, floor to ceiling windows and balcony, it all feels so bright and airy.

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!

A transportable house? I'm sold!

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!

Minimalism in a former piano factory

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....

The beautiful home / showroom of Father Rabbit

When Claudia and Nick launched Father Rabbit in 2010, they had no idea the business would take over their home. But this is exactly what happened. Items from their online shop proved so popular the New Zealand couple decided they needed a showroom. The solution was to divide their beautiful home in two and use half for private space and the other half as a showroom. The result is pretty cool.

Louise Hyatt of Tilly & Friends and Duncan Innes via Remodelista with thanks. 

Pretty beautiful don't you think? I particularly love the kitchen and bedroom - how about you?

Claudia and Nick have now reclaimed the show room space and are burrowing their way over to BLOC on Normandy road, Mt Eden where a new Father Rabbit showroom will open soon (for the lucky Aucklanders out there!).

Here in Southern Sweden it's become popular to turn a 'Skånegård' - an old farm house in a horse shoe shape - into a destination for people to lunch, 'fika' and shop at the weekend. My current favourite is Slättarps Gård. When I see the above interior I dream of starting a business like this myself! Imagine?!

Have a lovely day!

The simplest dish you can make

I'm being totally, 100% honest. Your blind Uncle who has never cooked in his life could do it. Well maybe not but he could definitely do 80% of this meal. He might need your help with the poached egg but hell, if he doesn't feel like having an egg, he would be the chef!

So, who can tell me what this is? First one to write in will get a special pat on the back! I'm sure that you all know by now. Yep it's little old quinoa. That super grain from Peru. I have talked about it in the past here, but you know. When a girl falls in love, she falls hard! This is one of those times *swoon*. If you're a vegan you should include quinoa in your diet and with it being so versatile there really is no excuse! It's a complete protein and has managed to overcome one of the shortcomings normally associated with grains, it's high in fat. And that is good fat by the way. It's also got a pretty good calcium content so munch away people, munch away.

Aren't these colours amazing?! The minute I saw them in the shop I knew, deep down in my heart that I had to have them. Some people go for shiny pretty clothes, I go for pretty veggies. Bright colours that entice you and hold a wealth of goodness for our bodies. This is ruby and golden chard. Both yummy and without a huge variation in taste. Some people compare it to spinach, I my friends am not that person. I prefer, whole heartedly I might add, chard. I love it when the leaves are young and tender for salads, I love it when it grows tall and proud and it's great to cook with. We all know the benefits of eating a green and leafy diet, yes? Well chard, is one of those exceptional cases. It contains at least 13 different antioxidants, one of which is syringic acid. Now don't get scared by the name. This has actually be getting a heap of attention with researchers concerning the regulation of blood sugar levels…hip hip hooray!

RECIPE:

50g quinoa per person

3 leaves of chard per person

1 egg per person

salt and pepper

oil

Get your quinoa on first of all (in a pan cover the quinoa with water, get it boiling and the grains will start to go translucent. I like mine with a bite so try it and see if it's cooked enough for you). Meanwhile  put a pan of water onto boil for your poached egg and wash and chop the chard. Keep the stalks and leaves separate as the stalks will take longer to cook. Drizzle some oil into a pan and heat. Once hot add the chopped stalks and cook until change colour slightly, add the leaves and season. Drain the quinoa and let stand. Once the chard has cooked add the quinoa. Stir through on a low heat whilst you put your egg into the swirling water to poach. 

Poaching an egg: There is only one technique that works for me! A very fresh egg is needed and that is it. Boil water, stir to make a vortex. Crack egg into a teacup and gently lower egg into the vortex of boiling water. Cook till you are happy with it. 

Serve your quinoa/chard mix with a poached egg on top…enjoy the healthiness!

A Danish oasis in Cannes

Looking at this home you'd never guess it was outside Scandinavia until you see the beautiful of Cannes from the balcony! That's because adventurous and inspiring Danish couple, Julie and Nicolai upped sticks and made a new start in the South East French city where they own the very cool shop Style Junky. They were determined to keep the look of their apartment Danish and certainly succeeded. It's stunning don't you think?

Styling: Katrine Matensen-Larsen www.kmldesign.dk, Photography Mikkel Adsbol.  With kind permission. Spotted first at Coco Lapine with thanks. 

How about throwing open those balcony doors and enjoying a coffee overlooking that view every morning? Bliss?

Yesterday I made a couple of small changes to my blog after one lovely Canadian reader sent me a mail to say they couldn't find a share button. So now I've made it super easy to find at the bottom right of each post, and hopefully it shows every share option known to man! And secondly if you hover over any of the images a 'pin it' button will appear to make pinning easy.

I hope this helps! I'm always grateful for any input / feedback so please do leave a comment or send me a mail if you have any suggestions!

PS Looking for more Danish home tour inspiration? Don't miss the fab ones here and here!

Bonsoir!

Boho - Norwegian style

Hello! How was the weekend?! Our house was hit by the dreaded MAN FLU so it was just me and my little girls. We still managed to have a cosy couple of days with a lovely walk along a beach thrown in. How about you? Last week I spotted a beautiful dining space and I thought WOW (you know how I love sheepskin draped over chairs!), so I did a bit of digging and contacted Line Kay of Norwegian shop Vintagepiken who gave me kind permission to show more of her incredibly inspirational instagram interior shots....

Line Kay of Vintagepiken with kind permission. With thanks also to Stil Inspiration

So beautiful don't you think? I'm going to call it bo-ho-with-a-romantic-Norwegian-touch! If it's your kind of style, you can see more inspirational pics on Line's beautiful blog here. 

Get the look? I found long-haired sheepskin rugs over at La Maison D'Anna G's shop :) hooray! I'll be adding one to my birthday wishlist! I have a similar chinese workman's stool which I bought at Lovely & Company. Get an Eames DSR chair at Design Collectors (15% off with code MYSCAN). Oh so lovely!

PS Get well soon man :) 

A white Gothenburg apartment tour

Is it just me or has this been one very long week?! I am soooo happy it's Friday and plan on having a GREAT weekend, how about you?! Before I head off I'd like to share a great little space from Stadhem's archives. Cue white floors and walls, pictures hung to perfection and a generally light, bright and relaxed Swedish apartment. A perfect way to bring in the weekend!

Stadshem

I particularly love the selection of pictures they make such a difference to the space. Anything stand out to you?

If you're up for some shopping this weekend Swedish interior designer extraordinaire Lotta Agaton has opened an online pop-up shop! Needless to say I love everything in it, I guess it helps that I'm a big fan of her work (I love Lotta's home and this home she recently designed. So fab!).

I hope you have a really wonderful weekend!