Front Door Transformed

This past summer I made a hasty decision to paint our front door a mustard yellow.  It was one of those decisions that I knew I'd regret almost as soon as I made it.  And I did.

Truth is, I absolutely detest the door.  It doesn't go with our house and I just plain don't like it.   It has been every color under the rainbow but I finally figured out that painting it over and over isn't going to make me like it more.

I want a craftsman wood door but that certainly isn't in our budget so I attempted to do the next best thing.  A faux wood door.  I had no idea how to do this so I guessed as I went along.   The door already has fake wood grain embedded so I didn't need the tool to get that look.  I just wanted a deeply rich colored door with many dimensions, if that makes sense.  But most of all, I wanted to cover that window.


Anyway........yuck!  Here is the before.

Luckily, we have a nice wood screen door that covers this ickiness up.  That door also received a transformation that I will share when I share our Fall Porch.

Here is the front door after.

I would like to be able to tell you the colors I used but I just mixed a bunch of colors from my paint stash and then rubbed an antiquing glaze over the entire door.  The antiquing glaze I bought at Lowes.  I just dabbed and rubbed off until I had the look I wanted.  The colors included a leather brown color, a chocolate color and a gold and a little black.

Then to cover the glass, I painted chalkboard paint, 4 coats to be exact, and stenciled the message on the front.  I also painted chalkboard paint on the glass on the other side of the door but I'll show you that later.

I. Love. It!! 

After 7 years of living in this house, I finally love the front door and I only had to spend 10 bucks for the glaze since I had everything else.  Yay!

What do you think?

I'll be sharing our Fall Porch soon so stay tuned!! 

Follow along between posts on Instagram!

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....

Fall Mums and Olive Buckets

A couple of days ago I was out shopping and came across these gorgeous mums in galvanized olive buckets at.............Walmart?!?!  Hard to believe, right?  And they were only 15 bucks!  I was so excited I almost ran my cart into a display of candles.  Yikes.

I wanted to let you all know about them.  I shared them on instagram and a few people said they weren't at their local Walmart.  We have a supercenter so maybe they are only available at those?  Anyway, can't hurt to check and maybe ask their gardening department if they can get them. 

And this isn't a paid advertisement, I just love to share a good deal. 

Honestly, I can't wait for the mums to be past their prime so I can use the adorable buckets.  My hubby surprised me with a second one so I will be using some outside as well.

Have a great day everyone!!

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!

Fall Dining Room

There are no words to express how touched I am by all the sweet and encouraging emails and comments I have received over the last few days.  Wow.  I wish I could personally thank each of you.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.  :)

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 :)