Inspiration for a gloomy summer

A short and sweet post about gardens and outdoor furniture and decorations… but honestly it’s only me ranting and complaining yet again about this country I’ve moved to…

I had a garden barbeque English style this weekend – covering the barbeque goodies with a couple of umbrellas! How I hate the so called summers here in England. I just want to be able to have my dinners in the garden without being rained on or having to wrap myself in a blanket! This weather is really bad for July, and I wish the summer will reach the British isles very soon. For now, I’m just looking at pretty “eat in your garden”-photos and dreaming away…

Really inspirational photos regarding outdoor table settings and decorations. I'm loving the summery strawberry table runner and the lanterns in all the pictures. I also think the garden shed with all the organised pots and tools is super cute! Just look at all the little details!

What inspires you this gloomy summer?

The charming things about Swedish houses

When it comes to pretty homes it’s not all about the interior, but the exterior is extremely important as well.

English houses are so boring-looking with their red bricks, and most English people don’t seem to care about the exterior of their house at all!

I have asked myself many a time whatever happened to the architecture in this country – what’s up with all the millions of ugly terraced houses everywhere? Can the British not do better than that?

What I love about my country of birth – Sweden – is that most houses are unique, and made of wood. People take care of the exterior of their houses and paint them in pretty colours. The house I grew up in is wooden, and purple. Yes, a lovely plum purple colour. Unusual, sure, but that’s what’s so charming about it. It’s funny when you look at the houses on my parents’ street in south east Sweden – the houses range from purple to blue, green, yellow and red. It’s like a pretty rainbow of colourful houses :)

I visited my family home last week and I took the chance to walk around our purple house and snap some photos of it. What do you think? Is purple really that weird? I think it’s absolutely lovely! My mum is very creative as well and has arranged little old fashioned looking decorations around the house, which makes it feel very homey.

Red & white vintage style

I must admit it; I've got a home decor crush on Next. So much that I put together a little collage of some of my favourite items from their new collection. I've been thinking, and I think I'm smitten with these decorations because they remind me of my dear old Sweden. (Yes, I am a bit home sick at the moment) The red and white vintage style just screams classic Swedish summer cottage.

Here are some of my favourite items in close-ups:

 Ceramic Love Vase £12

Distressed Willow Heart £20

Rattan Heart Table Lamp £35

Time For Tea Sculpture £10

 

Vintage Calendar £9

Vintage style Wall Clock £70

Make the most of your balcony

I used to live in a quite small apartment of 65 square metres, which I loved, but the first year when it came around to spring I got really frustrated. I wanted a proper garden to go out to! Somewhere to sit and feel the warm breeze, and where I could just soak up the sun. The apartment I lived in did have a balcony, but it looked absolutely awful. The only good thing about it was that it was kind of “boxed in”, meaning it had walls on the sides, and a roof – but it was open in the front. It was a big balcony for a small apartment, so obviously I wanted to make the most of it. The floor was made of concrete and it was way too cold to walk on barefoot, so I decided to put down an outdoor carpet. You know, one of those green ones that gives an impression of grass. I bought a few wooden barrel-like plant pots which I planted some green outdoor plants in, I decorated the whole balcony with big stones around the edges, I bought some black little garden furniture (2 chairs and a small round table), and I even invested in a barbeque (an electric one of course, since you’re not allowed to have fires on balconies). 

All of a sudden I had transformed my ugly and cold balcony to a cosy outdoor summer room. If you do have a balcony, make sure to make the most of it. If you’re not a fan of green carpet you can always opt for wooden tiles, which gives an impression of an outdoor conservatory. Plants always make a balcony more homey, and they give a feel of outdoor life. Try it, and you’ll almost feel as if you’re sitting in a garden rather than on a balcony. 

Now, as much as I wish these were photos of my own balcony, they’re not! These are only photos I’ve found to inspire you lot.

20 creative headboards - that you can make yourself!

Don't you think a bedroom looks incomplete without a headboard? The bed is after all the focal point of the room, and if it looks "empty" it just results in the room looking a bit boring. Buying a headboard for your bed can be extremely expensive though. Sure, there are a lot of stylish options available out there and it might be worth paying a few hundred pounds on something you really like, but another option is to make your headboard yourself. 

There are a lot of different ways of creating your own headboard, and some of the most creative ones don't actually request much handy skills at all. Look around you! If you are just open minded, there are a lot of recycled items you can make into a headboard. Some people opt for old pieces of wood, or an old door as a headboard. Other options are old frames for fire places, wide panel curtains, garden fences, window frames, tree branches, wooden boxes... If you are just creative enough you can use almost anything as a headboard. You could even just paint something on the wall behind the bed to make an illusion of a headboard. 

A few coats of paint, or a bit of sand papering can make something old and worn out look amazing. Have a look and get inspired by my pick of 20 fantastic and creative headboards below.