Wallpaper*

Just a quick public service information :)

Wallpaper* are selling subscriptions at half price these days – £40 for a year or £80 for two years…. it’s a bargain!

Check it out here.

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Smoke detectors

I’m guessing I’m not the only one out there who thinks smoke detectors are a necessary evil in the modern household – I call it evil because most of them looks crap (excuse my french!). So imagine my delight when I came across this little thing:

It was designed by a Swedish company called OG INVENT design. It’s a smoke detector that can be attached to the wire on a ceiling lamp – it can actually be attached to a pole or chain with a diameter of up to 2 cm as well.

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If I had children…

… and a lot of money, these items would definitely be found in their bedroom:

From the top:

Danish designer Povl Kjær made the first one of these rocking sheep many years ago for his niece, they are so soft and perfect for a little toddler.

Next one is a hanging cot, also danish design, and I really like the thought about the soft movements it’ll have when the baby is sleeping. I’m a little worried about whether it might fall, but with the right hooks it should not be a problem at all.

Third item is also danish design, by Nanna Ditzel, I love the simplicity of the design and it is something the child will be able to bring with him/her all the way through life. Either as childrens furniture, or as pretty sidetables in a student flat.

Fourth and fifth item are rugs from The Rug Company, designed by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, there’s 4 different ones. My favorite has got to be the Owl – but I have a wierd liking for Owls, so my children will have to live with that too :)

Last one is Hang it All by Ray and Charles Eames, an item that is perfect for a childrens room because of the bright colours, and also a thing that can be used for years – be it by a toddler or teenager.

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Music

I have a radio in each room – almost! I listen to the radio when I take my shower, when I have my breakfast, when I cook dinner… you name it, I use the radio a lot. And today I saw this little beauty in my magazine:

It’s even so high-tec that you can hook your iPod up as well! Another great thing is that it is Fairtrade. The radios are produced by Indonesian carpenters, and what ever money they make of the sales is channelled back into Indonesia to fund local projects. So not only does it look pretty, it makes you feel good too :)

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Breakfast bar

The work in my kitchen is nearing its end… and what a relief!!!! My kitchen, is currently 8 boxes in my dinning room – which, trust me, doesn’t really bode well for gourmet dinners! Anyhow, it’s getting to the point where I can allow myself to think about what I’d like to do when the carpenter, the electrician and the plumber has left. In stead of the old kitchentable, and old chairs, I would like to put in a breakfast bar. That obviously requires 1) a bar and 2) high stools – so let the fun begin :)

The table/bar has to be attached to the wall, so I want something fairly simple and not too out of place stylewise. Because, that means I can go all in on the chairs! 1000Chairs website is a great place for inspiration.

I particularly like the Tivoli Chair by Verner Panton, the Clown chair by Design By Us and the Trinidad Chair by Nanna Ditzel. They will add a splash of colour to the kitchen… I can’t wait until I get to go browse the shops looking for all the different chairs there is :)

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Sam Baron

I just saw these on designboom’s newsletter and they are FAB!!!! I love them – I realise I say this a lot… well, what can I  say – I’m a loving person :) and I would just LOVE to have these in my house:

Sam Baron is not a designer I have come across before, so I went to have a quick browse on his website – and there’s some truly amazing stuff. So if you, like me, like fun, funky and quirky design have a look here.

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Dinning room

As you might have noticed, I have a lot of dreams for my house – there’s a lot of furniture I would love to have in my house. Unfortunately, the money isn’t always there – not that we struggle, but expensive designer furniture isn’t the first thing we buy… but one can dream :)

So this dream is about getting new chairs (and ultimately a table) for my dinning room. These are my favorites – a mix of classic and new design:

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I’m a geek…

… there – it’s public now! But the truth is – I really am a geek, especially when it comes to books!!! I LOVE books – to read them, as well as just to look at them. I think it’s a perfect tool to make a room really cosy. My boyfriend and I have just returned from a short break in Scotland (his home-country) and as always we take a day out (yes literally a day!) to go to a book shop, and we do pretty much spend an entire day in the book shop. This is what we returned with this time (we go crazy, mainly because the books are much cheaper in the UK than in Denmark):

But this also means that we need to start looking for bookcases for our “library” as we are running out of space – quickly!!! I have therefore started looking for bookcases – custom build as well as ready made.

I particualarly like the danish company Montana, the great thing about this is that they have so many different elements, so effectively you can custombuild your own bookcase, they even have a designtool on their website that lets you play around with all the different modules. I had a quick play-around, and this is my first-edition bookcase. I like the fact that you can add splashes of colour in without having to opt for one colour alone:

The problem with these is the price – which is way out of my range just now! So that will have to wait… unfortunately! But luckily for me, Ikea does some really nice bookcases, and the good thing about this particular model is that you can add glass doors, which means that all the books will be a bit more protected against dust etc.:

Not only is this in a price range where almost anyone can play – it has also got the possibility of adding different modules, like the Montana one – albeit not quite as many opportunities as the Montana model. Other option is to get our capenter to build one that fits the allocated book-space perfectly – I am planning to get that priced, but I am not keeping my hopes high on this one, I am not sure we will be able to afford that either just now…. I will keep you posted on the progress :)

Until then, just a little inspiration:

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To gym or not to gym…

… that’s the question!

My boyfriend wants a home gym, weight bench, weights… the lot – I object! I refuse to have a mini gym in my livingroom (as it is just now, there isn’t really space for it anywhere else). I don’t object to the fact that he wants to exercise, I love that – and want to encourage that, but not if that means half my livingroom will look like the local gym!

That was until 5 minutes ago – I have just been introduced to the Otto Bench (which unfortunately, has not been put into production yet) and I am sure I’m not the only girl out there who would applaud this little piece of furniture. And if it becomes available in a whole range of different colours – well even better!

No matter what, this little fellow is not something that would cause a divorce – I think this is the perfect compromise :)

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Houses of tomorrow

I have just watched a programme on the houses of tomorrow…. and what an eyeopener! There’s is so much new technology out there – it is fascinating!!!!

My favorite of them all, was a house by Luigi Colani called Rotor House – it is produced by Hanse Haus. It’s basically a tiny house with all your essential utilities (bathroom, kitchen and bedroom) tucked away in a 6 square meter rotating core of the house – so futuristic and so much fun, the house itself apparently is only 6×6 meters! I’d love to try and stay in one, because it’s one thing to see it on TV, quite another to actually try it – how functional is it really? The good thing about it is that you can combine it, so you can get two (or more) Rotor Houses and put them together to create more living space – for instance for a family.

Designboom has written a little bit about the house – see the pictures below:

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