lauantai 31. joulukuuta 2016

Out with the old

For us it is time to pack up Christmas. This time I gathered all the decorations on the living room table before packing them up. It was easier to fit them in the boxes and bags when everything could be seen at the same time. But I kind of didn't realize how many decorations we have..

Have a happy New Year's eve!






maanantai 26. joulukuuta 2016

I see red

There is a lot of red in Vårkulla. This was not an altogether conscious choice, for some reason I just chose red carpets, red beddings etc. Well anyway, in Christmas there is even more red when I buy the Christmas flowers and put out the decorations.




sunnuntai 25. joulukuuta 2016

Space age

My favourite Christmas decorations are these U.S made space ships from the 50's. Would love to get more, these I bought from tori.fi but maybe I should try to find more in eBay or etsy.



lauantai 24. joulukuuta 2016

White Christmas

No snow, no Santa? Luckily we always have snow (and angels), if need be! Have yourselves a Merry Christmas!


perjantai 9. joulukuuta 2016

No feet on the table

In Christmas our sofa table is full of stuff. You wouldn't believe that I used to love black-white- grey decorations...


torstai 8. joulukuuta 2016

I want a circus for Christmas!

What I want, I usually get. We bought Alessi's circus tin set for ourselves for Christmas. At the moment it is in the kitchen but I have to move it somewhere else after winter. The light in the kitchen is really strong in spring and any colours would fade in there.




keskiviikko 7. joulukuuta 2016

On the cutting edge


Nowadays I love cut flowers. My husband is a bit amazed that now we have tens of vases when we used to have none. As we had a four day stay in the country I splashed out and bought cut flowers for two large arrangements. One below is in the sitting room, the other (same flowers) is in the kitchen.


tiistai 6. joulukuuta 2016

Putting the thinking cap on

Come Christmas and my old glass bottles got new caps and now they look a lot like caraffes. The golden glass bubbles fit right in.


maanantai 5. joulukuuta 2016

Stars in your eyes

There is never too much light in the garden in winter. My husband installed lights to our garden star yesterday and now the shed is a bit easier to find in the dark...


sunnuntai 4. joulukuuta 2016

O holy night

We bought a church candle holder for eighteen candles. It looks rather impressing in the gazebo, I think.



perjantai 2. joulukuuta 2016

Who knows

What do I do with an old traffic sign? I don't know, but it looks rather good. I am not much into blue anymore (the eightie's ruined blue for me), but the sign was rather cheap and how often do you see these in flea markets? Never, is the answer! So of course we had to buy the only one and now it decorates our living room at home.


torstai 1. joulukuuta 2016

My favourite

We found this old hard rye bread advertisement in tori.fi. Mint condition is an understatement, the advert is in perfect condition. I just happen to love Ylhäisten näkkileipä hard bread so it was great to find an old advert. The bread is real hard and the best version has a lot of caraway in it.


torstai 24. marraskuuta 2016

What a woman needs

Here are a couple of additions to our shop museum collection: some stockings and a Fazer chocolate box. Rare finds, never seen these anywhere before. And the price was rather good, too.


keskiviikko 23. marraskuuta 2016

Cream for your coffee (and some fish on the side)

Punahilkka (little red hood) cream bottle is a pretty addition to our Christmas decorations. After the Christmas I'll probably store it in the shop museum. The herring tins are also old (and empty). All three now stand on the new scale I wrote about a few days ago (link...).


tiistai 22. marraskuuta 2016

All that is missing is the summer

Last weekend was a great one as we found a lot of stuff for picnics next summer. The lunch box is a beauty and we are sure to never go hungry again if we fill this to the tilt. We also bought a "new" picnic table - we already have one but it doesn't have enough chairs, the newest has four so we might invite some frieds to picnic with us. Just wait for the invitation!



maanantai 21. marraskuuta 2016

I need flowers

It is a bit dark right now so there is a big need for colour. I made a picture of carnations (or maybe they are dahlias) as the real things don't last too well without any care during the week.


sunnuntai 20. marraskuuta 2016

Time for sausages

It is funny, yesterday we ate delicious home made salmon sausages and today we happened to find an old scale that was labeled by Oy Suomen Suoliliike Ab that sold scales and other stuff to sausage makers in Finland from 1930's on. This scale is perfect for our kitchen as it is rather small. We have a white Konesilta scale but it is way too big for the kitchen, so it is in the shop museum. Both scales are for professional use so they are really well made (and beautiful to look at as things usually were around the 50's).



maanantai 14. marraskuuta 2016

What a star

I've been begging my husband to build me a big wooden star for the garden. Yesterday he finally built one and I just love my new star!




sunnuntai 13. marraskuuta 2016

Baby steps

Christmas is coming, little by little. There are some Christmas decorations in every room but nothing major, yet.


keskiviikko 9. marraskuuta 2016

There is method in madness

We found a "new" metal tray last weekend. The jug with the same label we found a while ago. And as we happen to know one of the Dewars, its fun to have both the jug and the tray.


tiistai 8. marraskuuta 2016

Treasure box

I know it is too early to start decorating for Christmas. But I bought some new glass bubbles and just couldn't hide them in the closet. In the old coffee box they don't look too Christmassy, more like some oriental treasures...or at least I think so.


maanantai 7. marraskuuta 2016

Accepting cookies?

You very seldom find (cheap) shop adverts nowadays but last weekend we got lucky. We found this old Hanko cookie (Hangon keksi is the company name in Finnish) advert in tori.fi and fetched it from Kotka. It will look great on the shop wall.




sunnuntai 6. marraskuuta 2016

After the first snowfall

The winter took me by surprise. It was autumn when we left on Monday and on Friday it was winter. Luckily I had packed most of the summer flower pots away last weekend and didn't buy cyclamens, they would have died during the week. Well, now it is winter and the heathers are the only flowers that survived.


tiistai 1. marraskuuta 2016

A great foursome

I got the big white Arabia platter from my mum. It has been standing on the living room table by itself. After looking at it for a while I decided to spruce things up a bit and put the table lamp on it. The vignette looked still a bit boring. After adding the two H&M apes, I was satisified. The brass apes go well with the brass rod of the lamp.



maanantai 31. lokakuuta 2016

Line up

I have a small collection of Russian dolls. When cleaning up yesterday I put them all on the cabinet in the living room. More is more, I say.



sunnuntai 30. lokakuuta 2016

Don't you dare die on me

As the summer is gone, I wanted to get some flowers to remind me of it. But as I am notoriously lazy care-taker of potted plants I bought porcelain "sedums" to get me through the winter. I found these in Sokos and they fitted very well in my turquoise vases from the 50's.



perjantai 21. lokakuuta 2016

What about me?

How are you going to remember me on my 100th birthday? To honor Tapio Wirkkala, Iittala reproduced a beautiful glass vase Wirkkala designed. Not bad. I bought a brown one on sale (couldn't resist) and I'd still love to get the slim green (or grey) one, too. So if you get an urgent need to buy me something, you'll know what to get :)





maanantai 17. lokakuuta 2016

It was cheap!

The old tv/radio stand was in a rather bad condition when we bought it. I changed the top to a tray till we decide how to repair the original top. The legs will get a new coat of paint (someday). For now I am happy enough to have the thing in the kitchen.


sunnuntai 16. lokakuuta 2016

Bon voyage!

Now we have everything we need for summer trips: a suitcase, a small radio, a 60's road map and a nail kit (can't travel without a nail kit, now can you?).


The map and nail kit are from Villähteen kylähullu (link), a great vintage store.

tiistai 11. lokakuuta 2016

Guardian angel

Concrete angel, heavy stuff! We got this angel from our neighbours and it has been guarding our garden ever since.


maanantai 10. lokakuuta 2016

Eye candy

People were smaller in the 50's or at least their heads were - just look at these sunglasses, they would cover one of my eyes, not both! But the glasses look great in our old Opel, never mind the usefulness.



torstai 6. lokakuuta 2016

On top shelves

Top shelves in the kitchen are not for gathering dust. They are a great place for a tin collection! No use to store anything useful there as the shelves are too high to reach without a chair and you'd just risk your health by reaching for everyday items.



keskiviikko 5. lokakuuta 2016

All I need

The shop museum is bursting at the seams and things don't look much better in the living room. I desperately need more shelves as less stuff is not an option.


tiistai 4. lokakuuta 2016

Kitchenalia or just kitch?

You know me, I'll collect almost anything, not the least kitchenalia. I'd love to get more of little old spice tins but their prices are really too high for me. This small red one cost 4 euros and it was cheap...


maanantai 3. lokakuuta 2016

Colours galore

It was a beautiful day yesterday. The morning was really cold but it got a lot of warmer in the afternoon and the photo session in the garden was held in t-shirts.