torstai 7. joulukuuta 2017

The lottery of life

Our shop used to be the village lottery/betting dealer right to the closing of the business. So..of course we had to start looking for lottery/betting dealer (Veikkaus in Finnish) stuff. I would love to get lottery slips from the 50's/60's but I guess nobody has saved these as the dealers got new ones every year. Well, I am happy enough with the adverts we have found.



keskiviikko 6. joulukuuta 2017

Sweet Christmas

Chocolate lollipops in red and white - perfect for Christmas. I saw these at Tuomaan Markkinat in Helsinki and had to buy some. Maybe all Christmas decorations should be edible, you could just eat everything after Christmas, no need to pack things up and try to find place for all the boxes...hmm..


torstai 30. marraskuuta 2017

Merry Christmas, guaranteed

This must be a first. I bought an Alessi Christmas bauble today and it has a two year guarantee! I don't know what the guarantee covers and it doesn't much matter as I am sure to loose the receipt anyway. Never thought anybody would guarantee Christmas decorations (less they are of gold).


Photo: Alessi

sunnuntai 26. marraskuuta 2017

Dream kitchen (or kitchen dreams)

Don't you just see the perfect 50's kitchen with yellow-black retro wallpaper and candy colour furniture? You don't? Well, I do (and am hoping the husband will keep up with the good work..)



perjantai 24. marraskuuta 2017

Not much of a shopper

When you have everything, you still don't have enough Christmas decorations. I went shopping today (due to Black Friday) and the only things that catched my eye were a couple of baubles for Christmas.


sunnuntai 19. marraskuuta 2017

Lazy day

I didn't have much energy to do anything today. I raked wet leaves for an hour and half and after that read interior design magazines. Luckily I have an energetic husband, he went to Rauhala and got rid of the plastic carpets in the hall and living room. The wooden floorboards were in a rather good condition so some sanding and painting is required, but no need to change the boards.



perjantai 17. marraskuuta 2017

This or that

I had to make a difficult decision today when I had to choose between Riikka Fransila's vintage art pieces. There were more than the two in the photo, but these two were the most interesting ones, I think. I bought the one with the mushrooms so if you are interested in the fishman, go and buy it at TRE Christmas market in Aleksanterinkatu, Helsinki.


keskiviikko 15. marraskuuta 2017

Smoking is good for you (or for your brand)

Advertising was so much easier when almost everyone smoked. Now people don't even use pens anymore, so what's left to print your logo on?


tiistai 14. marraskuuta 2017

Travellin man

No need to take your own photos, if you buy a set of souvenir cards. Our latest find are these 10 of Langinkoski, Kotka, where we have visited many times but never happened to take any photos..


maanantai 13. marraskuuta 2017

Before phone cameras

Orange is one of my favourite colours and as you might have noticed, I collect tins and love the 50´s...so this tin was a perfect find. It is also in very good condition!


sunnuntai 12. marraskuuta 2017

Hit and run

Old spinning tops have gotten a lot of hits during the years of play and they usually look better for it.
The top is from a flea market and the old cardboard traffic sign we got from friends (thanks again J-P and Anne).


lauantai 4. marraskuuta 2017

Memories are made of this

We bought a house my grandpa has built. In one drawer we found a photo of grandma and grandpa, taken around the 30's. We got the photo framed by professionals and now have a very nice picture to hang in Rauhala (after renovation, of course).


sunnuntai 1. lokakuuta 2017

Note to self

We visited Runeberg's museum in Porvoo today. There was a dark separate room for dishes that had a window to the room next to it. A great idea, we have a little room under the stairs and a window from there to kitchen would look nice and give some light to the storage room.


lauantai 30. syyskuuta 2017

perjantai 29. syyskuuta 2017

Don't give up yet

It's a bit chilly in the mornigs but after raking the leaves and deadheding the summer flowers it still looks a bit like summer.


torstai 28. syyskuuta 2017

I see red

I love red and my husband loves airplanes so buying this can was a given. What do you mean what is it for? It´s for loving the look of it, of course!


keskiviikko 27. syyskuuta 2017

First things first

Of course I bought wallpaper for the kitchen before even signing the papers of the house, wouldn't anyone? I just had to as I fell for this Stig Lindberg design at first sight and it just happened that Värisilmä had a campaign lasting the day I saw these the first time. 20 % discount and only for the day, what else there was to do but buy the damn things!


tiistai 26. syyskuuta 2017

Travellin man

Our "new" picnic case has seen the Niagra falls in the 50's. We don't aim that far, we'll be happy if our Opel Kadet will take us to the neighboring village. But it is good to have a case that has seen some world in its time!




maanantai 25. syyskuuta 2017

Even I can see the time

I love the 50's, the design of everyday objects was great and if something was specifically designed, the design was amazing.

We bought a wall/ceiling/table clock that used to adorn Kuparitalo's walls in Helsinki. Kuparitalo (Copper house) was designed by architects Blomstedt & Lampén in 1958 for Outokumpu Oy.

Someone has changed the clockworks from one needing a central clock to an ordinary electric device - good for us as now the clock works even at home. The clock has identical working clocks on both sides and it doesn't matter if you hang the thing upside down, it still shows the right time.

The clocks don't get any better than this!




sunnuntai 27. elokuuta 2017

Waiting for the postman?

Do you still send post cards? I usually get loads in Christmas so not everybody just sends emails or FB messages. We send a little newsletter, not cards, but we send it by post so it counts as a Christmas card, doesn't it?

We wanted to get a card rack for the shop museum and found one quite near us and fetched it yesterday. As I don't have any 50's/60's cards yet, these two had to do for the photo. The one with dogs is by my friend Kati, beautiful even after Christmas. The Abbey road one is from Moko.


perjantai 25. elokuuta 2017

I won the second round

Last year the lily bugs harmed my lilies quite badly. This year I managed to destroy the bugs early on and now the tiger lilies are higher than me and flowe like never before. The lilies where here when we bought the place, I just moved them to the flower beds every time I created one. And now they are everywhere and I just love them!




lauantai 19. elokuuta 2017

Clean up your act

People save the weirdest things. These old soap packages are from internet discussion groups and yard sales. The stand we found at the museum's attic. Maybe I should have saved some things from the eighties, but didn't. I was then a cleaning up freak and sold everything that had some value in flea markets and the rest I threw away.



perjantai 18. elokuuta 2017

Don't keep me in the dark

At last it is dark enough to have lights in the garden. Our Ikea lamp looks beautiful in the evenings. It lights up by itself when the evening darkens and closes down when it is light enough.





maanantai 14. elokuuta 2017

World of wonders

This was a perfect summer for rhubarbs. They just grew and grew. I would have let them be but then there was a storm warning and I thought that the big leaves wouldn't survive the wind and heavy rain and so I cut the things down. My husband took a final photo of the rhubarbs when I (185 cm tall) was carrying them to the compost heap.


sunnuntai 13. elokuuta 2017

Coffee break

What to do with your old copper coffee pots when you don't have room for them in the kitchen? Well, you line the perennial borders with them, of course. I plan to store the pots inside for winter but I guess they would manage outside, too (providing my husband won't distroy them with his snow blower - he managed to cut a bit from our stairs with the thing so this is a real problem).


lauantai 12. elokuuta 2017

Just shut your eyes

These photos are not for a mimimalist. I used to be one but in the garden (and even in the house) there are now colours and lots and lots of flowers and ornaments. So no more black, gray and white for me.

I think I said a couple of weeks ago that the garden is at its best (at peony time) but I have to take my words back: the garden is at its best right now! On the other hand, I am still waiting for the tiger lilies to flower so the best time for the garden might be tomorrow...




tiistai 8. elokuuta 2017

Cheaper than Ikea

We have been trying to find night stands for the bedroom at home for ages. Our previous ones were over 15 year old covered baskets that were starting to look a bit sad. About a week ago we found perfect tables and they cost only18 euros each. Quite a find!


maanantai 7. elokuuta 2017

Stop the traffic!

It seems that we have started to collect traffic related stuff...we already have one metal and one cardboard traffic sign. And now we found a pretty little traffic control barrier from the 50's. Three is a collection, isn't it?


tiistai 25. heinäkuuta 2017

Stayin alive

The white poinsettia I bought last october is still flowering. I put it in a bigger pot today, let's see if it will continue to flower or if it finally dies (as it should have, months ago).




lauantai 22. heinäkuuta 2017

Summer evenings

The garden is at it's very best after some rain. This July has been perfect for a gardener: it is mostly sunny during the day and late in the evening / at night there are some rain showers, not too much but just enough. The tiger lilies are gigantic and most of the other plants are thriving, too.




maanantai 17. heinäkuuta 2017

Waiting for the rain

Just in case there will be heavy rain today, I picked a couple of peonies and brought them inside.


lauantai 15. heinäkuuta 2017

Summer lovin'

There are lots of pink, white and purple flowers in the garden right now. They look wonderfully romantic. In a little while there will again be a lot of yellow and orange to spice things a bit, but for now I enjoy the pastels.



perjantai 14. heinäkuuta 2017

Straight from a shop

I don't grow potatoes as we eat so little of them. But I like old potato measures a lot and these two were a perfect find for the shop museum as they are from the 50's.


torstai 13. heinäkuuta 2017

My kingdom

There is something of a little girl still left in me even if I'm now officially middle-aged. I just love everything princessy...Yesterday I found a Swedish princess coffee tin and the little booklet I have bought for the shop museum ages ago. And with anything with princesses, pink goes more than well.


maanantai 10. heinäkuuta 2017

Glory days

Finally the peonies and foxgloves flower, this is the moment I was waiting for!




lauantai 8. heinäkuuta 2017

Summer!

Even though it was rather cold when we woke up (10 degrees), I think it is finally safe to say it's summer.


perjantai 7. heinäkuuta 2017

Teething troubles

Do you know the feeling when everything you have is kind of great but kind of broken at the same time? We have several old radios and there is something wrong with every one of them. This one is otherwise a beauty as a side table but some of the buttons are broken. Would love to get "new" ones..And when taking the photo I noticed that the rack under the radio is held together with cable ties...never noticed this before, shows how much I care about details..


maanantai 3. heinäkuuta 2017

Please wait

Our holiday starts after a week and the peonies are driving me crazy. I don't want them to flower during our work week! But what to do, the ones in the sunniest places are bursting into flower right now.


sunnuntai 2. heinäkuuta 2017

Every day is a museum day

We had open doors at the shop museum yesterday. A lot of people came and many also visited my garden which is at its summer best right now. Today my husband tried to fix our Opel Kadet and I did some gardening. To take a break we visited a flea market. I found some tins for the shop museum.

My husband bought a crowbar, I don't know how many we already have but as they say, you can never too be too rich or have too many crowbars.


perjantai 30. kesäkuuta 2017

Now's the time

I don't usually pick flowers for inside use but as there was talk about storm today, I picked some lilies to have a few in case everything falls down due to wind and rain. Thankfully the peonies are still in bud so they should survive.


tiistai 27. kesäkuuta 2017

Is there anything better than (hot) chocolate?

I used to love O'Boy cocoa as a child. I haven't yet find any old O´Boy packages, mostly only Makao (which I hated). Well, they are right for the shop museum collection anyway.




maanantai 26. kesäkuuta 2017

There is never too much sugar!

Old cardboard boxes are hard to find. Luckily I have a brother who also visits flea markets. He found this rather big sugar box that now decorates the shop museum.