Not so modern

Even though everything except the wall paper is new in this picture, the room doesn't look too modern.

Let it rain!

I got new red rubber boots, so let it rain, I don't care!

Something new and something blue

The new lamp is more turqoise than blue and it is perfect. It looks as good in daylight as in the evening. Note: the alphabet board is now hanging on the wall as it should..

From every angle

Now that the red blanket is at last finished, it has to be photographed and admired from every angle.

I would if I could

I love to knit. Last year I got inspired and knitted two blankets and about ten pairs of socks. After that my left hand middle finger was so sore that in the end I couldn't bend it. After that I put this half finished blanket in storage and didn't finish it until now. I was supposed to make a bigger one but did't dare to start knitting again. My 76 year old mother knits every day without any problems, I'm so jealous of her! It's awful to know you are good at something but can't do anything with your skills.

Summer flowers

This bowl is part of Arabia's summer flowers crockery that I inherited from my nanny.  The bowl is in very good condition even though it is from the early 1940's. Now at last I found a good place for it - it has been in our garderobe for about 15 years...and a pile of plates is still there...

Radio days

This small radio from the 60's waits for a better place...it is now in our hall. I think it would deserve a more visible place but hadn't find one yet. My husband thinks it needs a car from the same period but I try to find a cheeper solution.

Not for slight wrists

This brass coffeepot looks small in the picture but in real life it is rather impressive. If it were full of hot coffee I guess there would be no way I could pour it prettily in cups. My brother bought this for us.

The warmth of the candles

It would be nice if we could have real fire in the fireplaces but they don't work well enough. Well, the candles look nice even though they don't give much warmth.

Studio photos

If you have wondered why there have been so many pictures taken in front of the same wall recently, it is because my husband created a temporary photo studio in our living room and took many pictures on a same day. Even though you have seen most of the stuff before here in my blog, I'll show these again as they look very nice when taken out of the more colourful real context.

And..action!

It is very rewarding to feed the birds in winter. There is a lot of action as soon as you fill the feeder.

For ungreen fingers

As there is no hope to grow an olive tree in Finland, one has to settle for an artificial plant. I usually don't like these but for some reason this wanted to come with me when I left the local interior design shop.

Survivor

This poinsettia has stamina you have to admire - it has already survived two Christmases and it is still alive! And I quite like its Bonsai-like character - it looks better now than when it was in full bloom.

Take a sip

This old bottle was found at our attic. It is from Lahden polttimo and must have been a bottle for spirit. In olden times men were smaller and bottles bigger.

The final curtain

We bought the curtain from London about a year ago. It was all the time meant for this door but we just did not get around to hang it. Well, finally it is in its right place. And the new door mat from Prisma looks better now, too. Both the curtain and the mat will look even better when we paper the walls...

The Brittish use a lot of these door curtains - they are really useful if you only have one door in the hall as we do. I haven't seen these in Finnish shops, I wonder why as it is even colder here than in England.

These birds were framed

We happened to have a few extra frames at home and at Vårkulla we had a few bird postcards and before you knew it, two and two made less than four...

Stars in my eyes

I seem to always rave about stars and here we go again...I just love these brass star molds. I'd buy more if I could find them - the smallest one I found last week.

Among us sailors

We don't sail - I have a great troubles to even board a boat but we still fell for this little wooden one and had to buy it as an unlikely decoration...

I might even start collecting these!

It's gonna look great

I am still waiting for the bathroom to be finished. While waiting, we bought this cabinet from Kotka:

We wanted an old looking mirrow but on the other hand we knew we'll need some place to put toothbrushes etc. This new French cabinet will be perfect!

Look closer

This is a detail of our ostrich board hanging on the living room wall. I did not see how funny the horse looked before seeing this photo.

Magic for the kitchen

We have Iittala's Taika (Magic) crockery at home. Now there are even drinking glasses and we bought them for Vårkulla. The "new" picture is a loan from Iittala's homepage at www.iittala.fi.

Hang it up already!

We bought a nice decoration board for the living room wall but it just stands on the floor. Maybe someday it hangs on the wall as it is supposed to do.

Good find in sale this year

As the floors are rather cold in the winter, there can never be too many woollen rugs. The gray one is the newest one and it cost only 50 euros. It's original price was about 250 euros, so we were happy to find this last one in sale.

Winter for the walls

I have tried to find art for the walls. This aquarel is from the fifties as is most of the other paintings we have.

Heavy duty

We bought this hall cabinet last weekend. It weighed a ton! Not everything from Ikea is made of cardboard...

Ready for easter

I found this cute old children's plate (Arabia, from the 40's)  at flea market and I think it will be a perfect table decoration for Easter.

More place for books

I have a problem with books: I buy too many and have no place to store them. This old basket found at our attic gives a helping hand in the living room.

Still going strong

Christmas is long gone but the amaryllis and poinsettias are still as good as new.