Window shopping

We should do something about Vårkulla's windows. They hardly manage to stay put. I love the design and the old glass that makes all kinds of weird reflections but I don't love the fact that you almost can't touch the frames...

Not only flowers

I love colourful flowers but I also like hostas. They are great for any place with a little shadow. Don't put them in the sunniest place of the garden!

Yellow makes you mellow

All yellow in the spring is not a dandelion. There were a lot of these yellow primulas here at Vårkulla when we bought the place. I have moved them from the grass to the borders and they thrive.

Evening rain

Can't hate the rain, garden looks amazing after a couple of showers!

Romance in the garden

Pink azaleas and lace metal chairs, it doesn't get much more romantic than this.

Have an orange (garden)

The japanese quince (Japaninruusukvitteni) is a great bush for spring - it has bright orange flowers that light up the garden.These also make fruits but you'll need two bushes.The only trouble with quinces is that the hares love them. For some reason they left my quince alone this year and I got to enjoy the fabulous flowers.

Celebrating apple blossoms

It is apple blossom time - this week should be a national holiday!

Meanwhile at the cottage

We went to the cottage yesterday to cut the grass - a jungle waited for us! Despite not getting much care this spring, the garden looked great. The rhododendrons are just starting to flower and everything else was freshly green.

What a difference a week makes

It is incredible how fast everything grows this spring. On Monday morning you couldn't see any flower buds and just look at them now!

One (wo)man's old lace is another one's new favourite

Thank you Satu O for the two lace pillow covers - they perfect our sofa's summer look.

It's a treasure!

I paid 20 euros for this old potato measure and I think it was cheap! I salivated over these at my cousin's on the weekend as she had several in her cowshed. Now I have two...but would need many more to make me really happy :) The owner of the measure lives her summers at an allotment garden area in Ruskeasuo. I have never visited there before, it is a wonderful place! The funny thing was that the old lady was originally from Lapinjärvi which is Vårkulla's neighbouring commune. As the measure used to belong to his father (born in Lapinjärvi), the lady was very happy that the old measure (from 1929) returned almost to home at last.

Lily of the valley

Our lilies of the valley are really lilies of the valley! These grow on the darkest side of the house (in a valley), they only get some evening light and they really flourish!

Nature knows best

Which colours go best together? Green and dark orange of course, just see the primulas below!

Good old days

I've said it before and I am saying it again: everything looked better in the golden olden days, here is an example:

We found this in our shop's storage. It was very dirty but after cleaning it up the beautiful colours pop out. They don't make herring tins like this any more!

At last!

It is getting greener every day. The lilacs's have biggest leaves - as they should as they start flowering before midsummer.

A cool way to keep your coffee warm

When you start obsessing about how things look, your life gets difficult very easily. As the 80's steel is so over, there was a void on the coffee table: how to keep coffee warm without ruining the table setting. Well, thank you Stelton for the beautiful Emma thermos and thank you Stockmann for this weekend's 20 % price cut of all household items.

Who needs diamonds

My husband bought me two new wheelbarrows and I can't think of a better present!

Watercolours

Turqoise is my new favourite colour. I like it greenish, blueish, dark and light.

Why do they all die?

I have no luck with sedums. I have managed to kill almost all of them at the cottage and the future doesn't seem to be very bright for these poor ones at Vårkulla. They love dry earth and sunshine - just maybe it is not my fault they die, last autumn and winter were very wet!

Waiting for flowers

First it was very warm and I was worried that the bulbs will flower and die in days. Now it is cold and rainy and it seems that the bulbs never open. Just a few tulips were on their way on the weekend.

Can't wait

I ordered two plant stands from www.fermliving.com. We are going to try these as stands for loudspeakers. If this works, I'll be exultant as I have never (before) seen any nice stands for loudspeakers. And, well, if this doesn't work, I'll still be a happy camper as I'll have two brand new plant stands. A win-win situation, if there ever was one!

Picture by Ferm Living.

Coffee lover's heaven

No words needed!

Rainy days

I love rain! The garden loves it as much as I do.

Have a nice weekend!

At last it is Friday, cheers!

Under the dome

As the Easter is long gone, I decided to change the decorations in the glass dome to less seasonal ones.

The darker the better

The dark frame of this painting makes the clours to pop out. In kitchen I have another dark frame, its almost black and the turqoise painting looks really good. The more usual golden frames don't have this effect.

Old and new

There is a nice shop in Kotka that sells both old and new stuff. The shop is called Tamburiini www.tamburiini.fi. Last time we bought this ad as the colours suit our kitchen.

Shopkeeper's dream

Our shop's floor is painted green and all old wall boards are taken off. Now we can start furnishing and soon we can organize a flea market weekend! (Who cares that the windows are almost dropping off and the door lets the sunshine in from all the wrong places).

Art from Ikea

We found this bird postcard from Ikea (the frame is from Ikea, too). The colours match our still-not-repainted attic door perfectly. I bought the frame for its yellow accent as this would suit the planned greenish colours of the hall, but it seems to work before the renovation, too.

Tastes like cardboard

We found the rack at our shop and after cleaning it up we filled it with these old chocolate bars. Or they are not really chocolate, they are filled with cardboard and meant to be used as marketing material. My brother found them at flea market and bought them for us.

Use your glasses...

As you may have noticed, I have several big glass jars and bottles. In winter I had Christmas lights in them but somehow they don't work for spring. So trying something else here:

Spring at the cottage

We went to the cottage yesterday to move some perennials to Vårkulla. It is still spring there, at Vårkulla you could almost say it is summer!