On a trip

Yesterday the economic crisis creeped a bit further towards our doorstep, as the company my boyfriend works for fired a big group of people. Luckily not him and for the moment everything seems quiet in that area. Tomorrow we will be in Londen for a short 3-day vacation, and we are really looking forward to it. His mother send us a super present: tickets for "The phantom of the opera"!!
I hope the weather is going to be as nice as it is over here in Belgium, so we can walk around in this lovely city to explore The British Museum, historical sites and sit in the sun in Hyde Park.

In the meanwhile I am working on a new concept and I am hoping to sign with the first client next week.

New home stuff

On my last trip to IKEA I bought a small dinner table, shortened the legs and painted it brown/grey and now we use it as a coffee table. The colour blends in wonderful with the colours in the livingroom and gives a nice contrast to the accessories I placed on it.

While I was at the shop, I also picked up some meters of fabric, maybe for pillows, I don't know yet. I think the bright red goes well with the soft grey on our walls, and we can use some nice colour overall.

Diamond trend

Seems there is a new thing going on: Diamond inspired products and art. I see it popping up everywhere. Maybe because I am working on a diamond project...

Clockwise from top left: Vase by Habitat, Table object Rots by Mara Skujeniece for PerLei, Candle holders by Jean Pelle on Etsy, Diamond shaped house from Gael Maison, Cushion and Rug by Habitat, Vase by Habitat, Chairs by Fun Makes Good.

Decoration from the garden

From our garden I got some branches with yellow flowers, to decorate the diningroom. I put them in my favourite vase, by Hella Jongerius for Ikea. I think they look very good with the yellow and grey of the lamp my parent found at a local flee market (best find ever!).

That's it: I want a Mac

I wasn't much of a computer person (my boyfriend still thinks I know nothing about them, but that's another story) when I started as a first year design student at The Design Academy in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. I even asked Gijs Bakker, the founder of Droog and one of the teachers at DA, if it was really necessary for design (whahaha what was I thinking). The whole Mac/Apple thing was even beyond my understanding..

Now, ten years and several PC's and a laptop later, I finally see the light. Just this morning I went to buy a poweradapter for my laptop, because our beloved dog chewed the wire of the old one completely. The only machine (it IS a machine by size, trust me) that I could find was a Trust all purpose poweradapter. It is huge! And it make the exact same noise as a blowdryer!

At least in de Apple universe, everything is compatible and small and SILENT. Oh, and it looks nice aswell.

As soon as the payments of the two projects I am currently working on are in, I will buy a MacBook!

Going Green

With spring at our doorstep, the gardening season ready to start and a need for something fresh, today is all about green. I especially like combining shades of green to add a bit more depth to it, sometimes green can look a bit cheap or dull if you use only one hue (and step away from the limegreen as an accent color, please!).

Clockwise from top left: Lamp Tall Tank by Established&Sons, Sony Cybershot, Notebook from GetFeltUp's Etsyshop, Cushion with buttons by Tas-ka, Butterfly necklace by bndesign on Etsy, Dutch bike, Sofa Kramfors by Ikea, Color inspiration by VT Wonen, Fabric Atticus Basil by ModGreenPod via Volksfaden.

Klas Ernflo

I just stumbled upon the fresh and supercool artwork of Klas Ernflow. Seems like he has a lot of talent and feeling for different materials and for both illustration and photography. The bottom drawing is part of a series he did for Apartamento magazine in 2008, the other two I saw on his Flickr stream. If you have some time to kill, go to his website!

Inspiration guaranteed.

Updating the shop

I'm busy this morning with sorting my buttons for the Etsy shop, like I was yesterday... There is so much.. and it looks so much better in the new box!

I really like the Etsy concept and how it is all set up. Playing around with Google Analytics is getting addictive, especially clicking on the map overlay to check where the visitors are from.

Circles and dots

Looking at my vintage buttons while sorting them to put them on Etsy, I was suddenly reminded of those color blindness test I took once while being examined by the school doctor.

The pattern is so beautiful, and the colors are so well chosen.. could be nice as a cool fabric pattern. I wonder if there are vintage posters or books for sale on Ebay with these prints...

Button up!

Since two or three months I have an Etsy account, because occasionally I buy things there. Yesterday I decided to open my own shop , because all the clutter was getting to me, and I wanted to sell some of the pieces I collected over the past 10 years.

This morning I checked the "shop" to see how it looked, and added two more items. When I tried to sort my listings there were two items missing, so I searched for them in my files and the yet to be discovered corners of Etsy. But what do you know: they had already been sold! I am so happy, a sale! (well technically TWO sales!)

So now the time has come to say goodbye to some of my (vintage) bits and bobs, but I rather see them with someone who uses them, than let them collect dust in the attic.