Generell skjerpings etterlyses

Mens Magnhild fortsetter sin Shabby Fredag-serie, til glede for noen og sikkert forargelse for mange, leser jeg interiøratikler i avisen. I dette tilfellet Adressa, som har vært på besøk hos Ingeborg Okkenhaug på Svartlamoen. Et ganske så sjarmerende hjem, skal jeg innrømme, selv om jeg er alt for glad i bacon til å ha åpne hyller på kjøkkenet.

Men å finne på billedtekster til slike reportasjer er tydeligvis ikke helt enkelt. Man finner, for eksempel, denne perlen:

adressa_interior

Jakker på knagger? Jøss. Og hatter på hattehyllen, sier du? Det var virkelig orginalt. Og så jeg som alltid har oppbevart hattene mine i fryseren og jakkene slengt over tv’en.

Okkenhaug er designeren bak klesmerket Nordlys, som jeg såvidt har hørt om. Så da måtte jeg jo google litt. Jeg fikk litt alveoverload av nettsiden (altså, jeg synes det er ganske fint med “alveklær”, jeg, men det blit fort for mye av det gode), men denne jakken, for eksempel, den var da ganske kul?

Today’s flea market finds

Two curtain lengths.
Two curtain lengths.
A printed table runner.
A printed table runner.

I think there might be a difference in shade on the two lengths, they seem to have faded unevenly, but I haven’t checked properly. The material is very summer curtainy, netlike, and not very versatile, but they were cheap and the print makes me happy.

I also bought a 1000 piece jig-saw puzzle, it was still wrapped in plastic from the manufacturer, so it seems likely all the pieces will be there.

Our new favourite shop

For some strange reason it’s taken us months to check out Etikken, a new shop in the town center stocking organic and fair trade food, and recently also children’s clothes. Well, I suppose we can partly blame it on the moving thing, we’ve been trying to avoid buying stuff that would simply have to be moved.

This Saturday we had quite a lot of dry goods on the shopping list, and finally found our way to Kjøpmannsgata 51. I was quite prepared to be dissappointed, to be honest, but luckily my pessimism was put to shame. We got everything on our list, and more, much more, since it was a case of “Ooh, I’ve never seen that brand in Norway before, better get some!” and “Look, they have pinto beans! I’m buying the whole stock!” and “I’ll just have a look at the children’s clothes, too… Oooh, look!” and so on.

Beans, beans, musical beans!
Beans, beans, musical beans!
All the kinds of flour one could possibly want
All the kinds of flour one could possibly want
Wild Tracks coffee, the best there is
Wild Tracks coffee, the best there is

We buy Wild Tracks direct from their website, but were glad to see it hanging prettily on the end of the shelves there, as that means we’ll have somewhere to send people when they want to try it – especially if they want to try something other than the darkly roasted espresso version we go for (because if that’s what they want, we just give them a bag).

What with meat and veg from the farmers market and most of our dry goods from Etikken, it’s going to be a lot easier to shop local, green and fair in the future. Yay for that.

Shabby fredag, og en kommentar om hvitt

Jeg har ledd godt av Magnhilds “Shabby fredag” serie de siste ukene (foreløbig siste innlegg her). Jeg har jo, som nevnt, lest en del interiørblogger i det siste. Og for hver jeg har lagt til i google reader har jeg sukket og lukket minst to. For det er veldig mye shabby chic der ute. Og sånn romantisk fransk, helst stavet på fransk. Og pasteller. Og hvitt. Det er MYE hvitt. Man blir nesten snøblind. Og innmellom er det veeeeeeeldig mange bilder av omtrent samme saken.

Jeg mener, jeg tar en masse bilder. Jeg kan godt ta tjue bilder av samme ting. Og så tenker jeg at DET skal jeg blogge om. Og så kommer jeg aldri så langt. Eller, hvis jeg er heldig  kommer jeg så langt, men husker ikke å finne fram bildene. Og hvis jeg er så usannsynlig heldig at jeg både husker å blogge og finner fram bildene samtidig har jeg sjelden tid til å bruke tid på å behandle bildene i særlig grad, utover å redusere oppløsningen. Og jeg har da i hvert fall ikke tid til å behandle tjue bilder av samme sak.

Hvordan gjør de det, egentlig?

Jeg, for eksempel, nøyer meg med sånt som dette:

Se, vi har fått opp whiskyskapene!
Se, vi har fått opp whiskyskapene!

Ja, hvitbalansen burde vært justert. Og jeg skulle kanskje ha flyttet unna litt rot før jeg tok bildet. Men jeg gadd altså ikke.

Jeg bruker kanskje tiden på å lese interiørblogger i stedet… Ikke vet jeg.

Og når jeg først er inne på Shabby fredag føler jeg at jeg kanskje skulle kommentert den tilsynelatende motsetningen mellom å sukke over mengden hvitt der ute og å male alt jeg klarer i egen leilighet hvitt… For det virker unektelig litt “flisen i min brors øye”-aktig. Jeg ser den.

Vel, ærede jury, her er saken:

Punkt A: Jeg er lat. Det er langt enklere å male alt hvitt, man slipper å vaske penslene (jeg bare pakker dem inn i aluminiumsfolie mellom hvert strøk/hver vegg) og vi trenger ikke kjøpe ett spann per rom/vegg. I tillegg slipper vi å stirre i timesvis på fargeprøver for å bestemme oss for om 1070-G10Y eller 1080-G30Y vil gjøre seg best, og vi kan spasere rett inn på OBS! Bygg og plukke med oss et spann eller to i stedet for å trekke kølapp og vente på at malingen ristes klar. (Det var det siste argumentet som overtalte mannen, forresten.)

Punk B: Vi har utrolig mye saker og ting. Vi har nok bøker til at de fleste veggene kommer til å dekkes med bokhyller. Og så har vi en og annen hyllemeterfull med whisky også. For ikke å snakke om et par bilder der rammen måles i m snarere enn cm som jeg gjerne skulle hengt opp. Og en del av den mindre typen også. Det kommer derfor ikke til å være så mye hvitt igjen å skue innen vi er ferdiginnflyttet.

Så det.

A propos hvitt, når jeg begynte å male dører oppdaget jeg at strien innenfor listene slett ikke var hvit, slik det så ut ved første øyekast, men lys blåbærsuppefarget.

Vakkert.
Vakkert.

Nå er dørene hvite.

Og jeg har fred i sjelen.

Painting, painting, painting

Sunday I got some help with the painting
Søndag fikk jeg hjelp med malinga

Did I say painting? Perhaps I meant spilling? Oh, well, things got white, anyway.

I think she did quite well.

Quite well.
Quite well.

But, as with most instances where a three-year-old “helps”: I think it’d been quicker without her.

And I think I’ll need at least two more coats on this wall, despite probably managing with two overall on the others.

Ah, well. She had fun.

Pine begone!

Eller død over furuhelvetet, som man kanskje ville si på en norsk interiørblogg.

And it’s so much better already:

Though a few more coats, perhaps?
Though a few more coats, perhaps?

Also, paint the rest of the room, as I only managed a first coat on half the room this evening.

And since Nicolette asked about bathrooms. Well, there’s the combined toilet/utility room:

I need a fisheye lens...
I need a fisheye lens...

Yeah, we thought we’d leave the washing machine in the middle of the floor. Making a statement, you know.

Kidding, obviously. We need to adjust the back left “leg” to make it stable and level and we couldn’t get at it. We’ll have to give it another try.

This room badly needs a decorator, but it’s not high on our list of priorities, because it’s at least practical. I did put a mirror up, though.

I love this mirror
I love this mirror

And here’s the bathroom. Well, a sliver of it:

As you can see: SMALL
As you can see: SMALL

Here’s another sliver. Including an inadvertent self portrait. Well, at least I’m dressed.

The shower curtain we picked up at a flea maket. Geeky enough for you?
The shower curtain we picked up at a flea maket. Geeky enough for you?

And another detail, non-permanent: We’ve set up our bed in one of the smaller bedrooms, and needed a reading light. We’ll only be here until we’ve got the other room painted, so there didn’t seem to be any point in finding a permanent solution – buying a new lamp, for example. So I mounted one of our old lamps on my tripod:

Ingenious! Until I need a tripod, obviously.
Ingenious! Until I need a tripod, obviously.

Ok, so the paneling stays.

At least in the bedroom.

I started trying to remove it, starting with the molding:

Molding gone
Molding gone

Then I attempted to remove the longest piece on the left wall:

And found a snag in the plan
And found a snag in the plan

See, the wall between this bedroom and the main living area was put up by the previous occupants when they had another child and therefore needed another bedroom. Prior to this the area was open off the kitchen and used as a dining room. We’re happy with the dining area as it is now, we need the extra room more, so we’re leaving the wall up. However, the wall was simply put in place on top of the existing decoration – paneling, molding and all.

It’s even more obvious from the outside:

Elegant, innit?
Elegant, innit?

So we’ll go for plan B, painting it all white. In the bedroom at least. On the walls in the living area, I think it can be removed without this sort of trouble, but that’s a project for later in the autumn, I want to get the bedroom sorted first.

Another argument for leaving the paneling is that we won’t have to deal with sorting out things like these:

The sockets can stay as they are, then. Goody.
The sockets can stay as they are, then. Goody.

Flea market finds

The Sunday before we were due to move we went to a flea market. This was probably a bad idea, on the whole, but we were (well, I was) remarkably restrained. I purchased two plates and one tray for all of 7 kroner, and a sewing machine for 20 kroner.

At least I assume there's a sewing machine in there. They'd lost the key.
At least I assume there's a sewing machine in there. They'd lost the key.

The only worrying thing is that considering this is my fourth sewing machine, and the second purchased within two weeks, I may have started collecting sewing machines…

Figgjo
Figgjo
Stavangerflint
Stavangerflint
Rosti tray
Rosti tray

I’ve never even seen one of these before, but the manufacturer is undoubtable:

Rosti mark
Rosti mark

We also purchased a shower curtain (which we need for the new flat) and a pile of books for the lass.

Aha. Pictures!

Some pictures from the new flat:

Kitchen and living room to the right, bedrooms left. Will have to paint this wall. Might cover it with bookshelves.
Kitchen and living room to the right, bedrooms left. Will have to paint this wall. Might cover it with bookshelves.
1st bedroom, with something that looks like a carpet on this wall. WTF? Will tear down and eventually this will be the guest/craft room.
1st bedroom, with something that looks like a carpet on this wall. WTF? Will tear down and eventually this will be the guest/craft room.
Wardobes in what will be our bedroom. Will have to paint walls. Also, probably, tear down paneling. Or just paint it. We'll see.
Wardobes in what will be our bedroom. Will have to paint walls. Also, probably, tear down paneling. Or just paint it. We'll see.
Third bedroom. Will stay as is and be "junkroom" for the time being.
Third bedroom. Will stay as is and be "junkroom" for the time being.
More wardrobes. Three of the four bedrooms have these old wardobes, and they're great, so that's good.
More wardrobes. Three of the four bedrooms have these old wardobes, and they're great, so that's good.
Fourth bedroom. The lass has decided this is her room. Doesn't need much work, as we'll keep the walls white and add colour though furniture and accesories.
Fourth bedroom. The lass has decided this is her room. Doesn't need much work, as we'll keep the walls white and add colour through furniture and accesories.
View the other way, into the little hall which will act as a sound barrier to the living room, and has lots of closet space.
View the other way, into the little hall which will act as a sound barrier to the living room, and has lots of closet space.
Living room - not crazy about the brick but I can live with it. It'll probably be hidden behind bookcases anyway.
Living room - not crazy about the brick but I can live with it. It'll probably be hidden behind bookcases anyway.
Kitchen
Kitchen
Kitchen
Kitchen

Now, problem areas:

  • That carpeted wall. What were they thinking? Down it comes. Room will be painted white. Probably.
  • Green walls: Will be white ASAP.
  • Paneling: I hate it. Will consider tearing it down. Otherwise painting it white to blend with rest of wall. Probably tearing down, though.
  • Window frames and mouldings: I don’t like it. You guessed it: Paint it white.
  • Doors: Oh, the horror. A lick of paint would help, but I want the moulding gone, really, so I might try removing it on one door to see how much work it will take to make the door presentable.
  • Kitchen: It’s ok, I guess. Long term we will probably want to remodel. I’m still tempted to paint it, but I might not bother if we’re going to tear it out in a few years. It’s not the first project I’ll tackle, anyway.
  • Oh, and yes, those windows over the doors and wall. *Shudder* Not quite sure what to do there. Need to think. I suppose we could replace them with something “cleaner”.