Posh DIY Christmas Tree

Stockholm is dark this time of year.  We get about seven hours of daylight now and by Christmas that number will fall just below six hours.  If that weren't enough, we also had one of the darkest Novembers in history.  As of three days ago Stockholm had had 3.5 hours of sunlight ALL MONTH!  We were blessed with a few more hours this weekend which I think may have even doubled that number bringing us to approximately 7 hours of sun for November.  Things were getting gloomy.  I decided to get the tree up early so we could add a little cheer and light to our dark Nordic lives.

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again, everything in Sweden is expensive and Christmas trees (Julgranar) are no exception.  Last year the cheapest one I saw was 450 kr, which is about $70 Canadian.  So, my middle guy and the dog went to the park and collected some sticks.  We tied them in the shape of a tree and hung it in the living room.  The decorations are Brian Gluckstein Home, that we brought with us from Toronto so the only thing we paid for this year was twine.  This DIY tree is bright, makes no mess, takes up no space, cost nothing and no tree has been chopped down.  I think we may have a new family tradition.

DIY - IKEA Task Lamp Update

Copper and bronze have slowly been coming into the limelight over the past few years.  Earlier this year at the Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair, during Stockholm Design Week, it was everywhere.  I decided to update a pair of old black IKEA Antifoni task lamps by spray painting them copper. 

IKEA Antifoni Task Lamp gets a Copper Update

The process is easy but a little smelly so better to do it outside if you can.

1.  Protect the areas you don't want painted (cord, bulb socket and switch) with masking tape.

2.  If you are super thorough and love prep work, then you can give the metal a light sanding with fine sand paper.

3.  Spray paint the lamp.

You can find acrylic spray paint at most hardware stores but the selection may be sparse.  I went to a little shop here in Stockholm (HL Store) that specializes in street gear, skateboards and graffiti and other more "urban" arts.  The spray paint colour selection was very impressive and the prices were better too.

4.  If you go with a copper or bronze look you'll need to seal it with a spray lacquer otherwise it will show fingerprints.  Wait for the original colour to dry for about an hour or 2.  Wait 2 hours between lacquer coats.

And, that's it.  

Round Up - Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair 2014

Top 5 Chair Designs

1. Deli by Skandiform

These are certainly not new to Scandinavian chair design but the Deli is just simply a great looking chair.  Deli works in meeting rooms for office spaces or on an ultra-Modern dining room.


2. Frame by Materia

Materia specializes in furniture for office spaces.  Frame is their latest design introduced at the Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair 2014.  Practical? meh... Fun?  Absolutely!

3. Chippensteel 0.5 by Zieta

Chippensteel is made of inflated steel.  The process involves "lots of pressure".  The result is a super sturdy chair that looks like a plastic pool toy.

4. Cowrie Chair by Made In Ratio

Simply a great looking chair that would be a showstopper anywhere you put it.

5. Lavitta by Poiat

Finnish design, this chair has only 2 components.  It is so Scandinavian in appearance with its smooth wood surface and ultra clean lines.  It can also be stacked horizontally, which looks fantastic.

Top 5 Street Furniture Designs

I covered urban street furniture at the Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair 2014 for Sweden's English newspaper The Local.se

Click here for the intro and a direct link to the gallery here

Top 5 Designs for Kids

Design for kids was an article that I also did for The Local.  Click here for the introduction and for the gallery here.

 THOUGHTS?

Out of Office Programming Note - Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair 2014

Design Stockholm is spending this week at the Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair 2014.  I will be back on Monday with a full round-up of the Best of the Best.  For some play-by-play fun you can check out the Design Stockholm Instagram or Twitter by clicking the icon on the right side.

Until then, have a great weekend!

Fresh Design at Formex 2014 - Looking to Spring

I have always been a big lover of winter.  I'm Canadian, Toronto to be exact, and when it gets cold, it gets really cold!  I love snow, the more the better but around the end of January I'm pretty much over it and ready for spring.  Formex showed the Spring / Summer 2014 best of Nordic design this week so let's look forward to Spring.


Scratch what I said last year about my dream BBQ (click here for that), this is the new grill of my dreams!  Stunning design.  This is the type of BBQ a proper Texan could feel fantastic about (isn't that the gold standard? Texas = BBQ), design buffs and fancy Chefs too.

http://www.biggreenegg.eu/se

To get your groceries for the BBQ parties you'll be having you are going to need a couple of these chic plastic grocery bags.  These are an original Swedish design first produced in the 50s.  They went out of production when stores went from paper to plastic bags.  Now that we see the err of our ways and are taking care of the environment, these plastic bags are back and recyclable too.

hinza.se

To set the table, you can try these colourful napkins.  Designed for Duni by Swedish Designer Hanna Werning these will look lovely in your beautiful garden, or create a garden in your city digs.

www.duni.com

A lovely napkin is a waste if someone doesn't spill something.  Spilled Snaps is always an option of course but why not coffee too?  Here we have a perfect carafe for any occassion - Stelton from Denmark.

www.stelton.com

Et le pièce de résistance!  Whether you have a green thumb or not, you won't be hiding this garden hose in the snickarbod.  This is called Garden Glory and no kidding!  I got the stink-eye last year when I said we needed a new yellow hose.  Good thing we waited!

www.gardenglory.se

Stockholm Directory - Indiska

In the spirit of yesterday's post about Indian colour inspiration here's a place to find all kinds of Indian inspired home decor.  Indiska is both a clothing and home decor shop.  They carry the nicest tea mugs as well as some really fun finds - coat hooks, boho curtains and lighting, even crazy chickens. Pop in every now and again to see what's new.

There are Indiska locations all over Sweden.  The website will list the ones closest to you.
www.indiska.com

Radiant Orchid - Pantone Colour of the Year 2014

Before the holidays Pantone announced their colour of the year for 2014: Radiant Orchid.  To the rest of us this is mauve, or simpler still, purple.  This is a difficult colour to decorate with.  Not too may people like purple, much less use it to paint one of the rooms in their home.  It took a few weeks for me to come up with a way to introduce the colour in a way I could feel good about.  There certainly are very few Swedish examples.  When I think of bright colour I think of India.  India has a rich culture of embracing vibrant colour.  Here are some examples of how Indian fashion, décor and architecture have incorporated into their designs shades similar to this year's Radiant Orchid.  It seems to go nicely with almost every other colour, non?

The above images came from Pinterest, They are not my own.  If you know the origin of any of these images please let me know and I will credit it accordingly.  Thanks.

Christmas Wish List

As I was looking for some last minute shopping ideas for one of our Julafton countdown posts, Emma over at Emma's Designblogg, reminded me about wish lists.  Wish lists are one of my favorite things to do because they don't have to be based in reality.  So to kick-off the last shopping week before Christmas, here is my ultimate Christmas 2013 wish list.

Hermès Silk Scarf

I love Hermès everything but their scarves are quintessential elegance.

 

La Marzocco Espresso Machine

I've said many times since coming to Sweden that one can't get a decent cup of coffee here.  Back in Toronto there were a couple of small coffee shops near our house that had the best coffee.  One of them used a La Marzocco machine.  I know my way around an espresso machine and am a bit of a coffee snob so if I'm wishing for stuff then this beauty makes the list ... and costs a little less than a small car.

 

Hunter Quilt Detail Wellies

My pea green Hunter wellies are nearing the end of their days.  They've been fixed a couple of times but the pure science of it is, rubber disintegrates.  Nothing can be done about that.  These are the new ones I have my eye on.

 

Restoration Hardware Versailles Chair

I'm an incurable francophile so naturally a Versailles chair is on the list.


 

Tiffany and Co. Aviator Sunglasses

Luxury.  And they would look great with the Hermès scarf, non?

Trends - Dark Paint for Walls

I was saying to a friend the other day that trends will naturally start to move to darker colours after so many years of everything being clean and white. People need to see something different.  I have always loved dark rich red - as I've mentioned several times (here and here), red is one of my go-to colours.  Apparently everyone is talking about the trends toward darker colours for walls, even here in Scandinavia.  What's my take on this Scandinavian move to such unfamiliar territory?  I don't see it lasting very long.  The winters are simply too long and too dark for Scandinavians to be able to live surrounded by dark walls without going crazy.  No one, however, can argue with the dynamic look that can be achieved with a deep rich colour in the walls.  So let's take a look at some great dark coloured spaces.

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This kitchen has dark floors, cabinets and ceiling yet because of the heavy lacquer, it reflects light beautifully.

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The white furniture and accents in this space help offset the darker colours on the wall.

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The Asian influences here are many and I absolutely love this space.  Everything works seamlessly together, from the grid accents of the wall panel to the curved legs of the table

 and the playful plants.

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The blue walls here work very nicely with the natural wood elements and the brown chair. 

 

 

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Now let's look at dark bathrooms.  Even in the smallest bathroom, with or without windows, dark walls seem to work.  Here are a few of my favorites.

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If you are going to go with purple, go all the way!



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Simple.  Although I think I would have gone with a white toilet seat.  I generally don't like decorating with words or sayings but the quality and size of these letters save it from looking cheesy.

 

 

 

 

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The best for last!  The walls are rich, with art from floor to ceiling.  A nice quality rug over deep wood floors (not enough people realize that wood floors in a bathroom is often better than tile, especially if you live in a cold climate - like Sweden.  But that's a blog for another day.)  This look is super easy, relatively inexpensive and anyone can do it.