الجمعة، 27 أبريل 2018

8 Interior Trends from Milan Design Week 2018

Last week over 400,000 companies, designers, creatives, makers, architects and communicators flocked to Milan Design Week to feel inspired by a week of talks, exhibitions, latest news and tours across the fair and design districts. It was one crazy week but fascinating to find out more about the latest trends and news from the interior world. One of the highlights of my week was a Safari Blog tour organised by the monthly Italian DDN magazine in which we visited some of the major Italian Design Brands. From dark wood and cool stone to soft, velvety textures and amber accents, here's my round-up of the latest 2018 interior design trends from the tour:

1. Dark wood


Wood remains a key material in the 2018 interior, but there's a distinct move to the rich, dark side. These beautiful wooden worktops by luxury modern furniture brand Poliform, slide so you can place them where you like on the countertop (in fact, the entire kitchen worktop is adjustable to fit your needs - Italian design at it's best!).

2. Black metal




While brass is still present, black metal might just have stolen it's party crown. Think sleek, slim furniture, small details, accessories and art made from black metal with a matt finish. Known for creating innovative bedroom furniture (such as the iconic Natalie bed), Flou featured examples of this across their stand in the form of slim, handles on chest-of-drawers, decorative items and art!



3. Dark earthy blue, green, and Brown. Powder and Amber accents





2017 was the year the world fell in love with pink (in all it's powder, blush and earthy forms). And it seems we haven't quite had enough of it yet. But there's also a new accent in town. Amber. Walter Knoll's carpets and Badawi cushions (I soooo need one of these in my life) were designed in collaboration with fabric designer Helmut Scheufele and inspired by the landscapes and colours of Africa. The deep amber tones and soft pinks looked particular beautiful against a dark backdrop (loved the statement blooms too!).


4. Silk, Velvet and Other Soft Fabrics




Who doesn't love a beautifully soft fabric? Tactile materials such as silk and velvet are adding a lush feel to the home in 2018. Treat your feet to a silky smooth rug and sit back in an upholstered chair (like these on trend beauties: Soft and Jane by Poliform) or add decadent curtains in a rich coloured velvet. The movement and texture in the fabric also adds depth and interest to a space.

Note the angle on the Jane chair leg - another key trend to look out for this year!

5. Texture




I love pieces that want to make you reach out and touch them - and 2018 promises to be a year of enticing textures. Think simple patterns, tactile materials and other subtle undulating surfaces. This swoon-worthy cabinet by Natuzzi (one of is the world's best known furniture brand, known for creating harmony throughout the home) is spot on - and such a great colour too, don't you think?!

6. Sustainability




In a time where there are serious concerns about the planet and the effects our lives have on it,  I was relieved to experience a conscious effort to move towards creating furniture with a sustainable mindset. A fine example of this is the Kartell Organic Chair, made from a revolutionary organic plastic material that's both sustainable and high quality. Hurrah!

7. Slim-line furniture





Forget bulky pieces, in 2018 it's all about a slimmed-down, more streamlined look. Shelves, chairs, and tables have come over all sleek and the airy look and feel gives a wonderful feeling of space. I particularly loved the floor to ceiling BROMPTON Shelving Unit and other streamlined furniture by Boffi, it created a real sense of calm.

8. Stone



And finally, concrete, marble, terrazzo and limestone have risen up the interior rankings, adding cool texture, tactility and interest to different areas of the home. I was completely taken by this powder pink stone against grey steel (and touches of brass) by Scavaloni - producer of Italian design kitchens and bathrooms as well as furniture. 

I hope you found these trends as interesting as I did. Is there anything you find particularly exciting or intriguing? 



A big thank you to Francesca Russo from DDN magazine for designing the tour and to the fabulous gang of bloggers who made it so much fun (from left to right: Desiree Groenendal / Vosges Paris, Stefan Nilsson / Trend Stefan, Mary Middleton, Agata Dimmich / Passion ShakeFrancesca Russo / Design Diffusion, Me! Holly Becker / Decor8 and Ula Michalak / Interiors Design Blog.



May's Groceries

I've done our main shopping for May.  I didn't do a formal menu plan.  Instead, we will be eating from the freezer and planning around our produce boxes.


الخميس، 26 أبريل 2018

Our First CSA Box

Yummmmmmm!  And they started a week earlier than we expected.


This Weeks 5 Frugal Things on a Friday

Hello Dear Reader,

I read lots of blogs that have a similar theme to mine, live simply, frugally and without waste, while trying to be kind to the environment. It's not a hard life, maybe a little more time heavy, but to me it is worth it. I think living small and frugally the majority of the time, tallies up to major money saving at the end of the day. Meaning, it's the small stuff you do the majority of the time that makes the difference.

Plodding away slowly and purposely, with eyes on the bigger picture, is how I would describe my life. I don't go shopping just for fun, I am careful with our water usage, I use things up and wear them out, I buy second hand where I can, we eat at home, I pack a lunch everyday and make sure there is always something in the fridge for the boys lunches, I listen to music for free using Spotify, I don't go to the cinema, I walk and ride for free exercise, I clean the house with home made cleaners, I think about every purchase I make, I menu plan and use up all leftovers, I compost and feed the worm farm with the fruit and veggie scraps, I take the plastic food wrap I can't avoid with food packaging to Coles for recycling, I spend most of my days at home when I am not at work and I love all of it.

This week I saved money and was kind to the environment by-

1. Used our tank water to water the garden and plants in pots


2. Fed the compost bin the fruit and veggie scraps plus paper and cardboard household waste


3. Packed my lunch every day for work-today's lunch is a fruit bun (frozen hot cross bun without the cross) left over from Easter, which I will toast and have with honey for morning tea and lunch is an egg salad with Aioli and my one piece of dark chocolate.


4. Line dried all the washing, I don't think there is anything nicer than sliding in between clean sheets after a big day.


5. Spent ANZAC day at home, cleaning, de-cluttering and tidying


Over to you, how would you describe your life? And what did you do to save money this week?

Have a lovely day
💗Fi

One Year Ago-Water Kefir

Duvet Day Here?!

How much are you looking forward to your weekend lie-in (a mere two sleeps away - phew!)? I know one person for sure who must be: Katrin Bååth. You might remember, I featured Katrin's studio a few years back and finally got to meet in person last month at an event held by Sandberg Wallpaper where she works as Creative Director. Not only is Katrin one very cool cat (and so much fun), her creativity knows no bounds! It was no surprise whatsoever to discover her home is also a feast for the eyes. Her bedroom in particular, is everything you can imagine a freelance art director and stylists boudoir to be. The bedroom occupies a room in a small house in Jönköping, Sweden which she shares with her husband and two children, Minna (13) and Flora (9). Although not very spacious, the bedroom covers the practical side of everything while being truly personal.  Walls are adorned with originals by local Swedish artists and storage comes in the form of quirky brass hooks, a hand mould and a glass cabinet, while a quilted headboard adds a touch of luxe. And the shoes. OH THE SHOES!!!


The black and white gallery wall above the bed is made up of art by Stina Persson, Jennie Ekström and Joel Dittmer.

Katrin painted the bedside tables in a warm grey matt to tie in with the yellow tones of the room.

How cute are these rabbit hooks for hanging necklaces, bags etc? I found similar ones here.

Katrin has continued the gallery wall around the corner (this picture features art photography by Alvreten and two originals by Swedish artist Annefrid Sjöman). Two Club wall light by House Doctor have been placed either side of the bed.


Such a handy (sorry) way to stash your glasses! Katrin picked up the mould at H&M Home over ten years ago (love how it's aged). 


The pretty kimono is by Sandberg for whom Katrin is Creative Director. Sadly it's sold out (I just checked in the hope I could pick one up for myself!). If anyone has any tips for a similar one, it would be wonderful if you can leave it in the comment section below!The glass cabinet is from IKEA.


Just how fabulous are these shoes? Understandably Katrin's favourites! The beauty of having a glass cabinet (this one is from IKEA) is that you get to display fine specimens like these.

Katrin found these pink shoes in the Zara children's department a few years ago (which tells us she must have very dainty feet... unlike me!). 

Photography / styling: Katrin Bååth

Oh how I love this bedroom, it's so personal and packed with inspiring ideas! Thank you for inviting us in Katrin!

Could you imagine waking up here each day?

If you're curious, you can see more of Katrin's bedroom over on her blog (while you're there it's totally worth taking a snoop around the rest of the Lovely Life too, it's one of my favourites) and instagram feed and find out about her latest freelance work here.

More bedroom inspiration here!

Have a relaxing day!

الأربعاء، 25 أبريل 2018

Banana and Chocolate Muffins

Hello Dear Reader,


A couple of weeks ago I had an over abundance of very ripe bananas, so I mashed them and froze them down into 4 banana portions. Then over the weekend I had a hankering for something chocolate-y and sweet, I know-Chocolate Banana Muffins. I went searching for a recipe that involved both of these ingredients and found quite a few on line, so I took the best from a few of these recipes and made my own version of the classic Chocolate-Banana Muffins.


These muffins are smooth, dense and very chocolaty with just a hint of banana. I think the mashed banana makes the texture like velvet and of course like all muffin recipes it is super simple. Prepare two bowls, one of dry and one of wet ingredients then get the two of them together, lastly mix in the chocolate chips plus one diced banana and you have just created magic.

Ingredients for Banana and Chocolate Muffins, clockwise from far left-4 smallish mashed bananas weighing approximately 300 grams (give or take), 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips, 1 medium banana, diced, 2 teaspoons vanilla essence, 1 3/4 cups plain flour, 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 cup cocoa, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup oil and 2 eggs

In a large bowl, add the flour, brown sugar, cocoa, salt and baking powder, whisk to aerate and break up any lumps, alternately you can sieve the dry ingredients 

To a medium sized bowl, add the eggs, oil, mashed banana and vanilla essence

Whisk until light and fluffy

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients 

And lightly whisk to incorporate, don't over mix

Now gently fold in the diced banana and dark chic chips 

And gently incorporate

Spoon mixture evenly into 12 muffin or cup cake wrappers

And bake for 5 minutes at 220C then turn heat down to 175C and cook for a further 11 minutes or until just cooked

Dense and dark

With just a hint of banana

I love these muffins, big time, such a pleasure to eat with a cuppa, they are just sweet enough and even though there is quite a lot of banana in the mixture, the flavour is more chocolatey then banana-ry with a wonderful moist (sorry, there's that word), dense texture. Muffin Heaven.

Make them, love them, watch them disappear.

What other word can you use instead of "moist"?

Have a lovely day
💗Fi

Before & After: My Scandinavian Home Office Make-Over


Do you work from home? I've been sitting at my little desk in the corner of my bedroom for just over two years now. There are many pluses and minuses of working from home, but one of the things I truly love is having total autonomy over how my work space looks - no LED strip lights in sight! So why hadn't I done anything to spice it up (I mean, really spice it up) for over six years?! The thing is, there's nothing wrong with my office (it even appeared on the front cover of a book once upon a time!) but it began to feel well, a bit tired and I had started migrating to the kitchen table or a nearby café instead (they do serve great chocolates muffins so it's kind of understandable!). A friend of mine from Greenland told me recently that if you're not using the space for the purpose it's set out for, you need to re-think it. Wise words indeed! It was time to make a change...

Before


The Area

My home office occupies a corner in between the stairs and balcony at the far end of our bedroom on the very top floor of our house. The area I have to play with is pretty mini: approximately 3.4 metre square (36 square foot), which is open on one side. Here's a quick overview of the dimensions (as you can probably tell, I'm not a trained designer - the lines were drawn with the side of a magazine!) but I hope it gives you an idea of the area.


My Inspiration

Since changing my bedroom to warmer chestnut and blushing peach tones in the same open-plan room, I was keen to create more of a cohesive space (that's the problem with doing something new - it's exciting but has a total knock on effect - bah!). 

While I wanted the office space to blend in, I also wanted to create a distinct space where I could sit and work, store all my books and have all my bits and bobs to hand: in other words, a complete mini office where I can work on my billion dollar deals (if only!). This meant re-configuring the space and picking up some new pieces such as a smaller desk to fit the shorter side of the space and a row of shelving opposite. Here is the original moodboard (put together with the help of designer extraordinaire Genevieve Jorn who also worked with me on the design of my adjoining bedroom):

It has the warm brown, chestnut and netural tones which I love and felt earthy, calm and relaxed.  I ended up changing the artwork selection to make it more personal and swapped out the rug for a similar one I already had.  See further down the post for the final selection!

Paint sample:

I can't tell you how nervous I was about the Norwegian Wood paint colour (by Jotun) - it's quite possibly the boldest I've gone - eeeek! But I loved its warm, woody notes and was willing to give it a go! I tested a sample on the wall (it's always a good idea to observe the colour over a number of days to see how it looks in various lights) and was so thrilled with it!

To the paint the entire wall I stripped away the shelving to the right too. FYI I'm absolutely no painting and decorating pro  - but I'm learning paint splodge by paint splodge! After prepping the area with a damp cloth, tape and newspaper, I used a roller for the bigger areas (long strokes and a generous amount of paint is key) and a smaller paint brush to go around the edges and tighter corners.

Oh yes, and in order to create cohesiveness with the rest of the room I painted the entire wall below in the same Norwegian Wood colour. Of course, once I finished, I realised the back wall now looked a little yellow next to my lovely new accent wall - so this required a fresh lick of white - phew!







After

With the paint finally finished it was time for the fun part. To put the furniture and all my gear back in place! Here's how it's looking...


I was so happy to finally get around to putting up a moodboard of some of the items that inspire me right now. One challenge I still have though is the radiator. While it's going to be great for keeping my toes toasty in the winter, I'd much rather it was the same colour as the wall - next project?! 



 

Hanging the artwork!

I didn't want to mess up my new, sparkling white wall with trillions of unnecessary holes- so I used an interior design trick I learned from Gen a while back (you may have seen it in this post). It's a really safe way to avoid making mistakes!

Here's a step by step guide: 

 

1. Take a large roll of paper and draw around each of the pictures you intend to hang. Cut out the template.
2. Stick them on the wall with blu-tac - and play around with the templates until you have a composition you're happy with. Quick tip I learned: artwork looks best if it's around two thirds of the width of the furniture beneath it (of course rules are there to be broken and this is definitely not an instruction - more a guide if you're feeling stuck!).
3. Measure the distance of the hook on the back of the picture (both vertically and horizontally)
4. Mark out the same spot on your template on the wall.
5. Hammer a nail through the marked out spot
6. Tear away the template leaving the nail in place and you're ready to rock!










I hope you like the results! It was a fun project, but best of all I've got myself a shiny new work space (I'll have to do a take-out on those muffins instead!!

I've put together a quick guide on where a few of the items are from below. If I've missed anything just give me a shout in the comment section below!
Get The Look

1. Gurilla Portrait H
2. The MANTIS lamp
3. Desk w/drawers, oak, nature
4. EKET cabinet
5. Hubsch Metal black Table lamp
6. Norwegian Wood paint by Jotun
7. Washed white linen curtains
8. Carpet with fringes
9. Black Scissors
10. Desk organizer

If this has given you the incentive to update your workspace you might like to have a snoop around this archive (if this pops up first just hop over as always!).

Have a lovely day all!



Photography / styling : Niki Brantmark / My Scandinavian Home. Interior Design direction: Genevieve Jorn. This post contains some affiliated links.