I am putting the spotlight on this image, which I can’t get out of my mind. A classic Tolix stool turned plant table. Brilliant! I want this for my own kitchen. Call me crazy but I am going shopping for that stool for that reason alone (it is also a design classic). My good friend Katrine told me that Design Within Reach has a good sale this week. Hoping to find one there.

Also putting the spotlight on something new in my store — Splendid Willow Avenue. These Swedish designed egg cups (a set of 4) straight from Sweden. I adore them!

I actually bought a set a couple of years ago for my good friend Mariana (I am still upset that you moved back to Europe, my friend!) and I have been wanting the same set for myself ever since. In Sweden, breakfast is king and we like to start our day with a good healthy meal and the newspaper.

It seems that concept is hard to translate into US daily living (even for me!) but on weekends, at least at my house, we make breakfast a nice affair.

I am so excited to be the first store in the US to carry these beautiful and well made cups. They can also be used as Snaps cups! (: More information here.

Finally the real spotlight. Something totally new I have been working on and which I am very excited about! Here you see my close sister-friend Stacey and a well established designer in action. And that is all that I am going to say for now… You will learn more soon very soon!

Warm hugs to you all!

 Images: No. 2 scanned via House & Home (Oct. issue). Images 3-5 via Splendid Willow.

I love this room. What a warm, relaxing and inviting atmosphere. I like the colors, the textures and the furnishings. Comfort is clearly king in this room. And it should be in every room, I believe. Rooms and furniture that are all about looks do not impress me whatsoever. I like rooms where I can be my myself and where family and friends want  to linger. And I like to hang out with furniture that’s friendly to my body and soul (and that can handle small chocolate finger prints and still look good)!

Today you will find me over at Houzz sharing 20 pillows (I am more into pillows than shoes!) — perfect for the fall season. Visit me here, if you have a spare moment.

Warm hugs!

Image no. 1 via House & Home (scanned).

We escaped for a few days. The whole family hopped on a plane to Santa Cruz, (where I first met my husband and where we also have a family vacation home – right across the street from that lighthouse) California, to attend a lovely family wedding. I enjoyed every second together with close family and friends. I am very blessed to be part of such a warm, fun, and loving family! My husband has 8 siblings (!) and they are the best of the best (a very talented and well educated bunch, all nine of them, yet very humble). My children have 30+ cousins (!) on my husband’s side and zero on my side! Could be quite a culture shock but the family eases new members in with lots of love and compassion. And they love diversity! Needless to say the computer was not used at all for most of the week. I was busy catching up with family members and close friends!

At the wedding, one of my husband’s many nieces (hi beautiful Laura!) thanked me for a gift I had sent for her wedding. It was a set of three glass candle holders from the Seattle based glass company, Glassybaby.

 It has taken me a few years to even be slightly interested in these hand blown glass holders. I felt I saw them everywhere in Seattle, and I do not like to have what the rest of the world has! But I have to say, I am now a convert. The company comes out with new colors all the time (slight variations). They are all hand blown, unique and there is a good cause  behind the business. The glass vessels can be used for candles or flowers.

I have given several as gifts (the company ships all over and packs them very nicely) and this week I am getting my own (first) set with fall colors in mind. Perfect for all the upcoming fall holidays.

These would be lovely. But they look even better when they are lit (you use tea candles). That is when all the colors and different dimensions come to play.

What makes these well made and almost indestructable glass cups extra special, is that the founder of the company Ms. Rhodes, a mother of three and three-time cancer survivor, found her artistic calling in making glass holders for friends and family and spreading the light. That was shortly after she gave her former husband a glass-blowing lesson as a gift and then, inspired, took one herself. She is now engaging local glass blowers and has quite a production going.

A portion of Glassybaby’s proceeds go to different kinds of cancer research and charities.

Happy new week! I have some serious blog hopping ahead of me this week!

Images: No. 1 via Ultra Down loads,  no. 3 via Remodelista, all others via Glassybaby.