After having been on this planet for quite a while I am still not sure I understand the concept of traveling lightly… Ask my great long time friend Sanne (I love you girlfriend!), who always kidnaps me from the city to her lovely home outside of Stockholm for a night or two before I fly back to the US. We adore hanging out together but after knowing each other for some 30 years (!), Sanne still raises her eyebrows everytime she sees my luggage! (Not to mention what my Hubby says when he picks me up at the airport…).

This time the suitcases were filled with gifts from family & friends, design things for my store, things from my Mom’s home, many gifts for loved ones, Swedish designer clothes and shoes, Swedish food & books, and some extra special things just because I can’t find them on the other side of the planet! Trust me when I say that I am normally not a shopaholic EXCEPT when I go back to my Mother land. I do tend to go a little nutty then.  (Perhaps I am desperately trying to hold on to my roots? Who knows…).

Just a few highlights:

1. A few new stunning Asa Lindstrom ceramic cups (handmade with 18K gold rim). I slowly keep adding to my collection. I don’t “collect” many things — but these cups I go absolutely crazy for.

This is where they hang out. I plan to fill all 25 cubbies!

 2. An old, original letter from 1649. Just pretty. (I framed it when I got home).

3. This little Swedish ceramic guy. A fox with an attitude perhaps? He puts a grin on my face and he lives in a cup. That is funny to me!

4. Chocolate from the fine chocolate store, “Chokladfabriken“ (Chocolate Factory) a few steps from my Mom’s home. A store bestseller is Swedish liquirice dipped in chocolate with a tad of sea salt on top. Only a true Scandinavian (or someone brave) will appreciate that!

5. A few classic mini glass vases from Svenskt Tenn (the most classic interior design institution in Sweden). I wish I could have brought a sofa with me…

These glasses are called “Acorn” vases. The founder of Svenskt Tenn, Estrid Ericson, had gigantic acorn trees at her summer house in the 40′s. She designed this vase specifically for acorn growth.You are supposed to let an acorn sit on a moist piece of paper towel for a few weeks (preferably in the refrigerator). Once the acorn starts to sprout, you pop it into the vase and then watch a simple green branch start to embrace life.

That is all I dare to share today.

Do you also go shopping crazy when you travel? Please, let my Hubby know that I am not alone!

Happy long weekend! (Monday is President’s day here in the US).

 Image credits: No. 1 via Bon Appetit Hon, no. 2-6 via Splendid Willow, no. 9 via HouseMartin.

I must say that I love my little store. I really do. Not because of the great goods I get to scout and represent, but also because of all the really fantastic people (designers, partners and customers) I connect with on a daily basis. It is sooo darn rewarding!

Here are two Swedish ladies I connected with in Stockholm last week and immediately liked – because of their creative mindsets and their lovely attititudes. It is an honor to now carry their great goods in my store.

First up, Ylva Skarp, who’s incredible home I featured in my previous post. A London educated calligrapher, this talented lady is taking Sweden by storm.

Ylva’s items are flying off the shelves and I am the first store in the US to carry items from her collection. I have already order her leather pillows with calligraphy art for my own home. Lovely, right!

Maria Holmberg is another talented artist, I recently connected with and Oh-Boy am I pleased to, as a first store in the US,  be representing her gorgeous pottery with birch motif.

It does not get much more Swedish than that, people! (Birch is the “royal tree” of Sweden). Gorgeous with a capital G in my opinion.

I have also added some great rugs (runners) via DesignHouse Stockholm. I have been on the look-out for some great rugs for my own kitchen and these hit the spot. You already know that my favorite color is gray, and  to now carry rugs in my store  that are gray with a birch feel (and leather edging) - well hello ! – it is heavenly for me. 

I will always be loyal to Ilse Jacobsen. I love their products (if you recall I was trotting around in Ilse Jacobsen boots long before I opened an on-line boutique) and I love the people I work with. I am restocking on yellow boots, timely for spring.

 I am now also carrying Ilse Jacobsen’s LATEST raincoat model, a mix between the long coat and the jacket – 3/4 mid length. It is already a new top seller.

Visit my store here to learn more about the new products – Splendid Willow Avenue.

Did you all read the latest issue of House of Fifty? My good friend Janell never disappoints! Read it here. Cover to cover, please.

I have yet again teamed up with my gorgeous and close friend Jill, with Live Like You, for a Spring ad. Just visit House of Fifty at page 78 + 79 and redeem a 15% off coupon.

Works at my store AS WELL as Jill’s store (she carries tons of lovely things for the home).

Happy new week to you all.

Image credit: No. 1 via xx Creative Quilt Kits, no.-2-4 via Ylva Skarp, no. 5 -7 via Maria Holmberg.

Hello all. After that big snow storm in Seattle last week, where the whole city came to a quick halt. (The area was declared ”State Of Emergency” with power outtages effecting hundreds of thousands of people and traffic chaos and trees down everywhere). Our power went out (it was cold, people!) but thankfully our fireplaces run on gas so that is where this family camped out telling stories and snoring in sleeping bags!

(My lovely blog friend Joanna, wrote this great Stockholm guide).

With that behind us, I am now on to the next adventure. When this post goes live, I have literally just landed in Stockholm. I will spend a week in my old home country, looking after my loving Mom and spending quality time with close ones.

My blog will be quiet during that time. I hope you understand.

If there is anything in particular you want me to bring back from Sweden, let me know.

There are some really incredible and clean metro stations in Stockholm. The city is all about great public transportation and walking. (I eat like a starved elephant when I visit, but always lose a few pounds. It is all that city walking. And what a fun city to get around in!).

I will be back Monday January 30th.

Warm hugs. I will be thinking of you.

 Images: no. 1 via Flickr, no. 2 via DesignSponge, no .3 via Scandinaviam Eyeware, no. 5 via Flickr, no. 7 via Flickr.

Stockholm is never far away. I left Sweden and Stockholm for the US in 1995 (work brought me across the Atlantic and I was supposed to stay for max 2 years.  So much for that deadline…). The US is where I later decided I wanted to put down my anchor. This is home, for sure. But my love for Sweden will always be there. And I always tend to bring a little bit of Swedish to everything I do (and from what I also understand) say! (Yikes, some serious Swenglish, I am sure!). 

When it comes to interior design, I think that the Swedes are the world masters of merging really old furnishings with new. They do it effortlessly and beautifully. Much thanks to the Swedes’ on-going love for simple, classic lines (and neutral colors). Timeless designs seem to go hand-in-hand with the Swedish mentality.

Old Swedish and new modern can all be mixed in these three Swedish rooms.

Objects can be moved around between all these rooms and still work beautifully together. For example the antique gold mirror in the last image can easily switch spots with the torso above the fireplace in picture no. 2. And the bronze torso would look great above the gray sofa.

The gray, Gustavian sofa would look beautiful in this room paired with modern furnishings and antiques from a different era.

In my on-line store, Splendid Willow Avenue, I also try to pick timeless pieces that will still work and be appreciated many years down the road.

Today, I am very proud to announce a new brand in my store — the fabulous DesignHouse Stockholm. A store I have visited frequently over the years. The store represents more than 60 talented Swedish designers and thanks to them many beautiful & fun designs have hit the market and become modern classics.

Here are are few items I have hand picked for my store:

A two legged lamp with attitude!

 An umbrella stand which also is a lovely piece of art.

A stylish bicycle basket. (Comes in 3 colors).

 A timeless and functional tray table.A bit of design loveliness for the young ones.

 Simple, modern coffee/tea mugs.

You will find these new items and others in my store – here. More are coming!

In a couple of weeks I will get a real dose of Sweden. I am heading to Stockholm for a week to mainly look after my dear Mom & to hook up with family and friends, but also to see what other new things I can bring to my store & to my readers!

Don’t forget to subscribe to my store newsletter if you want first hand access to store News & Deals. Subscribe here.

Warm hugs.

 Images: no. 1 via BugBog, no. 2 via Skona Hem, no. 3 + 4 via Lagerlings.

In Stockholm (on Djurgården) there is a most beautiful place called Rosendal’s Trädgårdar (Gardens) which I used to visit regularly. It is heavenly. An oasis in the middle of the city.

Originally dedicated as an open garden with the main purpose of presenting organic garden cultivation to the general public, it has has over the years, grown to  include plant shops and a fabulous cafe and bread shop.

In 1878, the garden had 23,000 pot-plants of 1,000 varieties, 235,000 saplings in the tree nursery stock, plus 400 fruit-trees of many different kinds (some hundred of which still remain today in Rosendal’s orchard).

It is a wonderful and peaceful setting and you will find quite a few well known actors from the Swedish Royal Theater walking underneath the old apple trees, practicing their lines.If I was to take a bit (even the tiniest slice) of Rosendal’s Trädgårdar from my memories and compact that into something I could bring to my own home, it would look like this.

A simple, small, quiet greenhouse filled with easy-to-care-for plants (which in my case would mean cactuses but a girl can learn, right?) and a huge cozy factor. A couple of apple trees outside and that would be my own, private Rosendal’s Gardens in my backyard. One day, one day…

Can you tell that I am spending a lot of time outside lately? Summer is in full swing and we are enjoying every bit of it!

I would like to say hello and welcome to all my new blog subscribers! You have grown to quite a large group. What an honor to be popping up on your screens. I am hugging you all.

Happy weekend!

Images: 1, 4 & 5 via Rosendal’s Gardens, 2 via  Marriie, 3 via Maddelicious, 6 via Scorpiousbeat, 7 via Skona Hem.