Fair Trade Treasures

I decided to give the local fair trade shop a visit after a friend gave me a chain made out of colorful cardboard butterflies. She told me that she got it at the fair trade shop and I was amazed. In the early days those shops sold cars made out of old cans, woven baskets, miniature lucky dolls and some dodgy African beaded head things. That was basically it. Nothing fancy and certainly nothing stylish. So I was happily surprised to see that the shops have come a long way since. My favorites at the moment are these lovely chunky wineglasses from Vietnam. They are made out of old lemonade bottles in Vietnam so you are not only supporting the people in Vietnam but you're also supporting the environment. That's double the karma!

Other amazing finds are these love little sequined little bags. Just big enough for your money or some spare make-up when you're going out. And last but not least these wooden bowls from the Philippines. They come in 4 different colors and 2 different size. Great for serving crisps, salads or you might use one of the bigger ones in your hallway to drop your keys and stuff in.

Go check out your local fair trade shop to see what treasures they hold for you. With every buy you will be supporting less privileged people all around the world. Now that's some serious guilt free shopping!

Oh no!

Word on the street is that the sixties are no longer hot at Ikea. Why else would they ditch the luscious golden brown color of the Stockholm line and replace it with black?
Seriously.. Black? Are the 80's back already?
I really like their Stockholm furniture, it's so rocking the sixties in 21st century style.
First thing to go is the dining room table. So for all you Ikea loving sixties rocking got a big empty space in the kitchen / dining room left-ies I can only say: Run! Go get that table!

My latest project

My house is getting a bit crowded. I have this huge soft spot for old furniture. Especially the ones that are a bit out of date but with a bit of altering they still can go a very long way. As I live in a small apartment, I just don't have that much space to do up those old hand-me-downs. Nor do I really have space to keep them. But there are some finds that are very very hard to resist. Luckily my mum has a decent sized shed which already holds 3 of my hard-to-resist 'projects'.

Yesterday my lovely old neighbor gave me this little oak chair. The cushions need work as I'm not a big fan of that vomitty green color. But for the chair itself, I'm still in doubt. It seems like nowadays the hype is to paint everything white and call it Baroque or worse : Riviera Maison. That just makes the hairs in my neck stand up. I'm not a big fan of painting wooden furniture. I love wood, it's the drawing of the grain, the color. I'm more a fan of restoring old thing than slapping paint on everything. And this it almost feels like a crime to paint over this sweet little chair. At this point, I think I'll go and look for some fab fabric to re-upholster the cushions with. Something that will go well with the chair and my interior. What do you think?

This little light of mine

My nieces gave me this just a couple of days after Christmas. It's a little candle holder with 4 tiny angels attached to it. When you light the candle, the angels start to swirl round and round and round. As they twirl the light of the flame bounces of them onto the wall. It is really clever, and so pretty. Just look at the details on the little angels. Thank you girls, I love it!

When I grow up

When I grow up and me and my brother made a gazillion with whatever we end up doing, designing or just plain selling, I would like to retire early. I can just imagine a little thatched roof cottage with a wobbly chimney, green doors a small red tractor. Totally surrounded by heaps of land and my favorite animals ever: Scottish Highlanders. They are such incredible creatures. They have this rural roughness and yet they look ever so cuddly. They're basically the Hugh Jackmans among the cows.

When I was a little girl, me and my family would spend loads of summers on a campsite in the south of the country. We would go for long walks and we always passed this big field full of these beauties. Ever since I saw them for the first time I was so impressed (or maybe scared even) by these animals. But after a couple of sightings my uncle persuaded me to go and try to pet the one closest to the fence. I stuck out my hand and the cow tried to swallow it. It was love instantly, haha. If I ever get my cows, I will name the first one Albert in his memory.