Stockholm

Hello, it's me...

It's been so long, I've been so BUSY, but it is a wonderful thing and being a working interior stylist is a dream come true, I am very happy with the direction my life has taken. I did manage to step away last week to take a trip to Stockholm with my sister, a place I've always been called to. Having lived in Europe for 4 years I've traveled back many times, but I've never managed to visit Sweden so this was another dream come true. We found a direct round-trip flight out of Oakland for a song, so despite the fact that it is still winter and freezing cold, as you might imagine, we braved the icy paved streets and navigated the quays and made a real week of it in this beautiful Scandinavian city.

Stockholm is made up of many islands, connected by bridges, accessible by train, boat and bus. It is so very old and very modern at the same time.  The beauty of this city is found in it's rich history, the culture, the centuries old architecture woven with minimalist design. I loved it, I loved the layers of it. In spite of the weather we walked a great deal.  I feel so much more connected to an unfamiliar place when I get outside.  I loved to stare up at the apartment buildings in the Sodermalm where we stayed, stunning fixtures and white walls peeking back at me.  The cable strung street lights looked like they had to be designed by Louis Poulsen, they would sway in the wind, sometimes snow would flutter and the city seemed quiet. We took an icy, foggy winter boat tour with the observation deck all to ourselves. Seeing Stockholm this way might be more limiting, but I'm so grateful that we made the trip. 

 

My sister really wanted to see the more historical sites of the city, the Old Town district, the palace and the Vasa Musseet, an exhibition of a 16th century warship that sunk on it's maiden voyage. We ate at a viking restaurant (which was actually quite fun) and gathered up souvenirs from the many gift shops in narrow, cobbled streets of the Gamla Stan. On days where I set the agenda we took in ArkDes, Moderna Museet and the Fotografiska, my favorite museum, which housed an amazing collection of photography, curated into a series of sometimes haunting exhibits. The building, pictured in the wide angle photo above, is in an old factory building at the edge of the Sodermalm and it's top floor has a cafe with a panoramic view of the city. We explored the shops in our neighborhood, we loved Grandpa for housewares, the epic record store Pet Sounds, L:A Bruket for apothecary and candles, the art store Material. I made friends with the owner of Colours of Africa and she gave me some Mali fabric for my collection. We dined a few times at Urban Cafe, tried more traditional fare at Meatballs For The People, on a lazy night grabbing take out sushi from the good place, and made sure to enjoy our daily fika, the Swedish tradition of afternoon coffee and conversation, usually with a cardamon bun. We explored the museums and window shopped the posh Ostermalm, ventured to the city center for more touristy excursions, freezing our backsides off at Icebar, spending hours pouring over the home section of Ahlens, their big department store, spending my whole allowance at Illums Bolighus, tooling around the world's largest H+M and elbowing our way into Vete-Katten, Stockholm's most famous bakery (like Katz deli for fika). At the end of each day we would retreat to our beautiful, quiet flat.  On our last day we treated ourselves to massages at the spa in the Clarion Hotel, soaking in a warm pool outside, it snowed on our heads as we stared at the tall buildings.

I arrived home with an extra piece of luggage, stuffed to the gills with treasure and a mean case of jet lag, missing my boys, but itching to travel again as soon as time will allow. I would love to go back to Stockholm to see it come alive during the summertime, but I am so glad that I experienced the magic of winter in Scandinavia.

The Mood Boards

The Mood Boards

One of the first questions that I get asked when I meet with new clients is "how does it work?". All designers and stylists do it differently, but for the majority of my projects after an initial site visit I start out by presenting mood boards and photos of similarly styled spaces to demonstrate the overall vibe of the design.  I thought I'd share this process with the mood boards for one of my current clients who own an awesome 1970's rancher up near Sonoma, CA. This project will roll out over time, and will eventually include a kitchen remodel and a master bedroom, but we are beginning with the open formal living room/dining room and entryway.  Here's the floor plan to get a sense of the layout.

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The Projects Continue...

The Projects Continue...

After months of dust flying in the air, the sound of saws and hammers, eating out of a garage, when it was mostly finally done we took a break...then school started and client work picked up, and I got a little unmotivated to keep going. There's some things purposely left unfinished. We plan to build shelves across the entire span of the fireplace wall to house our hundreds of books, small works of art, records, plants, tchotchkes and collected beach matter. I haven't figured out how I want to execute that, so we wait, and pop a temporary bookshelf in there for now. There are some things that will take me an afternoon to finish, like reupholstering the dining chairs. And there are some other things that are weighing on me that have to get done, so I'm outing myself to the interwebs to make it happen. Here we go...

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The Great Plant Wall

The Great Plant Wall

We've got one big wall in this joint.  I've had a lot of ideas come and go while trying to figure out what to do with it... it could house a big hodgepodge of art and old family photos, a giant macrame, maybe dramatic wallpaper? But in an attempt to overtake the house with plants (I'm shooting for 100) I settled on a living plant wall.  The plan is to put a skylight in over the stairwell in the next year, which will help train the plants up and keep them nice an healthy.  I used the Wooly Pocket system in a skewed 3/3/2 pattern about three quarters of the way up the wall, with the lowest container just above head height. The containers have a well at the back that sustains the plants for 2 weeks before needing a refill.  Here's a little picture tutorial of how I put it together...

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Small Space Entryway

Small Space Entryway

I think the thing that bothered me most about our house, the thing that brought me down about it and made me question why we bought it in the first place was the entryway. The front door opened directly into the hallway that flanks the staircase, there was nowhere go but downstairs to the boys rooms or down the narrow hallway to all the living room. There was nowhere to put my purse down, let alone house a piece of furniture or even a wall hook for my coat. The interior garage door entrance was on one wall, a single paned etched glass floor length window flanked the front door. I knew that we couldn't bump the wall out very far if we wanted to stay under the existing roofline, but I knew there must be a way to make the space slightly bigger and more useful, to give it a focal point and a purpose,  and to make me smile when I walked into our home.  

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