Chez Larsson

Ideas You Should Steal

 

A while ago I was approached by Lauren and Courtney of Kelly + Olive. They were putting together an e-book with fun projects and asked if I'd like to submit one of mine. All the proceeds were to go to a charity called Dwell with Dignity. Of course I said yes and here it is.

 

 
Here are Lauren and Courtney's own words about the project:

Ideas You Should Steal contains 17 fun projects submitted by top home, craft, and lifestyle bloggers from all over the web. Learn how to make an end table out of a suitcase, how to stencil your walls using a toilet paper roll, or even make your own rug! We know there is a project in here that will inspire you!

For a donation as little as $1, you can have a copy of your own. And we're happy to say that 100% of the proceeds of this book go to Dwell with Dignity! Dwell with Dignity was founded to help hard-working individuals and families in need to just that – dwell with dignity. using re-purposed and recycled items, they create beautiful and creative homes for families in transitional housing, giving deserving families a fresh start and a new outlook on life. Hopefully, such inspiration will help them break the punishing cycle of poverty and homelessness and give them a new outlook on life.

So, to download and read about the rest of the projects by 16 awesome bloggers, please donate US $1 (or more...) for your copy of the e-book here.

 

 

List No.10: Current Favorite Home Related Books

 

Since I’m seeking inspiration for our new home these days I thought I’d make this week’s list about home related books which inspire me right now. I no particular order:

* Handmade Living by Lotta Jansdotter. Love Lotta’s simple Brooklyn NY – Scandi style.

* Jonathan Adler’s Happy Chic Accessorizing and Happy Chic Colors. Loooooove these books. Bright and colorful against crisp white background. For those of you who might feel you’re struggling with your tablescapes and your display techniques, the Accessories book is a great read.

* Martha Stewart’s encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric. Great tutorials and great projects. I will keep this one next to my sewing machine.

Also in the pile of books I got from my Amazon earnings last week are, At Home with White which was a bit of a disappointment, too many frills and not really my preferred white styling but a beautiful book nevertheless, Paper + Craft which has some fun projects and nice styling but didn’t really bring anything new to the table and Retro Crafts which is kind of cute but not really for me.

Older faves that I’m still totally inspired by are:

* Pure Style by Jane Cumberbatch. I’m not as enamored with the country style any longer but I love Jane’s pure concept.

* Pottery Barn’s Storage and Display. Love PB and love all the ideas in this book.

* The Organized and Inspired Scrapbooker by Aby Garvey and Wendy Smedley. I just love seeing all those organized spaces. And my friend Aby  is the coauthor :). So happy this book has been reprinted as it was impossible to get hold of a while ago.

* Real Simple The Organized Home. Lovely organizing solutions. Lovely simple styling.

I also recently got:

* Home from the Hardware Store by Stephen Antonson and Kathleen Hackett. Great innovative creations you can make with stuff from the hardware store. Just up my alley, I love hardware and DIY stores and often browse the isles for things with alternate uses.

Oh, about the links, they all go to my Amazon store and I get a miniscule percentage of any sales from there if you are wondering. I saved my earnings for about two years to get the books I got last week so this is by all means not making me a rich woman.

And, yay, It's the weekend and I've got keys to the house so I'll be there measuring tomorrow!

365 Days in Print

As several of you suggested, and which was my plan from the get go, I had my 365 Days project printed as a book via Blurb.

 

Decided on a super simple layout with a week per spread and just the number of the week printed. There’s no journaling as I knew that it wouldn’t get done if I were to add that. I speak of experience as I started on a New York City book after the first trip Wille and I took two and a half years ago and it’s still not done. With this one I kept it simple and ordered it on January 1st.

I’m not super happy with the quality of all the photos. The cover turned out great (although I’m a little annoyed that I wasn’t able to move the title more to the right) and the paper (I chose premium paper) is really nice but the darker shots turned out very dark in print, Bonus is barely visible in a couple of them. Don’t know whether it’s my screen showing the images in a better light than they actually are but the darker months look a bit dreary in parts. The summer shots turned out nice though. I guess that’s what you get from living in darkness more than half the year.

Any way, I’m happy I did it and I’ll pop it in the book case for the future.

You can check out the whole book here if you want to or simply look back at the 365 posts here.

Hembakat är Bäst Give Away

What you see above is the book that “everybody” is talking about these days. The buzz is about IKEA’s baking book “Hembakat är bäst” (“Home baked is best”) and the way the recipes are depicted with the ingredients all nicely lined up.

 

 

I received a copy in the mail and the another one at the blog meet the other day and since these are recipes I’m already familiar with I thought I’d do a give away since I’ve heard a few non-Swedes wanting the book. The recipes are in Swedish though so it would be more of a coffee table book than an actual baking book to you guys. If you are in Sweden and are buying a kitchen with appliances you can apparently get hold of a copy of this limited edition book in the kitchen department at IKEA.

 

 

So if you are interested  in entering the lucky draw to win one of two copies of “Hembakat är Bäst”, leave me a comment naming your favorite thing to bake. I’ll announce the winner later this week.

Photos: Carl Kleiner
Styling: Evelina Bratell

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EDIT: Comments are now closed for this give away. Winners will be announced shortly!

Martha's Moved

I guess you Americans out there are aware that Martha’s moved to the Hallmark Channel. What you didn’t know was that she did another important move too!

I’ve kept my collection of Martha Stewart Living magazines in the top cabinets in the dining area since we moved in to the house but I was running out of space. When I took this photo I’d already removed the 2009 and 2010 issues and before that wasn’t able to squeeze a single more in there.

 
Martin moving out does have it’s perks! One of them being I can finally move his collection of books on history downstairs to the boat room (which will stay intact for the time being until he has more storage space).

 
Look at all that space! Wohoo!

 
I’ve mentioned before that my Martha Stewart Living collection is complete and here it is in all its glory. All 202 issues! There’s also a pile of other current magazines, that’s the one in the top left corner. I don’t save those for longer than a year at the most.

What can I say other than; I love it!