Chez Larsson

Thrifted Part 2

 

Ok, ladies and gentlemen (?), I had fun reading your "step away from the apple, lady!" comments and you'll be well pleased to see that the apple remains intact. I did not take a single bite. Actually I do love it as it is and when I do get tired of it I will pass it on to someone else who loves the wood no matter what. I will find thee a nice home Ms Apple. After I'm done with you. Promise.

 So on to the wall candle holders. They are now white and hang on either side of the dining area window. We haven't had tall candles for a while because of Miss Mini and Master Bonus so the fact that these keep the candles out of the way of them is great. Oh, before I get comments on tails wagging at candle height I just want to point out that we are super careful to snuff all candles when we leave the area and make sure Mini and Bonus don't jump up where the candles are. Three sets of eyes are keeping close watch!

Although I did contemplate painting the candlesticks in a bright color I again went for white. I know, I'm such a bore. I added another couple which were earlier thrift shop finds and now all six are on the mantelpiece. Again one of the few areas our feline friends stay off.

Did you notice today is Friday?! Yay! After this weekend I plan to add a page to the blog with before and afters of our house. Inside and out. It's as much for myself as for you guys. I know you love before and afters and so do I. I have all these photos and I'll try to compile them room by room and then pat myself and Martin on the back for all the changes we've made since we moved in eleven years ago. I think there will actually be some in-betweens too as things have evolved over the years. Stay tuned, hopefully it's ready by next week.

Thrifted

Yesterday afternoon I went around the city to get some inspiration for work and to run some errands, also for work. I suddenly found myself outside a favorite charity shop (omg, how did that happen?) so I had to go inside of course.

Above's my loot. I love it but am unsure exactly what to do with it. I'm torn between painting the candlesticks white or all in one bright color, like apple green or yellow. The tin wall candle holders at the back will most definitely be white but any suggestions for the rest?

I'm in love with the apple! I'm not usually attracted to wooden objects (to many sauna style interiors growing up in Sweden in the 70's) but this is beautiful inside and out and so well made. It would be sacrilege to paint it but will I be able to stand the woodsiness of it? Will keep you posted!

Organizing the Storage Room

On Sunday I decided it was time to sort out the storage room yet again. The reason being that there were a few things in there that we will never ever use in this house but Martin wants to keep. I've been working around them. As in re-stacking four broken chairs in every manner possible to make them take as little space as can be. Somehow I wasn't succeeding.

The thing is we have an attic. It's just a crawl space and for eleven years we've kept it completely empty. A few months ago Martin brought home a bunch of stuff which I knew wouldn't be used or worked on for a long time so I agreed we could store it up there and now that we have some stuff up there already I thought we might as well add some more to free up space in the more accessible storage room. It will soon be fall (Yay! I love fall!) and the patio furniture needs to fit in there as well as some other garden equipment.

So I climbed the ladder, fought the wasps and successfully stored the chairs, a metal sink, an vintage wooden soda crate and a wooden toy ride.  And for those of you who enjoy a peek inside someone Else's boxes I'm hereby revealing their contents:

1) Empty boxes and containers. This is where I shop when I reorganize a space.
2) Wille's old Lego's and empty game console boxes. Boxes kept in case he wants to resell.
3) Snow ballers and children's books. I know, weird combo but there was a bit of space in front of the books and there I was with a snow baller in each hand.
4) Marbles, string lights and lamp parts.
5) Box of stuff Martin wants to keep and I want to toss, toy cars for when Wille's cousins come over and plastic bottle and tube caps. Very important. They are for a project yet to be revealed to me. Sigh.
6) Frames and  canvases.
7) Office stuff as in empty binders, clipboards etc. And a slide show thingy. Again, sigh, but on my part. I want to transfer the slides to digital and then toss the originals and the machine. Any ideas on the best way to do that? I know the tossing part, I'm good at it, but the other bit I'm unsure of.

1) Old cameras, cell phone bits and other tech stuff.
2) Herbarium and stamp collection.
3) Lead, plaster and tin for crafts.
4) Vintage toys.
5-8) Wille's toys to be sorted by him at a later date.
9) Keepsake baby clothing.
10) Manga books
11) Easter decorations
12) Halloween decorations
13) Advent decorations
14) Christmas decorations
15) Christmas tree decorations
16) Miscellaneous hardware, lanterns and scraps of foam core board.
17) Abandoned craft projects corralled by yours truly, shell and bone collection aka the smelly box and fishing gear.
18) Comics.
19) More comics. These all need to be easily accessible. Loo literature for the man beginning with an M.
29) Small frames, party stuff as in balloons and decorations and soda and beer bottle caps.

Interesting the stuff one keeps isn't it!? If it were up to me it could all go. With the exception of Molly, my plush bunny of course.

Cookie Cutter Collection

 

Victoria asked the other day if I can show my cookie cutter collection. Sure I can! It feels a bit odd to bring them out with summer approaching because I hardly ever only use them when making gingerbread before Christmas.

 

My collection is a mix between vintage and new. Above the evolution of the Christmas ham and of Rudolf.

 

About a year ago I gave over half of my collection away. They went to my sister in law and her family which includes little four year old twin bakers. They now care for Pippi Longstocking & co and a multitude of little animals, cars, planes and odd shapes.

  

The ones I kept are my faves obviously. I love hearts, leaf shapes and rounded ones. My very best one is the little acorn I think.

 

My collecion also includes a lovely woodland theme with vintage twinkling stars...

 

... and the BMW I got at Sur La Table in New York in December. Wroooommm!!!

 

These little guys are fun to dress up with frosting. The bigger ones are quite old and pretty tricky, more than once have gentlemen been amputated and ladies lost their slippers I can tell you.

Ok, I'm tucking you in again. See you in December!

Pez

Wille used to collect Pez dispensers and his collection has been tucked away in a box for a while. I love the little Pez dudes though and have wanted to display them somewhere around the house.

Our house has one floor and a basement. The stairs leading to the basement are pretty steep and there is an akward space at the top of where we built a cabinet for the fuse box, electric meters etc.  That's now Pez land.

 

Our Favorite Pez? Mr Bean. He didn't make it into the top photo, but can be spotted in the lower right corner.