Catching a bug...

See Mr Beetle in the big frame in the middle?

Well, I did not exactly "catch" him, not as such, but for the longest time I have been a huge admirer of my dear blog friend Lisa's art, and I am now thrilled to have one of her prints on my wall! Lisa sells her paintings, prints and greeting cards here, most of which have a lovely scent of Swedish summer, whether in the form of beautiful butterflies and other insects, a summery window or simply wild strawberries on a grass straw. You can visit her blog Lisa's Hus (Lisa's House) here and, again, her web gallery to see more here. (Her websites are in Swedish, but if you are interested in buying some of her lovely art, just send her an email in English to inquire further.)

As Mr Bug Beetle looked a little bit lonely up there, I thought two temporary nature buddies could join him on either side, until I find something better. I had some ten-year-old fabric in my cupboard, with small pictures of dragonflies, nuts etc, so a snippety-snip moment later, some fabric and two old frames were introduced to  the lovely bug print. So far, they seem to get along just fine! 

Some more colourful cushions are also in the pipeline, as it is time to springify this corner even more!

Having recently been to the dentist, I found myself slurping soup for most meals for a day or two, and feeling a little lazy, the soup was of the tinned kind rather than made from scratch. Sooo, what to do with the empty tins? Well, print out some lovely vintage dragonfly images from the internet and wrap around the tins is one option, and that is the one I went for. The daffodils singing on the last verse in the garden auditioned for the role of pretty props and even if some of them were a little over-eager, stretching towards the camera in a rather deliberate sort of SEE ME manner, I think they could be right for the job...

And so, the insect theme continues...

Wishing you a lovely weekend, with or without bugs!

Love,

   Helena

Purple peace and pretty purchases...

Dear readers,

I thought we might talk cushions for a moment. 

Cushions, I confess, is one of my weaknesses.

Cushions, I would insist, 

(although some family members, strangely, seem not to understand this...) 

you simply cannot have too many...

I say this, as I tend to make most of them myself, 

re-using the inner pillow and often using scraps of fabric to make the cover.

Like the peace sign cushion here...

...made from an old purple top of mine that was past its glory days in fashion, to put it mildly,

together with a peace sign cut out of some linen fabric and then painted with a thin layer of metallic paint, just to give it a modest shine, make it come "alive"...

But here comes confession time.

Cushion confession, that is.

See the other two patterned cushions?

Well...

If one happens to fall head over heals in love with a cushion one happens to see on the cover of one of one's favourite Norwegian magazines, Vakre Hem, and one then by complete coincidence happens to stumble across those very cushions at half price on a work trip to Sweden, one wonders if, perhaps, one is not meant to, maybe, well... buy them?

Well, one did. 

And one is quite happy one did. 

The sofa in the TV room (our TV is hidden away in one of the cupboards under the stairs) is now a little more colourful than before, and together with the fairy-light-stuffed ex-greenhouse heater in the fireplace, and my beloved, cheerful ceiling light, this window-less corner now seems a little bit brighter!

Wishing you a bright and colourful Sunday!

Love,

Helena

When your car decides for you...

Have you ever had your car decide things for you?

Well, as I was driving home from work today and approached a second-hand shop on the side of the road (the one where last summer I fell in love with the large tray that I used as a table top for example here), I thought to myself that I certainly do not need more things, no matter how lovely they might be, and I was therefore not going to stop...

Now, some of you may find what happened next hard to believe, but my car took me completely by surprise when it suddenly swerved to the left and turned in to mentioned shop. Just like that. And parked outside this large and eclectic second-hand shop, it would have been rather rude not to pop inside just for a minute or two... would it not?

Sorry about the grainy, un-sharp photos here - this window-less
room and my camera do not always see eye to eye...

And there it was. The Moroccan-looking wooden stand that my beloved tray had been missing. With paint peeling and just the right amount of scruffy patina, it called out to me in all its ragged glory: "Please, Miss, adopt me! We belong together!" Now, I may be a woman of principle, but I am not heartless. And when a fellow with a wooden leg - or eight as it were -  pleads with me in that fashion, who am I to reject him?

So, that is how my car made what turned out to be the best decision possible on this grey Wednesday, and my wooden fellow and I, I have a feeling we are going to live happily ever after!

Wishing you all a lovely Thursday, and may it bring you joy, 

car-encouraged or not!

Helena

Light lover...

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while may have noticed that I do love surrounding myself with colour, particularly spicy, saffrony shades. However, since moving to the UK, I have felt - more than ever before - a need for light, bright, white rooms...

... sometimes mixed with nature's own wooden browns, or - as in our conservatory above - 

leafy and mossy greens to link the outside with the room inside.

Nothing new to report in here, but since this was a rare moment of tidiness in an otherwise football book-covered, paper and pens-strewn, cereal-on-the-floor-going-crunch-under-your-feet-environment, I took the opportunity to snap a few shots before things returned to normal...

I love how the ivy spills onto the floor here, 

mirroring its cousin covering the stone wall outside...

Aha, but in here there is actually something new. The very old, dark sofa that previously inhabited this space had been on "life support" for longer than what was sofa humane (or human behind humane, for that matter), and as much as I love recycling and upcycling, there comes a time when one has to realise it is time to say farewell. A trip to a certain large blue and yellow Swedish furniture store and voilá, a sofa with all the lovely oumph, fluffage and bouncy comfort one can expect from a new padded friend. 

In the mirror, you may notice the other, smaller white sofa stretching its cushions high to be seen, feeling slightly neglected since the arrival of its larger sibling and hungry for some attention...

All right then, just to humour my old trusty sofa friend, here is another 

photo of one of the most photographed corners of the house.

Both white sofas are wearing modestly autumnal costumes, but - to our delight - outside temperatures this week speak of summer! Has it finally arrived, I wonder...?

Thank you SO much for stopping by and for all the kind comments you leave for me to wrap myself in when life has its uphill moments....

All the best,

Helena

Furry flower fantasies...

Dearest readers,

Thank you SO much for all your kind words about my sister-in-law's garden. 

I have passed on your praise to her.

***

I keep getting cheerful sunshine reports from friends back home in Sweden, and I join in their delight over sun-blushed cheeks and merry BBQ parties. However, here in the UK, things are little different...

No, this is not a ford, this is a normal road between two fields...

The River Avon, normally low beneath the - now invisible - arches of the stone bridge in the foreground... has recently flooded horribly, and what here looks like a large lake, is normally a field with horses grazing peacefully... This tends to happen here, hence the raised pedestrian wooden path. These photos were taken two days ago, and already yesterday, the water had started clearing up, and parts of the field were visible again.

No, there is NO lake in the grounds of Lacock Abbey, even though seeing this flooded field here makes me think a lake there would look rather attractive...!

***

... and while the heavens keep pouring bucket after bucket of wetness on us...

... I snuggle up on my sofa wrapped in fake fur, 

tell myself it is NOT autumn, despite the cold and the wet,

occasionally venture out in the garden to bring some

 stems of blue summer hope inside...

Bluebells, nature's own beautiful little ballerinas!

I hope that your week brings sun to your soul 

and that if you are soaked by anything, may it be flower glory!

Helena

Spring on my mind...

Yes, with spring on my mind and in my step, my mission this morning was to treat the Swenglish house to some tulips, and of course I had my favourite tulip colour in mind: deep purple/magenta. Imagine my upside down smile when I realized that the shop only had yellow and red ones to offer... Not seeing a tulip-less day as an option, especially since these were to be the first of the season (!), I had to think outside of the box, call out to all the flexibility this Swenglish head could muster... 

And with a bunch of squeaky fresh friends, I left to go home to play...

Mixing these two colours is a rather daring and unusual adventure for my otherwise so one-tone-themed mind, and I do confess to a purple longing still humming inside, but for now, these colourful little heads will serve as reminders that spring will soon be here and my beloved flower-picking season not far behind...

My head is bulging and brimming with ideas for decorative symphonies, but having just returned from a work trip to the US, and with another to Sweden in a few days, I will have to practise a -to me- rather alien concept: patience... Ugh, not something I will ever win awards for, but nevertheless a necessary mantra...

And to all of you lovely readers out there who so patiently wait for my new blog posts, to you who send me the sweetest comments and incredibly kind emails, a warm thank you and a squeaky bunch of tulips to each and every one of you!

Helena

I have heard a whisper...

... that something special is happening quite soon...

... which will involve flying reindeer and awkward incidents with chimneys and bellies too big...

So I have started gathering my moss and planting my hyacinths...

... because I heard it all from a pixie in Lappland... so it must be true!

***

Last year, this room looked like this:

... and I think there is a chance those NOEL letters will soon emerge again, 

and pine cones may find themselves potted and "mossed"!

Wishing you all a lovely weekend!

Helena

Summer outside and in...

Just after I took the photos for the last blog post, 

the rain clouds drew closer and I decided it might be

 a good idea to move summer indoors instead...

Garden-harvested white beauties, pretty even as they are wilting...

And what if we check out a different angle of the room...?

Well, then we find the slightly "overbearing" former TV-cabinet, now housing a sowing machine and all sorts of craft material. Next to it, one of my grand-parents' old chairs, recovered in a cushion cover from H&M, in front of which lean some of my wooden trays and bowls, awaiting their next "assignment"...

***

Another guest appearance...

The Swenglish Home is today featured on the life style website Mammas Egen (Mum's Own) in their series "Room of the Week": http://www.mammasegen.com/material/otroligt-vackra-hemmet-i-danskfransksvensk-countrystil. Thank you, Camilla, for asking me to contribute to your site - I feel honoured!

***

Wishing you all an invigorating day in the sun!

Helena

Modern meddling in the middle...

In the Middle Room, a k a the TV room (TV and stereo hidden in the cupboards under the stairs), a slightly more modern tone has snuck its way in. A coffee table much too large for this small space - but excellent to build Lego cities on. A sofa so treasured by the man in the house (what is it about men and their old sofas?), that it has moved from the UK to Sweden to Turkey to Sweden to the UK... - the firm fluffiness of its cushions a sweet but very distant memory... A fire place with exposed bricks, courtesy of the previous owners of the house and unfortunately not to our taste, still on our to do-list (together with many other 'wants' and 'needs' in the house)...

Through the door to the left is the kitchen, to the right: the hallway, stairs and front room (see Living Room). Behind me is the white sofa with the CALM letters above (see The Middle Room).

The ceiling light is my beloved Midsummer Light by Tord Boontje. Designer items are a very rare sight in The Swenglish Home, but this sensual paper 'skirt' makes me happy every day and brightens this window-less room in more ways than one.

The table lamp is one of my finds from my trip to Paris last week, and was found at Maisons du Monde, a -for me - new and VERY nice acquaintance in the world of shops... It had a minute, hardly visible scratch and voilà: 20% came off the price immediately and at  € 31 (£ 27) including the shade, I thought it was a good deal.

The fire place in this room is not working, but that does not mean a rusty greenhouse heater (another bargain at £ 8 at one of my local bargain hangouts in Bath...) filled with fairy lights can't have a go at offering a warm ambiance, does it...?

So, there we are, a peek into a room where it all happens... Drama and documentaries; numbing news and stories of hope and love, on paper, screen or CD; playtime and parents' naps; bundles with boys - our bundles of joy. Everyday life in a Swenglish home...

***

As many bloggers have pointed out recently, writing about mundane decorating dilemmas or, as above, the joy of lamps, is perhaps done with mixed feelings at the moment. With a world 'gone mad' and natural disasters changing the emotional 'decor' of so many people's lives forever, how can we carry on dwelling on where to place our tables and tulips? 

Personally, I think it is OK to do both. To focus on and deal with the horrifying news from Japan and elsewhere, choose to offer help in some physical form or just in our hearts, but at the same time carry on with whatever gives us the positive energy and the soul-nurturing that allow us to do just that, cope with the overwhelming pain that we may experience near us or from afar... 

So, I will carry on embracing signs of spring in my garden, but I do it now perhaps with a little more gratitude, humble to be here to experience yet another spring, joyful at the signs of life around me.

***