A house in Norway...

I'm not from Norway but still I get homesick watching these pictures. I think I need a house. By the ocean. Just like this one.

via Design Shimmer

Swedish summer by Wai Lin Tse

These beautiful pictures by photographer Wai Lin Tse were posted on Design*Sponge a little more than a year ago and quite a few of their readers were upset and wondered what they were doing on a DESIGN BLOG! Maybe the context was not presented clearly enough that time, but I feel that it's importat to look for inspiration also in places where it immediately looks as there is none to find. Anyways, the photos were shot at an old farm in Sweden, now a days only serving as a summer house for the children and the grandchildren of the man who used to live there. Such a relief sometimes to see that there are places that escaped the renovation hysteria of our times. I bet the people who goes here on their vacation are focusing on relaxing instead of painting, and it makes me so happy! And of course, I think the photographer is very talented managing to capture a piece of the essence of swedish summer, and that these photos deserve another round!

photos by Wai Lin Tse

Spring ud!

Hooray, spring is finally here! On every bench in the city there are people with their faces turned towards the sun. We are so starved. I'd like to think that someday I will have a summerhouse like the one below. I don't know if it's actually a summerhouse but if I had one, I would like it to be like this or like this.





Photos from Mad og Bolig via Ellemania

Claire Richardson

I know I keep going on and on about how much I long for spring but this winter has really been something out of the ordinary. So far 2010 has been a great year for me after managing to get over the bump that was 2009, and now, all I need is some sun and warmth. In the meantime I like to look at photos like these below, by talented photographer Claire Richardson. So delicate and summer-like! Found her via tiny k.

Photos by Claire Richardson

Still here folks!

...just enjoying an (almost) internet free vacation! Back soon!

Swedish midsummer - this year it was a wonderful and quiet one.

Thanks Hanna, Robert and little Lee for a wonderful weekend!

This is heaven

Everytime life is hard and things are not going my way, I return to a very special place in my memory. Ljugarn is the place where I spent all my childhood summers and where my grandparents still live. Ljugrn is an old village on the east side of Gotland, with 10 km of sandy beaches, and a fairytale-like nature. My family owns a tiny cabin there, with no running water and an outhouse loo. To me, this is high quality life!



This is my family's little cabin in Ljugarn



The village from above





Rauks

The perfect summerhouse!

I've been dreaming about this place since 2004, when I found it in a swedish interior magazine. It's the summerhouse of Isabelle Halling (Swedish interior stylist and TV host) and it's situated in the Stockholm archipelago. It's only 27 square meters, but since I'm a fan of compact living, this is my ideal summerhouse. I mean, the whole point of having a summerhome I think, is to have a place where you live without all the extra conveniences of a permanent home. A simpler life! I love the colours of this place and I love how close it is to the sea!

Photos from Sköna Hem (7/2004)