The modern housewife

If you still don't know where to get your christmas cards PRINTS WITH WINGS may be a place to go. They have all kinds of cards but at the moment I think most people are looking to send christmas wishes. The only thing is that they are all in Swedish...but Santa Claus is coming from Scandinavia so why not.








Images from Print with wings website.

There are little things you can do to give your wedding the little extra that makes it a memorable day! Here are a few ideas that are easy to do but that makes quite a difference.


Make a modern wall decoration.


Make your guests write a word in an original way that you can keep forever.


Give your guests a bag of bird seeds to toss at you after the ceremony. This will make it a great moment
and the birds will be happy.


Give your guests homemade personal gifts.


Help your guests to last on the dance floor and make a fun thank you card.


Set up a photo both where your guests can take memorable photos.


Put a disposable camera on every table for fun and unexpected wedding photos.


A fun way to let your guests write a few words.

So this weekend it is the first of advent. It is time to take out the advent candles, drink Swedish "glögg" and make safran bread! On top of that the Swedish church in Paris has a christmas market and I think we'll stop by to see what they have.
Have a good first of advent!

Here is yet another Scandinavian house. WILLA NORDIC makes very contemporary wooden houses. I love this one with the really big windows and the mix of wood and black surfaces.










Photos from Willa Nordic's website.

Like I told you friday, me and my fiancee made sushi for the first time last saturday. It actually turned out really well, the rice was perfectly cooked and it tasted quite good. The only little mistake we did was to put a bit too much rice in the maki's, but that is something to think about next time.
Since it is soo hard to make the rice good I thought I would give you the recipe since it turned out so good.



For 4 people

5 decilitres of sushi rice
rice vinager (look at amount further down)
sugar (look at amount further down)

Rinse the rice carefully until the water is clear.
Pour the rice in a bowl and fill with cold water. Let it stand for 30 minutes.
Pour the rice through a strainer, you will see that the rice has grown a bit.
Weigh the rice and add the same weight of water. Bring the rice to a boil on high heat without a lid. Turn the heat down when it starts to boil and cover with a lid. Boil on low heat for 10 minutes. Don't remove the lid during this time.

Now you need to add a vinager sirup to the rice. For every 100 grams of rice you should use 1 tablespoon of rice vinager and 1 tablespoon of sugar (ex 300 grams of rice = 3 tablespoons of rice vinager and 3 tablespoons of sugar). Heat this in a casserole until the sugar has melted.

When the rice is cooked, pour it immediately into a bowl. Let it cool a couple of minutes before pouring in the vinager mix.
Now you just have to wait for the rice to get cold and then you can make your sushi's and maki's after your own taste.

I have been looking for nice carpets for quite a while now and I think I have found them! Two days ago I was surfing around on MILJÖGÅRDEN'S website (a swedish furniture store) and found KASTHALL'S really nice carpets. They look like high quality and all have a really nice texture and material!




Photos from Kasthall's website.

Today it will be a short post because I have been home staging all day and I don't feel quite well tonight. But here is a little idea what you can do with a boring white magnetic board. Choose a fabric that you like and glue it on to your board. Very simple and nice!

When looking in PLAZA INTERIOR the other day I discovered an ad for PULZ design. I went to their website and found a company that make really nice lamps and other design products.




Photos from Pulz website.

I know, I am showing you a lot of Swedish fashion photographers, but I think they are worth knowing about because every one of them have their special thing. CARL BENGTSSON is not an exception, welcome to Carl's universe of fog and amazing light!


















Photos from Carl Bengtsson's website.

DESIGNISTA is an online shop that has a lot of nice accesories for your house.



Here is my wish list from them at the moment.


1. Box made like a cupcake, 110 SEK
2. Note book, design Defyra, 65 SEK
3. Sculpture, design Rens, 560 SEK
4. Baby blanket, 990 SEK
5. Egg cup, design Liz Kinnmark, 150 SEK
6. Casserole pad, design Adam und Harborth Designbüro, 540 SEK
7. Pillow cover, design Elsa Wikander, 280 SEK
8. Coasters, design Lotta Kuhlhorn, 140 SEK

If you don't feel like having a long veil on your big day I really recommend to take a look at TWIGS & HONEY'S head pieces. They are very stylish and pretty!








Photos from Twigs & Honey's website.

This weekend will be quite international. Tomorrow me and my fiancee will make sushi for the first time and on sunday I will make a Swedish lunch for a couple of French friends.
Happy weekend!


Photo Denise Grunstein.

I love this house from M2 with it's irregular angles and big windows!
If I lived in Scandinavia I would'nt think twice about choosing this house for our construction.
















Photos from M2's website.

The entrance in the house is the first room people see and I think it is important to feel the spirit of the place from the moment you enter. As you have maybe noticed, my style is very Scandinavian with lots of white and touches of color. And so will be this post.












Image from EMMAS DESIGNBLOGG'S house.

Mmm, this is a really good home made musli. You can put anything you want in it but these are the ingredients that I use :



5 deciliters of oatmeal
1 decilitre of sesamy seeds
1 decilitre of sunflower seeds
1 decilitre of linseeds
1/2 decilitre of omega chia grains
3 decilitres of chopped almonds

1/2 decilitre of water
1/2 decilitre of maple syrup or swedish treacle
1 tablespoon of oil
1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon

Mix all the grains and seeds in a n ovenproof dish.
Mix the liquids and cinnamon.
Pour over the grains and seed mix and mix it well.
Put in the oven at 200 degrees, for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.

I eat it every morning in my kefir with raisins and dried cranberries, soo good and healthy!

I love MINIMARKET and it's designs. They seem to live in a fairytale world and out comes really happy and cool clothing. I think the spring summer collection 2009 is my favorite so far but the other collections are not bad either. And there campaign's are one more innovative than the other!


Campaign Spring / Summer collection 2010.
Photo Peter Gehrke / Adamsky.


Spring / Summer collection 2010.




Campaign Autumn / Winter collection 2009.
Photo Patrick Sehlstedt / Adamsky.


Autumn / Winter collection 2009.








Campaign Spring / Summer collection 2009.
Photo Patrick Sehlstedt / Adamsky.


Spring / Summer collection 2009.







Photos from Minimarket's website.

I found this great idea on a Dutch website (which adress I have unfortunately forgotten...). I don't think it is too difficult to make either. You just have to make sure that the material you use won't burn.

The most difficult place to decide about in our future house is the bathroom. Partially because it is the most expensive room and also because it is not a room that you can change easily.
I have a lot of inspiration but we haven't decided yet...

CLAUDIA GOETZELMANN is a Geraman photographer based in San Francisco. She takes fashion photos but in that different way that I like.




















Photos by Claudia Goetzelmann.

MOODS is a Danish online shop that sell a lot of fun and different things. My wish list became very white and yellow for some reason although yellow is not at all my favorite color normally.

The center piece on your wedding table is something that follows the colors and design of your overall theme.
There are many ways to combine flowers with other materials. Here are some examples to get inspired from.

I am really tired at the moment for some reason (it might be the weather) so this weekend is going to be a calm weekend with warm tea in front of a good movie and why not a relaxing bath.


Photo Henry Bourne.

Mm, these dessert spoons look delicious. I haven't had the chance to try them out yet but I absolutely will. If you beat me to it, tell me what you think!



makes about 4 spoons

2 T cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
a pinch of salt
juice from one orange
1 cup heavy cream
3 ounces 100% cacao, coarsely chopped
1 egg white, at room temperature
4 T super-fine or casters sugar

Combine the cornstarch, sugar and salt in the top of a double boiler. Whisk in the cream and the juice. Heat at a simmer, stirring constantly until the mixture just starts to thicken and coats the back of a spoon. Then, stir in the cacao. Continue to stir until the chocolate is well incorporated, and the mixture is slightly thick. It’s important not to overheat or overcook at this point, or the fats will start to release and separate and you’ll end up with a very icky mess. This happened to me the first time around. Remove from heat. Allow the pudding to come to about room temperature, then cover and refrigerate. You might also want to chill the spoons you are going to be using. This isn’t necessary, but will help keep your dessert nice and cold.

Whisk the egg white to soft peaks, and then whisk in the sugar. It should get thick, glossy and spoonable.

Next, take your spoons, and fill the bowl with the chocolate pudding. Top with a dollop of meringue… but be careful not to overdo it. You don’t need much.

If you have a kitchen torch, use it to brown the top of the meringue slightly. My torch wasn’t working, so I just held my little spoons up to the broiler element on high to brown up the edges.

Serve immediately.

Recipy found at COOKANDEAT.COM

I love CLAESSON KOIVISTO RUNE!!! If I could afford it we would build a house designed by them! Besides architecture Claesson Koivisto Rune also do interior design as well as product design. I am impressed by their talent and good they are in all three domains.

Some of their architecture designs.








Some of their interior design projects.














And finally some of their products designs.







All photos from Claesson Koivisto Rune's website.

When you do crocheting it is normally to make a cardigan or a hat for the winter. But why not crochet a lamp shade? I think I would do some different and modern pattern though that will take away a bit of the grandma feeling.

MIMOU has a lot of things that I would like right now when it is cold outside and you just want to sit in front of the fire surrounded by their pillows and warm covers. And maybe you will have one of their wallpapers on a wall next to you.














Photos from Mimou's website.

Book shelves are an important piece in your home to organise all the different kinds of books and if you are like me, you have quite a collection (I love books!).
Why not mix practicality with design!


Design Peter Cohen.








Design Helena Allard & Cecilia Falk.                              Design Linde & Sandstrom.

Wow!!! When I discovered BRUNO DAYAN'S fashion photos I just fell of my chair. His photos are very procative but oh so beautiful (the most procative are to discover on his website). I had a really hard time choosing which photos I should show here. On his website there are soo many more.




















Photos from Bruno Dayan's website.

I love this concept that BONBON KAKKU has . They sell fabrics that You have designed. You send your proposal to them and then people that visit the website get to vote to decide which fabrics they will sell.
So don't hesitate to send your proposal if you think that your idea is a good one!
















Photos from Bonbon Kakku's website.

When you have a big wedding, placement cards are essential. For your guests to find their table it is good to have some kind of a creative "map" when you enter the room.

I am hoping that my man will buy the cheap cinema tickets from his job today so that we can live at the cinema this weekend. It is not really because there are a lot of good movies out there but more the fact that I really feel like sitting in a dark room dreaming away in stories that are something else than reality. I think this wish might have something to do with the winter approaching and everything being grey (although today I canät complain with the sun that is shining...).


Photo of the beautiful French actress Isabelle Huppert by Len Prince.

My dream kitchen is a kitchen that Anna Irinarcho has designed! Anna is a part of the WIS DESIGN studio. They don't only make kitchen designs but also other interior products as well as interior design.




















Photos from Wis design's website.

Today I thought I would show you more affordable fashion. GINA TRICOT is a Swedish fashion brand with prices like H&M. They have a lot of basic fashion but also clothing that are more based on the current trends. This is my wishing list for this season.

I love fresh herbs such as basil and mint to put in the dishes I make and I thought that the idea of cans made into vases was a really good idea. If you don't want to spend much money on your herbal garden this is perfect! All you need are some cans and nice paper that you can glue on to them.

This is the hardest space to figure out in our future house. It is the most important room to me since I love to cook and it has to be perfect. Since we have the chance to design our future kitchen there is a lot of pressure from my side to make the most practical and beautiful kitchen.
One thing I love is the black and white floor that is on the image beneath. I'll see if I can negociate this with my fiancee...

One of the best fashion photographers out there today is absolutely english born TIM WALKER. He inspires me widely with his imaginary scenography and the models put out of the context we are used to see.














Photos from Tim Walker's website.

Back in the day women always said that love evolves with your cooking and maybe there is somethinh true in that. At a wedding food is very important though and the menu is supposed to give you an idea of what is waiting.

I think that the winner in most innovative and nice design is Dutch design (shared with the Scandinavian of course) in my book. HERE is a really good online shop where there is a vaste choice of the best in Dutch design.



My wishing list.