The modern housewife

I have a lot of missions for this weekend and one of them is to find a dress that I can wear for my birthday. I love this one but maybe a little bit longer since it is not that warm in this country yet. I wanted to make the dress myself but unfortunately time is lacking. It will be for next time.
Have a good weekend everyone!

Sometimes it is really hard wanting everything to be perfect. I have been sketching on the kitchen for our future house for months now and after about 10 different proposals I think I have finally figured it out! It will probably be a fairly Scandinavian kitchen with white cupboards and black table tops. I just have to pass it by the expert called my mother, because when it comes to practicality, she has the experience.
When it is more advanced I will show you more. This is the image I used for reference though, that way you will have an idea.



For you who is in the same situation as me but still hasn't decided, here is some more inspiration.

Last saturday we had a dinner at home with very good friends. Every time we have guests I try to do something special and this time I tried a dish with saffron. It was delicious so I just have to share the recipe with you!
Very easy to make while being very tasteful and festive.


Photo Anna Nasstrom, The Modern Housewife.

1 leak
2 tablespoons of butter
1 bag of saffron
1 tablespoon of Maizena (corn flour)
2 decilitres of water
2 decilitres of cream
1 vegetable stock
1 lemon, juice and peel
2 teaspoons of "rose" pepper
400 grams of cod
250 grams of shrimps

Chop the leak, fry it soft in the butter with the saffron.
Mix the corn flour with the water and add to the pot.
Add cream, vegetable stock, lemon juice and peel and the "rose"pepper.
Let it simmer for about 5 minutes.
Cut the cod in pieces and add in the pot. Let it simmer until fish is cooked.
Add the shrimps just before serving.

MATTHEW WILLIAMSON is the English king of patterns and colors! His collections are quite different one from another but you can still always identify that it is him because who can make crazy patterns look elegant and sophisticated but Matthew Williamson?

Spring collection 2010




Summer collection 2010




Autumn collection 2010





Images from Matthew Williamson's website.

Here is another tip for you who will spend a few days in Paris. KUBE HOTEL is an oval shaped building with plenty of cubes inside. I feel contrasts between the rooms and the public space where the rooms are very white and zen while the public space is much more colorful and dark. We (the Scandinavians) can be happy to discover "the Ice Kube", an ice bar on the mezzanine that keeps a constant temperature of 5 degrees celsius. The interior design is classified as futuristic retro. Why I haven't quite figured out, maybe I have to rent a room for one night to discover with my own eyes:)






Images from Designhotels.com.

I found these photos taken by PHILIP KARLBERG for the English Elle Deco. I love them, they feel so soft and happy even though they are so dark. I am not sure for which kind of article they were taken but I think that they work very good all by themselves. It would be really cool to have a big print of one of these on the wall.








Photos by Philip Karlberg.

Vintage design makes me feel relaxed and at ease. Maybe it is the souvenirs of my grandma's house when I was young or that they all have a story to tell that feels fairytale like and far away. No matter what it is I am going to try to have some vintage furniture in my future house to give it a soul and make it more personal.

Lace is a very romantic material and fits perfectly on your wedding dress. You don't have to look like a puff cake though, but could make the dress very elegant.

SPITI is an online shop selling oriental products for your house. A mix between Scandinavian and oriental style gives warmth and character to your interior. Keep the main pieces quite neutral and add accessories that are a bit different and colorful.





1. Pillow case "Sunshine", 695 SEK
2. Pillow case "Pigalle", 695 SEK
3. Lamp "Watt & Veke", 1295 SEK
4. Coaster in glass, 195 SEK
5. Bed cover, 1995 SEK
6. Door stop, 505 SEK

This weekend there will be a lot of fun with two of my closest friends tonight and a wonderful and creative couple coming for dinner tomorrow. Lots of fun in other words!


Photo by Claudia Goetzelmann.

Wow! I fell instantly in love with these stools from ASSHOFF & BROGÅRD! I just had to go and check out what else they have created and I love everything they do! How about the huge brosch look alike that is in fact a chandelier or the garbage can that make you think of a tree trunk. To see more, go to their website by clicking HERE or above.






Photos from Asshoff & Brogård's website.

I have discovered a lot of interesting hotels in Paris recently and just have to share this with you! MAMA SHELTER is a fairly new hotel, designed by the French icon PHILIPPE STARCK. I love the name, it sounds very welcoming and "hip".  The hotel itself is very modern with concrete walls, different comic heroes as lamps and an overall play feeling to it. The prices are quite ok as well, so don't hesitate to come for a weekend to discover a different way to live.




Photos from Mama Shelter's website.

I promised my sister to put up this recipy of Polish pierogies. It is like big raviolies that are most of the time filled with a potatoe, mushroom or sour crout mix. I am making them with the potatoe mix most of the time so that is the recipy I will give you.
It takes a little bit of time to make them but it is definitly worth it because they are really delicious!
The pierogies are uncooked on the photo.


Photo by Anna Nasstrom, The Modern Housewife.

About 50 pierogies.

Dough :
500 grams of flour
1/2 tea spoon of salt
hot water, add little by little

Mix these ingredients.
Fold over and over until elastic.
Leave for 30 minutes under cover.

Filling :
500 grams of potatoes, cooked and salted
500 grams of white cheese
2-3 onions, cut into very small pieces
salt, pepper

Fry onion in butter until golden.
Press the potatoes until getting mashed potatoes consistency.
Do the same with the white cheese.
Mix everything. Add salt and pepper, the more pepper, the tastier.

Roll out the dough thin and make circles (about 9 centimetres).
Put some filling on one half of the circle and close it so that it looks like on the image. It is very important that there is no filling in between where you close it because then they open when you cook them.

Cook the pierogies in salted water on medium heat. Make sure you stir constantly so that they don't stick together.
When they start floating, leave for 3 more minutes.
Serve them with fried onion and sour cream for example.

You don't need to cook all of them right away, you can freeze them uncooked. Just make sure to separate them so that they don't touch and stick together.

Isn't it nice to be all together around a table with some good food and interesting conversations. I would say that the dining area is very important in a house and you should design it in a way that makes you feel at ease. Don't hesitate to make it very personal but not too crazy or "fragile". You are after all going to sit there and relax and not having to worry about something getting scratched or break somehow.

TOLEDANO is born in England to a French Moroccan mother, and an American father. Toledano's photos are socio-political and he believes that photos should be looked as unfinished sentences. I'll let you judge for yourself if this is the impression you get. One thing is sure, the photos make you react in one way or another.










Photos by Toledano from his website.

FIVE HOTEL is a hotel in the 5th arrondisement in Paris. It is surrounded by history and romantic places. The hotel itself is very modern and I think it would be an experience to stay there, even though it seems a little bit too much "bling bling" for my taste. The rooms are not very big but the creative interior compensates for this. And you are after all only going to sleep there. It is a place that is standing out for a reasonable price.












Photos from Five Hotel's website.

Last saturday we were at a great Valentine's party and the theme was of course pink and red. I brought one of my favorite soups, a beat soup that had a great succes so I thought I would give you the recipy here. It is really easy to make and you can feel the taste of fresh red beats.


Photo Anna Nasstrom, The Modern Housewife.

Bortsch (red beat soup)

500 grams of red beats
1 potatoe
1 yellow onion
2 table spoons of butter
1 litre of vegetable stock
salt, pepper
2 table spoons of white vinager
sour cream

Chop the vegetables and the onion and fry them in butter.
Add the vegetable stock and let it simmer for 20 minutes.
Mix the soup and add the vinager, salt and pepper.
Serve with sour cream.

A small gift to your guests is very important at a wedding. It shows that the host really appreciated that you came and it sometimes also serves as a memory to keep (unless it is something you can eat of course). You can wrap this gift in many different ways and here are a few colorful examples that makes me want to be a guest at a wedding.

I have never liked the commercial part of St Valentine's. I think it's enough to show how much you love your other half with breakfast in bed or a picnic in the forest (it might be a bit too cold for that now though...)
I do sense passion, tango, red food, good company and happy tears this weekend. Something to look forward to in other words!

If you are setting up a business like me (will tell you more about it when it is a bit more advanced), it is of course very important to have a business card. Here is some inspiration if you feel like going a bit crazy and stand out from all the others out there.

I was so happy discovering that my good friend LARA is now selling some of her products on the ENVELOP online shop. I love her patterns, they are very happy and somewhere in between a fairytale and reality. She has a great sense for colors and her designs work for every age.
On top of that I have decided that she is the blog of the week. Let yourself be carried away to a mix of Italian beauty (where she is living at the moment) and constant new patterns! Go to her blog HERE.


Images from Envelop's website.

The walls in a house are not easy to decorate! You have to find the right decoration and put them up the right way. Here are a few ideas to help you on the way. Instead of hanging frames, you can put them on the floor like in an artist's studio. Or why not have one color theme on one wall that goes through your paintings and frames. Another idea is to play with the hight of the wall and either put the paintings or frames low, close to the furniture, or, on the contrary, high up to get a feeling of space and hight.

I went to NET A PORTER today to dream a little bit. Wow, there where a lot of nice dresses! If you are looking for pret a porter but don't know what you want, Net a Porter is probably the best site out there that regroups the best of the best! There has been so many award ceremonies lately and this is what I would wear if I ever won an award and had a few thousand euros to spare.


Design Marchesa 5559 euros


Design Adam 534 euros


Design Issa 742 euros


Design Donna Karan 2141 euros


Design Diane von Furstenberg 702 euros

Images from Net a Porter's website.

I have already posted a couple of photos with the category Friday mood HERE and HERE by DENISE GRUNSTEIN. With Denise we are talking fairytale and magic, the unknown is very present. And there is a lot of mystery in her photos. They are good photos to look at if you feel a bit down some day. Maybe except for the first one...












Photos by Denise Grunstein from her website.

I have recently started knitting again. It is a lot of fun and it relaxes me sitting there on the sofa creating my own cardigans and scarves. I found this book, Swedish knitting ("Sticka mera" in Swedish), in a Swedish Elle decoration and I would really like one! It seems to be good for me who is only at the basic level and want to learn more. You can get the book HERE if you are interested.

I have noticed a black and white trend in weddings recently. I even saw a bride wearing a black wedding dress not that long ago. If you want to be less extreme, you can have an over all black and white theme in your decoration and why not in your wedding bouquet. Add one color to make it a bit more lively such as green or pink.

HIMLA is a Swedish company that make textile and accessories for your home. The spring collection 2010 has a palette of very pastel colors, like the color scheme of heaven. The collection makes me feel very relaxed and at ease, just as it should be in your home.






Photos from Himla's website.

I really hope there will be sun this weekend so that we can go somewhere and have a picnic. We enjoyed the first picnic of the year last sunday, but ones I start, it's hard to stop because I love eating out in nature!


Photo by Eva Edsjö.

Osler House (which is it's name) is built in Brazil and designed by MARCIO KOGAN. The house consist of a parallelogram box, with the second top part of the box enlarged in dimensions from its base and pivoted and rotated to a 90 degree angle. The house basically forms the letter T when you look at the site plan.
I love the perspective it gives when having only windows on two facing walls. It feel like you are outside because you get so close to the nature.
I guess it is a house that is perfect for the Brazilian climate and it would probably not work in the north of Canada for example. Although, having big windows and looking out at the white winter landscape could be magic too!






Photos from YATZER.

The blog of the week this time is DESIGN DELIGHT. It is a Swedish design blog about mostly interior design. The blog is written by Sandra Nolgren who is a journalist, specialized in design.
She says herself that she often falls in love with very expensive design and her blog is a means to indulge in all of this and dream away into her fantasy appartment.




Photos by Sandra Nolgren, Design Delight.

I didn't know who PROENZA & SCHOULER was until I saw them in the show I have talked about before. It was a pleasant surprise! They make beautiful pret a porter with perfect cuts and innovative ideas but they still remain uncomplicated and very wearable. And I love their bags, one of those are absolutely on my wishlist!
Proenza & Schouler are two young men who have taken their mother's maiden names and made a brand name out of them. I find this really cute and you could tell at the fashion show that their mother's are very proud of them!


Spring collection 2010




Fall collection 2009






Pre fall collection 2009





Photos from Proenza & Schouler's website.

A good way to personalise a neutral kitchen is to work with the walls. A kitchen is a big investement and nothing that you change every two years. The walls are easier to change though, you could paint them, tile them or why not put a nice wall sticker or wallpaper.

AXL JANSEN is a great photographer that I have had the pleasure to work with when I was art directing the magazine DONG that him and his girlfriend, who's a stylist, have.
Axl is very creative and a real perfectionist that don't give up until the work is perfect. I think that you can feel that in his photos.












Photo Axl Jansen taken from his website.
Art direction on photo 4 and 5, Anna Nasstrom.

Everything on a wedding table is important to get the harmony and ambiance that you wish. The napkins are one of the details that need to be well thought out with the rest of the table set.

VILLAGE.SE is a Swedish company who makes products for your interior. I discovered their spring/easter collection for 2010 and there are quite a few things that are nice. The collection is modern yet romantic with very soft colors such as green, lilac and pink.




1. Flower pot, 59-99 SEK   2. Ceramic jar, 99 SEK   3. Napkin holder, 79 SEK   4. Vase, 99-169 SEK
5. Glass jar, 159-189 SEK


Images from Village.se website.