moving about - moving tips

since i moved there have passed two months already...:O

in my life i think i moved alltogether 17 times.

here my best moving tips:

tip no. 1

two months before:

use time to unclutter the attic, storage spaces, the garage, all drawers, cupboards and closets.

imagine you only have a week left and not much space in your new home, i mean: throw things away. a lot of things. give away old clothes, organize memories in pretty or practical containers with labels on.

sell things you don`t need anymore.

stuff is baggage in life.

tip no. 2

six weeks before:

make a list of your new rooms.

then write what function this room will have, what you will use it for. think through it.

 draw sketches of the rooms layout and find where things will go.

give all the rooms numbers, even small hallways and storage rooms.

tip no. 3

five weeks before:

buy moving supplies and book a mover/helpers.

buy dobbel the amount of boxes you think you need;-)

start packing the boxes and write the number of the room it`s gonna go to, on it.

you don`t actually need to write what`s in the box.

tips no. 4

one week/day before:

drive to your new place if you have access to it. bring paper, tape and a marker.

go to each room and find the best spot to place the boxes. hang up a sheet with an arrow to where you want to place the boxes in each room with the number of the room on it.

make a big sheet with a list of numbers and names of the rooms and hang up in the entrance.

if it`s a big home, you can draw a map.

hang up a sheet with the room number on each door.

on moving day you only need to explain your concept to your helpers.

this works great!!!

have a good move and a good week!

^nicole

styling to sell

the bathroom

preparations to sell the house... i am quite sad about it. it feels somehow very wrong.

yet i have no choice but to accept it and focus on my future, my kids and my new life to come.

while at work on satureday, the man and i used all of sunday to fix some final things, paint a little here and there, get the yard under control ;-) clean and organize.

norwegian national holiday today...we walked in the parade with our son and his kindergarden, ate icecream and sausage. now he is napping and afterwards its off to coffee and cake at my (ex-) family in-law.

showing you my plans for styling the house to sell.

on thursday the photographer is coming here, yesterday its worth was estimated.

almost all things in the picture are bought at Ikea, soap from lucky duck.

i didn`t want to spend a lot of money on the styling...

the livingroom

the hallway

the bedroom

the girl`s room

the kitchen

was at Ikea last night and bought almost everything. i didn`t buy everything exactly as in the pictures, some things we had from before, some were replaced by something better ;-)

making the collages i tried to have in mind what each and every room lacked, what i was missing there.

even the laundry room, that didn`t get its own collage. it will have a pile of green towels and a plant:-)

of course i will show you the professional pictures (and compare them to my own;-))...later...

what do you think?

love

^nicole

art in the house

as an art-lover i just have to write a little bit about decorating with art:)

not all of us are great artists that want to decorate with our own selfmade pictures, so we have to take other measures.

if you can afford it you can buy real art or maybe you know somebody that makes beautiful pictures or photographes.

maybe you have inharited art from somebody in the family?!

i was so lucky that i got some art from a painter in the family - he is not alive anymore - as a wedding present.

also i like to add art prints for example from all.posters.com

still a lot of winter up here...my man got reinspired by my tiling in the kitchen and continued the renovation.

kitchen is still not all finished...

while struggeling with black ice and delated trains i am looking forward to a good year...

want to make a lot of things happen, as always;)

all the pictures - by the way - are from Pablo Picasso

what is the weather like where you live? spring anywhere?

^nicole

tiling away

happy new year to all of you!

we had dinner with good friends and a really nice evening:D

yesterday we were quite tired, but that didn`t stop me from filling the seams of the kitchen tiles.

i am still not completely done scrubbing the last bit of tile-glue from the tiles, muaa

what i learned from tiling:

1. use a water-saw with good blades

2.you don`t need fancy and expensive gloves, household rubber gloves do perfectly

3. use a mask and protection glasses while mixing the glue with a strong drill

4. start tiling in the morning, be prepared to cut more tiles as you put them on

5. order pizza while working on the kitchen, no meals are prepared there;)

6. scrub away the tile-glue before filling the seams

7. don`t let anybody tell you that it`s a man`s work

8. be proud when you`re done!

here some pictures, sorry about the poor quality, here in norway it`s dark most of the time nowadays...

have a great start into the new year

^nicole

flatscreen tv solutions

                                          picture: Arcitectaria

here some much needed inspiration of how to integrate an (ugly?) flatscreen into your beautiful livingroom:)

                                          picture: Bosch do it



                                          picture: Trendir

                                          picture: Sh3lly

                                                        picture: Momoy

                                          personal favorite*

                                          picture: Life123



                                          picture: Trendir
                               personal favorite*

now i got some inspiration for what i might do with my tv:D

have a great week!
^nicole





10 easy steps to change your entire home

ten steps in making your home the place you want it to be:

1. walk around your home and take pictures, you`ll get the before-and-after-picture-experience

2. take a weekend to declutter, don`t forget the closets

3. organize your storage: buy transparent plastic boxes and label them, stock them in shelves

4. make a plan on what you want to change in each room. find out what you want and need from each room. what function it has.
for example the hallway: if it`s unorganized, floating with clutter: buy a shoe shelf and a shoe closet, if it`s dark and cold: paint it in a light and slightly warm tone, install more lighting, get plants

                            before                                                                         after

5. get started one room at a time: start with the room that needs the least work

6. buy everything you need during the week, renovate on the weekend

7. warn your family;)

8. do the changes to the rooms, one at a time. do it in your own pace. it might take you a year or it might take you a month
9. make the final touches. take your after-pictures

10. have a party and show off your new home. show then the before pictures and enjoy!

before                                                                         after

pictures: Schöner Wohnen

                      before                                                                         after

did i forget anything? please tell me!

have a lovely week!

^nicole





wires and ugly equipment

just got back from a birthday-party at my father in laws. met my soon-to-be sister in law for the first time!
they are getting married in november.
tomorrow i start my last week at my old job and time is flying so fast again, it`s almost scary.
life is flying too fast. there are so many things to experience and see, a lifetime is just not enough...
well well, maybe i am headed for a midlife crisis :D haha

i was annoyed with the internet- and telephone-equipment in the livingroom and finally found a little shelf that allows airing.
look:

before

after

shelf from "søstrene grene"

have a beautiful day, girls!

^nicole

designer tip no. 4

if you have a naked wall and you want to have a very special decoration, why not make a family-artpiece?

i suggest two possibilities:

1. bying a big canvas

2. bying for example four small canvases, if you are a family of four

choose than the colours that would compliment the area you want the piece hanging.

everybody in the family, no matter what age, gets to decorate one small canvas or you decorate the big canvas all together.

try to use different techniques, like using a sponge as a stamp, covering areas with tinfoil, colour and then taking the tinfoil of, using bits of old newspaper or pictures from magazines...

the options are basically unlimited. you might want to practice one time on a cardboard, to see how it goes.

if you have very small children, just let them paint and print with their hands. use paint that is safe to get in the mouth...

in the end it`s important to fixate.

if you choose the small canvases, you can put them together in a square or in a row on the wall.

you can have a distance in between or put them close together.

this is really a fun family project and might inspire the whole family. it will become a really nice memory and gives everybody a feeling of being a part of the family.

i recommend especially making this artwork for patchwork-families, such as mine:)

and: you get a really beautiful decoration on your wall, that nobody else has!

if you want to have a bigger artwork or one of you is extra gifted in arts, you can double the amount of canvases and this one person can decorate these and put them in between. or you can glue on a matching fabric, wallpaper or anything really. there are so many possibilities!

have really good fun with this!

^nicole

designer tip no. 3

when you are planning which colours you want to paint your place in, there is a thumb rule:

rooms facing north should be painted in a warm tone, while rooms facing south should get a colder tone.

when i was younger i used to paint my rooms in really bold colors like bright orange, yellow or green.

i wanted to feel alive and feel the energy of the colours.

my friends and family probably remember this;)

now i have a busy live and want peace and calmness when i get home.

so now it`s one wall in a softer tone, and a lot of white, more sophisticated.

find out where you stand in your live and what needs you have when you are at home.

go to the paint store and pick up colour charts. hold them against the wall and find out what tone you would like. have fun! colours are life!

have a sunny day!
^nicole

nicole is organizing

at the moment i`m organizing a bit at home. with my man`s daughter coming to visit for two weeks and sharing a room with my daughter it`s time to declutter and organize.

who ever said that "under-the-bed-drawers" need to be under the bed?

i say they can also be "over-the-closet-drawers".

my daughter is a little artist and she makes many and big drawings. last summer the two girls even made an extrabig one together. but i never knew where to store these oversized things without crumbeling them.

my solution: an "under-the-bed-drawer".

i just love organizing.

with these kids growing constantly we have to take our organization skills to new hights and be creative.

they are constantly changing and so needs their space and the whole house. at least when you`re living in such a small house as we do...

have a beautiful day

^nicole

designer tip no. 2

i think having a plan is a good thing. so when you want to redecorate a room, it`s so worth it to draw the room first. invest in a triangular architects ruler with scales like 1:20, 1:50 and 1:100. you can get it feks at amazon.com.
draw a plan in 1:50 of your room as if you look from the ceiling to the floor.
start with the walls, then put windows, doors and things like chimneys and other features that you can`t or don`t want to move.

in the end make little pieces of paper for the furniture with the correct measurements.
now you can play with that, moving the furniture around and finding the best solution.
enjoy!

nicole

designer tip no. 1

when you are planning to redecorate a room or starting from scratch, think concept.
use for example a (professional) photo of any kind you like. personally i like to use nature photos.
use all the colors in that picture for your room in about the same amount as in the picture et voila you will get a beautiful, exiting room that is balanced. you don`t need to be an artist or designer to do that;)
have fun!!!