christmas in Germany

there! xmas was over again. i hope you had a beautiful one with your family!

we drove 1430 km twice to be with my family and right now we are a little exhausted. just got here around nine in the morning.

it was really quite an adventure. there was lots of snow on the roads, ice, overturned trucks, fog, traffick jam and even a drunk driver.

i am greatful that we got back here alive! thanks to my wonderful husband that is the best driver i know:)

in my moms livingroom it felt like another century with the children in there traditional clothes, to me really how christmas should be!

honest materials and classic decoration.

later today we have some more presents to open:D

other than that we are recharging the batteries for work tomorrow;)

love

^nicole

advent

today we had fun outside in the snow though my cheeks really started hurting - not from laughing, but from the cold;)

afterwards me and the kids did some crazy baking in the kitchen... why did we clean the house first?

saturday my little girl`s ballettschool had a beautiful show at the theatre.

last weekend i was a little exhausted from the x-mas party at work;) no blogging then...

one and a half weeks and we`re hitting the road to Germany to celebrate x-mas with my family:D

have a great week!

^nicole

canadian designer Jillian Harris

were are in deepest winter here. minus 16 this morning. lots of snow. uuuuaaa.

are my kids dressed warm enough for a whole day inside and outside?

am a little obsessed with Canada these days, therefore a post about the canadian interior designer Jillian Harris. many might recognize her from `the bachelor/bachelorette`.

but she is also a talented designer. lately she did some episodes of `extreme makeover - homeedition`.

besides that she seems like a charming and positive person.

 here some of her designs:

                                                       pictures: jillianharris.com

i quite like her style:D

have a good tuesday!

^nicole

gift wrapping

                                                        pictures: Korean-arts, craziestgadgets, volgalinen

hi again!

i feel like a bad blogger lately...not much blogging, but a lot of working and other things;)

work is just very fun right now:D

yesterday we were at the wedding of my husbands brother. these two are sooo in love, it`s beautiful to see.

i wish them all the luck!

wanted to show you gift wrapping ideas, of course, because it`s xmas soon. and because the wedding and my beautiful daughters 7 th birthday tomorrow have inspired me xtra much.

have fun with wrapping your presents!

                                pictures: img4.realsimple, goinghometoroost, creaturecomforts, mungoandmaus

                                 pictures: s3thisnext, taradennis, 4.bp.blogspot

have a great wintery week...!

^nicole

honest materials

     pictures: traekompaniet, bad24, foodnews, images-pixelio.de, luzifer.com, stone-tech

just wanted to show you some of my favourite materials. i do like the old-fashioned real materials. they give a feel of quality. wood, linen, stone, felt, glass, porcelain.

another week has past. the thermometer shows -9 C this morning.

am headed for a bachelorette-party this afternoon. there is so much happening in the time before x-mas. every weekend there is at least one event. puuuh.

as long as i`m healthy it`s good fun!

yesterday at work i was talking to a client with a runny nose. don`t get too near me, please;)

when i look outside the window, everything is covered in ice. well well, the snow might just come as well then!

 hugs

^nicole

Chanel inspired interior

                                          photo:vi.sulize.us

while my man was at his brothers bachelorparty i watched the movie `Coco avant Chanel` and loved it. there is something about french movies.

that inspired med to a Chanel post.

hope you like it!

am gonna cut my hair on tuesday and i am quite unsure about how. a little late now;)

it`s funny: the cut i want is also Chanel inspired:) we`ll see. hair grows;)

                                                                         photo:vi.sulize.us

                                                                      

                                                            photo:meredithphoto

                                                        photo:lifestyleetc

                                          photo:meredithphoto

                                          photo:couchkarma

have a great week and happy halloween!

^nicole

fall

fall has taken a grip on us, it`s more like winter really.

temperature is below zero almost constantly.

am thinking a lot about linen lately, i quite like it actually.

i like all natural colours and materials.

kitchen towel from kid interiør, bowl from indiska

this weekend the man and i organized all our papers, it`s great to organize and get things out of the way i think. release space in the head for other, more fun things.

we`re having five year anniversary as a couple actually today! loved the orchid i got:)

it`s time to think about christmas, we are going to spend it in germany this year. for the first time with both kids and my husband!

have a great week while you snuggle up on the sofa with a nice cup of hot chocolate:)

love

^nicole

wall tiling

here are some pictures of the wall tiling in the kitchen that i did two weeks ago.
other than that it`s just work, work, work. we`re in high season for kitchen sales;)
the cold part of fall has begun in norway: the coldest morning last week: -6.4 C. bbrrrr

maybe time for some fall decorating soon?!

have a great week and seize the day!

^nicole

white chimney

right...it`s my birthday today. a weird day. i was kind of renovating away the whole weekend.
the first message was that my husbands grandfather has died. on my birthday! hmmm. me don`t like :(.
may he rest in peace after all his suffering lately.
but my family was sweet and singing, giving me presents and sweet cards.
many people congratulated me on facebook and there were a lot of phonecalls.
one from my little (?) brother that told me, he is going to the united states for six months... i am happy for him:D

on saturday i put up tiles over the kitchen counter - oh my god - it was sooo physicially exhausting. this morning i felt like the oldest woman in the world! my whole body was aching ;) and i am 37 :O now.

then today while the little one was sleeping i gave the chimney a second coat of white so now i can finally show you.

the tiles are not finished, there were a few that didn`t fit and i couldn`t cut them in the dark.
but here the chimney:

before

after

have a great week! oktober is a lovely month:)

^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





nicole`s daily train trip

another week has past with learning how to sell kitchens. have to admit that it was quite an exhausting week. but after work yesterday i just went to bed and slept 13 hours straight. so.

now i feel better and just relaxed the whole day with my two men at home.

fall is progressing more and more. i got of the train one morning to take pictures of the view like i promised you. the pictures are taken from a trainstation. Would be nice to live there and see this view first thing in the morning.

so this is what i see twice a day! lucky me :D

have a good week while i keep selling kitchens;)

^nicole

an old house

hi again!
the blog has become a weekly thing since my life is so crazy busy...
we are enjoying the most beautiful (cold) but sunny fall weather. i love it. fall is my favourite season of all:) maybe because i`m born there.
yesterday we were at a viewing for an old house, we really need something bigger. and since the cars were set on fire in my neighborhood i want to move even more. problem is that the move was scheduled for 2012 and not now.
i can only give you a little peek of the house we looked at. we liked it quite good. it`s from 1912 and doesn`t look very good right now. needs a lot of work. but it seemes that the structure is ok.
is that a good idea?

^nicole

hamburg interior

some more pictures from my weekend in hamburg. i liked this interior of a company!

after some really busy and active weeks i gave my brain some rest this weekend. started to become quite exhausted;)
here in norway fall has begun. at least it feels like it. cooler and a lot of rain. but it doesn`t matter..we have sunshine in our hearts:) cheesy;) haha
i wanted to cut those last tiles so badly today, but it`s raining again... am not that eager that i do it in the rain;) how is the weather in your region?

have a great week!
^nicole

hamburg, germany

now i was really quiet the past two weeks. guess it was because of jobstart and a weekend in germany with two really good girlfriends that i hadn`t seen forever.

am exhausted everyday thanks to tons of information my brain is being fed with.

but i think it`s all good. nice colleagues and finally working with design again. i also enjoy seeing the fjord twice a day on my traintrip to the city:) might show you some pictures soon.

this weekend i am all alone with the little boy. my daughter is at her daddy`s (every other weekend) and my man is on a trip with his buddy:)

i am spoiling the little boy rotten, it`s sooo long ago since we were alone. love it.

last weekend i got on the plane to hamburg right after work and had a great weekend full of chatting, red wine, photography....it felt so good to have a girls weekend!

have a great weekend!

^nicole