EMMAS DESIGNBLOGG

Design and style from a Scandinavian perspective

Leaning planks as a styling trend?

While downloading the photos of the last post from Janne Peters' portfolio, I found these pics, and couldn't resist showing them here too! That thing with leaning planks or boards against the wall seems to be a big styling trend right now, and I think it looks great. What do you think? Have we seen enough of this already, or do you still like it?

Styling: Bettina Eulenburg


Hamburg apartment in white and brown

Stockholm Guide 2012

Finally! I've been meaning to update my Stockholm Guide for a while now, but never really found the time. So I figured, instead of reworking my old guide, I'll just make a new short guide with some of my newest favorites, as an addition to the bigger guide I wrote last year. So for the full tour, please check out the Stockholm Guide 2011 where you can read more about where to stay, which museums to visit and what to see.

I'm making this little Stockholm Guide update in the form of a list, in no particular order. Enjoy!


1. Ett Hem, a small luxury design hotel in a quiet, uptown part of town, designed by Ilse Crawford to make it feel like a private home. As usual, Ilse creates perfection. It's a lovely place, with all the right details to make it feel like a wonderful home away from home, where you would like to invite your friends over for dinner, or stay in for the night, curled up in an armchair in the library.

Ett Hem


2. Restaurant AG, for all the meat lovers out there. Hidden away in a scruffy street in Kungsholmen, this is a gem for those of you, who like me, love to get a great quality steak now and again. They were awarded with the prize "Best Meat Restaurant 2012" and also won an award for their great bar. AG is run by the same owners as Rolfs Kök, one of my oldest favorites, and the service levels are just as excellent, and so is the relaxed atmosphere.

Restaurant AG (picture via Condé Nast Traveller)


3. Fabrique, for the nice interiors and the great sourdough bread and pastries. This is a chain of bread shops spread all over town, with an annex on the beautiful island of Gotland.
Fabrique


4. Flux Shop, a really cool shop selling art in all shapes and forms, and also hosting some nice events like talks and dinners (Once a month 12 people are invited. Every participant signs up with an ingredient and a subject they’d like to discuss during the dinner. Traditional subjects as family, work and home are banned for this evening.) A lot going on at their website as well.

Flux


5. Gastrologik, exclusive new nordic cuisine, with global inspirations, made with very carefully chosen ingredients, also available to buy in their deli next doors. Ps. Don't miss the bathroom.

Gastrologik (Photo: Architect Jonas Lindvall)


6. Talent Gallery, artistic and commercial space in central Stockholm that provides exhibition and retail opportunities for emerging graphic designers and illustrators from all over the world. Also a printshop.

Talent Gallery


7. Restaurant Volt, describing themselves as "Stockholm's first gastro bistro", which basically means they are a luxury restaurant with a relaxed mind set. I would say that they are very inspired by Danish Noma (crowned as the world's best restaurant three years in a row now), and the food is quite experimental. Nice and homely interiors, mostly in black.

Volt


8. Sthlm Design District is an area on the west side of Södermalm with 33 well established brands in the design, textile and furniture industry. If you are a hardcore Scandi design lover, take a walk around the showrooms and shops.

Montana, Sthlm Design District


9. Restaurant Mistral, organic, locally produced ingredients carefully turned into set menus of nordic style dishes, determined by what is available that day. Located a little bit outside of the city center, but worth the trip.

Mistral


10. Centralbadet, if the weather is bad but you still want to take a swim, you should try a bath and perhaps a spa treatment in this beautiful Jugend style building from 1904. There is also a roof terrace with an outdoor gym, a healthy restaurant and a small but very pretty park outside.

Centralbadet


11. Scandic Grand Central, not just a wonderfully designed hotel with excellent service (and a free room for bloggers!), but also a very happening place at night with lots of great concerts, dj's and clubs. The lobby and café are great for daytime meetings, and in the evening I enjoy the stylish restaurant or the lively bar.

Scandic Grand Central


12. My latest crush, Vigårda, is a fastfood barbeque restaurant run by one of Sweden's top chefs, Melker Andersson. It's stylish, tasty, cheap and mostly organic and locally produced. Located in the newly opened MOOD mall in the city centre.

Vigårda


That's it for now! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!

Light and space for sale

Saša Antić version 2.0

Talented stylist Saša Antić has a new site, and when I was checking it out, I found some photos that I wanted to share here. Enjoy!


Strict and soft

This stylish Stockholm home, belonging to Art Director Pelle Lundquist, is up for sale! When decorating the apartment, Pelle opted for contrasts, added a great mix of art, and softened the strict lines of the Scandinavian design pieces with layers of rugs and patterned fabrics. See more here.



Concrete and wood

The always lovely combo of concrete and wood, beautifully performed by Japanese architects Jun Inokuma of Naruse Inokuma and Hiroko Karibe.



Monday Mix

After my post on the overly glamourous facade of design blogs, a minor storm cooked up in the Swedish design blogosphere. It all started with this post written by Frida at Trendenser, where she totally misinterpreted the whole discussion and made it into something completely different, and then her readers starting making lots of posts telling everyone how they don't want to see dirty dishes on design blogs. As if someone ever suggested that? If you are one of those people who thinks this discussion is about posting ugly stuff, please read this post, and understand that it is all about showing your more human side, not about showing bad photos of your messy home.

I added the instagram widget here on my blog, not to make things uglier, but to give you a glimpse of my everyday life, since I never post about that. If you think those photos are totally apalling, you don't have to look. I will still be posting lots of wonderful, stylish photos here like I have always done, and have no intention of showing those iphone photos anywhere else than in that little grid in the side bar.

Since that discussion got out of hand, I kind of lost my desire to blog... But I can't just leave you all hanging like that, so here is a little mix of what caught my eye over at Pinterest for the last few days. Enjoy!




Styling: Lotta Agaton






Try This At Home by Annaleena: Geometrical Charcoal Mobile

Hello everyone!

It’s Annaleena and I’m back again with a new "Try this at home project"! Thank you for your warm response to my latest post, I think that  DIY´s or what we call it here -*try this at home projects* are all about sharing the joy that comes of doing something nice for you home with your own hands! It has to be the modern expression for doing some handcraft, I think.




I have always liked hanging mobiles because they compliment interiors nicely and give a room an exciting expression! I also like using charcoal as a media so I decided to make a hanging mobile of - yes, that´s right - charcoal!




You need:
  • charcoal
  • nylon thread
  • black tape
  • scissors




Start making a sketch in your head. I did that myself and tested my way through.
Cut several pieces of black tape so you can use them when working fast. I stopped when the shape felt a bit unfinished because I did not want it to get too round or triangular, instead I wanted a geometric form that changes depending on how it hangs and from what angle you're looking at it.




Then, when you are ready, tie a nylon thread to it and tape several charcoal crayons onto the thread. This combination of materials gives the hanging mobile more character. Now it is ready to be hung! It looks good against a window or to create contrasts, against a white wall.


I also figured out another way to use the hanging mobile and that was to use it as a lampshade. Put the hanging mobile  really gently over the lamp, which, by the way was a low energy lamp. The charcoals manage the heat from an ordinary lamp bulb but the tape wouldn't, so be careful and only use low energy light bulbs which in general are not as hot.




I liked the idea that I can use the hanging mobile both as a decoration but also as a lamp shade and of course I got really excited when I realized that this didn't take a long time at all to do!

Thanks a lot, that's it for this time. I already have a few projects growing in my head for my next guest post. So have a lovely spring and see you later!

Susanna's party

Finnish super stylist Susanna Vento styled up a pretty party! Shot by Kristiina Kurronen. See more here. I love the location, I wonder if it is an old factory of some sort?


Malmö/Paris home for sale

Remember this amazing home that I showed you in January? I named the post "Malmö or Paris?" because of the French flair in this Swedish flat. Well, it's for sale now, here! That means there are lots of new pictures to show. Enjoy!


All photos by Bolaget


Glossy surfaces and keeping it real



During the last year or so, I have been feeling more and more ambivalent towards the perfectly styled photos shown on all design blogs (including this one). Instead of feeling inspired, I was stressed. Stressed about the fact that my own home looks nothing like the ones in the photos. And my life is not at all as glamourous as the ones I read about. Sure, my life has fantastic moments too, and my home has some nice corners that are almost photo-worthy. But reading all those blogs, it didn't seem like enough. I felt like it all should all be amazing, everywhere and all the time! Of course I understand, logically, that no one has a perfect life, but it sure seems that way when you look around the bloggosphere. And I totally understand that nobody wants to see or read about the dirty dishes, the piles of laundry and the kids with a stomach bug... But there needs to be some kind of balance, or else it all just becomes a big lie.

I don't write much about my personal life here, and I rarely share pictures from my home. My life still isn't "blog worthy", but I want to invite you to see parts of my reality, through Instagram. So I put a widget here in the left side column, with a little grid of photos from my everyday life. Just click the pics to see them larger.
I'm hoping that this will add a more "real" and honest feeling to this blog. And that it will help you to get to know me a little bit better. Please let me know what you think about it!
My user name on Instagram is Emfex if you want to follow me there, or if you are not a member or don't have a smartphone, you can use Followgram on your computer instead.

The inspiration for all this came from a blog post on Creature Comforts, and the Things I'm Afraid to Tell You challenge.


Hotel Wiesler, Graz, Austria

Although I have no desire to travel at the moment (moving house does that to me), Hotel Wiesler in Graz, Austria looks very tempting...



And I'm back!

With almost all boxes unpacked, and some work related deadlines met, I finally have some time to blog again!


Let's start with this apartment for sale in Gothenburg, with a wonderful fifties kitchen and the tiled walls I've been dreaming of for so long... It belongs to Charlotte with the blog Blackbird Design.



Happy Birthday Llamas' Valley!

Lithuanian e-mag Llamas' Valley is celebrating its first birthday with the release of a wonderful issue, full of great articles and photos, lots of them shot by Scandinavian bloggers. I spotted for example Annaleena, Sofia and Nina!