Pubdolls

Exhibition / Inhibition

2012-01-19T14:51:00.000-08:00

Hello to all friends and a happy new year! Just a quick visit to promote an art exhibition opening tomorrow, Friday, Jan 20 7-10pm at Control Room 2006 East 7th Street in Los Angeles, California, curated by Tommy Høvik, my cousin's talented son:

Crystallomancy brings a group of artists from the emerging art scene of Oslo, Norway to Los Angeles. Curated by Tommy Høvik and Zac Tomaszewski, the show brings together disparate practices across a wide range of media united by a bedrock engagement with ideas of perception and expanded reality - whether by referencing sci-fi tropes or the paranormal, or by trying to craft perceptual experiences that are surprising to apprehend, for their novelty, confounding nature, or overwhelming aspect.

The exhibition will run for a week, from Friday 20th January to Sunday 29th January.

I owe you all an explanation for my absence and a deepfelt thank you for all your friendly (but unanswered) requests and good wishes. It's here: It's not that I don't care anymore, but I can't write! My husband is helping me even with these few lines.

Did that sound like I'm living in some sort of personal hell? I'm not. I'm fit and well, and I've been doing all sort of fun stuff that I want to show you when I'm ready. The main problem is that my mind goes blank every time I try to write something personal. And taking photos gives me earache of all things. I think it's because a demanding year at work has worn me out. It's been a satisfying year, though, with interesting projects, but perhaps a little too many at a time. And it doesn't help that age finally caught up with me and I had to start wearing glasses. I'm still not used to it and get terribly tired after a day in front of the computer screen.

I'm getting better, or else I couldn't have done this post, and I hope to be back soon, but I won't risk anything by starting too early.

Please comment. If I freak out, I promise I won't say anything.

If one man can show so much hate, imagine how much love we all can show together

2011-07-28T13:57:00.000-07:00

I guess most of you have heard about the bomb in the government quarter in Oslo and the horrible massacre at the labour party youthcamp on Utøya. I posted the following first as a comment, but thought I should make it a post of it's own as well.

My husband and children are okay, but I'm sad to say that my cousin's 17 year old son was killed on the Utøya island together with almost 70 others. They came from all over the country, and we're so few here in Norway, so I don't think there's many of us who don't know of someone that was killed that day.

We were in Wales with no TV or newspapers when my mother called, telling us about the bomb and the massacre on the youth camp, and we didn't come home until recently.

But it has been a comfort to see the way the Norwegian people have been mourning. There has been huge gatherings of more than hundred thousand people with roses holding hands. And there has been no talk about revenge, but about not letting the massacre destroy our Norwegian values, the open, egalitarian society we cherish. A young girl said the most quoted sentence these last days "If one man can show so much hate, imagine how much love we all can show together"
But of course, the real test will come in the long run.

All by myself

2011-07-10T18:21:00.000-07:00

It has been a great year for Karl Edo. But with the success of Spook House, he found his shop too small to meet the increasing demand -- and he wasn't very happy with the location either. Not that he didn't like his neighbours in the building, like Osvald Halving in Gjengangere, Bart Ender Barton in the pub and Glenn Closenough and Sean Kommer'u in the adjacent assembly rooms. But the style of all of these businesses are a bit old fashioned if truth be told, and Karl Edo had for some time thought about building a real Spook House, and when it was opened to build on a ground nearby he went for it. His friend Arne Vaa wasn't hard to ask and designed a new Spook House for him in a jiffy.

After a busy spring, here is a proud Karl Edo in front of the newly finished building. And instead of a party, he's inviting you in to celebrate the opening with an Asian themed display, with some of his favourite design furniture, all in the Spook House signature colours red and white.

Credits: In this last year, I have received so many wonderful gifts from blog friends all around the world. I haven't had the time to blog about them so far, because of a very hectic spring at work, but I thank you all and have gathered some of the fabulous gifts in this post, and more will come in the fall. Tomorrow we're going to the UK on holiday and we will be away until the end of this month.

Arne Jacobsen seven chairs from Minimii. Super ellipse table is a selfmade gift from Cocco.

Shelving made of lego. I was inspired to make this after seeing this fabulous desk Carol (Pepper) at MitchyMooMiniatures made for me after I was so lucky to win her give-away! The drawers even open! Thank you so much, Pepper's husband (Salt?), for the draw!

The doll in kimono is a gift from Cocco. The lamp is an altered Re-ment lamp. The laptop is also by Re-ment. Seven chair from Minimii. Tiny Hello Kitty in a Japanese costume is a cell phone ornament. Selfmade George Nelson ball clock.

On the counter is another Hello Kitty ornament.
Inside there's a Re-ment plate and some moon lamps designed by Cocco.

Heart chair by Reac, a gift from Sans, I love it, thank you so much! The Piero Fornasetti plates on the wall are made using a photo from the Collectors magazine, a give-away I won from the fabulous Shopping Sherpa who was interviewed in the magazine and featured in the TV show as well! Sadly I didn't manage to make them as neat as she did hers. Shelf by Re-ment. Vases by Elisabeth Causeret and Re-ment. If anyone knows the artist who made the painting I would be grateful, I just found it on the Net. The facade of Spook House is (of course) made of lego.

I wish you all a very nice summer!
United Kingdom Come!

Meet Jon Line - On paper and on line

2011-05-29T02:56:00.000-07:00

Recently Jon Line, Polly Line's little brother, came to town. He's studying computer science at the university (when he's not reading comics or building miniature ship models). Polly put her plans for a home office in her spare room on hold and turned it into a one-room apartment for him instead. Which means that the result is more her idea of the perfect bachelor pad than a nerdy student's idea of accomodation.

As you may can tell because it's so tidy, these pictures were taken before he moved in.

I had to take another photo of the kitchen to show Jon Line's housewarming gift. Can you spot it?

She invited Nora and Helmer over to meet Jon and to be the first to use her colourful new garden furniture. Jon's unhealthy complexion made Nora concerned about his health, but Polly said it just came from Jon staying indoors with his computer all the time.

The sliding windows to the roof terrace.

Jon Line in his typical position.

On sunny days he can be seen through the reflexion in his window.

Polly Line was asked to present her house in the Finnish magazine Nukkekoti, so the bachelor pad was decorated in a hurry before the deadline. She had many photos of her house from before, but none of them were in print quality, so she had to rephotograph most of her rooms -- and even the exterior. Here are copies of the six pages from the magazine:

The new outdoors photo was taken in late winter, so I had to recapture it on the livingroom table. Two bed sheets did service as sky.

Real outdoor photo

The new outdoors photo for the Finnish dollhouse magazine.

Credits: The furniture in Jon Line's apartment and on the roof terrace is mainly new and vintage Lundby. The sliding opening windows to the roof terrace are made of picture frames. Eames Elephant by Reac. Accessories are Lundby, Re-ment, Playmobil and Lego (the coloured drinking glasses on the terrace). The Donald Duck comics and the ships on the window sills are made by my son Bendik.

Stockholm 2011

2011-05-09T12:48:00.000-07:00

In the previous post you got to see the tourist side of Stockholm with the old parts of town. But Stockholm isn't at all stuck in the old days, and has a lot of modern design to offer its visitors. Because of Easter we were lucky enough to get a relative cheap room at Nobis, the "Elle 2011 designer hotel of the year" in Sweden. It also had a great location, with a short walking distance to most of the central city.

When we first arrived I wasn't sure if it was a shop for designer lamps or a hotel. They had a collection of globe lamps from all over the globe! Very beautiful!

And even on cloudy days there's a beautiful light in the restaurant!

The Vitra Cloud Lamps are designed by Frank Gehry and assembled on the spot.

The lounge in the old backyard.

The ceiling is based on a photograph, looking up at the sky through the treetops.

A little angel was looking down upon us from the top of the wall over the bed.

Some of the other design treats I found.

On a walk to Kungsholmen we saw the new Stockholm Waterfront Congress Centre by White Arkitekter. We were so lucky to get a private tour in it by one of the staff from the adjacent hotel. The conference hall could serve dinner for 2000 guests at once, catered by the hotel. We also got to see a junior suite on the top floor of the hotel. Unfortunately the photos from the suite didn't turn out very well because of all the bright sunlight from the windows.

We also visited Moderna Museet (the Museum of Modern Art) with a photo exhibition. In the restrooms/toilets there was a 1:12 miniature model that was filmed and displayed on a little TV outside. I almost didn't dare going inside in fear of being photographed "in action" and was relieved (!) to find the model inside.

Moderna Museet shares its vestibule and shop with Arkitekturmuseet (the Museum of Architecture ). Its permanent exhibition of models in different scales displays the architectural history of Sweden.

Some even seemed to be in dollhouse scale. Wouldn't it be great to play with these ones?

Stockholm and Indian Jazz funk

2011-05-05T14:06:00.000-07:00

I still have little time for miniatures, the newest reason is that my daughter Mari performed with her dancing class at the annual show of the Communal Culture School today, and there's been much to prepare. She dances jazz funk and her class should all be dressed as American Indians, sort of, and I, who can't sew a straight seem, had to make her a costume! Luckily we found an old brown blouse at a charity shop, she also had some old brown trousers which could be used and finally our large collection of beads came in handy! Here is the end result, with heavy stage makeup and darkened hair for the occasion. The blouse hangs freely, it's just tucked in on the sides a little bit by her arms.

The concert house was full (about 700 persons) and being the proud mother I am, I have to tell you her dance group got the longest and strongest applause from the audience. I tried to take photos during the show, but since there were no lights except on stage, and we weren't allowed to use the flash, the camera decided to go artistic instead (if you look very closely, you can see Mari dancing to the left).

This weekend we'll be visiting family, so rather than showing the miniscenes I don't have, I thought I'd show you some photos from our holiday in Stockholm, Sweden. With all you folks out there with a new or old Lundby Stockholm dollhouse, I think it's appropiate you should get to know the eponymic city a little bit better :-)

Gamla Stan (The Old Town) skyline

A closer look

Stora Torget (the old Main Square)

Old Town streetviews

Down to the left from here is a nice little shop with lots of miniatures.

For those who didn't get enough pomp and circumstance last Friday, here's the Royal Mounted Pageantry of Sweden.

And for those who miss miniatures in this post, here's a weaver in a bottle. Genius!
(Seen in one of the many antique shops)

One of Stockholm's many islands; Kastellholmen (Castle Island).
We went for a walk around that and its neighbouring island, Skeppsholmen (Ship Island)

At Moderna Museet (the Museum of Modern Arts) anything older than 50 years is considered garbage and thrown away.

While the Vasa ship, which capsized and sank the minute is was launched is rewarded with a museum of its own.

Torsten likes garden gnomes.

We left just in time to miss out on the blossoming of the cherrytrees in Kungsträdgården (The Royal Garden).

A royal occasion

2011-04-30T15:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Nora invited all the girls to come watch the royal wedding in the basement livingroom, chosen since it had the most regal colours! What she didn't think of was that the TV in the basement room was old-fashioned and small, and didn't provide the picture quality one finds in TVs nowadays. But no-one seemed to mind.

Almost all were there: Besides Nora, there were Polly Line and her cousin Carol Line, wearing a blouse with a heart in a weapon shield for the occasion. Also Nora and Helmer's respective aunts were invited; Fiolett paa Traadén (Aunt Violet's It Slip) and Dolly Barton. They both loves weddings in general, and royal weddings in particular!
Being a huge lover of festive occasions involving fancy outfits and hats, Karl Edo invited himself to the party as well. Cocco Flanell was there too, but like Karl Edo, she said she was just interested in the outfits.

But I'm not sure that was the case, because when the happy newlyweds kissed on the balcony, a unison aaah, was heard from all of the guests...

All the romance and happiness caused Polly's mind to go drifting. In her mind images appeared where Kate and William's faces were replaced with hers and her Doctor Whatson's. Oh, if only, she thought, but had no hope it would ever happen, that they would ever become more than good friends. Her daydreams were interrupted by Cocco, who, intrigued by all the fabulous masks on the wall, asked Nora if they were souvenirs, like so many other items in the room.

Nora told that they were a precious gift from her good friend Oese in Germany, and so was the large oriental floor vase by the TV. "I was so happy to get the masks" Nora said, "because I could never find the right decoration for that wall, and now ... don't they look just perfect there?"

Credits: The basement livingroom is a mix of vintage Lundby leather furniture, re-ment furniture, a selfmade bookshelf and finds from the last 30 years. Thank you, Oese, for the masks and the other wonderful gifts you gave me last year, and sorry for being so late posting about them! For unknown names and backgrounds, see who's who.

Total Ellipse or Easter in Spook House

2011-04-19T15:36:00.000-07:00

If any of you are wondering what I'm up to these days, I'm in the prosess of tidying up my entire house! It really had to be done, after years of neglect, the clutter had piled up everywhere! But getting a new dollshouse room (which still isn't quite finished, but the last pieces of furniture for it are being assembled as we speak -- that's my husband you can hear swearing in the background) with a new wall-fitted bookshelf, inspired me to reorganize all my books and go through all the stuff in shelves, boxes and drawers and get rid of as much as possible. Usually I'm better at organizing clutter than actually getting rid of it, but now I have really enjoyed doing it, to the extent that I have scarcely been on the net this last month, because I just couldn't stop tidying!

But even though I haven't spent much time on blogging lately, Karl Edo has been busy and would like you to invite you all to the Spook House Easter exhibition. Can you tell he's been inspired by the Easter eggs?... And he's also very proud of his newest addition, the super-elliptical table by Piet Hein/Arne Jacobsen/Bruno Mathsson.

A close up of the new Lundby shelf with lights.

The colours are mainly in the range from blue to yellow, which I thought was appropriate since we're going to Stockholm, Sweden early tomorrow, (check the flag) and we will spend the entire Easter Holiday there. Yeah!

Happy Easter everyone!

Credits: The fantastic super-elliptical table is a selfmade gift from Cocco who never fails to amaze me with her talents and generosity! The other furniture is Arne Jacobsen chairs from Minimii, shelf with lights from Lundby (came with a bed) and counter from re-ment.The wallpaper is scaled down scrapbook paper. Accessories are mainly re-ment, Easter decorations and Bodo Hennig.

Playing with light

2011-03-22T13:55:00.000-07:00

Now where was I? As you may remember Polly Line looked at some Arne Jacobsen furniture in Spook House and she did buy quite a lot. Because of many deadlines at work in January and February she wasn't able to do any home decor until recently, but here is finally the result.

As you can see she bought two limegreen swan chairs, which she thought looked great with Annina's sofa. And while she was at it, she got herself a new carpet as well.

A short break.

She also bought four seven chairs and a new lamp.

Can you spot the statue of Liberty on the credenza?

Some other souvenirs from her travels with doctor Whatson.

The whole room.

Polly had hardly finished decorating the living room before Karl Edo asked her to help him out. One of his contacts, the Danish company El-Salg, wanted his help with settings for their lamp catalogue. He had already asked Nora and Helmer who had said "yes of course!" and now he wondered if he could use Polly's house too and perhaps make use of the spare room as well. And of course she agreed to help him out!

They arrived early one Sunday morning and spent the whole day taking pictures, Boline from El-Salg and Claudi, the photographer, who were both very sweet.
Claudi and Boline asked Karl Edo, Polly Line and their friends to take part in the photo shoot. They all felt a little bit like models!

The result can be seen on the El-Salg homepage as well as here:

Apparently Polly Line lives in nr 24.

I think Claudi did a great job, don't you agree?

Sorry for my long absence, but I have been really busy at work, and I'm even in the middle of decorating my guestroom/dollhouse room. (More on that later). And after a while the silence takes on its own life:

Credits: I was contacted by Claudi on behalf of Boline, who had the idea for the photo shoot and had found my blog. It was great fun working with them, much because of their enthusiasm.
Here they are at work:

The painting over Annina's sofa is a miniature aquarelle by me, based on a photo I shot in Venice 20 years ago. The Arne Jacobsen furniture is by Minimii. The carpet is a fabric sample from the office, and the lamp is an altered playmobil floor lamp.

The D2 article in English

2011-01-02T14:45:00.000-08:00

THE MINI-MODERNISTS
By Kristiane Larssen Photos by Ivar Kvaal

Architect Helene Madsø Engen has decorated five homes, her own cinema, a coffeebar, a pub, and a shop. The new Interior bloggers pursue their design dreams in scale 1:16.

KARL EDO SPOOK always knew what he wanted. The dark, silent man from Skien is constantly looking for new "design delights" for his new Per Spook [sic] shop, Spook House, or for his home, a modern villa with a roof terrace and a pool, an art deco inspired bedroom, art by Victor Pasmore on the walls and in-built led-lights around the bathtub.

He would gladly be posing for the cover of Dwell Magazine or Architecture Digest, if it weren't for the fact that Karl Edo is cast in plastic, born in 1:16, and a fictitious character in architect Helene Madsø Engen's (44) curious dollshow.

HOUSING BUBBLE. Karl Edo Spook's modern villa is only one of Helene Madsø Engen's four eternal renovation projects: Four dollhouses in scale 1:16, where every room is decorated and every detail meticulously planned -- a copy of the New York Times left lying on the dinner table, a Burberry bag on the floor and a forgotten teacup in blue porcelain on a bedside table.
The Architect from Skien, who publishes the stories from her miniature neighbourhood on the blog Pubdolls, is one of a growing number of bloggers who pursue smallscale design dreams. They call themselves mini-modernists, have a fear of pine ['Pine' here refers to the faux-traditional pinewood furniture that's been immensely popular in Norway for three decades. TE], and love clear lines.

On the photosite Flickr the Group "Modern Miniatures" have more than 700 members, and a number of manufacturers offer minimodernist homes and furnitures for those who love design, but who really can't afford to do it. The design chain Vitra's series of miniatures of modern classics -- by Le Corbusier, Arne Jacobsen and Ray & Charles Eames -- have become attractive objects for collectors. The miniatures in scale 1:16 [sic] all have pricetags between 100 and 600 dollars, are propagated as «great conversation pieces», and are anything but ergonomically
adapted to the tiny hands of children.

THE NEW CLASS. Helene Madsø Engen is bending down in front of her dollhomes fiddling with the miniature of a Barcelona chair, originally designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe to the 1929 World Exposition. For the last few years the family's upstairs guestroom has been gradually gentrified by a style-conscious middle class consisting of different characters, twelve plastic dolls with sky high demands to design and quality.
- It does take some time and money, enough for me to feel slightly guilty now and then, says Madsø Engen, who earns her living at Arkitektkontoret Børve og Borchsenius in Porsgrunn.
- Sometimes my colleagues tease me for playing with dollhouses as an adult, but what drives me is a surplus of creativity rather than escapism, she says.

LIVED LIFE. The mini-modernists themselves claim it's not about fulfilling girly romantic fantasies, but rather a meticulous study of modern interiors and architectural history.
- The stereotypical collector of dollhouses is a nostalgic old lady, indulging in the oldfashioned Victorian style and striving for perfection. For mini-modernists it's about the love of good design, says Swiss Annina Diston (28), graphic designer and miniaturist blogger.
For two years she has created scenes from a life in miniature, with a richness of detail that has given her status among the other mini-modernists. A plate with some halfeaten cake, breadcrumbs on the kitchen benchtop and dirty ashtrays.
When the New York Times showed some of Diston's works this summer, the paper described her pictures as «remarkably evocative and artistic», not unlike the urban paintings of the artist Edward Hopper.
- I'm not aiming for an idealistic dreamworld. I make houses with life, rooms where the realism lies in the details, she says.

Miniature collector Christine Ferrara (40) of New Jersey says that mini-modernism opened a new world to her, a world that allows her to combine the interest for design with a childhood fascination for the miniscule.
- To me, this is about creating reflections on how we live and on the elements that make a modern home, says Ferrara, who once drove from New Jersey to Chicago, a drive of around 1290 km [over-exact conversion from miles. TE] each way, for the sole purpose of picking up a dollhouse.
In a mere two years as a mini-modernist she has already acquired ten dollhouses.
- My hobby may clearly be a challenge with three children under the age of ten in the house, but they're usually careful not to touch anything. It's obvious to them that this is not toys, she says.

GOD FOR ONE DAY. When the Danish designer Linda Stenberg last year decided to design a dollhouse with roots in Danish design tradition, she knew nothing of the emerging mini-modernism. Stenberg had for a long time tried to find a dollhouse for her daughters, but wanted something other than an American, suburban dream to lay under the Christmas tree.
- And then I discovered that there's a bunch of people around the world furnishing modern houses with designer furniture. It's really wild, says Stenberg.
Today she is employed as a designer and product developer in the company Minimii, which in the spring of 2011 will launch an Arne Jacobsen villa in 1:16, a faithful replica of Jacobsen's own modern villa in Charlottenlund.
The dollhouse will be complete with classic Arne Jacobsen furniture, and a carpet, wallpapers and art based on Jacobsen's own aquarelles.
- The interest has been overwhelming with more than 300 preorders five months before we're on the market, says Stenberg, who is marketing the dollhouse as a product «with appeal to playful adults with an eye for good design ... and to children of course».

FULL SCALE The American designer Paris Renfroe has established himself as a mini-modernist star, in part for his novel container dollhouse. For the furniture designer the mini-modernists have been a doorway to the market for fullscale design:
- When someone buys what I make in 1:12, they don't buy it just because it's tiny. They buy it because they enjoy my design. This makes it a unique gateway to the design market, says Renfroe.
He tells that many of his customers are well off, but have felt the financial crisis on their wallets, and will now make do with miniatures rather than expensive fullscale design.
- For many it's about control, being God for a day. The escapism is obviously part of this: Miniature design keeps the fantasies alive. Dollhouses are interactive rooms that provides the opportunity, both physically and mentally, to take part in this world where dreams can come true, he says.

THE HOLY GRAIL. In the workroom in Skien the housemarket is growing. Helene Madsø Engen dreams of acquiring both an Emerson House, an architect-designed dollhouse with seven rooms and solar panels, and a Kaleidoscope House. This colourful villa was designed by the New York architect Peter Wheelwright in 2001, and became a cult object for collectors after it was taken out of production two years later.
- The Kaleidoscope House is the holy grail of all dollhouse collectors, but is virtually impossible to get one's hands on. It sells for up to 2000 dollars [actually it's up to 1600 dollars. HME] on Ebay, says Madsø Engen, who has found consolation in naming her doll Karl Edo after the house of her dreams.
Karl Edo has great plans of his own for an entry into the commercial property market and an extension to Spook House. Whether Karl Edo is planning to extend by opening more design shops as well is difficult to say:
- Karl Edo is a man of mystery in that respect. He's not the type who talks a lot about himself, says Madsø Engen.

Captions: CLASSICAL. Minimodernist Helene Madsø Engen decorated Karl Edo's bedroom with "deco delights".
TINY ARNE. Danish Minimii makes Arne Jacobsen's popular furniture design in 1:16 - with the Jacobsen family's approval.
THE POWER OF DETAILS. In the miniature homes of the mini-modernists there's no room for the random. Every detail is meticulously arranged.
THE FAVOURITE. Of Helene Madsø Engen's four dollhouses, Polly Line's house is the only one she could see herself living in.

1: DREAMHOUSE NR. 1. The Kaleidoscope house, designed by Peter Wheelwright and Laurie Simmons, achieved cult status among mini-modernists after the house went out of production after just two years. The house can sell for up to 2000 dollars on ebay.
2: DREAMHOUSE NR. 2. In the spring of 2011 the Danish company Minimii will launch a dollhouse that is an exact replica of Arne Jacobsen's own villa in Charlottenlund.
3: REALISM. Minimodernist Annina Dixton strives for interiors with realistic details and lived life. - I spend a couple of hours every day working on my dollhouses, she says.

4: DREAMHOUSE NR. 3. Former toy dealer Doug Rollins and architect Tim Boyle recently launched the Emerson House, inspired by Richard Neutra's "Kaufmann Desert House" house in California. The house has 23 ledlights powered by solar panels.
5: THE DESIGNER'S MINIHOUSES. When Danish Linda Stenberg decided to make Arne Jacobsen design in 1:16, she had never heard of the mini-modernists. Now they're an important target group for the designer.
6: DREAMHOUSE NR. 4. The Container houses in 1:12 scale are designed by American Paris Renfroe. Each container is handmade and signed by the designer.

Credits: The translation is mainly done by my kind husband. Thank you Trond! The pages from the article aren't scaled down this time, so you can click on them to enlarge them.

Happy New Year Miss Sophie

2011-01-01T14:42:00.000-08:00

Same procedure as last year miss Sophie?

Same procedure as every year, James!

Happy New Year miss Sophie and a Happy New Year to all of you!
Thank you all for brightening my days with your inspiring posts and kind comments.

I'm late - again, I hope you all can pretend this was posted yesterday :-)
This Christmas I have divided my time between family and work since I have a big deadline in just a week. So not much time spent on miniatures. But I think this in a way sums up 2010 for me too, it's been a busy year, both home and at work, which I of course in these recession times am very thankful for; not many have been as lucky as us, but it often doesn't leave much time and energy for playing with miniatures or blogging.

But blogging brought lots of joy and pleasure this year as well.

- The contact with new and old blogger friends, I so appreciate our friendship and you are all a great inspiration for me!
- Many of these friends have given me lovely gifts, which I really look forward to show you!
- Meeting callsmall in New York, which was one of this years highlights for me. Too bad I hate longdistance travels or I would have bought tickets to meet many more of you! (I'm looking at you Sans!)
- The growing interest for modern miniature design. This year has given us both more mini modernist bloggers and more mini modernist designers, and some of us (ha!) have even made it into various newspapers. The article with Karl Edo and me has now been translated to English (mainly by my better half) and will be posted soon.

If 2011 will turn out only half as great as 2010 was, I have a lot to look forward to! I, for one, will do my very best! Cheerio!

UPDATE: For those of you who are not familiar with Miss Sophie and James, this post is referring to this sketch with Freddie Frinton, which is a TV classic and a tradition for Christmas or New Year's Eve in most European countries.

Modern Miniatures in the D2 magazine

2010-12-17T05:09:00.000-08:00

Today the interview was published! I must admit it wasn't in the Moustique magazine, but in the Norwegian financial newspaper Dagens Næringsliv's weekend magazine D2 and the journalist wasn't Secco Line either, but Kristiane Larssen, who was a very nice lady, easy to talk with.
But Karl Edo is an important part of the article.

The article is about the growing interest in modern miniature design. Annina, callsmall and Paris Renfroe have also been interviewed. And Minimii and the Emerson house are mentioned with pictures as well. The article is very nice even if it has some minor faults, like Spook House being a Per Spook shop and that Vitra chairs are 1:16, instead of 1:6. I can't find the article in their online magazine, so I can't add a link to it. Instead I'll post a downsized version of some of the pages here, but I'll remove them if requested by D2, or replace them with a link to the article when it turns up in their online magazine. The photos of my dollshouses are by D2's photographer Ivar Kvaal.

MH¾

2010-12-11T02:37:00.000-08:00

Now that Polly Line's new bedroom is revealed, I can finally show you the progress on the rest of her home without spoiling the surprise. This summer she added another floor to her house, I'm sure many of you can tell that Wes Christensen's fabulous MH1 in 1:12 was a big inspiration for her!
These photos were taken in the late summer, and I think it's nice to look back at warmer and sunnier days now it's cold and white outside (but still beautiful).

View from the livingroom towards the patio

And from the patio towards the livingroom.

Now Helmer's not the only one with a vespa .

Views of the house and patio from Google Earth

One afternoon when Polly was enjoying the nice weather on her roof terrace there was a sudden beam of light.

Guess who's visiting?

Credits: Polly Line's house is made by altering Lundby extension floors. I have repainted them and cut new larger windows with plastic glass and wooden framing. The facade of the ground floor and the supporting wall are made of lego. The patio has paving made of coasters, the back wall of the patio is an Ikea soap dish and the other wall is a wooden table protector.The furniture is vintage Lundby.

Sweet dreams are made of this

2010-12-04T16:57:00.000-08:00

Who am I to disagree?
I travel the world and the seven seas
Everybody's looking for something

From her travels with doctor Whatson in Sardis, Polly Line has brought back home many souvenirs from all over the world, and many of them have found their place in her newly decorated bedroom. You can take a closer look of the statue of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi in this post along with some other of Polly Line's Eastern treasures, like the Chinese mudmen on the chest of drawers at the end of her bed.

And here is a full view of the bedroom.

I look at shoes from both sides now...
Polly Line is so found of her chair and her Indian slippers, she had to use them in both photos!

Her perfume bottles and Chinese mudmen. The low chest of drawers is made by the Italian artist Patrizia Santi .

I hope you have enjoyed the visit,

but now it's late and time for bed. Please close the door on your way out.
Sweet dreams, Polly!

Credits: Over her bed Polly Line has a "Tree of life" decoration, it's one part of a pair of earrings, the other one has been sent to Sans, who made Polly's Indian slippers. They were just one of many wonderful treasures she sent me two months ago, but the post didn't deliver them until this week :-) She made them fit so well into the room, even though she had no idea what this room would look like! Aren't they fabulous? I will make another post later for the other fantastic gifts she sent me.
Thank you Sans!

The lamp is made by me, using Lundby electrical wires and a bead from a necklace. The bed is an Ikea soaptray and the bedding is made by me. The chest of drawers on the sides of the bed are vintage Barton and the chair is vintage Lundby, possibly with a new seat cover (please correct me if I'm wrong). I think the carpet is also vintage Lundby. The purple vase and perfume bottles are made of beads. The lamp on the drawer is re-ment and so is the tiny orange box next to it. She's reading Arabian Nights made by TreeFeathers. Lyrics by Eurythmics

Update: What a fun coincidence,
Tiny Treasures just posted a fabulous video with Annie Lennox from Eurythmics here.

15 minutes of fame

2010-11-28T13:59:00.000-08:00

Ever since Karl Edo got a telephone from a reporter from the journal Moustique who wanted to interview him about Spook House, he's gone around himself in circles. She told him that she would bring a photographer and visit both his home and his shop for the interview, and now he has to make sure that both places are presented in the best way possible. Luckily there isn't much to do about Spook House after he refurnished the exhibition room with the new furniture from Minimii, but his livingroom wasn't even close to its normal perfection after his summer party.

But hard work pays. This is his livingroom just before the journalist and the photographer are expected to arrive.

In the last minute he decides to add a newly arrived red swan chair from Minimii.

Eager to propagate the image of the good host, he has bought some luxurious chocolate to serve them, colour coordinated of course.

Then they arrive. The journalist is Secco Line (Trine Line). Karl Edo hadn't met her before, but Polly Line had mentioned her to him, since she's a cousin of hers. Polly Line had only nice things to say about her, which helps ease his nerves. They shake hands and he offers her some chocolate before they are seated for the interview. Karl Edo, who's usually the rather silent type, becomes much more eager and talkative when he can talk about his favourite subject - modern design - with a good listener. Meanwhile the photographer is upstairs taking photos of the bedroom and terrace.

An hour flies away and the photographer comes downstairs to take photographs of the livingroom. He even moves the furniture around to tidy up his photos. Karl Edo says nothing, but can't help thinking about the tidying up he has to do afterwards. But he's still very happy with it all and can't wait to see the finished article.

Credits: This story is loosely based on real life events, I will tell you more later if or when there is more to tell. For more information on the character Secco Line (Trine Line), read Spirou et Fantasio (Sprint) :-)
The leather furniture is vintage Lundby, the diningroom chairs are re-ment, the diningtable is repainted vintage Barton, and the coffeetable is made by me. The shelves are made of Lego windowframes. Lamps are vintage Lundby and made by me, inspired by Minimodernista's lamp. Accessories are books from Lundby, TreeFeathers and Oese, re-ment and mini finds from all over Europe.

Cold bottom, hot seats

2010-11-16T15:55:00.000-08:00

It's a dark and stormy night. Polly Line (still in one piece if you wondered) wants some new chairs for her livingroom and goes to Spook House and her good friend Karl Edo to see if he has something for her. His style's usually too glamorous for her, so she don't really expect to find anything, but on the other hand she's very pleased with the sofa from Annina she bought from him last year. Shivering, she hurries inside.

Karl Edo has actually just received a package of Arne Jacobsen furniture from the Danish company Minimii, and is happy to see Polly Line.

Polly Line already has a purple Arne Jacobsen egg chair, but is thrilled to see a lime green swan chair in the shop. She has to try it out at once!

While sitting in the swan chair she spots some seven chairs she really likes too.
But she doesn't like the price just as much, they're quite expensive.
Being the salesman he is, Karl Edo flips one chair to show her how well these chairs are made and explains that they'll last much longer than cheaper copies.

More photos of the Spook House interior.

Credits: The lip picture on the wall is a postcard from callsmall. The lip sofa is made by me in polymer clay. The large lamp, the ballclock and the lego table underneath it are also made by me. Arne Jacobsen swan and seven chairs by Minimii. Accessories are mostly re-ment and Elisabeth Causeret. Moon lamp, Karl Edo's sweater and mini mini seven chair by Cocco.

A feary tale

2010-10-31T08:08:00.000-07:00

It 's a dark, moonless Halloween night and Annika is dressed up as a witch, ready to trick or treat.

"Hi Tomy, you look great as a ghost!"

But then the real Tomy enters the room, dressed up as a vampire.
"You're not Tomy, aaaah!"

Tomy and Annika run out and away from the ghost as soon as they can.

But when they run through the park they see Arne Vaa hanging from a lightpost!

There are grinning skeletons everywhere!

They have nowhere to turn for safety but to Polly Line's house.

When they get there they see the man known as dr Whatson leaving the house with an axe in his hand. "There has always been something fishy about that man", she thinks. Relieved, they go inside

only to discover a beheaded Polly Line lying in a large puddle of blood on her kitchen floor!

There's a sudden noise. They turn around and see the doctor coming towards them with dead eyes and the axe still in his hand!!
Annika screams

and wakes up in her own bed, her heart beating, but relieved that it was all a nightmare!
She calls "Tomy, do you know what I dreamt tonight? Tomy, Tomy?"

She leaves the bed to wake up Tomy.

"Tomy? Aaaah!"

Credit: Annika's witch hat was made by Bendik and he helped me with the ideas for this story too.
No pumpkins were harmed during the making of this post.

Nuart, Nuart

2010-10-24T14:50:00.000-07:00

Polly Line and dr Whatson made a stop in Stavanger on their way home from New York.
There were quite a few tall buildings there as well.

And some not that tall.

"How on earth did we end up here?"

Getting the bigger picture.

Credits: These buildings are part of this years Street art project in the Nuart festival in Stavanger and are power boxes in Pedersgate (Peder's street) painted by the German street artist Evol.

Breakfast epiphanies

2010-10-20T23:28:00.000-07:00

Polly Line is also back home again, and with lots of gifts too!
All the wonderful ceramics and re-ment table and kitchenware on these pictures was a gift from Callsmall.

The black and white ceramics are vintage and handmade by Barbara Schuckman.

Callsmall gave her even more re-ment presents, but Polly Line thought some of the things suited her friend Cocco Flanell better, and gave it to her when she visited her just after the transatlantic journey.

Here you can see everything displayed on the kitchen shelves, and also in use at the breakfast table. Polly Line didn't decide whether to buy the Emerson House or not, but she bought a lovely ceiling lamp Callsmall showed her.

She also found a Broadway poster that matches her kitchen accessories neatly.

Polly Line's enjoying her breakfast croissants and tea from her new tableware while reading the New York Times. Too bad it's not the Callsmall edition.

Credits: The kitchen is the newest Lundby Småland type. The chairs are vintage Lundby and the table is vintage Barton. The computer table is vintage Triang. The ceiling lamp is vintage Lundby. Accessories are Lundby, Sylvanian family, re-ment, by Barb, beads, self made and ebay finds. Broadway poster is a fridge magnet bought at MoMA. Most of the flowers are from Sans.

New York, New York

2010-10-17T17:07:00.000-07:00

Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa, it's been over a month since my last blogpost, but what a month it has been! I have had a hard and longlasting cold, attended two weddings, travelled to Bergen, Oslo, Stavanger and ... New York!!! I have picked a few from the hundreds of photos I took when I was there. The one on top is the Manhattan skyline, the short version seen from Brooklyn. After a delicious lunch in a restaurant close to the Brooklyn bridge, we walked over the bridge back to Manhattan. A great experience along with so many others. New York is a fantastic city and even though I have been half asleep from jetlag the week since I came home, it was absolutely worth it!

A little section of the spectacular view from "Top of the rocks" on the Rockefeller Center.

The Empire state building and the Chrysler building

The Flat Iron and the Chrysler building

A shop with a Norwegian name. Cool-looking too!

The Guggenheim museum by Frank Lloyd Wright was a must.
Some of you may remember that Son from the building company Helene & Son built the lego version of it a while ago. Of course I had to use the chance to get Son the lego versions of Fallingwater and the Empire State building as well since I have to get them from the net if I want to buy them in Norway. I will post about them later.

I went to New York with 25 other people from my office, and we stayed at the Paramount Hotel in the Theater District, near Times square. The hotel was designed by Philippe Starck, and here are some photos from the lobby. I forgot of course to take photos until just before we should leave, so unfortunately the lobby is packed with Norwegians on these photos.

Very elegant stairs.

Even in real life accessories can be out of scale.

All of you who read callsmall's wonderful blog know already that I spent a perfect day with her in New York, with lots of talking and shopping (mostly paper and-no surprise-miniatures). I'm usually a bit reserved towards people I've never met, but it soon felt as we had known each other forever, and like her, I really wish we lived closer! She gave me some very nice gifts too which I will blog about soon. (I promise!)

Callsmall and me in the hotel lobby (I'm to the left, taking the photo)

A beautifully detailed house pointed out to me by callsmall when we were out shopping.

Polly Line and dr Whatson had taken the trip to New York as well.
Someone in New York must have known they were coming...

When callsmall and I were at the doll's house section of FAO Schwartz, they tagged along and used the oppurtunity to check out the Emerson House on display there.

Whose find is it anyway?

2010-09-05T14:14:00.000-07:00

I have been busy this week working on a new mini project which I hope I will be able to show you soon, but first I promised to show you my finds from last weekend's street market.

It's two statues of the Hindu gods Vishnu and Ganesha. But Polly Line says I'm talking gibberish, since these statues are her souvenirs from a trip to India with dr Whatson in the SARDIS. And according to her the Bonsai mudmen figurine on the left is also hers, bought in a little Bonsai tree shop when they were in Paris. I guess my memory is not what it once was, maybe I'm getting old...

UPDATE: The wonderful Rebecca made me aware that the Vishnu statue may be a statue of his wife Lakshmi instead! Thanks Rebecca!

The Vishnu/Lakshmi statue is 4cm tall, the Ganesha is 2.5 cm and the bonsai mudmen are just 1.4cm tall.
And the latter was infact bought in a bonsai tree shop in Paris, for just 1.5€ :-)

Snipetorpmarken

2010-08-30T16:33:00.000-07:00

On the last Sunday of August each year, there's a large street market taking place called "Snipetorpmarken" just a few minutes walk from where we live, in the street down towards the town centre.

This year there were as many as 120 market stalls and almost 15. 000 people visiting during the four hours the market was open. Not bad for a town with a population of about 50. 000. Here are some photos I took to show you, I also bought two miniatures that I will show you in a later post. Because of the moving crowd it was hard to get good photos, but if you google Snipetorpmarken I'm sure you will find many other photos and much better ones too :-)

This house with a pottery shop on the ground floor won a prize for restoration this year.

In a basement by the street there is a tiny art exhibition which is open just this one Sunday each year.

But some are more interested in babies than art.

At the market you can buy all kinds of crafts, local food, old books and other second hand items. Here's some nice pottery.

Some of the visitors were slightly taller than the others
..

And some were dressed up in period clothes from Ibsen's time. The house to the right has a plaque commemorating that Henrik Ibsen lived there for three adolescent months. (I think it's a bit too short to make a fuzz about..)

More tall ladies.

A sudden shower, but it seems almost everyone was prepared.

UPDATE: A comment from Sans reminded me I forgot to tell you that the Snipetorp area was the only part of town that survived the great town fire in 1886 and it contains many 17th and 18th century buildings. The profit from the street market goes back to the area and has made it possible to pay for old style street lamps and trashbins and stone pavement.

Past and Present

2010-08-21T12:06:00.000-07:00

A very nice colleague at work gave me this lovely little chair for my birthday in April, having found it in a thrift shop. I loved its mid-century design, and since I have never seen this chair anywhere else, I believe it may have been made by hand by a loving father (or mother). But for a long time I had no idea for a scene for it, until I was in Oslo this summer and found a sheet of paper I immediately fell in love with :-) It reminds me of Norwegian mid-century murals and tapestries, and I thought the slightly scaled down version would make a perfect background wall for the chair.

I love the repeating sail and wave pattern and TreeFeathers' book "A history of the Vikings" fits nicely in with this colourful theme.

I'm not the only one who has been inspired by Oese's inventive use of Ikea's Lekman box as a roombox, but this is my first scene in it. I love the light through the back wall.

Perfect for displaying glassware!

Here the sun is set and the room is only lit by the cold street light.

UPDATE: As both The Shopping Sherpa and Rebecca was kind enough to inform me, the chair is made in the former Czechoslovakia. And Rebecca adds that the maker is Tofa, in her blog I found they produced dollhouse furniture in the 60s and 70s. You can see the chair with more furniture from the same maker on their blogs here (TSS) and here (Rebecca)
Many thanks to you both!

Credits: The tall sideboard I believe is by Dol Toi (thanks for veryifying it for me Rebecca!).
Low sideboard by Barton. Floor lamp, potted plant, red glass bowl and yellow plate by Re-ment, the bowl and plate are from Re-ment's Ryukyu set. Yellow striped glass is an ebay find from Germany (Bodo Hennig?) Red vase is bought in Venice. Ceramic vase bought in Paris in one of the doll's house shops in Passage de Jouffrey.

Prize and Printability

2010-08-15T16:20:00.001-07:00

One afternoon when Nora came in from the garden she was surprised to find a large load of parcels waiting for her in the entrance hall. She guessed they had arrived with the post and been brought in by Helmer or the children.

Each parcel was beautifully packed and when Nora took a closer look she saw that they were from Marottesud in the South of France.

Did you spot them? Nora's keys.
Click on the images to enlarge them

Nora loved the envelopes!

She brought the parcels up to their livingroom to unwrap them there, but they were so many she spread them out on the floor so she could show them all to you! They were the complete works of Jane Austen, one of Nora's favourite authors and they were all collectors editions with beautiful pictures inside on every double page!

See the huge pile of books on the rocket chair!

Here are some closeups of pages from some of the books, aren't they exquisite?
And again, to get a closer look at all the wonderful details click on the pictures to enlarge them.

And what a better place to read Jane Austen than in the gazebo? :-)

Credits: The books are by Danielle / MAROTTESUD, who was so kind to donate these treasures as the prize for the second MINI TREASURES WIKI's contest in July. One just had to edit a page or more to be part of the contest! I almost never win anything so I hardly couldn't believe my luck that I was picked as the winner of something as beautiful as these books! And so many! Thank you both to Johanna at the wiki and to Danielle! They have just started a NEW CONTEST where there will be a winner on FRIDAY the 20TH! Join in and edit a page or more if you want to be part of the contest!

The tiny keys was a gift long ago from Anne Mari or Mimmi as she calls herself in blogland, but I didn't get around to make a key chain for them until now.

A garden variety post

2010-08-08T17:00:00.000-07:00

Last year I showed you Nora and Helmer's new gazebo.
Now Nora has done more with it, she has tiled the floor and bought furniture in a style she thought fitted the gazebo better than the modern alumnium furniture she first used. She has also been working a lot on the garden and now she's eager to show you all the result of all her efforts!

Being a busy bee, Nora loves to work in the garden

and is very proud of all her blooming flowers.

Welcome inside!

- and mind the steps!

Nora is also very fond of her Virgin Mary statue, made by the famous artist Christel Jensen.

Views from the gazebo.

Details from the garden. A ballerina bronze figurine

and a sweet little angel.

When all the job's done Nora loves to sit in the gazebo with a book.
Now she's reading the "Arabian Nights" tales.

The gazebo in the afternoon sunlight.

An early photo taken before she had finished the decorating.

Credits: The madonna statue is made by Christel Jensen. The steps are made by my son Bendik. Tiling and the bead lamps are done by me. Most of the flowers inside the gazebo are from Sans. The furniture is Sylvanian Families, but spraypainted white. The square side table is an ebay find. Book from TreeFeathers. Flowers outside are part plastic and part real flowers from my garden. Nora's outfit is a scrapbook embellishment. Some vases are beads, some by Elisabeth Causeret. The ballerina figurine is a kinderegg toy from my childhood!

Throwing a party in a glasshouse

2010-08-01T08:09:00.000-07:00

In my last post you saw Karl Edo preparing his living room for a party. But the day for the party arrived with sun from a blue sky and Karl Edo decided to turn it into a garden party to show off his outdoor furniture and his pool.

The windows can slide up for a seamless transition between indoors and outdoors.

Two cafe chairs by the small pool. Even though Karl Edos has strategically placed plants to secure some privacy, I still don't think anyone will be using the bathroom during the party...

The terrace outside the bedroom on the first floor, with the staircase up to

the roof terrace. Karl Edo is pleased with his new slimline furniture from Dedon.

A vintage deck chair updated with new fabric.

And then the guests arrive. Nora and Helmer brought their children Tomy and Annika and also Ida, the eldest daughter of Helmer's brother Henrik, joined them since she loves swimming.

Arne, Nora and Helmer enjoying the sun and the view from the roof.

Polly Line is back from her journey with dr Whatson. She's tired from all the excitement, but everyone is eager to hear all about her adventures!

Poolish fun (a foolish pun)

Credits: Cafe chair, table and parasol from Mighty World. White deck chairs are by Lundby from their Stockholm series. The vintage deckchair is a Lundby chair from my childhood with a new fabric. The "slimline furniture from Dedon" are made by me, it's my first try on making sofas. The potted plants are also made by me, I used floor protections for chairs. Vases are by Elisabeth Causeret and beads.

Karl Edo rhymes with orange

2010-07-28T16:43:00.000-07:00

Karl Edo really likes to throw parties, and when he does throw a party nothing is left to chance. Inspired by his new colourful cushions, bought from Rosanna at SIMP in Paris and some vintage furniture he has acquired, he emptied his living room completely (even the kitchen!!) to decorate for a funky retro party.

The Audrey Hepburn bar. Karl Edo makes the last preparations.

Stay tuned, more to come in the next post :-)

Selfmade side table made from an eraser and pins.
Vase by Elisabeth Causeret

Credits: Retro cushions by Rosanna, low shelf and seating under the cushions of lego. Twiggy wall art by Andy Warhol printed from the net. The Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn wall art are fridge magnets. Vintage Lundby couch, chair, table and lamp. Selfmade sidetables and lamps. Accessories are Lundby and selfmade books, beads and re-ment. The bar is a tilted vintage fisher price sofa (thanks callsmall for the idea) and the chairs are re-ment.

Eggs

2010-07-13T11:35:00.000-07:00

From my childhood I have a red Arne Jacobsen egg chair by Brio with matching footstool (See it in use here) and last year I was so lucky to get one of the new egg chairs made by Minimii from Cocco. The size of the chair from Minimii is: Height 6,69cm Debth: 4,94cm Width: 5,38cm and is 1:16 according to Minimii. I have searched the net to find the size of the fullscale Egg chair and found it is Height 107cm, the Debth is 79cm and the Width is 86cm. So Minimii's chair is a perfect 1:16 scale. (3/4" scale)
My old Brio chair is slightly larger, the Height is about 7.5cm which means the scale is about 1:14.

On popular demand (I hope you read this Cocco :-)) I have taken pictures of the two chairs together to show you the difference. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

The Petit Tour

2010-07-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

After leaving Fredericia, Dr Whatson and SARDIS took Polly Line on a (western) world tour to :

AMSTERDAM

Where they went for a stroll under the trees by one of the many canals.

THE ALPS,
where they had dinner at the Hotel Franzen Resturant

The USA and back in time to CAPE CANAVERAL and the launching of a space shuttle.

Hmm, more trees than I remember...

10-9-8-7-6

5-4-3-2-1 was heard while the smoke thickened.

After seeing the space shuttle well off they went to see MOUNT RUSHMORE and the presidents, Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln. Polly Line suddenly felt very small.

On Polly Line's request they then visited the Nordic countries

SWEDEN

And the GÖTA KANAL

But where are they now?

Oh DENMARK, in what appears to be Nyhavn in COPENHAGEN

Where they also visited Amalienborg Palace, the home of the Danish Royal Family.

And then off to NORWAY, or BERGEN to be more precise.

Isn't that Sognekongen? That boat's northbound from Bergen. Hmm...

Those local blockheads don't seem to suspect anything though.

Credits: All the photos were taken in Legoland in Denmark.

Déjà vu?

2010-07-09T00:29:00.000-07:00

Bendik and Mari pretending to be Dr Whatson and Polly Line in Fredericia in 1849..

The picture is from "Den Gamle By" in Århus.

War and Peace (Fredericia, Denmark 1849)

2010-07-07T17:31:00.000-07:00

Camouflaged as a blue Police telephone box SARDIS (Scale And Relative Dimension In Style) is able to travel through both time, space, scale and style. Polly Line didn't know all this, so after the weekend with Dr Whatson in Paris in spring, she is surprised to be taken back in time. According to Dr Whatson it's spring 1849, they are in Fredericia, a fortified town from the 17th century in Jylland (Jutland) in Denmark, and the city's almost empty since the inhabitants have been evacuated across the Belt to the island of Fyn (Funen) to avoid the siege.

61 000 soldiers, rebels from the Danish-ruled duchy of Schleswig-Holstein supported by Prussians had invaded the south of Denmark. The Danes were outnumbered, and the troops located there withdrew to northern Jylland. As they withdrew, they left 7000 men to garrison the town, along with a reserve on Fyn.

Polly Line walking peacefully around in the deserted town with dr Whatson, unaware that the final battle is to be on July the 6th.

The harbour with the citadel.

The Trinity church

Major-general Olaf Rye who was born in Bø in Telemark, Norway and had had his military upbringing in Polly Line's hometown Skien, was to become the great Danish hero of this war. First he tricked a large part of the enemy into following them up north to the peninsula of Helgenæs, and from there had his soldiers brought back to Fredericia by boat where he and his brigade was largely responsible for winning the battle and end the war this day. Olaf Rye himself died in the battle and didn't live to see their victory. But the victory is still celebrated in Fredericia and for a long time after his death, when Danish soldiers died in battle they were said to join Rye's Brigade.

Statue of Olaf Rye in today's Fredericia with Bendik standing watch.

The city's main entrance gate, still looking like this today.

Polly Line and Dr Whatson taking a last look over the city.

Credits: The town is "den historiske Miniby" of Fredericia, in 1:10th scale. Started as a jobproject for unemployed in 1983, now built and maintained by a group of retired volunteers. Miss Polly Lines wardrobe is as usual provided by Cocco.

They love Paris in the springtime

2010-06-25T05:59:00.000-07:00

Seems we weren't the only ones visiting Paris .

Credits: Miss Polly Line's wardrobe and the clothes and accessories for the local extra was provided by Cocco.

More from Paris

2010-06-24T16:33:00.000-07:00

Karl Edo wasn't the only one shopping in Paris. I bought quite a few pieces myself.
Here are some of them:

These incredible tiny, thin and exquisite coffee cups and bowl was made by Christine Voirin at Grain de Sable. Unfortunately she doesn't have a homepage.

I can't remember the name of the lady who made this vase, but she had a lot of ceramic, toys and roomboxes in 1:144 scale.
Can someone perhaps help me with her name?

This Christmas decoration was made by Veronique Bailleul.

And this funny cow decorated mug and plate was made by Emmanuelle Martinot and Neil Dyde at Paris Miniatures.

I think I had a thing for animals this weekend. These glass miniatures wasn't bought at the fair, but in a shop in the Passage Jouffroy, where there are several miniature shops.

Cocco managed to find something at SIMP for Action man's apartment as well. It's an original paper cut, cut with scissors by Engelhard Schmit and the money he earns from selling them he sends to help children living on the street.

SIMPle misunderstanding

2010-06-22T15:28:00.000-07:00

When Karl Edo attended SIMP* he found that he had been mistaken. He had expected it to be an exhibition of modern furniture, but it proved to be mostly a large antiques fair. There was a lot of really beautiful and exquisite old furniture for sale, but hardly anything that would fit in Spook House.

The furniture in antique style in these photos are from the stand of Patricia Herbillon.

Furniture by Sylvain Grandserre

One of the few exceptions was the work of Patrizia Santi.

Her furniture had just the right clean contemporary look he preferred. But he found her stand just at end of the day, so most of her furniture and accessories had already been sold out. But he found a very nice low storage shelf.

He also bought two handstitched cushions in a cool retro design made by the famous cushion designer Rosanna Rolla.

His favourites were the white vases made of the artist Elisabeth Causeret from Sailly.

* Salon International de la Maison de Poupée.

SIMPly red

2010-06-17T12:31:00.000-07:00

Yeah, Cocco and I are going to Paris and SIMP tomorrow! (And I believe Karl Edo is going as well.. "Paris vaut bien une messe"- "Paris er en messe verdt")
But despite being busy packing, he found the time to redecorate his kitchen and living room a little bit.
Here are some pictures of the result to enjoy while we're away :-) The big painting used to be in Spook House, but since red isn't very fashionable this year, he brought it home instead. Karl Edo really loves this painting.

The Dalmatian puppy belongs to Glenn Closenough, who was visiting Karl Edo when these pictures were taken.

Starry starry ceiling

The painting is "Red abstract, nr. 5" by Victor Pasmore. The other wallart is a postcard of the Norwegian opera house. The kitchen is by Lundby, redecorated by me, the dining chairs are re-ment. The sofa and chairs were recently mentioned in Carol's Leftcoastmini-blog (Thanks Carol!) and are by Lundby and so is the low shelf. The coffetable is by Fisher Price. Floor vases are from the "Barbie loves Jonathan Adler" set. Many of the accessories are beads. The ceiling lamp is made by me, inspired by Minimodernistas fabulous design. The floor lamp I believe is Lundby. I had three pieces of the same kitchen table (I believe they are by Barton), so I repainted the top of the most worn out table black. Underneath you can see both versions.

Designer's time out - a camp story

2010-06-13T15:52:00.000-07:00

Much has happened during the time I neglected my blog. These pictures are from a camping trip Nora, Helmer, Polly Line and Jean-Marie du Bédauré made this spring. Polly Line had just bought a new car and Nora thought it would be nice if Polly Line could join her and Helmer on a camping trip to the sea.

Nora hadn't given up on her matchmaking and asked newcomer in town Jean-Marie du Bédauré, who teaches French at her school, to join them as well and suggested he could ride with Polly Line. But Polly Line wasn't very keen on the idea (to put it mildly) and discretely manoeuvered him into Helmer's jeep "since she just had to show Nora her new car".

The road to the camp site was quite bumpy, but they all arrived safely.

Nora had of course prepared the trip for days and brought enough food for a legion.

While the guys raised the tent, Polly Line lit a fire and made warm lunch and Nora fetched the plates and cups from the picnic basket.

Helmer's twin brother Henrik joined them at the campsite after hiking from town, having had yesterday off.

After lunch they all went for a walk. Helmer and Henrik were faster than the others and soon far ahead. Jean-Marie preferred the company of the girls.

Jean-Marie tried to give Polly Line a helping hand up a steep hill, but this wasn't at all appreciated by Polly Line who thought it was rude male chauvenistic behaviour to grab her tushy.

When they got to the top of the hill, they were surprised to discover a blue box. Nora and Jean-Marie were flabbergasted and wondered why on earth there was a telephone box in the middle of nowhere, but Polly Line immediately recognized SARDIS (Scale And Relative Dimension In Style), and with a beating heart she looked around for the owner.

And there he is!!!

In a heartbeat she runs as fast as she can towards him and into his open arms, leaving the others quite confused and (someone) disappointed.

They soon recognized the tall handsome stranger (also known as Dr Whatson, since noone seems to know his real name and he has a habit of showing up whenever something out of the ordinary is happening). But their confusion grew even more when Polly Line followed him into the tiny blue box.

They closed the door, the box started to blink and make lots of noise, and suddenly it was gone!

Back in business and ready to party!

2010-05-29T11:21:00.000-07:00

Yeah! Finally my computer is fixed and I also have some time to blog again. This last month has been very busy, travelling twice to my hometown to celebrate birthdays and the national day with my family. In the spring the garden needs much work as well and we have painted the exterior of our house, so not much time left to spend at the computer.. I will thank you all who have sent me nice messages and comments in my absence, I so appreciate it!

And what better way to celebrate the "comeback" than with a party?
After Alexander Rybak's big win last year, this year's Eurovision Song Contest is held here in Norway, so Karl Edo just had to throw another Eurovision party this year. He has prepared the room all week, he has even put up special wallpapers for the occasion! He was a bit low when the Lithuanian boys didn't get to to the final, but he taped their performance and is playing it over and over again while waiting for the guests to arrive.

The Euro bar with French champagne, Spanish wine and German beer.

Sushi, finger food and snacks for the guests.

And now the guests have arrived. Nora, Helmer, Polly Line, Dolly Barton and Fiolett paa Traaden are of course invited, and on Nora's request, the newcomer in town, Jean Marie du Bedauré, as well. Jean Marie hasn't forgotten Polly Line from the carnival and has taken the seat next to her, hoping to get some time with her. But since he's not really very into the song contest and talks about everything but the show, he's not able to catch Polly Line's interest, so he turns to Nora instead.

They are all cheering for Didrik's "my hard is yours"

The Serbian singer makes even Karl Edo raise his eyebrows.

The Belarus butterflies are a big success. Great outfits always trumphs great songs.

Karl Edo is strangely disappointed over this year's Greek contribution, it seems even Mediterranean gigolosity can be taken too far.

The Icelandic song got the party swinging, but the Ukrainian song wasn't exactly made for dancing. Great song though! But Jessy the Matador from France got them all back on their feet again.

The Rumenian song was also popular, especially since the male singer lives in Norway.

The rugged Russian made all the girl swoon, Helmer enjoyed the song, but would have preferred it in Russian.

Lena and Germany's song was this year's favourite of most of the party, Arne Vaa prefers tuxedos, ballads and Didrik. But the Israeli singer fits the aquirements as well.

And now the result is ready and they picked the winner!
Congratulations Germany, Lena, Oese and Nicola!

Credits: Marshmallow sofa by Reac, bar chairs by re-ment. The bar is a Fisher Price sofa (thanks to callsmall for the idea), decorated with glitter foam, the table is from Lundby, also decorated with glitter foam. The wallpapers are also glitter foam and a placemat. The cubes are altered place card holders. The floor vases are by Jonathan Adler for Barbie. The food is by re-ment and real popcorn.

Computer chrash

2010-04-18T12:26:00.001-07:00

Sorry for not posting this month but our computer crashed just before Easter, so now I just borrow my husbands work laptop now and then.
I can't edit photos on it and it has a very slow internet connection, so no posting and less commenting before it's fixed I'm afraid. I should of course have posted about it as soon as it happened, but I never thought it would take this long to get the computer fixed. Hopefully we'll get it back soon!
Thanks Dale for saying you miss me, it got me around to finally post this explanation and I miss you too :-)

Polly Line's new kitchen

2010-03-21T15:09:00.001-07:00

After a year with lots of stress at work, my head has been completely blank these last few weeks, so I have hardly been able to post, or even comment on your blogs. Instead I helped Polly Line finish her new kitchen. That is, she did most of the decorating, but she needed some chairs and a table, so I found some used ones for her. And you're all most welcome to come inside and have a look!

View from the living room

She also found a little spot in the corner of the kitchen for her computer.

A lent lily is blossoming on the windowsill next to a little glass ladybird. Where did she borrow it?

Salad for one.

Wall art by Frank Lloyd Wright, one of Polly Line's favourite architects.

Full view of the kitchen.

Credits: The kitchen is the newest Lundby type. The chairs are vintage Lundby and the table is vintage Barton. The tabletop was originally red, but I painted it black with watercolours that'll easily come off should I/she change my/her mind. The computer table is vintage Triang. The ceiling lamp is Lundby, originally the colour was brass, but I painted it. Shopping bag by Cocco. Metal artwork on wall by Frank Lloyd Wright. Accessories are Lundby, re-ment, Polly Pocket, beads, self made and ebay finds. Most of the flowers are from Sans.

One year blog anniversary

2010-03-07T15:32:00.001-08:00

Seems like many of us started blogging about a year ago :-) One year ago today, or more correct yesterday, since it's already past midnight now, I posted my first post on this blog. When I started I wasn't sure how long I could keep on blogging, I counted the rooms in my doll's houses and thought it would be difficult to continue when I had shown all of them, but I'm still here, and with even more rooms and houses as well :-)

For this occasion I would have liked to prepare a big scene for you all. I also thought of showing you all my houses, but instead of finishing any of the projects I'm working on, I have moved most of my houses into our guestroom/my workroom-to-be. So now there's a total mayhem inside all of them. Instead I thought I should go back to "the roots" and show you old photos of Nora and Helmer's house. Until a few years ago, it was the only house I had, with the exception of the old wrecked house I had from my childhood. I didn't even have Nora and Helmer!

These photos are from 1995, and I had just replaced my childhood standard Lundby house with this Lundby Stockholm house which I found in a flee market. It had damaged wallpapers in the livingroom and floor in the kitchen, so the first thing I did was to put paint the livingroom and put wallpaper and lists in the corner of it and paint a linoleum look-alike kitchen floor. New curtains and plants, and the rocking chair is a gift received a few years earlier from very nice classmates, the rest is my old furniture.

I hadn't discovered ebay yet, so almost everything in these pictures is furniture from my childhood. But I bought a new kitchen, since there was almost no doors left on the old one. In a craft shop I found a plastic sheet of blue tiles, which I put over the kitchen bench. The cookie tins and the casseroles on top of the shelves are also new. These pictures are photos of photos taken with my old camera, so I'm sorry they are a bit blurry.

The dining room. The original colour of the chairs was white, but I painted them so they would fit the colour of the other furniture. The floor urn I bought in Crete when I was 16.

This is my first doll, Osvald, in the bathroom, all the furniture and the washing machine is from my childhood. I later replaced it with a green bathroom set, bought on a trip to Stockholm in 1997. After I bought the wooden paneled bathroom, I gave both sets to my daugther.

The basement is the only part of the house which has survived my childhood. Earlier I had the sewingroom there and the blue living room, the blue livingroom is still there. But I can't remember when I first painted it blue. The only original items here is the blue shelf, the frames and the fireplace accessories.

Here are the bedroom and Helmer's study to be. The only new furniture is the low shelf with turquoise sliding doors on the right, which was bought at the same flee market as the house.

Some years later I made a garden as well, the bicycle and the little red chair are the only new items here. And lego of course :-)

I hope you have enjoyed this little tour :-)

Thank you very much to all of you for making this year so much fun and cheers to another year of blogging!

Sacré Bleu!

2010-02-21T09:31:00.000-08:00

Karl Edo has finished redecorating his bedroom - for now.

Apparently blue is a hot colour this year.

When the evening comes, the lamps are lit.

Deco delights.

View from the terrace.

Full view of the Stockholm house.

Credits: The art is by Tamara Lempicka From the left: Portrait of the Marquis d'Afflito, 1925, Portrait de Marquis Sommi, 1925, Tamara in the Green Bugatti, 1925, the last two in Lundby frames. The turquoise sidetables and floor lamp are Lundby, the Barcelona chair is Reac, the bedroom furniture is an ebay find. Lamps above the bed and bedspread are self-made. Accessories are Lundby, re-ment, ebay finds and self-made. Books are made by Grace/TreeFeathers.

Valentine's day

2010-02-14T13:47:00.000-08:00

Today Nora got a visit from Polly Line who just had to show someone the two giant bouquets of flowers she had received today! None of them came with a a card to tell who had given them to her, but she thought (and hoped) that she knew at least one of them :-)

Polly Line was quite surprised to find Nora still in her Carnival outfit and told her so. Nora blushed and said it was because Helmer really had liked her in it! And Nora had no reason to be envious of Polly Lines many flowers either. Helmer must have tried to make amends for last year when she didn't get anything, so he had filled all the vases in the living room. And since it's also Mothers day in Norway today, he and the children had even baked a heartshaped chocolate cake and decorated it with tiny chocolate hearts.

Credits: Almost all the flowers in this post are from the wonderful Sans! Thank you so much Sans, they were all gorgeous! The chocolate cake I made when I took a course in making fimo cakes at a Doll's house weekend in Stavanger.

Carnival

2010-02-13T15:21:00.000-08:00

Since this is the last weekend before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, Glenn Closeenough and her husband Sean Kommer'u have invited to Carnival in Venetian style with capes and masks. And everyone is here, Nora and Helmer with their children Tomy and Annika, Henrik's twin brother Henrik and his wife Carol Line, Carol's cousin Polly Line, Cocco Flanell, Arne Vaa and Karl Edo Spook, Glenn Closenough's sister Fiolett paa Traadén, and the other aunt of Helmer and Henrik; Dolly Barton. Can you tell who's who?

Nora has also invited the new French teacher at her school, the handsome Jean-Marie du Bédauré, recently moved in from Paris. He's the man with the red mask.

Helmer thinks Nora looks like a new woman tonight and feels a little bit jealous when he sees how she and the other women gather around the Frenchman.

Even though her nephew Bart Ender Barton isn't around tonight, Dolly Barton prefers the bar.
Polly Line thinks it's nice to meet new people but her mind wanders away while she's talking to Jean-Marie and Fiolett paa Traadén. After the nice evening in the pub on New Years Eve, she had told the tall handsome stranger about the party. She still didn't know his name, so she couldn't get Glenn Closenough to send him an invitation, but she hopes he will turn up anyway. But now most of the evening has passed and the only handsome stranger is Jean-Marie.

Suddenly - there he is! Polly Line's heart makes a jump of joy! But, he doesn't stop or even look at her! He just walks straight across the room towards the hostess, Glenn Closenough.

Polly Line is left quite confused and heartbroken.

But after what seems like hours, his conversation with Closenough is over and he turns around again, but then stops and chats for a while with Nora. Polly Line's mind is so occupied looking at them, she doesn't even notice that Jean-Marie seems quite taken with her.

A happy ending?

Credits: Annika's costume and the masks are from Polly pocket and painted with nailpolish by me and my children. Bendik has made Tomy's costume, the rest of the capes I have made.

Before the party

2010-02-12T14:50:00.000-08:00

ENG: I just wanted to show you some photos from the reception room. In a few minutes the guests arrive and I won't get another chance :-)

NOR: Jeg ville bare vise dere selskapslokalet før gjestene kommer og ødelegger idyllen :-)

Credits: Furniture vintage Lundby. The round tables are from re-ment with table cloths on them. Food from re-ment. Fruit made by Cocco. The flowers are a small part of the 200 flowers I got as a gift from Sans! Accessories are Lundby, Re-ment , Chrysnbon and other finds.

From gaudy polka to mellow walls

2010-02-07T14:23:00.000-08:00

ENG: It's been a few weeks since my last post due to busy workdays. Meanwhile Karl Edo has been busy too in his studio/bedroom. Karl Edo is tired of colourful dots and being no leopard, he's changing his spots, from shimmering bright to neutral and white.
He's also finally painting the bedroom furniture he bought last summer, and now it's light turquoise instead of yellowed white. I didn't want to disturb him while he's working, so the photos are taken through the windows.
Underneath you can see what the room and furniture looked liked before the makeover.

NOR: Jeg har ikke postet på noen uker siden det har vært så travelt på jobben. Men i mellomtiden har Karl Edo vært travelt opptatt også. Han er blitt lei av polkadot-tapetet i showrommet/soverommet sitt, så han maler det hvitt og nøytralt istedet. Han har også endelig fått rotet seg til å male soveromsmøblene han kjøpte sist sommer, så nå er de lys turkis istedet for gulnet hvitt. Jeg ville ikke forstyrre ham i arbeidet, så bildene er tatt utenfra og inn gjennom vinduene. Under kan dere se hvordan rommet og møblene så ut før oppussingen.

Memory Lane

2010-01-23T16:44:00.000-08:00

Several months ago I got an Honest Scrap Award from Sans where I was supposed to tell 10 honest things that people don't know about me, but since I'm not doing awards, I answered only in a mail to her. Now I have also been tagged by Rebecca on Flickr with a request to share 10 random facts about myself and post a photo. She posted two photos, and the second related to some facts and stories from her childhood. On her blog Rebecca has also posted photos of her childhood furniture.

I was inspired by her photos like I have been by all the stories callsmall tells about her family, so I thought I'd use the opportunity to respond more properly to Sans' award as well.

I'll start with the photos. Tomy and Annika was kind enough to lend me their room and some of their furniture for this post.

The little doll in the bed is made by Cocco. The duvet and pillow are of my own making.

The bed and the matching drawers, the fish tank, the green chairs and the paper basket are all from my childhood. The bed can be folded up. Both Tivoli posters have been there since I put them on as a child.
Most of the toys in these pictures have survived my childhood, like the bus and the cars, the doll's houses and the farm. Recent additions: The little people and the farm animals are from Micro Playmobil sets. My children have the Ikea Mammut table and chairs, but these are the Lundby version together with the red flower mirror. The rest of the furniture are Re-ment and Playmobil.

I had a little elephant and a dog just like these when I was a child. These ones are from the "in my pocket" series. Pippi Longstocking was one of my childhood favourites, this copy is a gift from Grace at TreeFeathers.

Now, to the facts:

1. I have played the piano since I was 6 years old. I got the piano from one of my grandmothers and was taught to play by the other. I thought about studying music but found I wasn't good enough to make a decent living of it.

What I like most is to sit by the piano and improvise, it helps if I'm stressed or sad. Most of my songs are rather melancholic. I made my first song when I was seven, it was just one line and was supposed to sound oriental :-) I have written down some of the songs, but none of them are very original. The first song I wrote down, at 14, was one page long and was dedicated to a boy in my class who I had a crush on for several years. I wrote my best piece when I was 18 and gave the notes as a present to my grandmother who had taught me to play.

Recently my nerd of a husband wrote a Pre-Indo-European blues with the subtitle "The horse, the wheel and language blues" based on a book review. I made a tune to it, with all the blues clichés I could think of, and whenever I play it, he gets in a good mood. (I thought blues should have the opposite effect?)

2. I have sung in choirs most of my life. These days I sing in the church choir (which often consists of me alone).

3. I once won a limbo contest, but now I'm sadly unfit, so there's no chance I will be able to repeat that.

4. When I was fourteen we were in Morocco, and my father was offered 35 camels for me, luckily for me he rejected the offer.

5. I hate housework, so when we finally decided to hire a cleaning women, our house was a real mess.

6. I also hate woodeating ants and I am almost obsessive about killing them.

7. Like Rebecca, I'm interested in genealogy. One of my foremothers was Norway's most famous witch, Anne Pedersdotter, who was burned alive at the stake in the city of Bergen on the 7 April 1590.

8. I love reading about the Big Bang, nuclear physics and the space, even if I just understand a fracture of what I'm reading.

9. I'm an avid Dr Who fan, but I've only known the 9th and10th doctor.

10. I added the Gauguin painting not only because of the colours, but because a copy of the painting (by one of my great aunts) is the picture I remember best from my grandparents home. Now it's mine, and below is the painting hanging on my staircase wall. Underneath it is a painting I did myself some years ago inspired by François Boucher (when I had a wall that needed something in those colours).

Les Créations Cocco

2010-01-12T15:09:00.000-08:00

ENG: I want to start this new year with a presentation of my dear friend Cocco. For many of you who follow my blog Cocco is a wellknown name, at least if you read the credits after each post. Cocco has designed the logos for Spook House and Gjengangere, she has made the moon lamps and shopping bags in Spook House, the little seven chair and much more tiny things like a Christmas marzipan pig and a lego box. I got the big lego box for Christmas from hubby's brother!

NOR: Jeg vil starte det nye året med en presentasjon av min kjære venninne Cocco. For de fleste av dere er Cocco kjent, enten fra denne bloggen eller fra dukkehusforumet. Hun har designet Spook House og Gjengangere brukt og antikk-logoene , laget moonlampene og handleposene i Spook House, den bittelille syverstolen og mange flere små ting som en marsipangris og en legoboks. Den store legoboksen fikk jeg til jul fra min svoger!

ENG: But what you don't know is that I probably wouldn't have had a blog without her! It's not even certain I would have had this hobby without her, because when we met, I hadn't done anything with my childhood dollhouse for years, not since I was 11 years old . It was just used as a display for furniture and accessories that had survived my childhood. But as soon as we became friends she came with suggestions like improving the art on the walls, doing something with the ugly sofa (I then coloured it with green fabric dye) and getting some dolls who could sit. My childhood dolls were the ones who are now known as Martha and Osvald Halving. She made new clothes for them and even though I wasn't much interested in dolls I did buy some new ones, now known as Karl Edo Spook and Cocco Flanell. Later I got more dolls to fill my reception room, and sent a bunch of them to Cocco for a makeover and to my surprise they came back as real little people with different personalities! And as you know, it wouldn't have been much of a blog without them! Below are the men she has dressed up:

NOR: Men det dere ikke vet er at jeg sannsynligvis ikke ville hatt denne bloggen uten henne! Det er ikke engang sikkert at jeg ville holdt på med dukkehus, for da vi møttes hadde jeg ikke gjort noe med mitt barndoms dukkehus på årevis, ikke siden jeg var elleve. Det sto der bare som en slags settekasse til å vise fram møbler og småting som hadde overlevd barndommen. Men så snart hun fikk se dukkehuset begynte hun å komme med forslag til forbedringer som å få bedre kunst på veggene, gjøre noe med den stygge sofaen og få dukker som kunne sitte. De dukkene jeg hadde da er nå kjent som Martha og Osvald Halving. Hun lagde nye klær til begge og selv om jeg ikke var spesielt interessert i dukker kjøpte jeg også noen nye, som nå er kjent som Karl Edo Spook og Cocco Flanell. Senere kjøpte jeg flere for å fylle opp selskapslokalet mitt og sendte dem til Cocco for en makeover og til min forbløffelse kom de tilbake som levende små folk med forskjellige personligheter! Og som dere vet hadde det ikke vært mye igjen av denne bloggen uten dem! Her er mennene hun har har kledd opp:

ENG: From the left above is pater Maximillian, his twin brother Sean Kommer'u, Helmer with his new knitted sweater and Arne Vaa. Pater Maximilllian was a gift for my 40th birthday and he was the reason I had to build a church! He came with three layers of clothes as displayed below.

NOR: Fra venstre over ser dere pater Maximillian, tvillingbroren Sean Kommer'u, Helmer med den nye strikkegenseren og Arne Vaa. Pater Maximillian fikk jeg til 40-årsdagen min og han måtte jo selvfølgelig få en kirke! Han kom med tre lag klær som vist på disse bildene:

ENG: Last year he was joined by the altar boy Minimillian.
NOR: Sist høst fikk han selskap av ministranten Minimillian.

ENG: She also made new trousers and a leather jacket for Helmer last year:
NOR: Hun lagde også nye bukser og skinnjakke til Helmer i fjor:

ENG: And here are the women after their makeovers.
NOR: Og her er damene etter sine makeovere:

ENG: From the left above is Dolly Barton, (who also was on rehab at Cocco, because she was in a really bad shape when she came to me), Nora with her new bunad, (see also the picture on top) her mother Glenn Closeenough with her new knitted jacket (In who's who you can see her with just her dress and a matching bolero), Polly Line in her new skirt and knitted sweater (the skirt was really meant for Glenn, but Polly Line liked it too and has borrowed it), and Cocco Flanell.

NOR: Fra venstre over ser dere Dolly Barton, Nora i sin nye bunad som også kan sees i det øverste bildet, moren hennes Glenn Closeenough med ny strikket jakke (I who's who kan du se henne med bolero som matcher kjolen), Polly Line i nytt skjørt og strikket genser (skjørtet var egentlig ment for Glenn, men Polly Line har lånt det for hun likte det så godt), og Cocco Flanell.

ENG: She has also made several beautiful purses for the women, and some of them can even be opened! (The ruler is in centimeters!)
NOR: Hun har også laget flere nydelige bittesmå selskapsvesker til damene, og noen av dem kan til og med åpnes!

ENG: Cocco is also decorating the home of an retired 1:6th scale soldier known as Action Man, who lives on Montmartre in Paris and is a good friend of Cocco Flanell. Here you can see them both in his living room admiring his new Eames chair. Cocco made both the sofa and the table herself.

NOR: Cocco innreder også leiligheten til en pensjonert leiesoldat i 1:6 skala, kjent som Action Man, som bor på Montmartre i Paris og er en god venn av Cocco Flanell. Du kan se dem begge her i stua hans hvor de beundrer hans nye Eames stol. Cocco har laget både sofaen og bordet. På dukkehusforumet kan du finne flere bilder under temaet "andre skalaer enn 1:12."

ENG: More photos from Action Man's home: She made the mirror, the bed and the bedspread in the bedroom and also the kitchen cupboards and the kitchen lamp. None of the rooms are quite finished yet. The chair in the bedroom is a Vitra Mackintosh chair.

NOR: Flere foto fra Action Mans hjem: Cocco har laget speilet, sengen og sengetøyet i soverommet og kjøkkenskapene og taklampen. Ingen av rommene er helt ferdige ennå. Stolen på soverommet er en Vitra Mackintosh-stol.

Happy New Year! / Godt Nytt År!

2009-12-31T13:12:00.000-08:00

New year's eve at the pub. The owner Bart Ender Barton spends the Holidays in England with his family there and Sean Kommer'u stepped in for him, his salons next door being closed tonight anyway. And since Pater Maximillian never turns down a glass of anything, Sean thought this could be a cheap way to entertain his brother. It's common knowledge that a Catholic priest in a bar is never short of free drinks from middleaged women.

Helmer came over for a beer, but left early to be with his family.

But pater Maximilian feels quite neglected tonight, since the interest of everyone in the bar is directed elsewhere!

I want to wish all of you a Happy New Year filled with miniscule pleasures!
It has been great to get so many new friends to share this hobby with and I'm looking forward to see more of your work in 2010!

Fairytales

2009-12-30T13:01:00.000-08:00

These last days Tomy and Annika have been busy playing with their Christmas gifts. Especially the outfits from the calendar and the castles from mum and dad. Minimillian has come over to play every day, since Karl Edo's house isn't exactly children friendly.

Here is a photo Karl Edo took of uncle Arne with his nephew.
Doesn't Minimillian look just like his uncle ?

For those of you who are interested in genealogy, Minimillian is the son of Arne Vaa's sister Claire Vaa. Claire first joined a convent and planned to be a nun, but Minimillian's father to be, Troy Jansen, fell instantly in love with her when he accidently saw her and snook into the convent, disguised as a nun, to meet her. She soon reciprocated his feelings, left the convent and they married shortly after.

Credits: The castles are from two micro Playmobil sets. The furniture is new and vintage Lundby, playmobil and re-ment. Cocco has made Minimillian and Arne Vaa's clothes. Minimillian's sword and shield are lego accessories.

The Sixteenth Chapel or Mass Hypnosis

2009-12-26T17:20:00.001-08:00

Sean Kommer'u's altar ego and twin brother William, (he has taken Maximillian as his cleric name) has come to visit and to celebrate Christmas mass in the family's private chapel.
Family and friends have met up in full for such a rare occasion, crowding the little church.

The altar boy is Minimillian from France, who is spending Christmas with his uncle Arne at Karl Edo Spook's house.

Pater Maximillian speaks about the birth of Christ: "In the time o Caesar Augustus, the Romans ordered a census tae be cairried oot ower the hale country. This happened when Cyrenius wis the heid man O Syria.." His gentle voice and the dense air of the crowded chapel makes Polly Line drowsy and her mind starts to wander. After reading the gospel, the priest begins his sermon about God's love for us. His Scottish accent is mixed in Polly Line's mind with vague memories from last summer. She dreams of happy children and bonfires, and she smiles secretly and feels the heat in her cheeks.

She wakes up suddenly, when the priest raises his voice: "And yer harts are wide open and yer innermost longings are for Him ter see!"

Credits: The clothes of pater Maximillian and Minimillian are made by Cocco! She gave me pater Maximillian for my 40th birtday and I just had to make him a church :-) The chapel is built in lego by me and my children, the stained glass windows are postcards bought in Paris and the white statue of Virgin Mary with baby is also a souvenir from Paris. The Virgin Mary with baby and angels, behind the altar, is bought in a shop in Bergen. The St. Olaf statue is a souvenir from the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim. Other accessories are ebay finds or bought in St.Olav booklet, Oslo. Birth of Christ text taken from "A Glasgow Bible" by Jamie Stuart.

There's Santa, but where's grandpa?

2009-12-25T11:15:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas eve, the long and heavy dinner is consumed and now they are having coffee with homemade cookies and cakes and are about to open the Christmas presents under the tree. As always, Glenn Closeenough and Sean Kommer'u, (Sean R.U. Coming) are spending Christmas with their daughter Nora and her family. Suddenly, just as grandpa Sean has gone upstairs for his afternoon nap, there's Santa, with a large bag loaded with gifts for Tomy and Annika!

Grandma Glenn and Helmer are watching.

Credits: Nora's bunad and Glenn Closeenough's clothes are made by Cocco!
The bunad was her Christmas present for me, am I lucky or what?
The Santa costume is from Lundby.

24th December!

2009-12-24T00:04:00.000-08:00

Today I got another dress up costume, this time a fairy costume for Annika! I'm so glad I got something for them both, I wouldn't like anyone of them to be upset on Christmas eve :-)

Since all the windows are opened now, I want to wish you all a Merry and peaceful Christmas with family or friends and the best wishes for the New Year! (But I will be posting a lot of Christmassy posts before that, I have the whole week off to relax with my family and to blog :-))

I will thank everyone who has been visiting my blog this year and also all of you who have enjoyed my advent calendar with me, you have made the calendar even more fun for me :-)

The nightynight before Christmas/ Lilla julaften

2009-12-23T16:48:00.000-08:00

This evening both Polly Line and Karl Edo installed their Christmas trees (from Spook House's new line of Christmas trees; Gran Colore), but now the calm of the night before Christmas has fallen upon their homes, just disturbed by me taking photos to show you. As an early Christmas present Karl Edo "bought" himself a new lamp for the dining table.

Credits: Polly Line's sofa is made by the wonderful Annina and the photos over the sofa are from her as well. You can also see them in her Vero house here. The Madonna figure by the window is made by the talented Christel Jensen. Karl Edo's new lamp is made by me, inspired by the lamp of Mini Modernistas. The Christmas trees was bought at Søstrene Grene. Polly Line's Advent star is handmade in glass and bought at a local store.

23rd December

2009-12-23T02:46:00.000-08:00

Today I got this knight cape, shield and sword for dressing up, and I'm sure it won't come as a surprise to you all that I'm giving them to Tomy for Christmas? Or maybe Helmer wants to borrow them too :-)

22nd December

2009-12-22T09:32:00.000-08:00

Today I got these Christmas decorations. Many Scandinavians have flag garlands on their Christmas trees with their national flags. I like flags on the National day, but for me it's not what Christmas is about. But I liked this one, because the flags from all the different countries reminded me of all of you who come visit my blog from these countries and others as well :-)
The large ornament can be used on one of the small potted trees I use for decoration in my real life home. And I'm sure Tomy and Annika will love the lollipops!

21st December

2009-12-21T05:17:00.000-08:00

Today I got a photo of this cute little bird, I think it's a bullfinch (dompap) or a robin (rødstrupe), and another favourite frame :-)

Update: After looking through our bird books, hubby thinks the bird may be a whinchat (buskskvett) and definitely not a bullfinch :-)

20th December

2009-12-20T10:26:00.000-08:00

Today I got this sweet box, filled with jewelry for the ladies.
But again I think both the box and jewelry are too large, the box is about 2cm in diameter.

19th December

2009-12-19T09:48:00.000-08:00

Today I got these presents to put under Nora and Helmer's Christmas tree and a Santa Claus hat. I think it looked nice on Annika, and Tomy wanted to join her for the photo, to show you the knitted sweater and hat that Cocco made for him last year.

18th December

2009-12-19T05:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I got this jacket and scarf. Polly Line wears black, so the jacket obviously was for her, even though she already has a green coat for more festive occasions. She tried on the scarf too, but wasn't sure about it, as "it wasn't her colour", as she put it.

Sorry,

2009-12-18T15:12:00.000-08:00

it's been a long day at work followed by office Christmas party and no time to take pictures of today's gift. It was something for Polly Line and I will show it you tomorrow :-)

17th December

2009-12-17T07:15:00.001-08:00

Today I got these shopping bags. I think they are on the large side as well, but perhaps Nora needs some really large bags for the big Christmas present she's buying Tomy and Annika?

16th December

2009-12-16T08:40:00.000-08:00

Today I got these cartons with juice and packages with rice and pasta.
It doesn't seem the Lund family are going to starve any time soon! (And with that I mean my daughter's family; Carol Line and Helmer Lund and their seven children. I think the packages are a bit too big to use in any of my houses)

15th December

2009-12-15T09:41:00.000-08:00

Today I got these yellow and black clothes in the calendar, very suitable for Tomy. After he had tried them on, he said he didn't like the jacket very much because of the itchy material and it didn't keep him warm either. But he thought the hat was alright.

Karl Edo Spook loves Jonathan Adler (and Christmas)

2009-12-14T09:28:00.000-08:00

ENG: Many of you have also seen the Spook House Christmas window in the wiki calendar, but on Saturday Karl Edo got this bowl in the Lundby calendar, and he wanted to show you all how great it looked with his new Jonathan Adler vases! (And sorry Nicola, Karl Edo is such an aesthetic, he wouldn't disturb the pictures with his presence.)

NOR: Mange av dere har også sett juleutstillingen til Spook House i wikikalenderen, men på lørdag fikk Karl Edo denne skåla i Lundbykalenderen og brant etter å vise fram hvor godt den sto til de nye Jonathan Adler vasene hans!

Credits: Jonathan Adler vases from the Barbie loves Jonathan Adler set. The Christmas tree is an ornament from Holmegaard. The silver star ornament I've had for years. Selfmade lego table, shelves and exterior. Selfmade Ballclock, Bocca Lip sofa and glass table. Deer head and striped bowl in red and white from Re-ment. All chairs and counter from Re-ment. Hanging lamp made by Cocco.

14th December

2009-12-14T09:05:00.001-08:00

Today I got this sweet little rug in soft green and pink colours.
It's the same size as the typical Lundby bath rugs, so maybe it's meant for the bathroom as well.
I also think it would look great in a girls room.

13th December

2009-12-13T09:25:00.000-08:00

Too little, to late :-) Today I got these baking trays, apron and rolling pin. As you can see from the last post, the apron was the only thing that was needed. And even if it doesn't quite show in this picture, Helmer was glad to get it, so he can keep his beloved t-shirts clean.

A desperate housewife?