A passage homage

My poor Nora and Helmer have had to cope with an open bathroom for years, with no wall between the bathroom and the passageway outside the bathroom. But finally they can get some privacy doing their business.

This is what the bathroom looked  like before. (The floor in the passageway had been damaged by previous owners before the house was bought by Nora and Helmer)

And now with the wall. Doesn't it look like it's been there forever?

 (And maybe it has?)



 

The new wall is removable, it leans to a simple cornish in the top and has a small bend at the side to make it stand on it's own.

The burgundy wallpaper is from "Søstrene Grene" and the two prints on the wall are by Bruce Holwerda. I really love his work!

The rug is a fabric sample from work, the new cupboard on the side landing is vintage Lundby or Barton,  I believe. The silver traditional ale bowl on it is a charm, and the chest was my grandmothers.  She displayed it with other miniatures and small items in a shelf in her kitchen, and I always admired it! 

The pictures the top of the stair walls are the same I have in my stairway. (see below)

 

 This one is painted my my grandmothers oldest sister, as a copy of the well known Gauguin painting. I inherited both these paintings from my grandmother when she passed away.

I made a miniature copy of the second one, but have given away the original (this is by the way the original size) and just used a printed copy for Nora and Helmer, which suits the Lundby scale better.

Throwing a party in a glasshouse

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.

Designer's time out - a camp story

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!

Valentine's day

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

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.