Black as night, black as coal

ENG: Nora returned from Stavanger with several gifts for Helmer, among them a black leather jacket and a t-shirt with a Vespa print. Helmer usually doesn't care much about clothes, and didn't say much this time either, but shortly after he went out to take this vespa for a ride, as pleased as Punch in his new outfit.

NOR: Nora kom tilbake fra Stavanger med flere gaver til Helmer, blant annet en svart lærjakke og en t-skjorte med Vespa-trykk på. Helmer bryr seg vanligvis ikke noe særlig om klær og sa ikke mye nå heller, men like etter dro han avgårde på vespaen, stolt som en hane i de nye klærne.

Credits: All of Helmer's clothes are designed and made by Cocco!
The helmet is from a vintage Lego figure.

Paint it white

ENG: Polly Line wanted a house, but hadn't found the perfect one yet. Instead she bought a small Lundby prefabricated house in which she could live while searching for the house of her dreams. It was a bit oldfashioned, with small paned windows and dated wallpapers and exterior, but Polly Line painted both the interior and exterior walls white and replaced the living room window with a larger one with a nice view to the patio. She was quite pleased with the end result!


NOR: Polly Line ønsket seg et hus, men fant aldri det perfekte huset hun ønsket seg. Istedet kjøpte hun et lite ferdighus fra Lundby for å ha et sted å bo mens hun lette etter drømmehuset.
Det var ganske gammeldags, med smårutede vinduer og utdaterte tapeter og fasader, men Polly Line malte både utvendige og innvendige vegger hvite og erstattet stuevinduet med et større vindu med fin utsikt til terrassen. Hun ble ganske fornøyd med sluttresultatet!

ENG: To the left: The living room door is also updated.
To the right: This window Polly Line kept unaltered.
NOR: Til venstre: Stuedøra har også fått en oppfriskning.
Til høyre: Dette vinduet beholdt Polly Line som det var.

ENG: Here is the house before the restoration. The picture is from the Lundby company's homepage.
NOR: Her er huset før oppussingen. Bildet er fra Lundbys hjemmeside.

Credits: The house is a Lundby Småland extension floor. The pavement are coasters from a second-hand store. The back wall of the patio is an Ikea soap dish and the other wall is a wooden table mat. The door handle is made of tiny beads.

The Stavanger trade show - and the show is on!

ENG: Karl Edo had a sudden businesscall and had to go to Paris, so he sent Polly Line to the Stavanger trade show and Nora went too to keep her company and to do some shopping. They travelled directly from Skien with Vildanden (The wild duck) airlines. In Stavanger when the two rooms for the Spook House stand was well in order they went visiting the other stands there.

Here are some pictures taken during the day:

NOR: Karl Edo måtte til Paris pga presserende forretninger, så han sendte i stedet Polly Line til Stavangermessen og Nora dro også, både for å holde henne med selskap og for å få handlet litt. De reiste direkte fra Skien med flyselskapet Vildanden. Etter å ha sjekket at utstillingsrommene for Spook House var i orden hadde de tid til å gå rundt og se på de andre utstillingene og salgsbodene på messen.

Her er bilder tatt i løpet av dagen:

ENG: The girls are admiring Tove's Christmas window and also found some very nice things in her shop.
NOR: Jentene beundrer Tove's julevindu og fikk også kjøpt en del nydelige ting i butikken hennes.

ENG: Here they are at one of her other beautiful displays.
NOR: Her er de ved en annen av Toves vakre utstillinger.

ENG: Nora was looking for a new sewing table at Kristín from Iceland's shop for exquisite handmade furniture and found a really nice round table there which she bought.
The girls also visited Rita's lovely quilt shop.
NOR: Nora så etter et nytt sybord i Kristíns butikk med eksklusive håndlagde møbler og fant et vakkert rundt bord der som hun kjøpte. Jentene besøkte også Ritas nydelige Quiltestue.

ENG: A must-see was the food market of Christel Jensen, a worldknown supplier and maker of gourmet food. Because of the flight home Nora just bought some jars with pickles and other goodies, and some of Christel's famous bread, even though she wanted to buy almost everything she saw there.
NOR: Polly Line og Nora besøkte selvfølgelig også markedet til Christel Jensen, verdensberømt gourmetmat-leverandør. På grunn av flyturen hjem kjøpte Nora bare noen glass med pickles og annet godt og noen av Christels berømte brød, selv om hun hadde lyst til å kjøpe omtrent alt som var der.

ENG: After all the shopping the girls were tired and took a break in one of the Spook House rooms..
NOR: I mellom slagene slappet Nora og Polly Line av i Spook House utstillingen..



ENG: ..before they kept on looking at more exhibitions, as this cosy mountain cabin and this display in blue and white with more classic styled furniture.
NOR: ..før de fortsatte runden blant utstillingene, som denne koselige fjellhytten og dette rommet i blått og hvitt med møblement i mer klassisk stil.




ENG: Some miniatures were also exhibited at the trade show.
Nora and Polly Line were amazed by all the small details and surely would liked one of them for themselves!
And they both thought the giant doll with miniature houses inside was a very funny idea!
NOR: Det var også utstilt miniatyrer på messen.
Nora og Polly Line beundret de bittesmå detaljene og ville nok veldig gjerne hatt en av dem selv.
Og de syntes begge at kjempedukken med miniatyrhus inni var en utrolig morsom idé!

ENG: The Spook House stand from a distance.
The house you see in the background is "The Orchid House"
NOR: Spook House-utstillingen med omgivelser.
Huset du ser i bakgrunnen er "The Orchid house".

Credits: Mountain cabin, roomboxes and doll with houses inside by Tove Jonsgar - Tove's dukkehus, miniature houses by Solveig Marie Gulbrandsen. The Orchid House by Toril.

The Stavanger trade show* - preparations

ENG: Karl Edo Spook wants to expand his business, so when he heard about the big trade show in Stavanger the last week of August, he was eager to attend so he could show his furniture there. He engaged Polly Line to design two rooms for the Spook House stand and here is the result:

NOR: Karl Edo Spook ønsker å utvide virksomheten, så da han hørte om den store handelsmessen som skulle være i Stavanger den siste uka i august, ville han delta så han kunne vise fram sortimentet sitt der. Han engasjerte derfor Polly Line til å designe to utstillingsrom og her er resultatet:

* ENG: For the visitors in 1:1 scale the show was marketed as " The embroidery, doll's house and teddybear days 2009"

* NOR: For gjester i målestokk 1:1 markedsførtes messen som "Broderi-, dukkehus- og teddybjørndagene 2009"

Credits:
Room with white walls: Sofa and chair is vintage lundby, and the white table and frames are also Lundby. Pictures in both rooms are from Ikea postcards. Sidetables are doorknobs, lamps are self-made and the shelf is made of lego windowframes. Accessories are mostly Re-ment, Lundby and random finds.
Room with green wall: Arne Jacobsen Egg chair from Minimii (present from Cocco!), table is self-made of a slice of agate and wood beads. Picture frames and low shelf are Lundby and the other shelf is re-ment. Eames elephant is from Reac. Accessories are Lundby, Re-ment and random finds.

A quick visit to the bathroom

ENG: Here are some photos from Nora and Helmer's bathroom. The bathroom furniture is chosen to match the existing floor tiles that came with the house.
NOR: Her er noen fotografier fra Nora og Helmers baderom. Baderomsmøblene er valgt for å stå til de opprinnelige gulvflisene.

ENG: Nora really wanted windows in her bathroom
NOR: Nora hadde veldig lyst på vinduer på badet.

Nothing but Flanell no5.

Credits: Bathroom furniture are vintage Lundby and cabinet of unknown origin. (The shower is from my childhood). I have used lego to make the mirror shelf. Accessories are Lundby, Re-ment and self made. Posters are the mini-versions of Ikea postcards.

And - Fluffy Bricks has been so kind to post three of my rooms on her blog!
You can see them here.

Arvestykker og farvenykker

ENG: Most of the furniture in Nora and Helmer's dining room are heirlooms from family on both sides. Nora isn't quite happy with this room yet, she picked the colour of the wallpaper from the old Turkish carpet, but it doesn't match the colours of the inherited chairs.
Nora's got a beautiful Turkish carpet on hold that matches the fabric of the chairs, but then she would have to redecorate the walls of the room. Tough decisions indeed!

NOR: Møblene i spisestua til Nora og Helmer er stort sett arvestykker fra begge sider. Nora er ikke helt fornøyd med rommet ennå, hun har tatt ut tapetet etter fargen på det tyrkiske teppet, men det går ikke godt sammen med fargene på stolsetene. Nora har holdt av et nydelig tyrkisk teppe som står til stolene, men hvis hun tar det må hun skifte ut tapetet. Så vanskelig å bestemme seg!

ENG: Picture to the right: View towards the dining room from the living room.
NOR: På bildet til høyre ser man inn i spisestua fra dagligstua.


ENG: The picture to the left is taken through the kitchen door.
Nora and Helmer have been visiting their friends in Paris this summer and bought a minature Eiffel tower as a souvenir (on the sideboard).

NOR: Bildet til venstre er tatt gjennom kjøkkendøra.
Nora og Helmer har besøkt vennene i Paris denne sommeren og kjøpte et Eiffeltårn i minityrutgave som suvenir (på skjenken)

ENG: The only new piece in this room is this asian inspired shelf. Nora loves the style and thought it went well with the other furniture.
The purple striped decanter is Venice glass, a gift to Nora and Helmer from Cocco.

NOR: Det eneste nye i dette rommet er denne asiatiskinspirerte hyllen som Nora kjøpte fordi hun liker stilen og fordi hun syntes den passet godt til resten av møblene.
Den fiolettstripede karaffelen i hyllen er Veneziagave til Nora og Helmer fra Cocco.



ENG: The rose candlelabra is Nora's favourite together with the old painting.
NOR: Nora er særlig glad i roselysestaken og det gamle maleriet.

Credits: Dining table and sideboards are vintage Lundby, the oriental shelf and crooked vase are by re-ment. ( I have put bead legs on the shelf) Other accessories have accumulated over many years. The rose chandelier were bought on the doll's house weekend in Stavanger last year and is by Cilla, Minst.com.

Photographically challenged

I received a photo challenge from Lena aka Miniatyrmama.

I'm supposed to

1. open the 4th file where you store your photos...

2. pick out the 4th photo & publish it to your blog...

3. explain a bit about it...

4. pass this challenge to 4 other blogs...

I'm usually not very much into these blog games, but since I am busy redecorating a real life room, and therefore have little time for minatures at the moment, I thought this was a nice excuse for posting something old instead. The fourth picture in my fourth folder was this picture of Tomy and Annika's room before Nora painted the walls lime green. If you look closely, you can see a little box of lego in the round shelf. It was a christmas gift for Tomy and Annika from Cocco.

Since so many of my blog friends have already been challenged with this, I pass it on to all who would like to have an excuse for posting old photos!
Credits: Furniture: Lundby desk and chair, re-ment shelves, minature chair and lamp, lap-top and tiny bus are also re-ment. Other accessories are mini toys collected over the years.