Are you addicted to Pinterest?

Because I am ;-) What a brilliant source of inspiration! Since I have discovered this website, my to-do-lists exploded. So many things I want to make, I want to cook, I want to decorate, I want to give as a gift...

Of course there are hideous things or stupid tipps (especially the whole weight loss which are actually ads), too, but overall I have to say: I am thrilled!!!

So in case you haven’t discovered it, yet, it is really worth a look: Pinterest

If you want to find out, what my fantastic finds are (which I keep rambling about), you can also click on the little Pinterest button in my right sidebar and it will take you straight to my folders:

At the moment I have 14 boards with topics ranging from Accessories to Yummy (Food). You see, all my favourite topics ;-)

Oh and just before you go, I have to warn you. Pinterest is highly addictive. You will forget to bring your children to bed, you will be late for work or dates, you will stay in your pyjamas all day, you will burn your food in the oven and stay up too long... but it is worthwhile ;-)

Home Improvement Day

Instead of making big New Year’s resolutions which I break after a week anyway, I decided to just start doing something. Today. Without much of a plan. I just walked through the rooms of my apartment and started with what I found most annoying.

Taking out the trash – the empty Adventskalenders, tons of used wrapping paper, glass bottles,...

Cleaning up and sort things in boxes – a box for the flee market, a box for the summer house, a box for charity

Eating all leftover Christmas cookies ;-)

Ahhh, I feel so much better now. What do you find most annoying in your house or apartment?

Micro-Makeover: The Balcony – Final touches

With this beautiful weather in Berlin at the moment, I am enjoying my little city beach (the big picture here and the details here) more than ever. I love it morning, midday, afternoon, evening and night. And although I try to relax and enjoy the sun and the view, I often find myself doing little things here and there. But these are my final touches, I promise.

Since I try to use my balcony more like an extra room and not just as a little attachment to the apartment, I also thought I needed some art for the walls of my little ‘sunroom’

First I bought picture frames in green and turquoise from IKEA (4 for EUR 5) to stay within my ‘colour scheme’. They come with a plastic cover for the picture instead of a glass cover, which is perfect because then they cannot break even if a gust of wind blows them off the wall.

Then I looked for pictures which would fit within the beach topic but weren’t too colourful. If you have colourful frames like that, I prefer to have pastel or monochrome pictures. Anyway, the minute I saw these X-ray pictures of different shells my decision was made. I enlarged them to exactly fit the frames, printed them on cardboard, then cut out and framed them.

And voila, my city beach balcony sunroom is also a gallery ;-). I am off to the vernissage with an ice coffee now.

Hope you all enjoy your Saturday!

5-Minute Nap Project: Decorated Toys Box

Every Monday I will post something related to babies: inspiration, craft projects, baby news, and discoveries I have made in this new and exciting world for me. I hope you come along on that rollercoaster ride with me.

* * *

I love to look at beautiful nurseries. I adore rooms which show in every aspect that someone has put a lot of tough, passion and love into decorating them.

But let’s face it – reality is quite different, if you don’t have an interior designer or tons of money. Especially if you are a mum and your little one doesn’t sleep for hours during the day. I heart that those babies exist, but I have never come across one in real life ;-)

Anyway, although my little one hasn’t got an own room, but has to share one with me, I still want her to develop a sense of “that’s mine”. And since I share a room with her, I want her things to look beautiful to me as well. Which is something that is not always easy to achieve, if you think of all the hideous plastic toys, the pink princess-like decorations and the like.

So here is my first 5-Minute Nap Project – a decorated toys box

All you need is:

• a box with a lid (mine was from IKEA Slugis for 4.99EUR + 1.50 for the lid)
• a roll of broad sticky tape with beautiful decorations (mine was from IDEE for 0.99EUR)
• scissors
• baby wipes (wet and dry)
• a baby that naps for 5 minutes

And then ready – steady – go:

Minute 1: Clean box with wet baby wipes (or other cleaning wipes) so that the box is free of oil and other dirt, dry off with the dry baby wipes (or tissues or paper towel or towel)

Minute 2: stick the decorative tape onto the box, make sure that it has the same distance towards the top and bottom of the box (if you like it neat) or just stick it freestyle onto the first side (if you like creative chaos)

Minute 3: cut the tape on each corner of the first of side (if your box has rounded, non 90-degree corners like mine had), try to find a gap in the decoration of the tape and cut there to make it look super-professional (otherwise don’t worry about the corner too much) – repeat the same for the remaining 3 sides

Minute 4: put toys into the box

Minute 5: play, because I guess your baby is awake by now (mine would be anyway)

Of course a beautiful nursery might need a bit more than just a box. But you could decorate a couple of them over a couple of naps. And I will definitely show you more 5-minute-nap-project soon. So watch this space :-)

Micro-Makeover: Balcony – The Details

After showing you the big picture of my new balcony yesterday, I want to ‘zoom in‘ on some details today. In case you want to ‘steal’ an idea or two. Or in case you are as short-sighted as I am ;-)

1 Bought: Rattan chairs from IKEA (EUR 20 each)

2 Me-Made: Cushion covers (made of this wonderful green-turquoise fabric, back and seat cushions used as pattern, no fastener used just overlapping pieces of fabric on the bottom)

3 Me-Made: Covers for folding chairs (again made of the ‘signature’ fabric, single layer of fabric with a hem on both sides and a Velcro fasting on the bottom, so that it can be taken off for washing)
4 Bought: Turquoise-white plastic rug from house doctor (reduced to EUR 20)

5 Bought: Turquoise solar-powered paper lantern string from IKEA (EUR 15)
6 Bought: Turquoise net canopy from Domaene (EUR 8.99) - to prevent my little one from throwing her toys down to the court yard 6 stories below, Wiebke ;-)
7 Bought: Herb plants (EUR 1 each) - and there are more herbs sowed in the other flower boxes, so unfortunately we don't have space for turquoise flowers, Christiane ;-)

8 Bought: Green-white-turquoise planting bag from IKEA (EUR 0.50)

Total amount spent: EUR 87.46

So right within the budget of EUR 100, which I have set myself as limit for a micro-makeover ;-) For me this makeover is worth every cent, however, because now I feel like having a summer cabin right next to my living room ;-)

There are still some projects left which I still haven’t managed to do, but I will tell you about them once they are finished and ready to be shown. Now I am off to my little summer retreat for a cool beer!

Hope you had a nice, productive or lazy, spring or autumn (if you live down under or somewhere else on the southern hemisphere) weekend!!!

Micro-Makeover: Balcony – The Big Picture

Tata... today I am finally able to show you how my balcony looks after my micro-makeover. Just a short reminder – this is how it looked before...

... and now it looks like this:

Much better, isn’t it? I love it so much now that want to spend all my time outside, reading a book during the day, chatting and drinking a beer with my husband in the evening and doing a BBQ with friends on the weekend.

I am really surprised how much I even like the green balustrade now. In the beginning I had no idea what to do with it. Green is not my colour – neither in fashion nor in decoration. Since we live in a rented apartment with lots of similar balconies, however, painting the balustrade was not an option. I thought of covering it, but I also didn’t want to block the view. And then the whole dilemma was solved when I looked through my fabric stash and found this fabric which I have bought at IKEA years ago:

It was the solution to all my problems because it combines green and one of my favourite colours turquoise in such a beautiful way. So green-turquoise the colour scheme would be and the rest miraculously fell into place. I have so many turquoise pieces for decoration, which I all bought while we lived in Australia. So having these on my balcony doesn’t just look nice, for me they will also remind me of my ‘second hometown’ Melbourne all the time. They really add to my mid-city Berlin balcony a splash of Aussie lifestyle and interior design. Because since the climate is so pleasant in Australia, people put much more thought and effort in the planning, building, furnishing and decoration of their ‘outdoor spaces’ (auf Deutsch: Garten, Balkon, Terrasse, Loggia etc.). They make them stylish and most of all liveable. Well, most of them anyway. Of course doggy backyards full of rubbish exist as well ;-)

So that was the big picture of my new balcony. More on the details tomorrow.

Enjoy your evening!

Micro-Makeover: Balcony Teaser

You might have guessed already that my promise yesterday  was a bit ambitious. Attempting to turn this balcony

into something beautiful – a city beach even – takes longer than a weekend. Especially if you have a very clingy 10-months-old around you all day. Oh well, I keep on going and I definitely keep you updated. Here is a first teaser:

Yes, there will be lots of this beautiful turquoise colour. A bit Cafe del Mar. A bit Pacific Ocean. A bit Glam. A bit Folk.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Micro-Makeover: Balcony Before

I love before -&-after-stories. No matter whether it is a person who gets a makeover (hair, make-up, fashion), a piece of furniture, a room or a whole apartment. I don’t care whether it is my style or my budget, I am just fascinated by the change that can be achieved in a relatively short amount of time, with relatively little effort. The only problem is, often these magic transformations go hand in hand with a huge budget (which I don’t have). Therefore I invented the Micro-Makeover. This is a teeny-weeny makeover. One with a tiny budget, but with lots of creative energy. I hope it inspires you to get started and change something for the better.

Spring is not only around the corner. It is here. For good. And now I really have to turn my attention to my little balcony. It has been neglected so far, since we moved into our apartment when it was already too cold to sit outside. So we focussed our attention on the interior and just ignored that there was ‘something out there’. Now, however, the sun is shining more days than not. The temperature is rising and I really feel like taking my morning coffee outside. Except that it looks like this at the moment:

Oh well, these are the nasty before shots. And at least the view is nice. Lots of sky. Lots of air. Lots of light. Only few ugly buildings. But the balcony itself – you see, lots to do. Thus I decided to spend this weekend turning it into a city beach balcony. A place on which you actually love to spend time.

I did some shopping today and I have some great ideas, but so far there is nothing I can show you. So, please be patient. I hope to present the amazing after shots tomorrow evening. But now I have to quit and start sewing the cushion covers.

Enjoy your Saturday night!

Ruby Tuesday: Kitchen

I would love to have a red kitchen. With bright red, shiny doors. As long as we are living in a rented apartment, however, I don’t think that my dream will come true. So the next best thing is to brighten up my classic white kitchen with lots of red accessories, like these ones e.g.:

Tea towel found here

Cupcake cases found here

Wine glasses found here

Pot holder found here

Wall clock found here

All red kitchen accessories found at Etsy.

Original and Cheeky Copy

When looking for inspiration for decorating the nursery, I came across this poster a lot:

found here

While I think there is much truth in this statement, I got a bit bored by it after seeing it in so many blogs and magazines. Maybe I was just looking at too many similar sources of inspiration, but these posters seemed to be in EVERY nursery.

I also don’t like that this statement was first developed as propaganda in World War II. You see my questioning and researching of literally everything sometimes really limits my design decisions ;-)

Anyway, I stumbled across a great variety of ‘cheeky copies’ of this much used original... and I love all of them!

found here

Very important for me, since I tend to throw sewing projects, which don’t work out the first time, into a corner and never correct or finish them!

found here

There is nothing more calming than a beautiful cup of tea – especially if my friend C. from London makes it for me.

found here

Well, except cupcakes, maybe. The moist cake, the sugary frosting, the colourful sprinkles. Yes, cupcakes have often saved my life or at least my good mood.

found here

Yumm, bacon. I think bacon is the reason why I couldn’t become a vegetarian. I just cannot resist its smell, its crispyness, its saltiness. Let bacon save us all ;-)

found here 

Well to be honest that is probably closest to my reality. Sometimes there is nothing more liberating and calming than being angry for a bit. Just close the bathroom door and yell. Or throw cushions. And then you are ready for whatever comes your way next.

Rearranging my apartment for the baby – Part III

Of the three basic baby areas in our apartment, we already finished the first two
1. a feeding area
2. a sleeping area
3. a nappy changing area

So today the last task was to create a nappy changing area.

Because we don’t really have room for a permanent nappy change area, we had to come up with a simple and portable version. Here I put the changing mat on the ottoman next to the feeding area, but we can also put it onto out bed, into the bathroom, onto the table or floor. Let’s see what will be the most comfortable and practical solution for us.

1. a changing pad – I got this one from Target, but you can get them from everywhere, it is just a standard plastic one, which is water-repellent and can be easily wiped clean. Because I don’t want the little one to have to lie on plastic, I have quickly sewed a pair of covers made from super-soft cotton fabric. They can be thrown in the washing machine easily.
2. a toy – to distract the little one from having to lie still for a couple of minutes, maybe more important once they get a bit older, in the beginning they are happy to lie and watch you, aren’t they ;-) Or maybe this is just wishful thinking?
3. a box full of clothes – I have two boxes in total, one contains all baby clothes in size 0000 () and one in size 000. I hope my little one will not grow out of all of them in the first 3 months, because my plan is to buy all bigger clothes when we are back in Germany. Which will save us hopefully a lot of precious luggage space and weight on the flight home.
4. a toiletry box – containing hopefully everything you need for all kinds of nappy change challenges and which is portable as well, at the moment the following items are in that little box: nappies, baby wipes, nappy rash cream and nappy sacks. 

The only thing still missing is a mobile for entertainment and distraction during the nappy change. This will be my next crafting project. Apart from that...

... voila, the apartment is ready for you, little dottie ;-)

And no 6 is finally ticked off my mat leave to-do-list as well.

Rearranging my apartment for the baby – Part II

Saturday, the perfect day to do the second part of the apartment rearrangement.

After finishing the baby feeding area in our apartment yesterday, I looked after the sleeping area for our little one today.

 

1. a comfy bassinette – yes, it is the one from our pram, but we will also use it in our bedroom. You know, multi-functional is the motto when you are moving overseas in 3 months. When we are back in Germany she will get a beautiful cot, but in the beginning I think babies prefer the cosiness of a little bassinette anyway.
2. her cute and 100% safe sleeping bag – sent to us by her concerned nanna from Germany. As a paediatrician she knows that the safest way for babies to sleep is either to be swaddled or put into a tight-fitting sleeping bag like this one. Ahhh, I wish they would come in adult-sizes as well ;-)
3. the Pacific Ocean – a beautiful Aboriginal-art-inspired painting made by her dad. So she will have ocean view right from the start. Lucky little girl. I find the ‘monotony’ of the dots and the amazing blues, whites and sea greens extremely calming and I hope little dottie feels the same.
4. reading light – I heard in the beginning new parents tend to go a bit crazy over whether the baby is still breathing, fine, sleeping... and constantly want to check on them. The little reading light hopefully gives enough light for us to see her, but not enough light to wake her up.
5. tissues – another box of tissues cannot hurt, although Chris pointed out that might not be enough, especially for milk overproduction on mum’s behalf , I might have to deposit a few small towels there as well, thanks so much for the tip from an experienced mum of two.
6. mama – most important for baby’s good sleep as my best friend reassured me, she said as long as mama is near little babies can sleep everywhere, I so hope this is true.
7. colourful Japanese paper balls – very hypnotising to look at, make your eyes go droopy and baby very very sleeeeeeppppyyyy
8. her little fellas – Sammy the Tasman tiger and Greta her little mouse in the red checked dresses bought here a couple of weeks ago. Until she is old enough to treat them well, they will watch her from a safe distance though ;-)
9. more books for mum or baby – I am not sure how much bedtime reading there will be for me in the next couple of months, so maybe ‘Mother Tongue’ and ‘Wer bin ich und wenn ja wie viele?’ will soon be replaced by ‘The Going to Bed Book' and ‘Blinky Bill’

Tomorrow all I have to do is tackle the nappy change area and then we are really for baby to move in with us – that is a broad hint (or a ‘Wink mit dem Zaunpfahl’) for you, little dottie. We cannot wait to meet you!

Rearranging my apartment for the baby – Part I

I am sure you guessed it already. Nesting has kicked in. I cannot stop myself from sorting, washing, redecorating, cleaning, ...

Therefore today I started tackling no 6 of my mat-leave-to-do list. Andi and I rearranged our apartment to make room for our little one and all her wonderful cute little things.

We just have a small 2 bedroom apartment and for our remaining 3 months in Australia we won’t get something bigger, so it was a matter of refraining from shopping (esp. furniture) and trying to come up with clever, lightweight and transportable solutions. It seems to be a challenge at first, but I think in the end these restrains helped me a lot to ‘cut through’ all the clutter that baby magazines tell you are ‘essential’ when having a baby.

Because if you think about it, what you really need are three basic areas:
1. feeding area
2. sleeping area
3. nappy changing area

Because food is such an important and pleasurable part of our life, it comes as no surprise that we started with the feeding area ;-)

The aim was to create a pleasant, cosy, comfortable spot in our living room where I can feed the little one day and night. Plus use as much of our existing furniture as possible. Plus have everything within reach.

1. a comfy chair – with an ottoman in case it feels more comfortable to put your feet up while feeding, we have bought two of these chairs from IKEA about 2 years ago and loved them ever since for watching TV or reading, you can also take off the cover and wash it, which might be an extra bonus with a vomiting child ;-)
2. my wonderful breastfeeding pillow – it has a broad padded strap which goes all around your waist and can be fixed with Velcro, I hope it will be as helpful and comfy with the little one on it as I imagine it to be, I bought it from Target and its covers were pretty horrendous, but cutting up the old cover and using it as a template for a beautiful homemade version was very easy, I even made a second cover in case of needing to wash one
3. lots of cushions in different shapes and sizes – to be stuffed in my back, behind my neck, below the little one etc... I think you cannot have enough cushions to make yourself comfortable and I am determined to avoid the horrible neck pain I used to have from working at my computer at an odd ankle all day.
4. cosy blankets – to be thrown over my knees in case I get cold, especially at night I used to get really cold and it always started at my feet, at the moment I seem to have an extra burner inside me and now my husband is the one who begs to close the balcony door, but I know these ‘inner-heat-times” will be over soon ;-)
5. tissues – might come in handy for spilled milk, vomit or other liquid ‘accidents’
6. food for mum – I am always hungry and happy to nibble on something, I heard that breastfeeding increases this behaviour considerably, so I thought a big jar of trail mix and a bottle of water at hand cannot be wrong, hopefully it will last until the baby is actually here ;-)
7. a (night) light – actually the light looks a lot brighter than it is on the photo, I definitely want to have some indirect light: so that I can have a look at my little one or even read a little once we both got used to the whole procedure, maybe I have to find a dimmer for this lamp though
8. reading material – light reading material like magazines, short-stories,... everything that you can discontinue and restart easily, I have no idea whether that will work at all, but having time to read during the long feeds sound ideal to me at the moment
9. a dottie garland – the only thing I bought new for the feeding area, well apart from the tissues and food & drinks, it is meant to be knitting wool although I don’t have any idea how you could possible knit with it, as decoration it is great, it has a woollen pompom about every 3cm, it is my favourite beachy turquoise , it was dirt cheap (about $3 for 30m) and since dottie is our belly name for the little one, there was no way of not having it.

So that’s it: my feeding area. Anything I forgot? Experienced mums out there, please help me. Is there anything else you would recommend? My nesting energy is still high, so just let me know what I could do/ add/ improve.

Interior Obsession Wire chairs

Picture found here

I know they are not the most comfortable chairs in the world, but ... don’t they just look amazing. Lightweight. Airy. Stable. Stylish.

It all started with this one, which I found in my grannies basement...

Diamond Lounge found here

Then I bought four of these...

Side Chair found here

Now I am saving money for this one...

Asymmetric Chaise found here

... and this one:

Bird Lounge Chair and Ottoman found here

Signore Harry Bertoia, adoro il suo!