Chez Larsson

Cutting a Roller Blind to Size

Our livingroom is very bright and some days we need to pull the blinds  so we are able to watch tv or even just have an afternoon conversation on the sofa. The blinds are the only window treatment we have in there so I want it to be clean and fresh.


Clean and fresh. Not so much any more. The blind on the left is the one I've been wanting to replace for a long time but because it's very long I haven't been able to find an affordable solution until a little while ago.

I was looking into having a custom made one after searching all kinds of places but that would have been way too much money. So one day I went to Bauhaus for a completely different thing and spotted these pristine, simple, white and looooong blinds an aisle away. Wohoo! I ended up not getting what I came for but a perfect length blind for the big window and a short one for the door with window.


The short one for the door wasn't actually short enough though so that's how this post came about. I had to do a bit of trimming. I used the old blind to determine the width and then simply used a craft knife to cut the excess fabric off all the way down. I used the grid on the self healing mat as a guide.


When I came to the pole at the top I got my metal saw out and sawed off the excess bit at the end.



Then I just tapped the plastic end cap on and screwed the new hardware to the wall.


I also had to trim off the end of the stick that weighs the end of the blind down to the correct size again using the metal saw although the stick was plastic.


And there it is, or rather they are, clean, fresh, new! Bliss.

365 Day 141-147

 
It's Friday! Yay! Double yay!
I for one have my work cut out for me. Yesterday I went to get half my winnings at the paint store. 15 liters / 4 gallons of exterior paint, 10 liters / 2.5 gallons of interior paint and 3 liters / 3/4 gallon of stucco paint. Am I ever lucky I won that competion?! Paint is way more expensive than I remembered! That was it for SEK 5000 / USD 650.


I've not been super happy lately so little things like this really cheer me up. That's Wille's breakfast Fuet saying: Hello, Good Morning! Thank you, dear sausage!

 
My to-do list says to bake more and I have! Wille and I have been enjoying goooey chocolate cup cakes almost every night lately. Don't worry. All the running up and down the ladder takes care of them!

 
Speaking of my boy and furry version too! Bonus was in a major cat fight with Lina, a neighbor cat, the other day. Bonus' alright and I believe Lina is too but nothing can beat a little cuddle with Wille after.

 
Yo! Turns out the worst shot is the best shot, Have you tried taking photos in a mirror? Half of the shots are showing the mirror alone or wall next to, one third are blurred and one third are ok except they only got half of you. Well.

 
Here's part of the weekend project. The south side has been scraped, patched and primed and the fascia board painted. Still to do is paint the window, add two top coats on the walls, patch the stucco base and repaint that.

 
What can I say? It's spring! Almost summer. I'm planning four weeks off just after Wille and I return from New York. No real plans for what to do except work on shortening that list and take cup cake and ice cream breaks along the way! 

Have a lovely weekend!
 
 

New York Poster

Remember this photo from one of my 365 posts? I framed the print and it's up! And I love it.


What do I love about it? It depicts Manhattan and it's got that whimsy of art and illustration of the 50's and early 60's. I have a thing for both.

 

Who's it by? Jim Datz. At Three Potato Four. Over and out. No wait, there's a Brooklyn one that's nice too. Over and out. No, hold on a sec, I really like these old school paper packs that they sell too. But I so don't need any more scraps of paper. Or do I? I do, don't I. I think I do.

Hey!

Hey, what' going on here?!

Quite a few years ago we planted two beds of tulips. White tulips. One bed, the one in the photo above is at the front of the house, right at the entrance. Lovely and white. The other bed is right in front of our maple tree hedge at the rear. 200+ pristine white tulips (ok a few with a little green in them too).

Exhibit #1
Pink. Kind of cute but not exactly what I had in mind for back there.

Exhibit #2
What?! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a Mohawk?

Exhibit #3
Whoa! Impostors!

So, it appears that nature is doing trick on us. On me. Testing me. Can she cope? Will she snap? Snip perhaps? To be continued.

Bemz Shabby Chic Inspiration

I get invited to quite a few press events and very rarely go (I'm really shy and feel awkward in that crowd of journalists who're looking all important and who all seem to know each other) but once in a while I can't pass it up.

Last Tuesday I attended the press show at Bemz here in Stockholm. Do you know of Bemz? Theirs is such a cool idea, they make custom slipcovers for IKEA sofas and chairs. Wish I came up with that!

Bemz is well known for their fitted slipcovers already and they have a huge selection of really nice fabrics (yes, I grabbed some swatches...) to choose from but their new thing is Shabby Chic inspired loose slipcovers. The look is obviously totally inspired by Rachel Ashwell's style. Rachel along with Martha and in a way I guess Lesley Pennington (founder of Bemz, a Canadian expat in Sweden) really are heroines of mine. Talk about taking your idea to the next level!


When I got the invitation to the show I was keeping my fingers crossed that that I would be able to switch covers on our old sofa Karlanda 3-seater to something looser but alas it's not a Shabby Chic model. Our covers are as old as the sofa (just noticed the 2003 stamp on one of the cushions as I was changing them a couple of weeks ago) and they are getting a little worn.

I do love the Belgian linen of the new designs so maybe light colored linen for the next fitted cover? Like I told you yesterday I've recently got this thing for linen and it seems I'm not alone. It appears to be the new big trend. Living Etc for example just ran a linen story and I keep seeing it everywhere.

So are you noticing the dyptych photos here? Nice huh?! Well here's the thing. Bemz commisioned photographer Magdalena Björnsdotter (who btw shot our home for a yet to be published story for Allt i Hemmet) to shoot their press images They are the photos to the right (and the one at the top).

So what are the almost same photos to the left? Ha! They are blogger Susanne Kings' images of her own home. I love this idea of totally using the location and styling of a home owner as a backdrop for a photo shoot. It's actually very similar to when our house was used as location for a commercial a couple of years ago, they didn't change a thing other that plonk in the actors. It just automatically gives that lived in feel that can be so hard to attain if it were shot in a studio.

So the new Bemz Shabby Chic inspired look is being launched on their website later today. Also be sure to check out Susanne's blog Me and Alice, oodles of inspiration if you like this look!

Thanks lovely people of Bemz for inviting me and thanks Susanne for letting me use your photos!