Before you start decorating your house for the holidays

Advent just started and the internet is full of wreaths, candles, and Christmas decorations. Indeed, this is one of the most pleasant periods of the year, however, I don’t see too much content about how we are preparing in reality for this festive period. Maybe I’m old fashion or totally boring, but in my head before decorating you should start cleaning your house first 😉

A few weeks ago I’ve discovered Hamimommy’s vlog, an incredible YT channel about slow living, sustainability, and daily routines. I’ve shared in the past a similar vlog, Benita Larsson‘s minimalistic YT channel, that has the same effect on me as this one. I could watch Hamimommy cleaning her house all day long, it super relaxes me. Plus I love her home, her warm and almost scandi style, her housewife lifestyle turned into a creative vlog with 1.5 million followers on YouTube.

Important: please turn on subtitles (CC) on YouTube in order to understand the Korean text.

What is worth knowing about her is that she’s a mother of a 4 years old sweet little girl, living with her husband in a house outside of Seoul, the Korean capital. She likes to cook being very creative also in the kitchen, not only with her video content, she’s in her mid 30′ and always open to learning new stuff. While doing this nice YT channel, she’s taking a drawing class to improve her skill set.

Lately, I start my Saturday mornings by watching one of her videos; this is a great combination with the weekend’s first latte macchiato 😉

 

Video credits: Hamimommy YT channel
Cover photo credits: @hami.mommy IG

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The Charming cottage in the Carpathian Mountains

It’s been a while since my last blog post about a Local Treasure from Romania. When I’m looking for inspiration, I pay great attention to avoid kitsch, I rather go back to basics instead of presenting something that hardly fits into my “interior principles”. When I found this “Charming cottage in the Carpathian Mountains” (literally this is its name, how lovely, isn’t it?), I knew that this should be my next local treasure, especially that it’s located in a region from where I’ve never posted any interior, more precisely in Dâmbovița county, in Râu Alb de Sus, a small border village between Transylvania and Muntenia.

The owners, Cristina, and his French husband are living in Bucharest with their children keeping this as their own vacation retreat place. The country cottage consists of 3 small houses on a 15,000 sqm land, all 3 being separated with individual bathrooms, having a common, fully equipped kitchen and a hygge living room. In total there are 4 bedrooms, and the cottage can be rented on Airbnb.

The most beautiful part of this place is that once purchased, the owners made a huge effort to recondition the old wooden elements, windows, doors, beams, and porch. They bought pieces from demolished houses and recycled old doors here and there, some of these doors are used as wall decorations instead of paintings.

Originally the living room was the barn where grain was stored in old times. The couches in the living room are from Ikea, the rugs and textiles are all specific to this region. Wooden decorations on the wall are objects from the original house kept by the owners.

The tiles from the stove are hand-painted by a craftsman from Sibiu, who seems to be the last Mohican in creating these types of handcrafted tiles. I also know Teracota Mediaș, a company specialized in handmade terracotta tiles that are beyond being beautiful.

The beds from the bedrooms are the Leirvik models from Ikea available also in Romania. The walls are whitewashed and painted with ecological paints, keeping the authenticity of their surface.

The kitchen is furnished from Ikea, having a very original dining area, you know, those types that our grandparents had back then. So, if you are looking for some nostalgia, this is the place you need to be.

The main bathroom is fully functional, turned into a bathroom from the original kitchen, that is why the stove is there. By the way, this can be very handy during cold winters, listening to the fire cracking while you take a shower might be priceless.

The guests have a free pass to the garden full of seasonable vegetables and fruits, the breakfast is included in the price, and it consists of local goodies like cheese, bacon, bread, fresh milk, etc. Isn’t this a lovely “back to basics” place? The owners have my deepest respect for their great effort in keeping the place’s authenticity. Thank you, Cristina for letting us into your lovely country cottage 🙂

 

Photo credits: @Charming cottage in the Carpathian Mountains – shared with kind permission

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10 beautiful bookshelves

This post is not a regular home tour, it is about beautiful bookshelves around the world. Since the last 4 days were about the 27th International Book Festival from Târgu Mureș, I thought it would be nice to share some inspiration for reading nooks and bookshelves. For those who don’t know, every year in November, we have this book festival in my city that turned out to be a wonderful cultural event for all of us. Book editors from this region and from abroad are invited to bring their latest publications, having the possibility of participating at book presentation events. Poets and writers are circling between the multiple cultural events, so everything has a real literary vibe.

My friends and I are copartners in this initiative, being responsible for the digital presence of this event, along with the cultural programs and activities for children. Since the pandemic, the last 2 years were pretty restrained due to the restrictions, but still we managed to organize the festival. I’m responsible for the website of the event, and I’m more than happy for being part of this great project. 

But let’s see those beautiful bookshelves I’ve piled up for you, dear reader, I hope you will find these as inspirational as I did.

#1 A super comfortable daybed and a bookshelf hung on the wall (I love this idea) @simonepolk

#2 A bookshelf in a home designed by Elizabeth Roberts, I love the ceramic lamp (unfortunately no clue about the brand), found via @archdigest

#3 Reading nook next to the window @thehalcyondaysofsummer

#4 A real urban jungle combined with books and a reading nook @wingardium.levanessa

#5 @i.tam.i.tu beautiful bookshelves whose home I featured last week on the blog

#6 A well designed bookshelf at @miascoziness, I love that big window 🙂

#7 @thistle.harvest small reading nook with vintage books, I featured this lovely home on the blog back in October, check it, they have a nice family story

#8 Bookshelf with a Wassily Chair by Marcel Breuer, inspiration found @hgtvhome

#9 Bookshelf @hemmainteriors_com whose home I love a lot, especially that Matilda is a firm believer of sustainable interiors, having a lot of pre-owned items in her home too

#10 My bookshelf @focalpoint.ro

 

Photo source: all respected owners are linked in the references, the majority of photos (except #7, #9, #10) were found via @books.places.bookstores with thanks

 

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Five reasons why I’ve chosen this Polish interior

The weekend is almost ending now (writing this article on a Sunday evening), and it’s time to share another beautiful interior before it takes an end (damned Mondays). This week’s home is exceptional because it’s not in the Nordic countries, but still, it’s a total feast for the eyes. I’m happy that our trips on my blog take us now to Poland, as Justine’s home is in the Polish capital, Warsaw. I’ve been 2 times in this city, and I wouldn’t hesitate to go back there for the 3rd time.

I could enumerate many reasons why I’ve chosen her apartment for you, dear reader, but let’s see the most obvious ones.

#1 The Scandinavian style of the apartment

This interior has the Nordic hygge feeling and simplicity all over the place. This home has a gallery wall (that almost all Scandinavian homes do) mostly with pieces from Fine Little Day, it’s full of table-, floor-, and pendant lamps (this is a default in Nordic homes, lighting is vital for them), and the new meets the retro (pretty standard in Scandinavia). I always admire homes where the owners manage to combine old with new.
The white floor lamp is from Endon Lighting, the sofa is from the Polish manufacturer, Scandic Sofa.

#2 The classic Nordic design pieces here and there

I can spot a few original interior design pieces, especially from Nordic manufacturers. Justine has an Arum Ferm Living table lamp in the living room, a Shell Pot from Ferm Living on her coffee table, a Shorebird from Normann Copenhagen at the fireplace, her coffee table looks like a MUUTO piece, but not sure, a Muses Ania vase from Ferm Living on her desk (see below the photo), a PH5 Louis Poulsen pendant above her dining table in the kitchen.

The white sofa is from Sits Furniture.

#3 The earthy tones and beige color palette

You know me, I love everything in natural colors, you can’t go wrong with the earthy tones. I love the brown, the beige, the white, the orange, the black, and the few green spots here and there. What a great combination of colors across the whole apartment.

#4 Vintage pieces as focal points

Let’s hold on for a second for this beautiful red Smeg refrigerator. I wanted the very same for our kitchen, but it simply did not go through my husband’s “filters”. What a pity, we needed to change the whole color palette in our kitchen after renouncing this fridge.
The black&white floor adds a great vintage vibe to the kitchen. The floor and the Smeg masterpieces are bulletproof combos for getting some retro feeling in the room. I also adore the vintage desk in the bedroom made by Pastform. Look at those gorgeous glass pendants in the hallway, I wonder who is the manufacturer 🙂

#5 French chicness from the kitchen and the bathroom

In my humble opinion, the black and white floor tiles in the kitchen are extremely in French vogue. I rarely see this type of floor in my region, I wonder why people no longer like simple black&white tiles. The bathroom is a French chicness of the house where the retro free-standing tub takes all the attention. The shower faucet is from Domn w Retro, it’s from copper and it will nicely age with time.

The nightstands are from Zara Home, and the pendant above the bed is from Georges.

What a great home! I’m so grateful to Justine for letting me show you around her interior. If you would like to see more similar homes, feel free to click on the Vintage my love and Warm interiors tags to get to the archive of my blog.

 

Photo credits: @i.tam.i.tu – shared with friendly permission

 

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