They are now available

For those of you who might have missed it, the wooden blocks from The Small Object are available now. I posted about them here.
I hope you have a good week. I have a busy one. Busy but good!


(Image by The Small Object)

Buntings by Wunderlust

Really like these buntings by Wunderlust. They are handprinted on cotton fabric. Simple and lovely.

(All images from Wunderlust | found via simple lovely)

Colorful home in Sweden

It seems, that I'm quite into Swedish things after I came back from Stockholm. No wonder, there is so much good design and beauty to discover.
This home of Swedish graphic designer Helena Schaeder Söderberg and her family I found while browsing flickr.
After some googling I found out that Holly Becker interviewed Helena a while back for cookie magazine, with some great answers from Helena.
So let's go and visit her home:




What a nice idea to paint the entrance door with blackboard paint!




The rooms of Helena's two daughters are so colorful.

And what a beautiful bedroom, I really like the pale blue. See more photos of Helena's home in her flickr sets.

(All images taken by Helena Schaeder Söderberg)

Apples & Pears: Etsy finds

How about a fresh apple or pear? I keep seeing them popping up here and there. These are some of my Etsy finds:



Set of 3 ceramic Pears from Element Clay Studio, Vintage Candy Apple Dish from Rosy Apple Vintage, Cedar Apple from Holzfurhaus, Large vintage brass pear lidded container from High Street Market




A Pair of crocheted Pears from Seventytwostitches, Apple Brooch from Naomi Murrell, Pear, Apple Salt and Pepper from Sweetshorn Vintage, Print 2 half of a pear from Big Girls Don't Cry

And by the way, I'm sure you have seen some pear terrariums lately, I like the one in the Brick House.

(Images linked to their sources above)

Blog find: Dos Family

The Swedish blog Dos Family is the collaboration of photographer Jenny Brandt and designer Isabelle Halling McAllister. (Found via Fine little day)

One very inspiring feature on their blog is called Dos Visits, a collection of real swedish homes, that Jenny has photographed. A source of so much eyecandy: inspiring, eclectic homes filled with vintage finds and colors. I could browse them for hours.

Have a good start into the new week!

(All images from Dos Family | via Fine little day)

Stockholm: Rosendal's Garden

Rosendal's Garden was one of my favorite places in Stockholm. It is an open garden, with the main purpose of presenting biodynamic (organic) garden cultivation to the general public.

Rosendal's Garden is located on a huge area with a park, flower- and vegetable fields, greenhouses a wonderful café and shop. The café offers lunch, soups, coffee and cakes with only organic ingredients. And you can buy products from their own production. We bought some honey with orangejuice and orange slices. Really delicious! But unfortunately it's soon eaten up.

A really unique place, every corner is beautiful, so peaceful and relaxing.

(All images taken by me)

Stockholm: Södermalm + shops

One of the parts of Stockholm we enjoyed most was Södermalm. Especially the SoFo area in the east of Södermalm where you can find lot's of cute little shops. Unique design and second hand stores, lovely cafés and bars.

We biked a lot in Stockholm. Bike lanes run throughout the city, it's a really great way to move around and you have always the possibility to stop when you see something interesting.

The northern part of Södermalm has many, many viewpoints, which offer great views over Gamla Stan.

I read Emma's Stockholm guide (Thanks Emma) before our trip and one place she recommended was the café Lasse i parken. A really cozy place with the most delicious chocolate cake. (Image above on the right).

What I really liked were all the parks and green squares. And these little cafés lokated in the parks. This one is the Mosebacke square. Also worth a visit is the Mosebacke etablissement for their beer garden with a wonderful view over the city.

Tantolunden has a huge area of allotment gardens and little garden sheds. We took a stroll through this area, it's a little oasis.

The café (actually there are several of them in Stockholm) we loved most was Vurma. It's a colorful place with an inspiring interior: beautiful wallpaper and wallpaintings, cushions in all kinds of patterns. Plus delicious sandwiches and cakes. Heaven :)

And of course the SoFo area, the eastern part of Södermalm with it's design and second hand shops and cafés. These places we visited and liked a lot:

Designtorget: Swedish designproducts from interior decoration to funny presents

Blås & Knåda: Gallery and shop with a huge selection of unique pottery and glass objects, a really inspiring place

Under: Children's clothes and second hand stuff

Grandpa: Clothes mixed with second hand furniture and interior design products

Beyond retro: Second hand clothing

Restaurant sardin: Cute little tapas bar

Café string: Fun place for sandwiches, salad and playing some backgammon

Other shops I liked (not in Södermalm):

Asplund, Granit: modern interior design

Morkarin: Children's stuff and interior decoration - unfortunately closed when we were there but it looked fabulous through the windo

Designhouse Stockholm: Designproducts for your home

(all images taken by me)

Stockholm: Gamla Stan

Gamla Stan is Swedish for old town. Our Hostel named Best Hostel was seated in Gamla Stan, we had a wonderful view from our window over the sea (image above). We saw the ships and cruisers coming and going.

Stockholm is such a lovely city, the original buildings are well-preserved, the historical city centre has not been damaged in a war as here in Berlin. So I really enjoyed these old and original buildings, their structure and their colors.

We looked for the narrow and silent streets in Gamla Stan, for places without tourists. We found some but not many.

These are some places I recommend in Gamla Stan:

• Have a hot choclate and a Swedish cinnamon bun at Chokladkoppen.

• Visit Stadsmission for vintage finds.

• Also worth a visit: the Sweden Bookshop, which offers a huge range of translated swedish literature and books about Sweden.

More to come in the next days!

(All images taken by me)

Coming tomorrow: Stockholm

It has been a little silent here on Visual Notes. I've been busy sanding and painting our windows last week.
Here is a peek what is coming tomorrow... I'm going to show you some images of our Stockholm trip and tell you about some places we've enjoyed to visit.
I hope you had a wonderful weekend!

(all images taken by me)