A room with a view

From my room at the hospital yesterday. Full snowstorm outside:

At least I didn't have to venture out into the inferno. But the cold and grey rhymes with my existence right now. I was admitted on Monday morning. While at home for a few hours right now, I'm going back in later tonight. The message I got from the doctor was not good. Not at all. However, after tomorrow's consultations, I'm getting the weekend off, before I have to go back again on Monday morning.

A friend sent me this much nicer photo of sweet Sati, to cheer me up. Isn't she adorable?

Caving in

I wanted light coloured nail polishes for spring. Pink ones. Nude ones. Certainly no more dark hues after wearing all this black and grey during winter. I was perfectly happy with still using last season's "it" polish from Chanel, the 505 Particuliére. I did not feel I needed the newest "must have". Not at all.

But then what happened? One blogger after the other featured gushing words and tempting images of the grey/green/black'ish Black Pearl. I tried so hard to resist. First I bought one pink. Then another, even lighter pink. Every time I went past the local beauty store, while desperate not to, I just had to look at the Chanel display to see if it was still sitting there. Deep down I was hoping it would be sold out before I had to throw in the towel.

But it didn't help. It was still available, every time I passed through the shop.

I'm not a weak person. All this subtle persuasion got the better of me.Yeah, that's it. I blame the blogging brainwashers.;)

PS. One coat makes it look grey. Two layers bring out the gorgeous green, almost holograpich, effect. Love it!

Postcard from Bali

Fellow blogger M. of the lovely  She Wore It Well  blog has recently been on holiday in Asia, the lucky girl.

To me, part of the charm of travelling to the tropics goes something like: Sitting under a lush, green palm tree by a gorgeous turquoise pool, wearing a big floppy hat, elegant sunglasses and a breezy tunic, colourful cocktail in one hand, pen in the other while writing postcards to family and friends. [Insert lots of beautiful images of all of the mentioned things here].

Now, that's what I'd call relaxing in style. And in my imagination I can vividly picture her as the star of a fashion editorial depicting that scenario, when she wrote me this idyllic postcard from her vacation:

Thanks, M! Getting a beautiful postcard from someone's exotic holiday destination sure lights up a dark, freezing cold day in a dreary winter that never seems to end.

Renew Ikea furniture with Bemz

Did your know that you can renew your Ikea furniture by getting new, washable covers from Swedish company Bemz? All you have to do is to know the name of the Ikea model and pick out your favorite fabric. No need for taking measurements or any boring stuff like that. Just order, remove the old cover and slip on the new. Simple as that!

Take the old Tomelilla armchair pictured above. I've had it since I bought it second-hand seven years ago. It's a tad big for my tiny apartment, but I decided to keep it for a while longer due to the facts that it's both very comfy and it's got wheels. It's easy to move over to the sofa area when I have guests. The original cover from Ikea was once white, but over the years it has become both yellowish and washed out. Time for a new one.

From Bemz you can order fabric samples for free:

They have a huge selection of fabrics, colours and patterns, both their own design and from other designers. As I have just bought a new sofa from Ikea, a Karlstad in a fabric called Korndal Medium Grey, I was looking for something to go with it:

(Photo by Ikea)

I was particularly taken with a fabric from Designer's Guild called Castellar Indigo, which has some grey in it:

However, upon seeing it on a photo from the Bemz blog, I realized I'd rather use that particular fabric for cushions than for a whole chair, as the chair needed something to make it look less conspicuous since it's so big:

So I went with white and silver grey vertical stripes. They're supposed to be slimming, right?

A closer look:

From I made the order with Bemz and until I received my new cover it took about 3 weeks. Impressive, as they're sewn to order. And the total price, inclusive of shipping and taxes, was only a fraction of what it would have cost me to get a completely new chair. Isn't that just so neat?

It looks fab with the sofa, too. But as the refurbishing of my living room isn't completely finished yet, you'll have to wait for a little while longer until I can show you the whole "new" room. Hope it won't be too long!

Murder!

Oh no.....! I got this idea that I would wash my whole teddy bear collection as they've been played with by many ferrets and got a bit dirty over time. They all survived, except for my precious koala, given to me by an Australian friend many, many years ago. A sad day, indeed.

Anyway - I might seem a little mature to still keep these toys, but hey, almost all of them are gifts from dear friends and loved ones on special occasions. What would you do? Do you hold on to old toys for the sake of the memories attached to them, or do you give them away to declutter your life?