Nestled In

Today we’re doing something special! We’ve done a few visits to lovely homes before but never a proper house tour. So say welcome to our first house tour guest, Ana from Rearranged Design! Check out all the great house tours on her blog for more design inspiration! Click here for more pictures of Ana’s lovely home.

Name: Ana
Where do you live: Bay Area, San Francisco , CA
Rent or own: Rent
Size of your home: 583 Sq. Ft. (Katja’s note: about 54 Sq. meters for us Finns!)
How long have you lived in your home: 10 Months

What is your decorating style?
Mid-Century Bohemian

What is your favorite place in your home?
Probably my bed, it’s right next to the window and from there I can hear the rain, I can feel the breeze and watch the sun come down.

What do you like the best and the least about your home?
The best is how quickly it came together and how easy it was. The least is that I need just one more closet.

Do you have any projects/plans lined up for your home?
I’d like to find a better divider for the Bedroom/Living room area, I don’t like the way the curtains droop.

What is the next thing you’re planning to do?
Paint the bathroom mirror black.

Have you done any DIY projects in your home?
Yes, many. I removed one of the closet doors and replaced it with a curtain so you could access it, without it the door would not be able to open into the living room.

Favorite stores to shop for furniture?
Thrift stores, Ikea and West Elm.

Where do you get inspiration for home decoration?
Everywhere, catalogs, people’s homes, books…

Your absolute dream home would be…?
A Mid-Century Ranch house or a Craftsman bungalow with attic master-suite.

Thanks, Ana for giving us a peek into your lovely home!

(All images from Ana)

I made some great finds today at a local store that sells vintage ceramics and china. I bought a small Arabia ‘Bellis’ plate and a tiny Arabia bowl shaped like a leaf. The bowl and the patterning on the plate are both such lovely shades of green and they’re in good condition so as soon as I saw them in the store I knew I had to have them. They’re my little treat to myself since today I was offered a really nice temp job. It’ll be nice to be working again!

I don’t know yet if I’ll hang the plate on the wall (I love all those lovely plate walls people have in their homes, like this one for example) or if I put it under a plant in the livingroom.

I also bought this Metsänväki postcard (designed by Kristina Isola) from Marimekko and put in on the living room wall. More lovely greens!

It’s the simplest things that make a happy life but sometimes it’s easy to forget that. I am often too impatient, focusing on all the wrong things and forgetting to live in the present and be content with all that I already have. I thought a little reminder for this Monday was in order so I put together this little round-up of lovely products that offer simple guidance. From the upper left corner: Work hard poster from Soma Gallery, Think Sign from Cox & Cox, Love pillow cases from Lush Designs, building blocks from Paloma’s Nest, Printer’s Blocks from Pedlars, notebooks from ecojot and Remember Happiness print by vol25.

For the whole summer, I’ve been obsessing about netbooks. I have spent dozens of hours reading about the old, new and up-coming models. Surprisingly, after several monologues of trying to convince her, Katja agreed that a netbook (mini-sized laptop that is meant mainly for web use and e-mail) would be kind of nice to have around the house. We are planning to use our new baby at home (e.g., on the sofa) and on the move (on the beach, in the park and during trips). A netbook is a great and mobile option for someone who’s looking for a device for e-mail checking, web surfing and light text processing. A netbook also offers entertainment in a form of games, videos and music.

[nerd jargon] First, I was after a brand new Asus Eee PC model 901 with 8.9″ screen, Intel Atom processor and 20 GB of storage space, but, on last Thursday, I ended up getting an older 701 model with 7″ screen, Intel Mobile Celeron processor and 4 GB of storage space. [/nerd jargon] 701 wasn’t nowhere near as expensive (toy) as the 901 would have been, so I bought that one instead. Netbooks, regardless of the technology inside the chassis, are not capable of replacing “a real computer” so, in my opinion, it doesn’t matter if the processor is not the newest of kind or the screen is a tad smaller than in the other model. Netbooks are always mini-sized laptops.

As you can see from the picture above, our Eee PC is very small. It is 22.5 cm wide and 16.5 cm deep. The height is some where around three centimeters. This netbook weighs about 920 grams. It fits into almost any purse or bag and it’s easy to take along. In addition to all other features, it looks very pretty on our new IKEA side table!

These flowers are actually from last Friday when I picked them from my grandparents’ garden. I love the little blue and lilac blooms. Happy Friday, see you again next week!