New floor in the kitchen

Okay, so the weekend wasn't as relaxing as I was hoping for. I always have a project going on and this time it was the kitchen floor...

We had a grey laminate floor that looked like tiles and I was not fond of it at all. Since the living room floor is painted white and the rooms are connected, I wanted the kitchen floor to be white as well. I could paint it as I did in our little hallway, but because of the drying time (8 hours) + 3-4 coats I would never have found time for it. We have therefore added a white vinyl coating to get the same expression as in the rest of the house.

This vinyl coating from Storeys is probably easy to lay if you have a square room (which my kitchen is not, so it wasn´t that easy). You only have to take off the skirting before you start. No glue, only a sharp knife for cutting.

We are very happy with the end result - our kitchen is now much brighter and modern, and it looks better against the living room. It´s probably not the most practical floor color in a kitchen, but who cares - pretty before practical! *smile*.

You can see some before pictures of the kitchen here. ( This was before we bought the house )



(Images: Nina Holst )

{ The winner is... }

What a beautiful Sunday! I hope yours is great as well.

Thanks to everyone that wanted to participate in my latest giveaway. It´s nice to see that there were 190 people that wanted to win two rolls of concrete wallpaper from Storeys. The winner is now chosen by random org. and is "Irene H". Congratulations - I hope you will enjoy them! If you send me your address to nina(at)stylizimo(dot)com, I will send them to you right away.

I will have a new giveaway for you lovely readers soon - so stay tuned!

Have a wonderful Sunday!

{ Decoration from nature }

I admit that I have started buying Christmas decorations already. In fear that they will get sold out I bought these cute bark reindeers and a fake antler...

Both the reindeers and the fake antler is bought at Living.

The laminate floor is now removed down in the basement, and the old concrete floor is primed and ready for the electrician to lay heating cables. This is how the floor looks underneath - kind of cool right?

Do you have any great plans for this weekend? I will actually try to relax a bit. I´ve bought some new magazines and a Christmas book that I will enjoy reading. And who knows, maybe there will be a few projects as well...

Don´t forget to participate in my concrete wallpaper giveaway.
Happy weekend lovely people!



(Images: Nina Holst )

{ Industrial living room }

Today I´ll get some help from my dear cousin with the floor downstairs in our living room #2 (down in the basement). As I told you earlier I want to have a concrete floor, and that means that we have to remove the laminate floor that is already there and prime the concrete underneath before the electrician comes tomorrow and install the heat cables that we want underneath the concrete floor.

Here are some pictures I found on "Living"´s blog that I find as great inspiration for our living room #2. Industrial is the main word for how we would like to decorate the room.

 I´m really excited to see how the concrete floor turns out. I have used the last few weeks on persuading my fiancé, so it better turn out well. *smile* 

A big rug is a must when having a concrete floor I think. These looks great!

Hints of wood or warm colors will give the otherwise cold room a warmer feeling. I will for sure add some elements from nature.

Do you like any of these living rooms? Do you think this is a look that would look nice in a TV room/living room in the basement?



( Images: Livingbloggen )

{ One week left }

Now it´s only one week until some of us meet at the "Førjulskos hos Hviit" (Christmas blog event) that Cecilie, Linda and I are arranging for 50 of you interior bloggers coming from all over Norway. We are very excited and very grateful for the response from both you and our sponsors. Let me introduce you to the sponsors we have gotten until now....

Oh, boy! We have so much to look forward to girls! I hope you bring your Christmas spirit next Thursday - because we sure do. *smile*

(If you already haven´t signed up, I´m afraid it to late. We had a limit at 50, and it got full the first few days after the invite. )

{ A stylish apartment! }

Let´s have a little tour in this beautiful apartment in Sweden. There are so much to love about this charming place...

I ♡ the brick wall

I ♡ the coffee table

I ♡ the combination of black and brown

I ♡ the lamp

I ♡ the shelves

I ♡ the hints of red

 

I ♡ the idea of using a bicycle as decoration

I ♡ the stairs

I ♡ the black bedroom

I ♡ the headboard ( looks like an old sofa  )

Anything you ♡ about this apartment?

(Images: Stadshem )

{ What to do this year... ? }

Have you started thinking about the Christmas decorations yet? I know that it´s still early, but I was looking through some pictures from last year's Christmas, and I got really excited about decorating for Christmas in our new house....

This is a table setting I did last year in our apartment in Beverly Hills. We didn´t have that much decorations back then, since we went home for the holidays, but with an artificial pine-garland, some pinecones and snowflakes it actually felt like Christmas even when the temperature outside said "summer". *smile*

I guess I'm wondering about which colors I will decorate with this year. Right now I´m thinking some white and some silver, but mostly elements from nature. So probably something similar to this table.

What colors are you going to decorate with this year?



(Images: Nina Holst )

{ Right now I love... }

There´s no doubt that I´m in a black & white period at the moment. Here are some of the things that I´m dreaming about right now...

Thank god it´s not long until Christmas. Santa; make sure to write these wishes down *smile*

Happy weekend!

Love,

Nina

{ Extra storage }

We are finally done with my fiancé´s home office, and this how we have decorated his room on the other side of where he has his desk.

We are in lack of space for our clothes, so we got him a clothing-rack so he can hang some of his clothes in his office as well. He also got a shoe cabinet for the shoes that aren't in everyday use.

 New black hangers for the new wardrobe...

Above the rack it´s a couple of shelves for boxes and magazine files etc. I added a few baskets there as well, just to create a contrast against all the black, white and grey. It´s a nice way to soften it up a bit.

If you missed the before and after pictures, you can see them here.

Reminding you all that I have a giveaway going on, where you can win 2 rolls of the concrete wallpaper that I used behind the desk in this office.


Have a happy day!



(Images: Nina Holst )

{ Finally, I have one too.. }

I have been looking for a "Corokia" for a long time, and this weekend I finally found one. This is for sure the hottest blog plant right now, at least here in Norway.... No wonder - it´s very beautiful.

 Chestnuts are a very decorative in Autumn as well... I love FREE decoration.

Do you have a Corokia yet?

Thank you so very much for your advice on the concrete floor post I had yesterday. I really appreciate your help. I am much wiser now. *smile*


(Images: Nina Holst )

{ Concrete floor }

First I want to thank you all for your votes and for your congratulations on my 2nd place in NIB´s wallpaper challenge. I´m really, really grateful..♡

Sköna Hem

But let´s move from concrete wallpaper over to concrete floor. We are thinking about having a concrete floor in our 2nd living room that´s down in the basement. This room will be used as a TV room (mostly a boys room), so I want it to look rough and cool, as well as I want to keep the costs low...

 Unknown

Concrete floors comes to mind, but we have no experience on concrete floor what so ever and therefore I have some questions for you: 

1. Does any of you have any experience on laying a concrete floor? 

2. Is this something we easily can do ourself? 

3. Do you know if we can choose between a light or a dark look? ( I would prefer a light look on it )

4. What do we treat it with so the surface gets smooth, and that it´s easy to keep clean? 

5. Is it expensive?

6. We are planning on having heating under the concrete, is this a problem?

I would really appreciate answers, so I hope some of you have done this before...

Sköna Hem

If you like the concrete look, I recommend you to participate in my giveaway - Win two concrete wallpaper rolls.


Wish you all a great start on this new week!


xo,
Nina

{ GIVEAWAY - wallpaper from Storeys }

It´s with great joy that I tell you that Storeys want to give away two concrete wallpaper rolls to one of you lovely readers. They liked the feedback you gave on my fiancé´s home office so much, that they want to give you the opportunity to make a concrete wall yourself. How nice is that?

 If you missed my post about this newly decorated home office, you can view it here.

"Share-button"

Everybody can participate, and all you have to do is to "follow my blog" ( via Google ) and write me a comment that you do.

If you don´t think this is something what will fit in your house, you can always give it away to somebody else. I´m sure you know someone that would love this wallpaper...

The winner will be chosen by random.org in two weeks from now, which will be the 30th of October.


Good luck to you all, and may you have a wonderful Sunday!

{ Table setting: Handmade with love }

This is the idea I was talking about yesterday! Make a heart out of the bark, and you have a cute table setting for someone you love... It's easy to make, it will make your guests to feel extra welcome, and best of all it´s free. *smile*

Add some small pine cones and a twine to make it extra pretty...

Happy weekend!

(Images: Nina Holst )

{ I´m a finalist! }

What a nice surprise to see that I´m one of ten finalists on  

 NIB´s wallpaper challenge!

Make sure that you vote for your favorite here.
There are some really inspirational finalists.


Good night
(or good morning to some of you)


Love
Nina

{ DIY - cute birch tags }

I promised you some pictures from the House of Oslo event yesterday, but the truth is that I met so many wonderful bloggers and we had so much to talk about, that I forgot to take pictures of it all. Well, I took a few but the quality is so bad that it´s not worth showing... I had a great time though.

Instead I have this little DIY for you, so I hope you will forgive me... *smile*

The idea came to mind when I was collecting some cut birch to our fireplace the other day and I saw all the loose bark. I know I have seen somewhere that you can buy birch tags, so instead of buying, I thought I could make my own cute tags. Because we love tags, don´t we?  :)

There is no point of giving any tutorial on this DIY. You simply cut the bark in the shape you prefer. The thinner the bark, the easier to cut. Then you add a text with your DYMO or something else.

You can use a hole punch if you want a hole for some twine etc. My bark was unfortunately a little too thick for my hole punch, but a hole isn't necessary for the purpose that I´m using them for... I´ll show you tomorrow.

Have a creative day!

{ Home & Cottage - coffee table book }

Yesterday I was one of ten lucky bloggers who got invited to Home&Cottage´s launch-party at their store on Majorstuen, Oslo. The big event was a tribute to their lovely new coffee table book that you can find in all of their stores, and some bookstores in Norway.

Their book is called "Home&Cottage: Med et ben på jorden og sommerfugler i magen" and it´s filled with beautiful inspirational photos of homes and cottages decorated with their own furnitures and decorations. There are mostly pictures, but you will find a few recipes and some cute stories that will set you in the right mood for each season either you are in the city, out on the country, by the sea or up in the mountains. This is a perfect coffee table book that you can snuggle up with in your sofa, in front of your fireplace together with a hot cup of chocolate.

 It´s always nice to meet fellow bloggers at events like these. Among the bloggers I met, Anette, Kjersti, Veronica, Anine, Marianne and Astrid, who´s the author of the Home&Cottage blog.

 

Today I´m actually going to a new event. ( busy girl! *smile* ) House of Oslo is celebrating that they have been open for 5 years, and they will open two more shops: R.O.O.M and Habitat. As part of the celebration they have 20% off on almost everything in the whole mall. Yay!
I will meet some blog friends tonight as well, so I know it´s going to be a great evening with cava and cupcakes. I´ll show you some pictures tomorrow.

Will I see you there? 


Enjoy your day!

{ Before & After - home office }

I don´t know if you remember when I showed you some pictures from the house we bought for a little while ago? Anyway, I thought I´d show you a before and after picture of my fiancés home office, so you can see the what the changes are...

The reason that I don´t show you the other walls is that they´re not completely done yet. I have replaced the curtains with a pair of white sheer curtains though, and that did wonders. *smile*

Quite a change right? I guess it looks a bit more masculine now...
View more pictures from the new office here if you´d like.


I´m going to an exciting event today - I will tell you all about it tomorrow :)
Have a great day!


(Images: Nina Holst )

{ Blog meetup - a memorable day }

Hello everyone! How was your weekend? Mine was fabulous, and it´s all because of Anne Grete and Maia who arranged this great blog meetup on Saturday in the Eva Solo´s lovely showroom.
I had the best time with the sweetest girls - I can´t believe that there are so many wonderful bloggers out there!

 This picture is taken by Lillekatts Drablerier

You can see other pictures from the event here if you´d like.
Thank you for an amazing evening, girls! I look forward to see you all again.


xo,
Nina

{ Black & white }

Our home is getting rather colorless at the moment, but I like it. Maybe it´s the season, maybe it´s me or maybe it´s because I got inspired by you? Our home is now black and white...

It´s great to hear that so many of you Norwegian girls want to come to our Christmas blog meet up: "Førjulskos hos Hviit ".  If you are coming, make sure that you LIKE US ON FACEBOOK, so you can get information and updates about the event. Looking forward to see you there.

I´m actually going to a blog meet up today as well, and I´m truly looking forward to meet some of you girls tonight.  Tapas, wine, pretty girls, good conversations, smiles, (hugs?) and huge goodie-bags(!) - I´m sure it will be a great event.

Have a FAB Saturday everyone! 

Oh, and thank you all for your kind, kind comments on my DIY butterfly tree. You are the sweetest!

xo, 
Nina

{ Weekend DIY: A butterfly tree }

Hello everyone and hello Friday! Your feedback has been overwhelming the last few days, and I´m truly grateful for all your sweet comments - you are the best!
Today I have an easy DIY for you; Make your own butterfly tree! It might sound and look advanced but it´s really not...

Tips: Download a PDF with butterflies over at Kikkis Planet.

Thank you Kitti, for your lovely butterfly template.

(It´s easier if you have a tree to look after when you draw it. I looked at Ferm Living´s wallsticker.)

I hope you like my DIY butterfly tree! *smile*
See my other DIY projects here if you want to get creative this weekend.

Have a fabulous Friday lovely people.



( Images: Nina Holst )