Thursday in September

Almost a month since I last wrote. What have we been up to?

• Isolde started school again. She's in the same class as little friendbours V. and E., which is very nice and convenient for drop-offs and pick-ups but also has its disadvantage, e.g if one or two of the others get picked up early but not Isolde, but that's part of learning how to deal with life I guess. Isolde likes school and has fun there but it is certainly not the super-positive attitude that we had last autumn (guess the novelty has wore off). In the morning she says she doesn't want to go but once we're on the way she's usually excited...until we reach the classroom and she doesn't want to let go and is sometimes upset (though sometimes "crocodile tears") but usually accepts to go to her teacher's arms, albeit a bit reluctantly. If E. is upset, Isolde will also start crying, or vice versa, as they trigger each other. As I said she seems to have fun and be content once there but in the morning I think that she in that moment prefers to stay on the comfy couch and watching telly. And not having to get dressed. Our little lazy girl :)

Isolde's classroom. To the left of this picture they have a playhouse and some more toys.

• It took Harald about three weeks or so to get used to his new daily routine at the Pas à pas crèche. After about three weeks he caught a cold and was home for little over a week. The last two days before he got sick was the first days that he didn't cry when we dropped him off, but after that week away I thought we would be back to square one. But it seems that he has actually missed them and he wanted to go to one of the teachers right away and he put his head on her shoulder and cuddled for a long time. So this was really a sign that he's really happy there and also a good "grade" for them. There's such a good atmosphere there. When I dropped Harald off Wednesday this week they were playing the guitar and singing and I just wanted to stay there instead of going to work!
• We have done some gardening, even though most weekends and evenings we have priorised other things. We have tried to get rid of some persistent weed (dandellion type) in the grass, the environmentally-friendly way, and sown new grass, but now we'll have to buy some chemicals. I have also continued the weeding of the flower beds that my mum started when she was here, and we have also evened out some parts of the grass both on the front and back of the house by putting new soil and sown grass.
• I started studying French - two hours twice per week during work hours, one of the perks of working for the European Commission.
• We tried online food shopping from Colruyt and we will probably continue this habit, if not every week but every other, with the usual complimentary shopping from the smaller supermarkets in the neighbourhood. Colruyt is a discount supermarket that is not really a great shopping experience if you actually go there - reminded me of Ö&B/Överskottsbolaget in Sweden - but in terms of the produce and products it sells it is very good. It has a very large range of organic products and Colruyt also has another supermarket, BioPlanet, that only sells bioproducts.

• We bought a new table for the living room. You may remember that our old one broke... We tried to find another table we liked but in the end we bought one almost exactly the same as our old glass table, only slightly smaller. We also bought a new carpet for the kids' room. As always, Ikea is the place to go. Well, not the table as that is from Habitat.

• We had a crayfish party together with the extended friendbour circle, including also the family we rented the flat from our first year in Brussels, who are now back in town. We ate crayfish for lunch and then had a barbeque in the evening. We actually got a babysitter to entertain the kids in the evening so we could actually have a sit-down dinner. Worked pretty well even though you are not completely off duty since they are still in the house.

• What else? We celebrated V's third birthday and Ellna's first, and their dad turned 40. We tried to take advantage of the mild September evenings before it starts getting dark too early (though most of the time, September has been chillier than last year, but better than August) by taking walks in our lovely neighbourhood. We also visited one of those indoor playgrounds for children for the first time. We were there early so we had the place almost to ourselves. Only bad thing was that we got some sort of stomach bug but it could also have been the lunch at Pizza Hut afterwards... We made a visit to the Natural History Museum. Last week we went to three different playgrounds in the same day. You have to make the most of the weekends, especially when the weather is nice!

Pajama walk

Little palaeontologists in action

• Peter has gone climbing twice with the husband of a colleague of mine (they came to our drink in March) and the plan is that they will go regularly. After the first session Peter's climbing shoes got mysteriously missing - we think we must have thrown them out with the rubbish, possibly with Harald's help... but luckily they were too tight and he needed new ones anyway. By funny coincidence my colleague's husband, whose name is also Peter, also went to Essex university like my Peter (he did a one-year Master's there) and it was there both of them tried climbing for the first time (and my Peter hasn't really climbed since then). Both Peters have also spent a long time at home with their children (their daughter is around the same age as Isolde) and the other Peter works 80% and is also the one who usually picks from crèche/school. We're also going to try to get the whole families together soon.
• Oh, and there was the Swedish election of course. There is so much I would like to write about it but I haven't had time to really sit down and have a serious think. For now, I will only write that despite the disappointment of the success of the Sweden Democrats that of course bedimmed the evening, Petra and I had a good time at the election coverage event organised by the group Svenskar i Bryssel.

House

As I mentioned in my previous post we are moving to new accommodation here in Brussels next month. Since we arrived last autumn we have been renting a flat - and it is a very nice flat which we like a lot - but now we would like to see what it is like to live in a house with more space and a garden (and the family who normally lives in the flat is returning at the end of the summer anyway). We only looked at three houses (I viewed two and Peter a third house on his own) before deciding to go for this house, but having looked at quite a lot of properties online we knew this one was a good "catch"*. It ticked several of the boxes: location (same neighbourhood, not more than 10 minute-walk to school/crêche/metro), good condition (especially the bathrooms and to some extent the kitchen), three or four bedrooms (it has four), around the rent we were willing to pay, and immediate or near availability. On our wishlist were also a free-standing/detached house and not too many (steep) stairs (compared to the very common Belgian townhouses) and a laundry room on one of the main floors rather than in the basement (especially if there are steep stone steps to the basement, which it often is). A bonus is that this house also has a working fireplace.

On the negative side the garden is perhaps a bit small but it will be sufficient for our young children (we can fit a trampoline and still play a game of badminton) and that there is no evening sun in the garden. There is a possibility to put up a plank to make a sitting area on the front of the house (in order to get some privacy from the road) though I think we will make do with the back veranda to start with. There is an awning (markis) and if we buy an infraheater we can probably sit there many evenings.

Here are some pictures! They are the realtor's so not the most exciting photos (but these are quite good compared to most Belgian real estate ads!) and they are not complete as we don't have photos of all rooms and spaces.

The house from the street. The kitchen is the bottom right and upstairs is the main guestroom to the left and the second guestroom to the right (the two other bedrooms are at the back). The extension to the right of the kitchen is the laundry room (the old laundry room was in the basement where there is still a stone sink) with an exit to the garden. In addition to the garage the basement has three (I think) rooms as well as a pantry but none of the rooms are furbished so will mainly be used for storage.

Garden view of the house. To the left it is the laundry room as mentioned with an entrance to the basement underneath. Downstairs the living room is to the left and the dining room to the right with doors to the veranda both from living room and the dining room. Upstairs, our bedroom is on the left side with an ensuite bathroom behind the small window, and to the right is the children's room.

The veranda/porch is not very big but will fit the furniture we had in our balcony in Stockholm at least.

View of the garden from the porch. We will put the trampoline in that corner.

And the garden from the other side.

The living room with windows to the garden (and a door to the porch to the left of the picture). Behind the camera is the dining room and to the right the door to the hallway. There are wooden floors (parquet) in the living room and the dining room and tiles in the kitchen and hallways. Upstairs are also wooden floors but not parquet.

The dining room with doors to the porch to the right and I think there is also a door to the hallway to the left. I like the shaped window.

The kitchen has not been renovated now (looks like it is from the 90s?) but at least it is white and in good condition, and the cooker, fridge/freezer and dishwasher is completely new, as well as the washing machine and dryer next to the kitchen. I think the kitchen will look nicer with a table, perhaps a rug underneath and a few gadgets such as my red KitchenAid! The fridge is very small so we will probably end up buying a freezer box and put in the basement.

Before we move upstairs, downstairs is also the entrance and hallway as well as a toilet with a sink as well as some space for wardrobes. Underneath the stairs is the door to the basement, which I don't currently have any pictures of either.

Our bedroom with garden view. There is a little bit of a niche so we are a bit unsure how to place our bed but I think it will fit in that space and still allow us to put a bedside table on the left side of the bed and also be able walk between the bed and the window. There is also space to the right of the picture but I would prefer to put the bed in the alcove if possible. To the left of the windows is the ensuite bathroom, however the toilet is in the hallway (very common in Belgium).

The ensuite bathroom. I like that there are two sinks, much needed!

The main guestroom with a small balcony. This room may be somewhat bigger than our bedroom and has a better layout, but the main bedroom has the ensuite and is also facing the garden, and is probably quieter than the rooms towards the street (though all windows are double-glacing).

The second guest room (which is likely to double as playroom for the children) which is facing the street. I think this room, or it might be the main guestroom, has a fireplace, not a working one but a place to put some candles for some atmosphere.

For some reason there was no picture of the fourth bedroom, the children's bedroom, but it is very similar to the other rooms: white walls, wooden floors, same type of windows.

The shower room in the hallway upstairs is also brand new like the bathroom with the same type and colour tiles. The separare loo is also very similar in style.

So this will be our home for the next few years! I will post new pictures once we we have moved in and made ourselves at home. We look forward to having guests occupy the guest rooms and jump on the trampoline with Isolde!

* If we were buying I am certain we would look at many more houses and taken our time but now when we are "only" renting it's easier to take a quick decision.

Friday Gallery: Doors/Portals

I decided to tackle today's theme - doors or portals (portar in Swedish) - by taking some photos on my way home from the metro station after work today.

Every day I pass this beautiful entrance to someone's home just outside Isolde's school. 

And further down almost the same street there's a little chapel in disguise. Or a electricity station in disguise depending on what direction you are coming from. I wonder if it was a chapel (or altar, as you can't actually go into it) first or an electricity station first. 

And after that I'm almost home. I like the entrance to our building and especially the name of our building. Why don't Swedish buildings have names? 

New Sofa?

Maybe not in the living room but I think it would work well in a hallway or a library (reference).

Where to Put All that Shopping

Hey, I need some help!  I've been looking at wardrobes for Isolde's room for ages but haven't been able to take a decision.  I have ruled out my favourite due to cost, as well as the copy due to mainly size (too small) but also cost, and am now choosing between some Ikea options.  I think I like the big Hemnes best but I'm not sure!  What do you think?!

Hemnes - Is this my new favourite? 

Birkeland - Not too sure about the glass and the fact that the clothes will be visible...

Stuva - The more modern look.  This comes in all-white, which would be my choice, or other colours too.



Smaller Hemnes wardrobe that I think would be too small for our needs.

Birds

A must have for Isolde's room!  Which will probably stay on the wish list considering the price tag... Why are beautiful, stylish things so expensive?!  And why are cool lamps always so expensive?!

This Week

Highlights from the week, which has been work work work for me, but family time too.


Before the snow arrived today (Friday) we had several days of cold but sunny winter weather when Stockholm is at its best. This picture shows Stockholm's changing silhouette with the new Stockholm waterfront building to the right of the City Hall. The front building is pretty cool but not the boring office building behind...

Isolde is still a major thumb sucker but she's sucking more and more on her index finger, just like her dad when he was little, especially when she's in the pushchair.

One of the week's work highlights was a visit to Saltå kvarn...

...and looking good...or not...in protective gear for the visit inside the mill and the bakery.

Last weekend Isolde had a great time on the swings of Humlegården but wasn't as happy when she fell forward like a log on the snowy path.  She's not used to wearing boots or snowsuit and not being as mobile and flexible as she's indoors. 

Not a great photo it will have to do; we finally found a lamp for the living room that we liked! 

Here's a better picture.

Urgent Design Help Needed!

Which bed spread should we choose?! The off white goes better with the dark grey bed and gives a lighter look (it's even lighter in the picture as it's near the window). The brownish goldish beige goes better with the wallpaper and gives a cosier look. I want to have some accent colours, maybe dark purple or cerise pink - which one would they match best with?! And what colour curtains with either spread?! Apologies for the bad quality iPhone photos - didn't have time to take out the camera.

Show & Tell: The December of My Dreams

I thought I'd jump on the Show & Tell train again.  Annika is hostess for the month of December and she has given us five seasonally appropriate topics :)


2 December - The December of My Dreams.  The hostess has assisted with some questions: what would the ultimate month of December be like for you? Maybe you want to skip everything to do with Christmas?  Or would you go away?  Or do you want to maximise Christmas [like Annika herself]?  Tell us!

9 December - Saint Lucia

16 December - Half-year check.  A Show & Tell tradition where we show what happened July-December.

23 December - The day before Christmas.  What do you most look forward to?  What food would you not want to be without?  What traditions must be there for you to call it Xmas?

30 December - Thoughts for the new year




I'm going to be very "right now" in my post today.  I'm not really going to answer Annika's question but just tell what's on my mind right now:


My dream this December will be that our kitchen (and the rest of the flat, but that work will be much quicker in comparison) will be ready by Christmas!  And with a few days left until Christmas so we can make it Christmassy and cosy.  And I hope that we can actually move back (staying with Peter's parents right now) next weekend so that we can start unpacking and decorating, both design-wise and Christmas-related.  Peter's parents are not too much for that sort of stuff, not for Advent at least, so the don't even have a single advent light up (just four real candles).  I'm quite minimalist in terms of Advent and Christmas decorations but I want at least one advent light in each room/window.


Even if the kitchen will take right up to Christmas (and maybe longer because the stone counter that we've ordered might not be fitted until after New Years), it looks like our bedroom will be ready any day (though it's next to the kitchen so we'll be sleeping in Isolde's room for the remainder of the works) and next they will wallpaper the living room and the hallway.  So it's getting there.  I can't wait to see it all ready, or even part ready. 


I don't know if I ever told you what wallpaper we chose in the end... so here is hopefully what our bedroom will look like!  Though the bedroom picture shows another colour combination than the one we chose, the one in the first picture (Ludlow from Cole & Son). 

For the living room we chose a wallpaper in white with stripes with three different widths but unfortunately I don't have a photo yet (Décor Maison). 


Have a nice weekend!

Dream Bed

This stylish and comfy companion will move in with us soon! Unfortunately not for another 6-8 weeks but...




At the moment - and since the move on 19 May - we're sleeping on pretty thin mattresses on the floor and it's not doing any wonder for a back (read: my shoulders and my neck) that's already a bit stiff from carrying a baby around. We hadn't realised that beds, like sofas, are usually not stocked as they are (semi)customised. If we had known we would have ordered it much sooner - or rather - not sold our old bed before we bought a new one. We could have gone to Ikea of course but for once in our lives we thought we'd buy a "proper" bed. So we're going to buy some extra mattresses to make our make-do bed a bit softer, or try to bring the sofa-bed from Peter's family summer house to town (if its fits in the car). Since my parents are coming to babysit and spend the night when we go to our friends' wedding in July, we need to sort something out anyway as the new bed won't have arrived yet.

Decisions Decisions

Renovating is mostly fun but it can be rather stressful too. So many choices! Sometimes I wish there was just one shop and once you got there, only one choice. Browsing for wallpaper or tiles (or whatever it is) is fun but the closer you get to decision time the more nervous you become. "What if I choose the 'wrong' one?" You can always redo it of course but it takes money and time.

So we need your help!

On today's menu is wallpaper for our bedroom. We have narrowed it down to four options (plus a few extras).


Option 1

Extravagance from Harlequin (Midbec), close up:



and on the wall:



Option 2

Egerton from Cole & Son's Collection of Flowers:


Option 3

Ludlow from Cole & Son's Archive Traditional Collection. On the wall:


and close up, either in gold on bluish grey or silver on grey:




Option 4

Another way to go is to go for a more "daring" wallpaper (I don't mean completely crazy but one which perhaps will be a bit too much if all walls are wallpapered) on a selected area of the room. Backdrops (fondvägg) are apparently out now so my idea is to wallpaper only the part of the wall just behind the bed. I think I'd want to the whole wall from floor to ceiling, as in the second picture here and not just the headboard as in the first picture.



I wouldn't want our wallpaper to continue up in the ceiling though but I think you get the general idea. The rest of the walls would be painted in white or light colour to match the chosen wallpaper.



The wallpaper I'd choose for if we went for this option is this one, Lilac from Cole & Son's Collection of Flower, either in a brighter or softer version. This wallpaper is pretty pricey so I wouldn't have in the whole room for that reason too. The real wallpaper is much more silvery/metallic than appears on Cole & Son's page.




Some further options
Sudbury from Cole & Son?
Birds or flowers on grey or another flower one or pink flowers from Nordic Blossom?
Modern Classics 2119 from Decor Maison?
Something from Designers Guild Arabella collection?


So, whatcha think??!!