My youngest is 7, turning 8 in about three months. And as much as see her as the little one in the family, the truth is: She is not that small anymore. On the contrary; tall and quite a bit ahead of her peers by being the youngest of 4. And very cheeky!
No more toddler in the house, and, I admit it, I love it. I so enjoy being out of the small kids years where I had to bring all of them to everything. These days we can have nice and longer discussions, lay responsibilities upon them, get a clear yes or no for an answer, and do not need to bring a complete household when out and about.
However, growing means needs are changing, and not only clothes become too small. Luckily, one of our favourite interior brands for small people, Petite Amelie, started to grow as well and now offers a fabulous collection for older children too. From junior and bunk beds to wardrobes, good-sized desks, and bookshelves (Do you remember this dolls house?)
If you like their timeless, minimalistic style for your interior, I really think you should check them out. Everything is very reasonably priced, too. And if you already know the brand or have them in your house, then this is even better news: any upgrades and growing children can easily be catered for now.
Which is great news, especially if you are already familiar with the brand and love their style. Now you can easily move on to beds, wardrobes and desks for bigger children and stay with your favourite brand.
Let’s have a look at Petite Amelie’s latest additions. We have the bookshelf and desk that you can see on the 2nd image and both immediately found their place in our house.
What do you think? There will be a time when your little one needs a single bed and/or a children’s desk to concentrate on doing their homework or to relax. And if space is an issue, you can find these really clever space-saving solutions with the bunk beds and desk combos.
Talking about desks, a kids desk in the bedroom is a real ‘must have’ for children from about 6 years old. For doing homework, but also if they wish to draw, do crafts, paint, build Lego, or play on a marble track, it is a very practical and multi-functional piece of furniture for your little one.
Hello! Bonjour! Guten Tag! Hej! Ola! How are you? Are you in the holiday spirit yet? I came back from a short work trip last week and woke up to my children asking for the Christmas decorations to be put up, cookies to be baked, and Christmas songs. I have to admit, I needed a good tea and breakfast, but since then…
‘Have a holly jolly Christmas, It’s the best time of the year…’
And the wish lists have landed on my desk as well, all of them. That means I started looking for gifts, browsing stores, bookmarking… and there is a lot to choose from now.Personally, I like to find personal gifts that are a bit different. And before you wonder, my children are normal children and ask for headphones, markers they saw on YouTube, or football shirts too. And I am more than happy to wrap their wishes and put them under the tree.
Nonetheless, I am also sending gifts to friends and family, people I love and love to send a little something to.
Most of the ideas below come from finding cute gifts for best friends. And I hope I can inspire you a bit.
A super soft mohair blend makes this sweater the prettiest and cosiest sweater you could dream off . Each piece is hand knitted specially for you. Stripes and fabulous colours included.
Personalised luxury velvet Christmas stocking in 5 gorgeous colours! Select your favourite colour and optional name these will last for years to come.
These minimalist and stylish Scandinavian-style paper stars are perfect for any room in your home. Use them to decorate for the holidays, give them as a gift or simply enjoy them in your own home as a unique and beautiful pieces of art.
Combining a selection of fragrant and festive fauna with Spruce, Conifer and Pine, complimented by eucalyptus boule and ferns for a truly glorious perfumed welcome wreath. Each wreath is hand-made to order!
Or do you want to go all out this year and put this extra large super chunky candy cane Christmas wreath on your front door? (other designs available)
I love these so much and I think they make the best gift. A true heirloom item that will get out of the box every year and put a smile on a face. Personalised christmas baubles!
You send them your favourite kids drawing and they will turn it into a fun toy! Toys from drawings
One of my favourites and I am sure everyone would really love to receive this as a gift! An original hand made painting of your own home or of someone you love. Of course, it can also be a favourite place, vacation house or a treasured memory. Every painting is painstakingly detailed and intricate and takes many hours to complete.
We have a similar tree in our house that I bought when we lived in Sweden. Yes, it is different… but I like it so much. We do get a real tree as well every year and it is more an addition to the Christmas decorations for us. Branch is an elegant hand crafted Christmas tree made from sustainably sourced maple. It provides a unique contemporary decoration without any mess.
A beautiful wooden rainbow made from solid European beech wood and painted in your choice of colours. Each rainbow contains six arches in varying sizes to create a rainbow shape. You can choose to add a name to the smallest arch for an added personal touch.
Organic cotton wall hanging of the solar system. A beautiful addition to any kids room.
Do you live in a place where Christmas Sweater are a thing? I have something for you, because they can be nice. Like this sweet Merry and Bright Sweatshirt made with premium materials for a soft and comfortable feel.
Oh, this is so pretty. And you can fill this gorgeous wooden Christmas eve box with treats and surprises to keep the little ones entertained this Christmas Eve. Each solid Christmas Eve box features a metal clasp and hinges and is crafted from natural wood.
This beautiful lamp is made of sustainable maple wood and comes in the shape of a moon. Sweet dreams are guaranteed!
These vintage-inspired ornaments will make a great addition to your holiday decor. Can be hung on your tree or displayed on a wall/shelf to add warmth and cheer to any space in your home.
The perfect alternative to wrapping paper: These eco friendly Furoshiki wrapping cloths, sewn with love and care, can be used and reused for wrapping presents, groceries, and wine bottles.
A classic yet contemporary bucket bag, is THE accessory to put under the tree. Made from Belgium vegetan leather with an adjustable shoulder strap. It has a handy card sized inside pocket. (available in black as well)
Herringbone patterned and beautifully handwoven cotton throw blanket. Soft, cosy and gorgeous!
LOVE! Take it to the beach, use it for a picnic at the park, hang it as art on your wall, or use it to cosy up on the couch. The possibilities are endless with this versatile throw blanket! Feature fun original artwork. They’re 100 percent cotton and easily washable.
Make your Christmas even more special with a hand embroidered Christmas Stocking! Each stocking is embroidered entirely by hand and as such makes each one entirely unique. Beautifully framed by a circle of stars, tiny golden stitches, fir tree branches and mistletoe.
Hurra! Are you ready for another Friday list full of slight Autumn vibes, back to school inspiration, beautiful things for mums and lots of interiors I fell in love with over the last weeks?
Are you?
Get ready!
But before, how was and/or is your summer? I hope you could relax a bit and spend some quality family time. I will soon report from our trip to Madrid and share some places with you, because it is a great place to go as a family.
There are 26 lovely things to discover, to read, to get, to bookmark… enjoy:
Perfect Back To School pieces from Buho this season.
Nayla Ventura was born in Barcelona and grew up in a beautiful large flat with these gorgeous and famous floors in modernist tiles. One can say she had a rather stylish start into her life. Maybe the first inspiration for her lovely business called Rug Your Life!
Nayla then enjoyed most of her adult life in Germany, where her daughter was born.And moved on to Hong Kong, where her son was born, and moved back to Germany again. A true world woman with a multinational family alongside her.
Today, Nayla’s heart beats for all three of her ‘home countries’. She says: ‘I love how we can belong to completely different places, just by deciding to. Feeling home is very important for me and it has to do much more with myself and the people and things I choose to surround myself with than with the country itself.’
Today I am talking with Nayla about her business, children’s art as unique handmade rugs, and how it started. Her dreams and how a rug can be pure joie de vivre. Enjoy:
What is the story behind Rug Your Life and when did you start the company?
It was back in January 2010, when I was expecting my baby daughter. Like all parents, I absolutely wanted for her to have the most warm welcome into this world. My vision was for her to have a beautiful soft rug, handmade in the best materials, from a drawing that her own father had painted as a little boy. The painting was overflowing with imagination and joy and that was exactly what I wanted her room to feel like.
When the rug arrived, it was just incredible. The feeling is very hard to describe and it is something everyone should be able to experience. Seeing such a personal image transformed into a wonderful rug, by hand, with so much love put into it. It brought an unbelievable magic into the room.
Right then and there, all I wanted was for every parent to know how they could create the most unique and special rugs for their children’s rooms.
So Rug Your Life started, as Carpetzz first, with the purpose to fill the world with magic bespoke rugs! At the beginning the focus was on weaving children’s art as rugs, but it quickly and naturally evolved to include contemporary artists, interior designers and then museum art as rugs.
What is the best thing about your job?
The very best in my job is to listen and read the personal stories our customers tell us about the images they send. And then their reaction when they get the rugs. After more than twelve years, this keeps on being just as wonderful as the first time. It is everything. I feel such a connection with what I do and I feel very very grateful that my work impacts people’s lives at home and in such a meaningful way.
How does a ‘normal’ working day look like for you?
I always start my days setting my intention and mentally preparing for the best day. Then I usually check on the current inquiries and orders, how the deliveries are going, and which production stage we are in for each order. Next, I often speak to artists with whom we are discussing co-operations. For example: we weave their artworks as bespoke or custom rugs, and we advance on the choice of paintings, the sizes and techniques for the rugs and the colours for the yarns. Further, I also speak almost daily to some of the interior designers we work with to discuss home projects we are working on together. For them we are designing and making rugs.
There is usually a lot of variety in my daily work and it always moves around rug designs, stories, colours and wonderful creative conversations. Of course, there is also quite a bit of calculations and financial activities involved. Altogether, I like to have a clear structure for my week and my day and move within this frame intuitively.
How do I get one of your cool rugs?
If you want to have your bespoke handmade rug from your own design or from one or several images you love, all you have to do is visit our website and send us an inquiry. You can choose the rug size and shape that suits your space best, as well as the colours. Maybe you want to have the rug in the same colours as the picture(s) you send or maybe you want to use different ones that match your decor best. We can combine several patterns and images in one rug layout too. The only thing you have to do is… to want it!
How long does it take to make my bespoke rug and will I be able to see a draft of the end result before it goes into production?
It depends, and yes!
If you send us one image that you want to have as your bespoke rug, then we will draw the weaving graph and choose the yarn colours that are closest to your design. If you send us several images, we will first prepare some layouts and discuss the possibilities with you. Once the design is clear and confirmed and we have done all the preparation work, we will mix the pigments and dye the yarn just for your rug.
And then of course weave each single knot (as a pixel) from your design. Between half a million and one million knots are woven by hand for each rug!
There are many other steps before, between and after, each rug is ready. And in average, it takes 10 to 12 weeks (and many many hours of dedication) for your bespoke rug to be in your home.
You absolutely see a draft of the rug beforehand. You actually see the rug being made! We love sending you photos of your rug being woven and of different steps of the process.
Where do you see Rug Your Life in the future? What is your dream?
I LOVE this question, thank you! I see such a bright future for Rug Your Life. My dream is to be the #1 place that people go to when they want truly unique, fine, high-quality, handmade rugs with their favourite images, their children’s artwork or museum masterpieces.
My dream is for people to appreciate their time at home so much that they honour it with meaningful love-filled rugs. I see thousands and thousands of people spending their best time with their family and friends, on and around rugs that always remind them of how important they truly are.
How are the rugs made and where are your manufacturers based?
For children rugs we love using premium New Zealand wool. It is the highest-quality, softest, most delightful to touch material. The rugs are as easy to clean and maintain as it gets. Moreover, it is also anti-allergenic and temperature and sound insulating. New Zealand wool is truly ideal.
I love working directly with the people who make the rugs, in India and in Nepal. This ensures that we always know what is going on. It is very important for our customers and for us to have complete peace of mind that everything is made with respect for the people and also for the environment.
Our customers value personal interiors and unique rugs and are very appreciative that only the necessary resources are used. They love that we are respecting the people who made the rugs and the natural resources. And that we are not participating in mass production stocks that may likely become waste when not sold quickly.
Each and every one of our rugs is meant for the home it is going to. So the design, the colours, the size is unique. Therefore, all steps can only be made once the rug is ordered, as we cannot know in advance which colours will be needed and in which amount. Also, we create very high-quality, finely woven rugs. These are extremely good rugs and some of the designs have many colours and small details. It requires a long and expert dedication to weave each knot. This does result in longer delivery times than one might wish… but it is always, always worth the wait!
Should I ‘invest’ in a bespoke handmade rug for the kids room?
Some things are not easy to put a value in numbers to. Indeed, our rugs are not cheap. But how could they be? There is so much dedication and work invested in bringing them to life. Each rug is a big celebration of your child’s creativity as a handcrafted masterpiece! Your child grows up with a rug from their own art. And with the wonderful sense of ownership and confidence that what they like and who they are, deserves to be honoured in such a way. This feeling is absolutely priceless. Sometimes it’s just not about the money, it’s about the pure joy!
How do I keep the rug clean and nice?
One of the reasons we use New Zealand wool is that it is one of the easiest-to-maintain materials! As with all rugs, the best way to keep them clean is vacuuming them regularly. And wiping the spills as soon as possible. Use a solution of 1l of warm water, one teaspoon wool detergent and one teaspon white vinegar, softly blotting or dabbing the stain. We also recommend having them professionally cleaned every couple of years.
Finally, what do you love to do when you are not working?
I love to be in the mountains or near gorgeous rivers and lakes with my family, visiting art museums in Munich and reading and learning about fascinating subjects. And I also love to just do absolutely, blissfully nothing!
Thank you Nayla! I am looking forward to seeing your dreams become reality!
Hej Hej! How are you? 2022 continues to be challenging… inflation, Ukraine, crazy housing markets, broken supply chains, and so on… now, we do need to stay positive. Find our way through it!
My two eldest are 12 and nearly 15 (yes…!) and I am enjoying the conversations we have now. It is so different and fun. And also interesting how they receive and see world news, and the questions that come up from them. If your children are still little, I can confirm that you have some amazing times to look forward to. Promise!
Now, to bring you something light and fun, I compelled a very long Friday List (really proud that I managed to get it together for the last Friday of April!) for you! Enjoy:
1. Alte Zachen / Cicada
This is a powerful, affecting and deceptively simple story of Jewish identity, of generational divides, and of a restless city and its inhabitants.
2. Explore the Rain Forest / Little Gestalten
Beloved characters Emma and Louis go on a trip to the wildest nature of our planet.
3. Let’s play indoors / Little Gestalten
A book that offers imaginative and resourceful ways to keep kids amused and inspired with games, crafts, and home-styled costumes inside the house.
4. Penny the mirror / Little Gestalten
Mirrors have it tough. They never feel like they are doing a good job, because when people look in the mirror, they (almost) always say bad things. But mirrors have feelings too, you know, and they take it personally.
OMG! These vases* are so adorable. Perfect little gift (or for yourself of course)….