Needed to put these up. Else they'd be in the way, what, with laying around on the floor like that. Aaargh, hate stuff that has no place!

So we began,

And we continued.

Also, Perle bought a carpet for her room with her current favorite animal, the flamingo, on it and would like to like to let the world know how pleased she is with it.

In November, money was a little short and I spotted this couch at an online auction. It was a total steal and I could easily have afforded the couch, the shipping to Sweden from Denmark was trickier and it would all depend on if my clients paid me on time. Which they didn't as it turned out, so it was just as well that I didn't bid because that could have gotten me into a whole lot of money-trouble. However, I'm still madly in love with this couch, it's the perfect couch for my living room which really needs a couch, so now I'm trying track down if there are any more of these out there. It's Danish design, but I don't know by whom it was made. It looks like something H. J. Wegner would do; but even the auction house didn't dare put his name on this couch. Do you know anything about this couch, or where I might find one? I ((heart)) it and want one, right now. *swoon* I'll buy yours if you want to sell!

Trying to hunt down this couch I found the reference library which is full of images of odd and old things, furniture, places and art, oh I could spend hours there. I think I just did, what time is it?

It's not quite done yet but since it is a little less messy than usual, I decided to take some pictures. I knew from when I was three months pregnant that my child's room would be 1) fun, 2) green, 3) a forest. I loved forests when I was a kid and had a much darker theme in mind, but as Perle gets to pick a lot of her own things it's still green, only slightly more romantic flowery than forest.

Behind the bamboo pink cherry-blossom curtain hides her Tiffany-style turtle which we bought together when she was three months old. The bamboo curtains are a sale-find from Indiska, two for the price of one at 50% off. I waited months for that deal to happen.

She has her desk by the window, with the chair that she helped decorate and hooks for her massive collection of purses hats and robes. Is that an orb in the shot? :)

Above her desk hangs a cabinet that my grandfather built for my mother, which I also had in my room when I was a little girl. In it are Maroccan camels, a pretty cat she got from her oldemor (grandfathers mother) and a tea set from Japan that I had as a kid. On top is her latest find, a really kitch porceline figurine of dancing deers in awesome pastels. We actually found it in the yard when the container for large rubbish was here, it's a little chipped but too good to throw away just yet. The giant bear is her piggy-bank.

In her bed her "transitional item" the giant red rabbit sleeps with her under cotton sheets with animal prints and a shiny white cover with golden deers embroidered on top which we found - oddly enough - in the trendy teen department of H&M on sale for 50 bucks (5 usd). Her nightlamp is a plastic elephant, though here it looks like a glowing ball.

She has a Jonas Bohlin zink shelf on the wall which I spraypainted 'the right yellow' to match my turntable back in -92 (yes, that was bad of me but I don't care) and underneath it another one for smaller books. Her seat here stores hundreds of small toys and the old doll is yet another flea market find.

On the magnetic bottom half of the wall, there's butterfly magnets pollinating the wallpaper roses. She rearranges their position every so often.

I wallpapered and lacquered an old Ikea cabinet to use as her closet, and to prevent any picky kids (I'm looking at you Perle...) from ripping the paper off I laced the edges.

Igår var det auktion på Auktionskompaniet när jag och Perle seglade förbi. Jag kände att det ryckte i budfingrarna, det kanske fanns nåt roligt till exempel nummer 79 ett "HÖRNSKÅP, art deco, 1930-tal. Fanerad. Välvd front med jalusidörrar i form av bokrad". Men jag har lovat mig själv att hålla mig undan efter att ha klubbat hem den pampigaste kristallkronan jag sett, ovan. Miklas höll närapå att krevera när han insåg att jag fått den. "Den är för stor!" Nej det var den inte, men herrans tung och när Miklas balanserade på en stege lyftandes jättetung och otympligt bred krona upp mot taket lyckades han väsa i utandningen "du är skyldig mig så mycket för det här, pust, flämt, gniiii". Det var det trots allt värt, för väl på plats höll till och med han med om at den är bara så jätteläcker.

Vi gillar den! weeee! Det blir liksom inte matsal om man inte har lite kristall som stänker glitter på guldränderna i tapeten. Jaja, vi skall få färdigt trappan snart. Snart.

För vissa går det undan. Alice, allas vår premiärdrottning/tandläkare bodde på Valhallavägen 172, ni vet i senfunkiskvarteren kring Gustav Adolfs kyrka. Nu säljer Notar hennes lägenhet, och budgivningen har dessutom rusat iväg till hela 3 400 000:- idag för 65 kvadratmeter.

Väggarna har såndär väv eller sjögrästapet som blev trendigt igen i samma veva som Gucci's skandalreklam 2004 där modellerna lutar sig runt på liknande väggar, och de skvallrar om att Alice haft urtontusen tavlor hängades där i många år. Hur sjutton hann familjen tömma den på en vecka? Eller har det redan gått två? Vem ringer man för sånt? Vad hängde på väggarna? Foton eller tavlor hon fått från beundrare i kändiskretsarna månntro? Får vi snart se en auktion av Alice Timanders premiärlejonstassar och peruker? Babsan kanske vill ta hand om nån blåsa. ;)

Badrummet som ser ut att vara sent åttiotal är lika beigt som väven. Jag väntade inte en sån tam färg hemma hos Alice. Tydligen gillade hon den, till och med tvålen matchar! Var är guldkranarna och det dramatiska kaklet?

Köket håller beige och sen åttiotalstil, möjligen nittiotal. Stammarna i huset byttes -98 så vem vet, Alice kanske valde en retro stil då? Beigt satsade hon i alla fall stenhårt på! Är det beige eller är det gammelrosa kakel? Jag trodde att Alice var en marmorkökstyp - eller orginalfunkis, det hade ju varit logiskt.

Den enda intakta funkisdetaljen förutom balkongen är brasan. Synd. Stavparketten är ju fin men få av Gustav Adolfs-funkisarna har kvar ren funkis då de var hyresrätter och fick nya tråkiga kök och badrum genom åren. Man undrar ju om de ens hade många fina funkisdetaljer från början då de flesta husen här helt saknar charm.

A renovation update, I do have a real functioning bathroom now - if you saw progress, almost a bathroom you might want to see what it looks like now.

The toilet, is slanted from the wall. This way big people can still sit comfortably in this terribly small bathroom without hitting their knees in that corner there. This used to be a closet you know.

There are strategic "tile-holes" in the wall for stuff like shampoo and bubblebath, because I seriously hate all forms of steel shelving systems in the shower area. They never work. The tub is an extra wide, extra deep but short "sitting" tub which has been renovated. You try finding a new tub which is 76 cm wide and 142 long! Won't happen, besides, this one looks better as well as feels huge, despite being short.

The icon-tile hugs the tub and continues up on the wall in a single stripe. This compromise looks as if we planned it that way, but it was only because we ran out of icon-tile.

I love this tile. Love it.

Here's a fun way to let the wee one help out in decorating. Dress items in bokmärken. I don't know what these lovely paper pictures of angels, animals and scenes from fairytales are called in English, but you can get them in any toy shop around here. The rules are - there are no rules! Just come prepared with hundreds of pictures and let the wee one stick them everywhere they please. We're going for the messy look!

Perle proudly displaying her works. We dressed her little strollcart and her chair. I dressed her cabinet behind her with leftover wallpaper.

For the cart, my mistakes were that I didn't prepare enough, I should have cut some bookmarks up before we began. She quickly got tres bored waiting for me to get my act together and we had to return later. Then when I went to laquer it, I used an oil based laquer which gave it a bit of a yellow tint. Turned out ok anyway, actually kinda neat and antique, but not the look I was going for. The glue is normal wallpaper glue, so that she could use as much as she wanted really, and I could just brush it around with the wallpaper brush and then remove it with a wet cloth. Washes straight off hands, so that's no problem. Better than glue anyway - if adults were doing it I think a good glue would be less of a hassle since too much wallpaper glue makes the paper wobbly.

Another thing to learn is that babies use a lot of wallpaper glue and it's best to let it dry at least a day before going at it with laquer - you can see the glue in small piles on the chair.

Still, not bad for a 16 month old! ;)

...as it all comes together. Here's the lamp I bought for Perle's room when I was hit with a sudden rush of nostalgia probably caused by hormones last summer. I had a desklamp in this style in my room when I was little, so when I saw this I had to get it. Later Perle found that wallpaper and mom approved. Works, doesn't it?

Yeay! So finally we're off to Ikea to pick up our kitchen. A whole day of fooling around with their kitchen-building program and looking at the models they have on display. Perle loved it, running around like a madhatter in her "I do my own stunts" shirt that she got from Jane Goldman. Thanks Jane!

It was not all fun and games though, getting lost in a tiny Ikea - don't ask me how I managed that - and having to follow the grey 'street' began to bore Perle quickly. Here's her face when I tell her to stay on the road. *grumble grumble*

Once we spent hours doing computer drawings and having them checked and re-checked we got a list of stuff to pick up in the warehouse. Spread all over said warehouse. UGH! Every damned screw had to be collected and my patience was wafer-thin over four hours ago. Three carts like this collected, daddy breaking a sweat.

Oh how I envy thee, baby.

But then, all this had to be sent to transport and tonight it'll arrive in our house. I' be lying if I said I wasn't dead exited. Like Xmas. But in 91 different boxes and I know what's in them. And there's no santa involved. Ok, so more like Ikea than Xmas. Still. :)

Perle chose her own wallpaper. Perle loves her wallpaper, and we painted the bottom half of the wall with magnetic paint before papering, so she can put magnets everywhere that she can reach - a game that never gets old. Trivia, this wallpaper was the first batch of old wallpapers that Tapetorama got when he started his shop.

I'm pretty sure I heard his heart break when he saw my rather dismal job of putting it up. ;) It's still awesome though.

This wallpaper is the one we thought we would use in the diningroom, back when we planned to only do one wall. We changed our minds and did a whole room instead though, and there wasn't enough rolls of this to cover it. So if you fancy a wall or two and want roses, this is a cool batch.

We had to get one that had a few more rolls. And we took all of them, here's ours,from the 1950s with glittery gold!