New atrium railings

It is now again safe to let the little people out to play at the atrium terrace - the railings are ready! After sanding and painting, laminated glass elements were installed by the contractor. It took a while, but finally this project can be closed. And yes, we need to do something with those poor roses...

New railings - old roses

Handmade quilts

When Sofi was born a few years back, our friend J made the newcomer two baby quilts. She used a lot of time in designing the pattern and choosing fabrics. Different pieces of fabric each had a story: an old favourite dress, something found from grandmother's attic, shirt ruined by a coffee stain and so on.

And when Eino arrived, J went back to her sawing machine. This time inspiration came from an old piece of Unikko fabric by Marimekko Minna's aunt had given J when she visited Finland 10 years ago.

It feels very special to receive such thoughtful gifts. All four quilts are sawn with care, and one can easily see a lot of thought and time went into making them. Thank you J, once more - you really nailed it!

So...we have not done very much in neither of the children's rooms, yet. Which is the reason why the quilts were not photographed in their designated rooms. Sofi's room needs a fresh coat of paint (especially after she used the back wall as a drawing board because "the wall needed a picture").

A piece of abstract art on the wall

Also, Sofi's chairs need to be painted as well. These great little chairs were made by Minna's father years ago when Minna was a child, and have been just changing colors a few times during the years. Now they will turn red, at least for a while. They work fantastically with a small round table, which was a flee market found by Pekka.

Artist at work

So this summer, when Pekka takes care of the Final Frontier (a downstairs guest room), the children's rooms are a great project for Minna and Sofi. Fingers crossed by the end of the summer we have something "playful" to share!

Updating atrium railings

We used to have pretty ugly railing and panels at the atrium terrace. As you may guess, they are not the original ones, but have been replaced some years ago.    

Outdated composite

Up until now, the railing colour was an ugly greyish green, and the composite panels were even an uglier, translucent color.

Not our favourite colors

Sometimes initiating a seemingly simple project can be a bit time consuming for various reasons, but finally everything was set with the contractor. Before the installation of the new panels, the railing was sanded and painted by the tenants.

Pekka sanding the railing

Ready to be painted

Work in process

A seemingly small update, but the painted rail looks so much better already. Fingers crossed the new panels will arrive soon!

Freshly painted

And guess who was watching? The "streamlined" sausage who recently lost one of his testicles and needed to wear an annoying collar after the operation for a week. On day six, however, we found out that despite of the protective collar the lengthy shape of a dachshund actually enables a rather good reach the restricted area. Fortunately, even having been disobedient for doctor's orders, he seems to be now completely recovered.  

If they only knew this is not preventing anything!

How we buy Vintage Design

One of the topics we are asked to write about is how and where we buy vintage design pieces. To answer this question we'd like to share some of our thoughts and favourite links regarding this topic - so hopefully you find the following helpful and perhaps even inspiring!

The "how" part - the way we most often approach it - has already been discussed in one of the early posts called "The HPD Model" (Hunt, Detect, Purchase) in 2012. Briefly reviewed, the process goes like this:

• HUNT: various sources are screened via internet. Some items can be found quite easily, but in the more difficult cases it can be useful to browse sources from a country where a given item was originally designed and manufactured. The goal is to find a few options to choose from.
• DETECT: options are locked and communication with a seller begins. Endless number of emails are usually required to dig out more details, as well as to negotiate the price. The goal is to select the item which has the price / value ratio. Remember, there is almost always room for negotiation!
• PURCHASE: The price has now been already agreed (or won, if it is an auction), so next it is  crucial to organize transport. This can sometimes be quite tricky, and if you are not careful also quite expensive. 

But perhaps the most interesting piece of knowledge to get effectively started with HUNT is the  "where". In the abundance of online resources, where do you go to? We can of course only answer from our part, so below is a short list of our key sources we continuously follow, both actual physical auctions and internet favourites.

• Auction House Helander (Helsinki, Finland). One of our favourites taking place on a monthly basis. We have made some really good finds here with a good price. They have a very good internet listings one can review before the auction. The items can also be viewed on site beforehand. 
• Hagelstam & Co (Helsinki, Finland). Interesting as well, prices tend to rise a bit higher vs. Helander. 
• Bukowskis Market. Has showrooms both in Finland and Sweden. One of their greatest benefits is an effective, reliable and affordable delivery network between the showrooms, which is especially handy when purchasing bigger items. The online site is also very easy to use. 
• Huuto.net (in Finnish). Mostly private Finnish sellers. Occasional great finds, but caution in all interactions is needed as there is no formal administration.  
• Tradera (in Swedish). Very similar to Huuto.net, mostly private Swedish sellers. 
• eBays in various countries (e.g. US, Germany).
• Lauritz. Auction houses in Denmark, Sweden, Belgium and Germany, possibility to bid online. Extensive selection.
• Bruun Rasmussen (Denmark). Possible to bid online. Extensive selection. 
• RetroStart. Very useful vintage design portal with links to different design stores across all Europe.
• Design Addict. Good source of information with an active discussion forum.
• Deconet. Both private sellers and dealers.

So there is a lot to choose from and keeping track of everything to find what you are looking for can be a bit time consuming. Therefore, you really need to enjoy the process (like Pekka does) to find the time to do the necessary research, develop a good understanding on pricing, to be able to identify a real deal from a fake and to recognise when to trust a seller and when it is better to walk away. And nearly always, when something sounds too good too be true it almost certainly is.

Finally - we always remind ourselves that one should not be too disappointed to miss a good deal or lose an auction. There will always be something new and often better around the corner - just be patient!

Mr. & Mrs.

So we both answered "I do" last weekend. 

Mr. & Mrs. Olive Green

Plus one

The news has already reached many of you, but as we couldn't be more excited let's post it also here. So this was how things looked like before April 18th...

Before

...and this where we are after. Everyone is well, happy and ready to face the future. Even Urho is not minding the newcomer. Simply put, life couldn't be better.

After

Spring time tasks

A definite sign of Spring is when Pekka takes a round with our ever growing selection of house plants replacing old soil and if necessary, moving those outgrown their pots to bigger ones. This year he of course had a very eager assistant with a special interest on filling the pots with new soil.

Team Four Green Thumbs

In addition to the actions mentioned above, many plants also lost parts of variable sizes to hopefully give them a new, healthier life. As a result we also now have several rooting experiments ongoing (couple of examples shown below). It will be interesting to see which ones will actually take off...

Epipremnum pinnatum under the supervision of three Vodder birds

Ficus elastica in Kasperi vase by Erkkitapio Siiroinen 

Gardenia, a present from Minna's aunt

Dracaena fragrans, the most unique birthday "flower" from friends

Fingers crossed that the Spring would finally be here! Sun light, warm weather and green colors of nature would be most welcomed...