Thrifting

Yesterday morning it was raining so Eo and I decided to go thrifting. We went to two different stores. Here are some of our findings.

A turquoise tray

The mirror in the middle (note: the turquoise shelf to the left is also new - got it during our Denmark-trip and then re-painted it)

A “lotto”-game

The only thing I don’t like about thrift stores is that most of them, at least the ones where you can find the real bargains, are situated so that you “have to” take the car. And, since you never know what you might find, having a car with you is an advantage.

But, in general, I really dislike using the car. For those of you that really love your cars and think that I’m a real Goody Two-Shoes/environmental freak for saying that, I must confess that it’s as much about my own disliking of driving and cars as it’s about the sustainable lifestyle thing. I’ve never liked driving much and I don’t like it any better now that we have kids. The whole ordeal of getting Eowyn and Ester in and out of the car just seem like a big hassle to me. Plus, Eowyn shares my dislike of cars so she keeps complaining the whole time, which doesn’t help much. Whereas she loves going by bus or tram. So, for us it’s been an easy choice to use the car as little as possible.

Bungalow bedspread

Having looked for a second hand bedspread for a while, without finding anything we liked, I gave up and ordered a beautiful block printed bedspread from Danish company Bungalow the other day (via Swedish web shop Broarne). They’re hand printed and sewn in India. Block printing is supposed to be environmental friendly as well, although I must say I sort of fell in love with it so I didn’t really investigate that aspect.

Bungalow has lots of beautiful things, such as towels, boxes and wrapping paper, all made with the same technique. For those of you who like that kind of stuff I suggest you check it out. :-)

(image Bungalow)

Like a gigantic garage sale

Today our whole neighbourhood turned into a gigantic garage sale/flea market. Everyone was encouraged to set up their own stands right about anywhere, on sidewalks, in parks etc.

This was the view from our window earlier today:

We didn’t sell anything this time, since we moved quite recently and got rid of a lot of stuff then. Instead we walked around and spent the 300 SEK I had in cash. For that we got a bunch of stuff; a shelf, two plates, toys, clothes, a chair and two old Pippi-albums, that now hangs on Eowyn’s wall: 

She’s a huge Pippi-fan right now, and she got the old movies for her birthday, so these fitted perfectly.

Behind it all was Ekologisk stadsdel Majorna (ecological neighbourhood Majorna), a project with the goal to to make the whole neighbourhood more sustainable, initialized by the citizens. The project is really great, since it involves both organizations, companies and individuals. This was the second year the flea market occured and it will return every year.

Use what you have

Beas barnslikheter (in Swedish) has a challenge for us this month called “Use what you have - the May challange”, it’s about using what you already have and making something of it. One object a week throughout May is the goal of the challange. I think it’s a great idea, and even though I don’t know if I’ll have the time to make one thing each week the blog is filled with links to very interesting projects, so there’s a lot of inspiration to be found there. 

Here’s a great example: a pillow that Lotten made:

(images Beas barnslikheter, Lotten)

Living small is the new trend

In the latest issue of Family Living there is an interesting article about people who choose to live in small spaces. Living small makes you free to spend your money on other things. It also makes it easier to lead a sustainable life, something I’ve written about before.

Johan and I lived quite a few years in a very small apartment in Stockholm, and I can really miss that sometimes (vacuuming the entire place took like 5 minutes :)). Since our current apartment doesn’t really qualify as small, I don’t claim to be a part of this trend. :) This family apartment in Stockholm however, featured in an older issue of Family Living, is a really good example. It’s about half the size of our apartment, but they’ve really done a lot with their space. Filled with vintage findings and crafty DIY-projects it’s very inspiring.

(images Ulrika Ekblom via Family Living)

Preparing for Earth Hour

The sickness still has its hold upon us, so this year I suspect we will be spending earth hour in bed - asleep. Hoping that the entire family will feel better soon.

Before the sickness we decorated the wall above our bed with pictures by Gorjuss, Madame Mo, Johanna.B and our own little artist, Eowyn (the bottom left one, if you hadn’t guessed that)!

My next bike?

A collegue of mine has one of those electric bikes (his is from EcoRide). I love biking but I am lazy and don’t like the hills in this town so perhaps an electric bike would be the perfect transportation for me? Only drawbacks are helmet hair and that it’s always raining (which hasn’t been true lately though). Hmm, on the other hand public transportation and walking works quite well for me so I’m not sure that I would use it enough to justify the investment, even though they were cheaper than I’d expected.

As an idea they’re brilliant; a sustainable transportation for the semi-lazy!

(image EcoRide)

Pillows from Ferm Living

I love Ferm Living, especially their kids stuff. Now they have teamed up with Norwegian design duo Darling Clementine, and created pillows with prints from the Marionette series:

And I love their other pillows too:

All made out of organic cotton.

(images via Ferm Living)