What's up friday

It's been rainy in Paris the whole week. And I'm still looking for a permanent job, which is not always that easy when you're a foreigner, as you can surely imagine. But! There's some interesting projects going on, and next week I'll start a part-time job. Besides it's Friday and today I brought home my new sewing machine! So in overall, things are looking quite bright. 

What are you up to this weekend? I guess we'll mostly be plastering the walls of our bedroom, but I'd also love to take some time to test my new sewing machine. My first project will be a classic piece, a white t-shirt, so this post was a nice coincidence! There's also free crossfit, qi gong and yoga classes at Wanderlust and I'd love to go. And this event is a must :) That's already quite some activities for a weekend, so see you propably next week! Have a good weekend ya all!




Huh, sateista on Pariisissakin tällä hetkellä. Mutta viikonlopuksi ja ensi viikoksi on onneksi luvassa hyviä juttuja! Vaikka etsinkin vielä sitä unelmaduunia (mikä ei ulkomaalaisena ole aina niin helppoa, niin kuin voi ehkä kuvitella) niin ensi viikolla aloitan yhden osa-aikaisen projektin. Ja muitakin on tiedossa! Sitä paitsi nyt on perjantai ja toin kotiin uuden ompelukoneen :)

Tänä viikonloppuna meillä varmaan lähinnä tasoitetaan seiniä, mutta toki uudesta ompelukoneestakin pitää ottaa ilo irti. Ekana projektina on ihan perusjuttu, valkoinen t-paita, ja täältäpä siihen saikin hyviä vinkkejä! Wanderlustilla on myös ilmaisia ryhmäliikuntatunteja, ja niitä pitäis päästä testaamaan. Ja tänne oon tietty menossa :) Joten eiköhän siinä riitä aktiviteetteja viikonlopuksi, joten nähdään varmaan ensi viikon puolella! Mitäs teidän viikonloppuun kuuluu?

Bedroom ideas

Remember how in the previous post I told we're going to redo our appartment (again)? Well, we've got a good start this week! Let me remind you, when we got the place, it looked like this:




Gloomy, right? We obviously got rid of the bed and all before moving in. But the wallpaper and all stayed for some time, so before we got started it looked like this:




And now, after removing the wallpaper, it looks already so much better! I mean, it's obviously not ready, but I can already imagine how it will look in white.




Now we've got several ideas for this room, but here are some photos that I find inspiring:




Ilove the mix of black & grey & yellow. And that bed frame!



We're thinking we're going mostly for white, but on the other hand I love this black bedroom! This one's from Oh Happy Day.



And of course, I can't imagine a room without my favourite colour, turquoise...

We'll see what happens here! I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, there's more photos here! But don't worry, I have also other stuff coming than reno :)

Kuten totesin viime postauksessa, täällä remontoidaan taas. Tässäpä muutamia ideoita makuuhuoneen suhteen, joka on meidän ensimmäinen kohde. Ja kuten näette, jotain edistystäkin on jo tapahtunut! Vaikka ollaankin vielä kaukana valmiista, niin kyllä tuosta saa jo paremman kuvan siitä, miltä huone näyttää valkoisilla pinnoilla. Mutta ennen sitä, täältä löytää vähän lisää inspiskuvia, jos kiinnostaa! Mutta hei, on muutakin juttua tulossa kuin remppaa, mutta jotenkin se vaan sattuu jotenkin olemaan just nyt päällimmäisenä mielessä :)

Renovations, here we come!

So we bought our current appartment in a town near Paris almost 3 years ago. Before us, the last time anybody did anything to improve it must have been in the 70s. The whole place was filled with wallpapers: walls, doors, and ceilings (!). The place definetily needed some attention. So when we got the place, we used 3 whole months to re-do almost every piece. And when we were done we got to enjoy the results for 1 day... and then we moved to Finland. 

So, needless to say that we're happy to be back home. But there's still so many things we wanted to do the first time round but didn't have time to. So now we're getting back to business. Meaning that in the months to come you guys will see several reno-related posts!

So yeah. But here are some photos to see from where we started and where we're now:

KITCHEN BEFORE


KITCHEN PROGRESS


ENTRY BEFORE & ENTRY PROGRESS

LIVING ROOM/STUDY BEFORE



LIVING ROOM/STUDY PROGRESS



BATHROOM BEFORE & BATHROOM PROGRESS

Unfortunately we don't have a lot of "before" photos, we were so into getting started we kinda skipped that part! But see those wallpapers everywhere? I almost liked the one in the kitchen, it was so crazy... In addition to these rooms we still have bedroom, but that one we haven't touched at all and that's the one we're going to attack this week-end! I'll keep you posted!

Do you have any plans for the week-end? Or are you planning to do any home improvements soon?$

Tässäpä muutamia kuvia meidän Ranskan-asunnosta. Siitä on jo melkein kolme vuotta kun tämä kämppä ostettiin, mutta paljoa ei olla vielä itse ehditty täällä asua! Asunnossa oli selkeästi tehty remppaa viimeksi 70-luvulla kun saatiin se haltuumme, kuten näkyy noista ihanista tapeteista... Joten kolme ekaa kuukautta täällä käytettiin kyllä perusteelliseen remontointiin. Lopputuloksesta saatiinkin nauttia kokonainen yksi päivä (!) ennen kuin muutettiin Suomeen. Joten saatte uskoa, että nyt on hyvä fiilis olla taas kotona. Mutta paljon on vielä tehtävää, joten luulempa että lähiaikoina tänne ilmestyy useampia remonttijuttuja!

Näissä kuvissa ei näykään vielä makuuhuonetta, sillä sille ei toistaiseksi ole tehty mitään. Ja siihen tulee muutos tänä viikonloppuna! 

Onko teillä jotain viikonloppusuunnitelmia? Tai aikomuksena parannella kotia lähiaikoina? 

Atelier Dessert / Restaurant Day

Photos 2 & 5 from Institut Finlandais an all the rest Arthurø Peduzzi / LaCurieuseCompagnie

Our restaurant "Atelier Dessert" (yes, nod to this blog!) participated to Restaurant Day for the first time last Sunday. A lot of work, yes, but so worth it. We met so many nice people including the talented photographer Arthurø Peduzzi who took most of the photos below. We're definetily thinking of doing this again!

If you don't know what this whole Restaurant Day is, just check their site. Have you ever participated? Would you like to? As I said, we had a blast so I recommend it!

Ravintolapäivä alkaa vähitellen saamaan jalansijaa täällä Pariisissakin ja niinpä päätettiin viime sunnuntaina osallistua ihan ensimmäistä kertaa ravintoloitsijoina! Atelier Dessert (jep jep, nimi sai innoitusta blogista...) tarjoili nälkäisille pariisilaisille muunmuassa karjalanpiirakoita ja runebergintorttuja. Oli mukavaa ja tavattiin todella mielenkiintoisia ihmisiä, kuten valokuvaaja Arthurø Peduzzi joka nappasi suurimman osan ylhäällä esiintyvistä kuvista. Voipi olla että osallistutaan uudestaankin!

Osallistuitteko te sunnuntaina, asiakkaina tai ravintoloitsijoina? Olisitteko valmiita pitämään itse päivän ravintolaa? Omalta kohdaltani voin sanoa että hommaa riitti mutta oli todellakin sen arvoista. Suosittelen siis!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY / 100th post

Happy valentines day everyone!

Despite the valentines day, which in France is a big thing, today is rainy and I'm feeling a little bit blue. So I decided to gather some of my my pink or colourful things together to cheer me up! Btw, I just got that book, A Beutiful Mess Photo Idea Book from Amazon to get some new ideas. And the funny slippers "les charentaises" I got as a gift from Angoulême. It's a traditional product of that area, still made in France by this company calles Manufacture Degorce. I really like what they're doing at the moment - branding their traditional product in a modern way with new logo and all. 


Anyway! As the photo suggest tonight I have to change those comfy slippers to heels or at least something more fancy since there's a party organized by Colette. So at least something to look for today, and after that a week-end fulled with things to do! Do you have plans for the week-end?

And hey, this is my 100th post in this blog! I haven't even realized there was already so many. But I hope to be writing so many more in the near future so keep tuned!


Hyvää ystävänpäivää ihmiset! 

Keräsin muutamia pinkkejä tai piristäviä esineitä piristämään vähän harmaata ja ankeaa päivää Pariisissa. Ystävänpäivästä huolimatta voi täälläkin olla välillä vähän ankeaa :) Onneksi tänään illalla on odotettavissa vähän juhlintaa Coletten järjestämien bileiden muodossa, ja sen jâlkeen onkin viikonloppu täynnä ohjelmaa. Mites teillä, onko viikonlopuksi paljon ohjelmaa tiedossa?

Huomasin muuten että tämä on jo sadas kirjoitus jota tänne naputtelen. En ollut tajunnutkaan että näitä on ehtinyt jo kertyä! Mutta lisää on luvassa joten pysykää kuulolla!

DIY heart stamped scarf for valentines

Hi all! As all of you know, valentines day is just around the corner. Luckily, we don't necessarily have to buy valentines stuff to make it special, since we can also DIY! I wear a lot of scarfs, since it adds easily colour to an outfit and also keeps me warm. So I thought of making an easy valentines-themed stamped scarf tutorial for you guys as well! Here we go:

MATERIALS
- Fabric of your choice, keeping in mind it should be natural fibres. I used 130x75cm (approx 50x30 inch) piece. Note also that fabric must be washed before printing on it!
- Fabric colour 
- Carving block
- Paint brush
- I cut my stamp with a big shot machine, but you can also cut it by hand with an utility knife!
- a piece of foam rubber
- an iron (not pictured)
- a sewing machine / needle and thread if you want to finish the edges of your scarf (not pictured)

note: you don't really need the glue pictured, at first I thought making a handle to my stamp but finally I didn't need that!

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Start by cutting your heart shape out of the carving block either with a cutting machine or by hand.

2. With a help of a brush, add fabric paint on your foam rubber. Stamp your heart shape on the colour making sure the color get evenly everywhere. Then stamp your fabric with the heart shape. You can use any kind of flat, hard object to help you press the shape evenly to the fabric (I used the cutting boards of the big shot machine).


3. That's all! Now just keep repeating the stamping process. Note that you might get some colour on your fingers and that some of the heart shapes will definetily not come out perfectly, but in my opinion that's part of what makes DIYing so fun. Remember to add colour every now and then!


4. Keep going untill you're happy with the result. Let dry and iron, following the instructions of your fabric paint. Finish the edges as you want: sew them with a sewing machine or by hand, or let them raw depending on your fabric. For now, I didn't finish the edges of my scarf, but when I'll get a better sewing machine I think I might!

That's all folks. Hope you liked it! Have you done any projects for the valentines day this year? Do you have any plans? See you soon!



Nopea moikkaus täältä ja pieni ohjeistus helpon sydän-huivin painamiseen, näin ystävänpäivä mielessä. Tuo big shot-kone on kyllä kätevä muotojen leikkaamiseen mutta käsin leikkaamallakin pärjää mainiosti! Ei sitten muuta kuin ohjeita seuraamaan niin vielä ehtii päästä hempeisiin tunnelmiin huomenna :) Jos on jotain kysyttävää niin kysykää ihmeessä!

Oletteko itse tehneet mitään ystävänpäiväprojekteja? Tai onko erityisiä suunnitelmia huomiseksi? Kuullaan taas!

A (TINY) URBAN GUIDE TO ANGOULEME

Last weekend we made a small trip to a lovely French village of Angoulême. J-m was invited to the festival and I decided to tag along! It was so nice I wanted to share it with you. It is a small town so this is a small guide, but I hope you like it.

Angoulême is best known for two things: comics and cognac. Obviously, if you're interested in comics you should go during the festival. But even if you're not that into it, it's still a very nice festival happening in the different parts of town. Every place is fulled with people and in the cafes it's normal to see people drawing amazing art, just like that! But during the rest of the year there's still a lit of comic-related stuff to do, such as the museum and gorgeous murals.

But there's other stuff to do as well. Let's start (again) with the most important: food!

1. FOOD & COFFEE

- Les halles centrales Covered martketplace with a couple of coffee and lunch places as well. Relaxed atmosphere. If you want to buy local products or have a coffee "au comptoir", this is your place. Open every day, even Sundays, from 7am to 1pm.

- GalerieXXIV, Café des Artistes. Good coffee, interesting deco, english-style pastries, art on the walls and even a second-hand shop at the back room. Only if the place is full, be prepared to wait to be served. During the summer, the terrace must be a nice!

- Garden Cupcakes.  The decoration of the place is too cute, and seriously, the cupcakes were even better than the ones we had in NYC! This was one of my favourite places in the town.

- La Biscuiterie Lolmède serves coffee and lunch, and you can buy all kinds of sweet things to bring back home with you.

- And also Le Chat Noir, for having that famous cognac to finish off your evening!

2. SHOPPING (WITH A GOOD CONSCIENCE)

- 2nde Vie. The first place I headed was this cool eco-design shop . I just loved that upcycled red table! The staff is super nice and they're more than ready to tell you more about each piece. 

- Chez Cax. Good selection of vintage furniture with an industrial vibe. They also carry their own brand, madame CAX, a line of nice tote bags and home goods. 

- Le Boudoir de Marguerite is a heaven for second hand shoppers. They have everything for every taste and for every wallet. I spoke for some time with the owner, it was so nice.

3. HAVE A WALK

- Stroll down the charming narrow streets and les remparts. Go to a museum and enjoy your time.

So these were my tips to Angoulême! During this weekend trip I remembered that instead of visiting always the capitals, it's nice to visit small towns as well. Do you have some tips for discovering small towns? Any favourite places? I'd love to get new tips for future travels!

OTHER URBAN GUIDES & TRAVEL TIPS:

Brooklyn, New York City, Åland, St Petersburg, Tallinn

Viime viikonloppuna käväistiin Angoulêmissa. J-m oli kutsuttu sarjakuvafestivaaleille ja minä päätin lähteä mukaan! Angoulême on kyllä ihana ranskalainen pikkukylä ja tässä on minun suosikit sieltä. Parasta kyllä oli, että noin pienestä mestasta löytyy ekodesign-kauppa! Hurraa! Mutta hei, klikkailkaapa muitakin linkkejä jos on aikomuksissa suunnata Angoulêmiin. 

Jotenkin sitä tulee aina matkattua suurkaupunkeihin, vaikka välillä tällaiset pienet paikat on ihan parhautta. Mitkä on teidän parhaat pikkukaupunki- vinkit? Jokin tietty kylä jossa ehdottomasti kannattaa käydä? Olis mahtavaa saada lisää matkailuvinkkejä!

MUISTAKAA MYÖS MUUT MINIMATKAOPPAAT:

Brooklyn, New York City, Åland, St Petersburg, Tallinn