Lazy Sunday

It's been raining for days. It's also raining at the moment. Normally I love autumn but this year it's been so grey, rainy and depressing. These kinds of days are perfect for enjoying quiet time at home. I got a wonderful book for my birthday. It's called Sormustin ja sorkkarauta by Katja Rinkinen. The book is about ecological renovation and decoration of a house that is a part of an old train station in Parola, Finland. Katja Rinkinen also has a blog Parolan asema and it's one of my favourite blogs.

Her first book Vintagen viemää is amazing and I'm sure I'm also gonna love her new book. I've only had time to flip through it quickly but tonight I will take time to enjoy the book properly. It's a perfect evening for some tea, candles and good books and magazines.

How to Make Unique Picture Frames from Old Boards, part 2

I've been a bit lazy with my picture frame project. My plan is to finish it next weekend. I've already chosen a picture for it. The picture was taken five years ago in New York. I want to combine an urban black and white picture with a wooden and rustic picture frame. I still need to find a passepartout for the frame, I'm not sure I'll find an eco-friendly passepartout, but I'll try.

Abandoned

Yesterday I visited a magical place with Mats and Viiru. It was something unique, something I have not seen before. The area is called Kruunuvuori and it's located in Helsinki. Years ago it used to be a glorious place where wealthy people spent their summers in beautiful villas. Today it feels like time has stopped, the people abandoned their villas and left everything behind. Some of the houses have been burnt and most of them have collapsed. A few of them are still standing proudly, waiting for someone to come and rescue them. The forest around the villas is very old and amazing.  The area is surrounded by the sea. In the middle of the forest there's a pond, like straight from a fairy tale.

There are no good words for the atmosphere in Kruunuvuori. It's something you can only experience yourself. I've always felt that there's something very sad, almost heartbreaking, about abandoned houses.

Why were all these once so beautiful villas abandoned? There's no mystery around that, the reason is a well-known fact in the history of Helsinki. In the 50's a businessman called Aarne Aarnio bought the place in mind to build a new residential area for 2300 people. The city never approved this plan and as a result Aarne let all the villas to stand there without anyone taking care of them. Little by little the houses started to lose their glory. You can't help but wonder what the place would look like if businessman Aarne Aarnio hadn't bought the place? Or how it would look like if the city had approved his plan and all the villas had been destroyed? So many questions. I definitely want to visit this amazing place again! Maybe after the first snow it will look even more magical.

In a place like this it's good to remember a few things. Try to use the paths whenever it's possible, that way the surrounding nature can stay untouched. Don't take anything with you so that people coming after you can also see all the interesting details. Enjoy the nature, the villas and the sea! Maybe take some snacks and hot chocolate with you and have a picnic on the rocks by the sea!

I got the inspiration to visit Kruunuvuori from Krista Keltanen's blog. Visit her blog to see the beautiful pictures she has taken!

Birthday girl!

It's my birthday today! These pictures are from my last year's birthday that we spent in Porvoo. I wish to have as lovely a day today as last year. I don't like big parties, I just want to spend time with my fiancé Mats and our puppy Viiru. My plans for today are: a lot of relaxing, enjoying the colourful autumn leaves outside, some yoga, and in the evening sauna, good food and wine. Let's see if my plans come true!

Books

I loooove books! I have a lot of them. When we moved, it was absolutely awful to carry many many boxes of books. I would actually like to buy less books, but then I always find a book that I absolutely must have. One of my favourite books is No Impact Man by Colin Beavan.

"Is it really possible to live eco-effectively? With No Impact Man, Colin Beaven tries to find out. He swears off plastic, goes organic, becomes a bicycle nut, turns off his power, and generally tries to save the planet from environmental catastrophe while dragging his young daughter and his Prada-wearing wife along for the ride."

Colin Beaven really takes being ecological seriously. The book makes you really think what's necessary and how crazy some things are. Colin Beaven makes it all sound so interesting and fun. He makes ecological life sound like a fun challenge every one should try. I read the book a couple of years ago and now I'm going to read it again to be inspired again and get new ideas on how to live ecologically. To read more about Colin Beaven and his life visit his blog No Impact Man.

At the moment I'm working in an other city and have to stay at a hotel. I found a nice surprise in the hall way: there's a recycling point for books! Anyone can leave books there that they don't need anymore, and when hotel guests want something to read, they just need to visit the recycling point in the end of the hallway and find something they like. What a great idea! I think all hotels should have one! Next week I'm going to bring some of my old pocket books so that some one else can enjoy them!

Bringing nature inside

I love bringing elements from nature inside. Different kinds of branches are perfect for decorative purposes. I'm dreaming of having a dinner party with nature as the theme. I would use the large branch that you can see in one picture, as a centre piece. All the decoration would be from nature, of course. Maybe I'll have that dinner party one day!

Simple branches are also perfect in a vase. Wood in other forms is also a very nice element. We have beautiful wooden floors in our flat. They bring so much warmth to the interior.

I would love to buy flowers more often. I just feel that they are so expensive and I don't want to spend money on something that will last only a few days. That's why I think orchids are amazing, the flowers last for months, and look lovely!

Autumn colours

It's been raining for two weeks and I've been waiting for the perfect autumn day, and today it's here. It's sunny, a bit windy and quite warm. The colourful leaves look so beautiful. I just love autumn! This time of year it's easy to find beautiful things outside.

In the morning when I took Viiru out for a walk I picked some leaves and acorns from the street. Inside I placed them in a white dish. The colourful leaves and cute acorns bring a little piece of nature inside.

The wooden heart is perfect on a red plate. I carved the heart for my fiancé on our engagement day about a month ago. I made it from a fallen branch at the summer house. The wooden heart reminds me of that beautiful day!