Flowers!

Wonderful flowers brought to me in a bouquet from the mummies of my little students! They were over for coffee yesterday morning, as we were making arrangements for the monthly, seasonal art & crafts classes in English here in the Penthouse, as an addition to the weekly classes. More opportunity for English and more time for crafts! We are beginning this Saturday, ole!

As for the lovely flowers, which originally arrived in a beautiful bouquet, I  couldn't resist the temptation to get creative by rearranging them using various vases, especially my beloved square, glass, bottles of American Farm School Pasterised milk....donated to me by a very musically talented friend back in Greece, who also appreciates all things nice.

Thank you all!

...and wishes for a lovely Friday and Weekend!

Warming things up....

(more detalis on this photo here) 

by slowly laying all the carpets in the apartment, eventhough today's 

weather is like heaven on earth here in Hessen!

...and by spicing things up a bit by adding some fun details, something so needed in a white & natural toned environment! Here, some " flying milkjugs " , hunging from an Ikea tree, (also seen here) inspired by amazing and talented Ninainvorm's  display of beautiful mugs.

If you haven't already done so - something almost impossible coz she's eveywhere, from Flickr, to Wohnen Ideen, to this issue of Ikea Family magazine, to her blog and Etsy shop, be sure to pay her a visit at any or all  of the above places! Sit back and enjoy!

   

   By the way, if I did not already own this off white, pure woolen carpet (1,80 x 2,40cm), bought at Ikea 2 - 3 winters ago and being still in a pretty good condition, I would have very much loved to buy yesterday at my  - almost - regular Teusday Ikea evening visit  (after the Art Classes in English) this one, which celebrates earthy yellow and geometry so fine! It's the Alvine Ruta, it meausures  1,70 x 2,40 cm and it costs - in Germany - 149 euros. Not bad!     

  As a choice of carpet, I also find the grey Alvine Rand very appealing. It is the "brother" of the previous one, as they are made from the same material, have the same dimensions, style and price. Up to you to choose!

Contemporary elegance

   This is the first picture I came across this morning here, which is one of my daily online reads, that blew my mind.... In the most calm and relaxed way. It cought my attention for its:

 Elegance

 Not overexaggerated minimalism

 Balance

 Simple Beauty

 Marriage of old and new

 Colours, Textures & Materials

   I simply enjoy finding the beauty in less and in this case I think that white, gold and brown tones couldn' t have worked better together, than in the composition of the picture above. Amazing - possibly - teak wooden chair, of what looks to be Danish design, with exquisite curves , modern, shiny white table surface and thin, golden, brass ( ? ) silhouettes of candleholders, caring the simplest off white candles. Very contemporary elegant. YES.

  Happy Teusday to all!

Is there anything better than acceptance and recognition?

....except ,of course, from true unconditional love....But doesn't such love involve  a c c e p t i n g   and  r e c o g n i s i n g  the good qualities in the ones we love? This IS an imperfect world...and we are all more or less imperfect human beings, with advantages and dissadvantages, with talents and characteristics to be proud of, but also caring our negative aspects, ones that we have to fight for to overcome, to be better for ourselves and others... 

   I 've been often labeled a dreamer, a romantic...but I think that this is just part of the truth. Anybody involved  in a c t u a l l y doing things is not a mere dreamer. And there is nothing more fullfiling than doing things with love. Attention! I do not say doing things WE love...it is almost impossible throughout our lives to engage into doing ONLY things that we love...we should be very happy if we manage to reach such a level slowly...day by day.

  So , what I want to say and point out is: doing things WITH love is what matters. That, translated in to everyday, non - dreamer language, means doing things with awareness, with care, getting really personally involved wether this is having a conversation, reading a book, doing the laundry, exercising, taking a walk, interacting with children, cleaning, going to our jobs ( even the ones we don't really like at a given point in our lives!)....everything!

  I also believe that    c r e a t i v i t y , in every of its possible expressions, is also a form of love. And lately, I 've been meeting so many creative people, that love their lives and love to live! It is so wonderful! If all could DO just a little bit for their dreams to come true, for the world to become better, if we can find the strength to transform our   w o r d s   into  a c t i o n s ...how much could be achieved!

  To reach to a closure, let me share with you, that acceptance is a very basic notion in my life. For reasons unknown, I 've been deprived of it severely as I was growing up - eventhough my parents were the best that they could be. So, it means so much to me, to find out that what I do and who I am is accepted and very often lovely received and welcome....by all, wonderful YOU. Thank you from the deep bottom of my heart. And of course, thank you Eva for having the Penthouse and me in your blog  "Otis & Frank"   and for the lovely , sweetest comments. You are the inspiration for me writing these words here!

  And since this is going to be a very busy week, it's time that I go and wish you all:
H a p p y   M o n d a y  and the  H a p p i e s t   A u t u m n  of all...to all !

H a p p y F r i d a y !

Living room from above..., originally uploaded by ivy style33.

...getting childish around the Penthouse....tuning in the mood to hosting the 1st Art Classes in English seminar in the upcoming days...excited!....little people running around this tiny house...getting crafty...smiling....laughing....making a (hopefully not that much of a !) mess....H a p p y F r i d a y to all :-)

...just a quick post...

....loving how the colours and patterns of the fabrics
are standing out in front of the " quiet " but not so quiet
after all green wall!

I am daily amazed by many things, not to mention pictures of beautiful places, spaces or objects...today I was completely stunned by the fresh, crisp look of this Karlstad sofa, wearing a Classic Ruta - Black cover, accompanied by a few pillows sewed from Ikea's new, fabulous fabrics. The cover is one of the many that can be found at Bemz's collection. A company that makes covers to fit especially Ikea couches and model series, such as the Klippan, Karlstad, Kramfors, Ektorp, Stockholm and many others. Even older ones that are not produced any more! Such as our Falsterbo- yes!...finally found out what model our sofa is, thanks to Bemz. Here are the pieces that compose our sofa corner


+



For those of you who have and want to keep your beloved Ikea couch, but would like to give it a new look, nothing easier that a new cover! There is a rather big range of fabrics, from Belgian Linen Blend, to Panama cotton and Marimekko cotton. Last but not least, the good news: you can order up to five samples and get them for free, so long as you subscribe! Not bad, ha?...so that you are certain that it won't turn out the wrong way. That's good, coz they aren't exactly cheap - which is the bad news, still you can choose from various price ranges. Enjoy!

Pictures and sketches via Bemz

...a real presentation of the real me....

Last night I unexpectedly found our Penthouse hosted in decor8, that I so much like to read and look though the amazing pictures.I had a big smile from one ear to the other! Having our house blogged is something that happens often lately, which on the one hand makes me very happy, on the other hand I 'm not used to. So I had the need to actually present myself to you, contrary to the fact that I have not much time for blogging today , as it is the day that I hold my Art Classes in English group.A few words about that...

I spend time with little angels aged 5 -7 ( in this group so far, there are only girls ), mostly crafting simple projects, listening to a cd while looking at the pictures and reading from a lovely story book, acting things out, learning about colours and much more and of course all these in English. I know that most of you have met me as an interior design oriented person, but my primary studies are on Psychology - I graduated, acquiring a B.A in Psychology from Deree - the American college of Greece, in1999. I have also completed my studies in English ( Cambridge Proficiency of English language ) which enabled me to have a teaching licence. I have spent most of my adult life teaching English, both privately and in my parents institute in Glyfada, Athens.

But where does design and decoration come in to the picture? Well, I guess since I was a very little girl...I adored architecture and always wanted to become an architect and/or interior designer, but somewhere on the way...I got lost and engaged in to different things. Eventhough my studies in Psychology were mostly an attemp to find myself, I benefited a lot from them in my interaction especially with children, but with people in general, too. To return to the design thing, needless to say that I was always the one behind the renovations and decorations of the classes at my parents' language institute. The children loooved it! The mothers, too. And then came comments, such as: how come you are not in to design - decoration? I 'd like to renovate my daughter's/ son's room, who's growing up...any ideas?

Then came the Art Classes in English concept ( 2001) and some of my students that were interested in further and more spontaneous use of the English language, plus being crafty at the same time joined in. We met every second Saturday morning for two to three hours. It was so much fun!
To go on with the design - decoration story, in 2003, I rented my first apartment, completely on my own ( before I lived together with a boyfriend of mine during my studies). And then my second bigger one in 2004....and people would come, friends, neighbours...and they all commented so positevely about my spaces layout and decoration. Some started asking for advice and a few actually hired me as a consultant, in order to make some bigger or smaller changes in their houses or working spaces. By 2006, I couldn' t manage it all, so I stopped teaching weekly at our institute and kept only some private lessons and the Saturday Art Classes, in order to have time to work on the design - decoration projects.

In 2007, I enrolled to weekly afternoon classes on interion design, back again to Deree, my beloved college. And in September 2007, I met my current boyfriend, who is German and with whom I 've been living since January 2008. After him flying to me every other weekend for three months, somebody had to take the decision, if this relationship was to go on, to move. And it was me! I gladly accepted the challenge! I must say though, that the first one year and a half was one of the toughest periods in my life.

And this brings me back to now, that things are slowly but accurately falling into the right place. I graduated from the German Volkhochschule at the end of June and am proudly holding my excellent Deutch Zertificat B1, after intensive ( 4 hours ), daily classes for a year. I am continuing with the language learning, on my own at the moment, planning to take the B2 certificate by the end of this school year or maybe earlier. I have been hosting again Art Classes in English for little German angels in a lovely attic of a beautiful home in Wiesbaden since April. New classes, this time to be hosted in the Penthouse, are being organised. And not to forget, parralel to that, I am preparing my Etsy shop, where favourite vintage items and things handmade from me be will be sold. Last but not least, I have so many things to learn about graphic design, so that I 'm able to make this blog look the way I 'd really like it to.

Lost in to " talking " , in my attemp to fully present my self to you, I meant this post to be about a big THANK YOU to wonderful, talented blogger, writer and interior design consultant Holly from decor8 for having our Penthouse and me in her lovely blog pages.Now if you 'll excuse me, I have today's crafts and lesson to prepare and pack....Happy Tuesday to all...Aufwiedersehen und Aufwiederhoeren!

...a week after...

Happy Thursday to all again : )

Above is a picture of the living room this morning, as found after waking up...so that you don't think that it's always all about perfection and clean lines...and it will stay as it is, coz it's one of those days that arranging things around the Penthouse is not on the list - exept from the basics of course.
Rather, despite the unsunny weather, will visit a few of the very interesting museums along the waterside of the Sachenhausen in Frankfurt. Museum for applied arts, German Museum of Architecture, Museum of World Cultures , Museum for Modern Art and German Film Museum are a few of those I 'd like to visit. Using a 1 day Frankfurt card - purchased for 8,70 - will allow for 50% reduction on admission to 20 museums, including the few mentioned above and will provide free and unlimited travel on Frankfurt's public transport system within the city districts. Detailed information can be found on :www.frankfurt-tourismus.de

...and coz I 'd like to leave you with a better impression of the Penthouse, here is a pict where things are pretty much in order ; - )



Enjoy your day, whatever you do, wherever you are...and as my " mister" says...make the best out of it! For sweet Emma and Dottieangel: Happy desk Thursday to both of you!

H a p p y T h u r s d a y !

....hmmm, is there such a thing as a " happy Thursday " ?...do not really know....have seen
" happy Friday "..... or " happy bench Monday ".... ( Oh!... still haven't managed to put myself on a bench and take a picture though....Oh well....will do soon )....but nothing about Thursday! For a reason unknown, I seem to be liking Thursdays the past few years a lot....something about it being straight after the middle of the week....it carries the relief of the weekend to come, yet leaves some time in the week for things to be done....
Concerning the picture, no the sun isn't exactly shining today, here in the Verna Park area of Main river in Hessen, this is why I picked this bright one, as a reminder of sunnier and brighter days. Still, the air is very fresh and there is a constant change of sunrays jumping out from the fast moving clouds, which often tend to monopolise the sky. Wherever you are, whatever you do, happy Thursday to all!

P.S: the new month, introducing also a new season, has brought me the need of changes in the Penthouse....let's see what will take place...and I don't forget that I promised to post pictures of the " new " apartment renovation in Athens....some are soon to be uploaded.