Frau Mayer and Cat

Hello from ....

2011-07-26T07:11:00.001-07:00

Any fans in the land of the tastiest squid ever? Like, say, in Tokio?

I'm up for some fun!
All yours,
Fr.Mayer (the cat's home, in good old Germany)
See ya, squiddies!

Art Wall Results (for real!)

2011-05-29T10:37:00.000-07:00

Let's start this post with a compliment. Sometimes my significant other really is the most patient person in the world. Kind of an angel, actually. For instance, he managed not to kill me yesterday while I was running around the FF, screaming: "I want to have it done!!!!!!!!!! I want it to be over!" in the most unpleasant manner.

He also helped me to turn this

into this

Never mind the empty frame. It's going to disappear as soon as certain someone finally tells me if I can produce my own little city collage - cause I'm dreaming of having one in blues and yellows right there in the middle of my shiny new art wall *wink*

While at it, I also moved some furniture and immediately came up with approximately 235 new ideas for the corner (that will frustrate me for a loong time because I still need to take care of the chaos in the living room). I also did a fair bit of decluttering and intend to indulge in many more hours of this rewarding activity.

The art on my incredibly beautiful, tastefully arranged and professionally hung art wall was kindly provided by Geninne, Eva Juliet, Tali also known as TushTush, Lucille Prache, a vintage mag found at a Bangkok market and the mighty Cavallini.
Loads of love to my signifacant other! I'm honestly surprised somebody actually reads this neglected blog - there'll be a big design overhaul soon to celebrate the fact that I posted twice within a week :)
Stay tuned!
Your Fr. Mayer
UPD There'll be a little city collage up on that wall very soon. Thank you, my dear interior guru!

Art Wall in Progress or How Not to Kill Everyone Around

2011-05-28T06:21:00.000-07:00

Good thing I need to go pick up my bike and ride to the hardware store. Otherwise I'd turn into a mass destruction weapon. Have you ever tried to create a nice little art wall? Say, looking like this?

Then you'd better go buy a couple of nerve cells because some of yours are going to die while you arrange those damn things on the floor, cut out templates, put them on the wall only to watch them fall off and look like a complete mess. I'm also not going to talk about the AGES it took me to finally pull these frames + pictures together.
Anyway, this is what I completed today:

Step 1

Step 2.
Guess what't falling off the wall right now!
Ok, I think that if I really want to see it all done today, I'd better disappear. I blog too much anyways, right?

Guess who says Hi!

2011-05-07T08:06:00.000-07:00

No, dear ghost readers, this blog is not dead. Its owner's life, however, has been quite busy! Three weeks in the States, wonderful, full of shopping and new impressions. No time for blogging! I'll write more about my list of must-sees in NYC and around later, promise!

Let's make it short. I went to a flea market (Golden Nugget around Princeton, NJ), I found a crate, I bought it.

Please, ignore the laundry in the background. My crate and I (as well as the crate intruder) are both saying Hi!

Still yours,
Frau Mayer

Kitchen: The Best Of

2011-03-07T11:13:00.000-08:00

No; I've just discovered this interesting competition and I'd love to take part although I'm not really a scandinavian blogger. Whatever!

And some more!

And more!

And because the dining room is basically a part of our kitchen, here we go again!

Want to see scary before pictures? Go here!

Corners - one (or two) at a time.

2011-03-07T07:37:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since we moved into FF (fantastic flat) and slowly but surely I have developed a better understanding of the place. There are so many advantages (endless storage, all the space, cozy little kitchen that doesn't allow any cluttering) but also a couple of smaller problems that need to be tackled (like painting ALL the doors - minus one - as well as the door and window frames. Great thing to do in summer!).

One of the best things that have happened lately is my giving up the priority list. I was acting like "Oh, no, I can't buy any artwork before I've figured out how and where I'm going to hang it". Now I'm just happily putting things into little corners and watching it all come together.

I'm also trying to navigate away from that matchy-matchy, color-coordinated style I used to be such a fan of. Places really do look much more interesting if you don't stick to a million of rules.

Living next to the wonderful gardens, I make myself (yes, you've read it right, I do have to make myself because there are always so many important things than need to be done this very second) go on little walks and bring back brunches that end up in lovely bottles in various corners of FF. Right here you can see a tiny bit of the bathroom that I'm really too ashamed of right now to be able to show more. Well, OK, just another tiny piece.

I've basically just thrown some of my favorite treasures and non-treasures on it: bottles from Morocco, a too-magical-to-be-described perfume from Anthropologie that I treated myself to and wear almost daily and a couple of branches from the said gardens.
That'll be all the corners for today. I'll leave you here with the last picture and a little question - can you guess what happened to the blue wallpaper? :)

Women in my life

2011-02-25T13:01:00.000-08:00

Singing women, that is.
There are three of them, actually. All incredibly beautiful and blessed with voices that sound as if they weren't born on this planet.
I had the incredible pleasure of seeing Alela Diane in Berlin a while ago. I spent an hour on a beer crate because I can never see anything during concerts unless I climb somewhere (yes, I'm a garden gnome). Hearing Pirate's Gospel live just cracked me.

Marissa Nadler's songs are very much like her - very dark, impossible to approach, they're to be enojoyed from the distance. I remember that hearing her actually speak was totally weird.

And, finally, Keren Ann.
No matter if she sings in English or French (she does both), it's magical. If I was ever going to marry anyone (I'm not), I'd do it to her Right Now and Right Here.
And she's beautiful, too.

Source picture 1
Source picture 2
and picture 3

(Art)work in progress + Hannover on Sunday

2011-02-20T07:11:00.000-08:00

Surpirsingly, I've managed quite a lot lately. Let's take a look at the little list:
1. Digested a bunch of inspirational books and picked some brilliant ideas.
2. Went to Ikea (oh yes, that long time no see feeling!) and spent a couple of wonderful hours. Just me and my shopping cart. It's paradise! And here are the results:

Soon, very soon the Chaos Corner will be a thing of the past!
3. Bought these fantastic prints at Lucille's store:

One is going into the bathroom (nicely updated with a couple of very inexpensive yet stunning Ikea rugs), one's destined for the dining room and the lovely blue bowl of Japanese soup will be staying in my modest abode.
4.
Some fresh pictures from the kitchen - it really needed some clean lines. All the cheerful blues and greens made it look a bit like a candy store but black surely does the trick.

There's a very ugly cable hiding right behind the rosemary!
5. And finally, I'd love to show off my neighbourhood (pictures made on a VERY short walk due to the freezing cold)

Sometimes I still can't believe we're really living here, right next to the beautiful gardens, surrounded by the old buildings and yet just a short train ride away from the city center. Oh, Hannover, you're the place to be!

The Power of To-Dos?

2011-02-13T12:52:00.000-08:00

Quite honestly, is there any?
I'm going to test it!

So, what needs to be done in FF right now? Let's face the reality!

Living Room
1. Buy a sideboard for the chaos corner.
2. Decide on the art wall above the sofa. Ledges vs free? I'm rather sure there'll be ledges!
3. Buy ledges.
4. Sort the cabinet (oh yes, this is a BIG project).
5. Buy a bigger basket for the faky faky fireplace - tall enough to hide all the cables. Why are baskets so expensive?
6. Have our great contractor guys hang 1. and 3.

My room

1. Decide on frames for this (and two further) beautiful picture by Lucile. This lady is a genius!
Order mats (yes, more mats and more frames. Crazy!)
2. Go to Südstadt and order a glass for a beautiful silver frame I bought this summer.
3. Close the holes in the walls and paint over them (I really doubt this one will get done before the summer holidays).
4. Finally buy a pendant (need to go to List for that. And have a test lunch at Lulu. The power of combining!)
5. Have the secret team hang my pictures (all of them! Oh yes!) and 4.
6. Order fabric for cushions, cushions and a bedspread. Sew cushions (hm, this won't be easy).
7. Sort the file cabinet. Ha ha ha. This is a good one!

Bathroom
1. Have the team of you know who install the too-beautiful-to-be-kept-in-the-closet House Doctor lamp.
2. Finally find a shower curtain. I'm feeling so inspired by this

It's an old tablecloth! Well... I do know a special source...
3. Put some decent artwork/do something to the picture ledges. Maybe then one day I won't be too ashamed to post a picture of my bathroom here.
4. Buy a rug. Oh yes! The green Ikea rug goes with NOTHING in here.

Corridor
1. Buy wire baskets for smaller objects.
2. Have 1 and a lovely framed chalkboard I've recently made hung.

Dining room
1. Do some painting in the niche.
2. Find old wine boxes and replace the baskets where we keep our large collection of alcohol :)
3. Arrange the niche shelves. They look like a complete disaster right now.
4. Solve the chair problem. The ones I bought at eBay (and re-did, with a little help of Chaos Man) are no longer presentable. Ideally, I'd go for some vintage bistro chairs with cushions but where to find those without spending a damn fortune?
5. Make a magnetic inspiration board and have it hung next to the cupboard. I really dislike the empty space between this beauty and the door.

Chaos room
1. Paint the wardrobe. It's going to be gray.
2. Make Chaos Man choose some decent artwork. Buy frames and picture ledges (he actually had a great idea as if where artwork could be hung in his room. Great influence?!)
3. Stop being scared of entering this room.

Random stuff
1. Buy a decent pot for the brave olive tree (it has survived in FF since summer!)
2. Clean the balconies.
3. Re-do the bench+chairs. I'm really looking forward to this one!
4. Sell half of the basement contents. I actually started today and felt really happy afterwards!

Isn't 13.02.2011 a great date to start a test like this?

A frame a day....

2011-02-10T13:57:00.000-08:00

I'll tell you a secret. I now have a private guru. I won't tell you this guru's name - just quote the action-causing-guru-words.
A frame a day. Just a frame. Not more.
I started following these wise words quite a while ago. This is how my living-room floor looked this weekend.

Spot the cat!

I finally made myself carve out some time to play with my scrapbooking treasures (long live October Afternoon - thanks, dear guru!) - that's what the results look like:

As you can see, I'm quite into hearts right now. Now, let's hope that this qise strategy will keep working as it has already helped me finally measure practically everything I wanted to have framed, order a bunch of mats, quite many frames and do some spray painting in the basement. It also brought me one step further in the middle of Fantastic Flat as I've finally decided what should happen to the chaos corner of the living room. And yes, imagine this, there've been some changes on the other side of FF - right where someone very very messy resides - and this makes me very happy!
See you all, dear non-exis, soon, hopefully with more results! Keep it in mind - a frame (or whatever you like it to be) a day...

2011-01-25T23:02:00.000-08:00

Another lovely giveaway - for Green Gate lovers

Kleinigkeiten + Martha Stewart Living for sale!

2011-01-23T02:08:00.000-08:00

Hello there, my dearest non-existing lurking friends.
What's new here? Well, Frau Mayer has decided to treat herself better in 2011 (who hasn't?!). Means: do more for the body (yes, I do go to the gym on a regular basis and have actually managed to do so at least twice a week, every week!) and for the soul. The latter means: organize. Finish projects. For instance, two weeks ago I sat down and made this:

These ones were so much fun to make:

And here's my source of inspiration. Too bad I didn't come up with this idea myself, provided my severe map fetish!

Now, the trees are all gone. So are the mushrooms. And so is pre-Xmas stress at work. I'm really enjoying January which is virtually corrections-free.

Sometimes it's Kleinigkeiten (little things) that make one happy!
There'll be even more pictures of frames, art walls and such as soon as my newly ordered frames and mats arrive. I'm so proud of myself because I finally took several hours to sit down, measure everything and spend a couple of hundred on my art-wall-to-be. I was really tired of empty walls and my favorite prints lying on the floor. More updates soon!

Now, I'm also happy to announce that I have a bunch of Martha Stewart Living mags for sale.

Dec 09, Jan, March, Apr, May, June, July 10. I can add two more to this bunch, however, I forgot Feb 10 in NJ (where we spent the holidays) and there's another summer edition, June or July 08, as far as I remember, somewhere in my basement (which still needs some re-organizing).
25 Euros for this bunch - I live in Germany and would be happy to send within the country for a flat rate of 4 Euros (insured). If you're in Europe, drop me a line and I'll update you on shipping costs.
Now, back to work, back to work!

Same month, different post!

2011-01-09T15:31:00.000-08:00

This is what I call action! As I'm slowly recovering from severe jetlag, I'm trying to find some time for too-long-procrastinated-over things, too.
Like creating an art wall (and this is a HUGE project. Honestly, I'm scared of it). Or buying fabric for a million of cushions I'd like to have. Or decluttering the bathroom. Or selling things in the basement that are taking up space. Or getting a new washing machine (yes, it has to be Miele. I surrender).
Or maybe saying a big thank you to someone who introduced me to soft trees!
Now, I had the most amazing time in Lüneburg, browsing place like this:

And thinking of getting some fluffy trees myself - which I didn't because right after Christmas we packed our things and went to face the blizzards - pobably the most stupid time to fly to the states. Ever.

And crafting, of course. I actually stuffed a whole little forest!

This time I even got to play in Yvonne's beautiful studio. And entertain Pauline a bit (which was fun, too).

Now I need to survive January (too many days that will be spent at work, too little free time), loose some weight, finish that art wall, get myself another play date and stay inspired.

All pictures courtesy of Yvonne. Tree on!

2011: The Year of Inspiration + Action

2011-01-09T11:41:00.000-08:00

Hello there, dear non-existent readers! Frau Mayer is back with a massive resolution for 2011: BE INSPIRED AND ACT.

2010 was great and difficult at the same time. I achieved a lot, finished my teacher training, got a job, found out it was not all cakes and ale. I moved into my dream flat, read (too) many blogs, got inspired, bought furniture, spent endless hours at flea markets and IKEA, decorated, painted, cleaned and organised. I found wonderful new friends (hello there, Yvonne :) and also lost some. I read (although not enough) and danced quite a bit. I traveled to Morocco, Turkey, London (saw my best friend after quite a break!) and my beloved NJ (yes, and NYC, too! Can't get enough!) I shopped quite a bit. I got myself a Flickr account.

I read endless magazines.

Right now I feel that I need to read less and do more. During my last visit to Lüneburg I got a whole bunch of lovely mags from Yvonne and fell in love with this Danish apartment. I love the colors and the overall feeling!

Well, it's just logical that the apartment belongs to a Feng Shui expert. She definitely knows her business.

I wouldn't place so many Buddhas in my own place but I love how carefully the details are chosen here.

I never really dared to use pink - maybe it's time to give it a try?

I smiled when I saw this because I have a similar niche in my dining room and it's still half-empty so I'll be working on filling it with some eye candy in 2011, too.

There's only one word to describe this kitchen: gemütlich. Yes, it is!

I love how the owner manages to combine clean and fluffy. And so incredibly simple!

So this is what I am feeling right now - inspired. Let's see what kind of action is going to follow. Happy New 2011, everyone!

The trees are in!

2010-11-28T04:03:00.000-08:00

What is Vivian looking at? She's rather suspicious about those green things that have just moved in here!

Oh, those ones?

Mmmh, let me see!

They're not so bad after all! It's winter here - and most Germans are celebrating the first advent Sunday (which I'm not - stuck to my desk, heaps of work all around me).
This is what Frau Mayer indulges in right now - ordering things via the Internet because she doesn't really leave the house (well, we don't count those trips to work and back). I envy those of you with loads of free time on your hands a lot and can't wait for the holidays to come.
By then, you'll have created beautiful decorations, baked bunches of cookies and I'll have graded ten written exams, so those of my non-existent readers who think that teachers lead a relaxed lifestyle can come along and I'll suffocate them all by myself! Mmmh, what a terrible load of self-pity in a harmless post about trees.

Have a relaxed Sunday, those of you who can!

Wishlists....

2010-11-27T03:18:00.000-08:00

The only thing I'm wishing for right now is freedom... However, you can't really purchase that so let's get down to all thing material. There's a fabulous giveaway going on right now and I'd be stupid not to take part!

TodaysMama (link to: http://bit.ly/tmwishlist) and GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What is your holiday wish for your family?
More free time, better organizing skills. These two only work together, I guess.

2. What is your Christmas morning tradition?
A peaceful, plentiful breakfast, I guess. Yeah, and sleeping in.
3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be?
A completely decadent convertible. A black VW Eos, preferrably.
4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money?
By sleeping in, obviosuly. You can't spend anything when you're asleep.
5. What games did you play with your family growing up?
None. But I do enjoy Scrabble now that I'm all grown up.
6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood?
None as well. It's time to make my own traditions. From now on, I shall get a new convertible every Xmas!
7. Where would you go for a Christmas-away-from-home trip?
Thailand, obviously. Nothing beats massage 5 times a day!
8. Check out GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year?
Yoga!
More Yoga!
And a bit of dancing, too.

Yohoo, let's hope it works out!

Giveaway at Yvestown

2010-11-18T12:21:00.000-08:00

While Fr.Mayer is busy like mad right here and can't wait for Xmas to come and finally set her free, there's a rather festive giveaway over at
Yvestown.
Just wanted to let you, non-existent visitors, know :)

Pinterest + too much work

2010-11-14T07:40:00.000-08:00

Thanks, dear Yvonne, for making me addicted. Right now I'm ignoring a large pile of philosophy exams in order to pin more fabric for my little pillow project on my Wishlist board. How productive!

Whatever... I guess it'll make me correct even faster now that I'm feeling happy!

I'm actually really proud of myself as I've recently managed to hit the gym more than once a week (this week it's been almost 5 hours of sports plus sauna where I met another teacher, of course :), keep my place relatively clean and spend some quality bionadebourgoisie time with one sweet guy who happens to live just around the corner from my room. Yeah, and watch a great deal of House MD! I'm in the middle of the sixth season and actually scared of what happens when I'm done.

As for this weekend - now I know another cool location to have breakfast/coffee at - Meilenstein, Lister Meile (it's right in the beginning). That superdeal page surely rules - we got our breakfast for under 15 Euros for both! And I'm so looking forward to having that cool wellness treatment together with my party animal friend Ina in a couple of weeks.

And this, by the way, is my next crafty project! Thanks again, dear Yvonne, you're the best!

A friendly hug from Fr. Mayer to all of you (now, that doesn't happen to often!)
Fr. Müller says Hi as well - she's happy that her son has finally found a wonderful new owner. Annika, I'm happy for you both and look forward to some good Button news!

Weekend news

2010-11-07T07:30:00.000-08:00

It's Sunday again and as it's been ages since my last post, here are those long-hoped-for updates.
I'm feeling endlessly inspired right now. Might have something to do with all the recent travels, beautiful things and wonderful people I came across...

Yvonne who lives in a magazine-ripe house (what would you say about this?) visited me yesterday, so I could show her around the List, Nordstadt and Herrenhausen districts (yes, Coffee and Carrots and Esplanade visits were obligatory but we also made it to a bunch of other nice places including a massive indoor fleamarket right where noone would expect it to be!)

Yvonne could easily earn her living being a personal shopper, she has such an eye for all the beautiful (and non-ripoff!) things out there and so many immediate ideas what one could do with those finds that I just kept my ears open and soaked it all in :) She's so easy-going and warm I'm happy we had a chance to meet!

If you're not Moline's fan yet, dear non-existent visitors, you have to go and become one right away.
Meanwhile, there are some visuals for you here as well (although I definitely can't keep up with Yvonne's colorful goodness of a home).
Remember my cabinet dilemma? It's been solved. Bought, delivered, cleaned, filled.
Die Wohngeschwister is the place to go. I also purchased a beautiful metal Morocco-style coffee table and got a massive discount which covered delivery costs for the cabinet.

And here's his majesty (filled with rather non-satisfying Ikea mag holders - I also took time to organise my mag collection).

The living room looks much more complete now.

If you look closer, you'll see that someone had tried painting that door (and failed completely). The phones, the router and several kilometres of cables are hidden in the basket. There's still a lot to be done but I noticed I really enjoy passing through the living room now.

We saw mushillions of mushrooms yesterday. Take any store, fancy or not, they'll be there, looking right at you! Now this really makes Fr.Mayer happy.

There are lots of hearts, too. I guess I'll need to buy a bunch for the Xmas presents this year.

And here's a whole bunch of thanks to Margret, the author of these beautiful light-blue curtains. I'm happy, happy, happy!

Thanks, dear Yvonne, hope we'll meet again soon - I can learn so much from you!

Although November and the first part of December are going to be rather busy, I can already sense the holidays and look forward to our holiday destination, one of my most cherished ever.

See you all, dear non-existent friends, later (hopefully earlier than in a month!)

First image: Moline.

Happy place

2010-10-22T07:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I curled on the sofa with a glass of wine and a large amount of House M.D. to enjoy... (the longer I live in this flat, the more of a Happy Place it becomes to me). What a perfect final chord to the relaxation phase of my holidays: a week in Istanbul, meeting old and making new friends (Yvonne, I'm so glad we met!), dancing all night long, a bit of mushroom-y and crafty shopping, being at home and enjoying it, I simply don't want it all to end!

Oh yeah, and I shopped for furniture, too!

A new addition to my Happy Place! My lovely Ikea table moved to another study (around the corner :) and this is what I chose for my room - however, it arrived slightly damaged, so it'll have to be replaced in about six weeks. I also got myself those wonderful map stickers for the mag holders in the shelves to add a bit of color to the room, they fit very nicely, methinks!

This huge Ikea box is full of thrifted frames, prints, paper and such. Some of the new additions don't even fit in there any more - and there's another, even bigger box, in the living room. How many times have I promised myself I'd take care of those art walls? Now I'm posting this embarassing picture... Let's see how long it takes till those art walls are set!

Yesterday I went and got myself some X-massy mushrooms and hearts plus a couple of things I've been wanting for a while but never came to purchasing (smaller frames, mappy wrapping paper to frame).
It's strange how happy mushrooms can make you!
The tea tray is new as well and no, it doesn't come from Turkey, this one is from Madame Stolz.

And speaking of Turkey

Blue skies, holidays, a wonderful city, what else to add?

Well, corrections, I'm coming! See you not-so-soon, dear non-existant readers :)

Cabinet dilemma: Help needed!

2010-10-11T10:15:00.000-07:00

Now there's a sofa, some lovely curtains, a chest of drawers, a beautiful Moroccan rug I keep getting questions about, a fake fireplace that needs fixing and a rather basic Ikea Besta shelf.

I realised I'm not going to live with this shelf forever. I need a cabinet. A big, loving, preferrably white glass cabinet.
I've recently been to one of my favourite cities and discovered this beauty there:

Costs: 970 Euros (including shipping. This cabinet is by Nordal which suggests very high quality - and it does look great, otherwise I'd never looked it up after a quick glance at the store. A shop in Hannover told me it's gonna cost about 1400 euros so I'm rather surprised by the price I found.

Then I've searched some more and found this:

Costs: 880 Euros plus around 6 weeks waiting time. It's Car Möbel, obviously.

Costs: 1009 Euros. To me, it looks just like the previous one - except for the fact it's rather shabby. Or, it's been made shabby. Impressionen.

Now, what does Octopus say?

Well, the price is kind of nice. It's 580 including shipping. This one would even fit beside the door and wouldn't have to be placed near the fireplace which would leave less place for other crazy ideas like a chinese cabinet. Now, I'm totally clueless.

What to do? I'm sure that my non-existent readers will help!

Kitchen + Dining Room Tour with a hint of before/after

2010-09-19T05:57:00.000-07:00

Hey, dear non-exis (slowly I start thinking there's actually someone out there, especially after two of my humble pictures have been featured by the interior guru and big autumn lover Holly ).

Today you're all up to a kitchen tour. No excuses accepted.
Remember this?

And this?

Well, there have been some changes.

A bit of cheerful blue goes a loooooooooong way. Our cleaning lady has recently said she was looking forward to every Friday when she could spend a couple of hours in our place :)

Ib Laursen lamps I've been hunting for ages. Well, now they're in and we just need to paint the ugly stripe left from the previous, very hospital-like lamp (not in the picture in order not to hurt your aestethical feelings :)

I'm in love with our Non-Smeg's colour. It matches the stove perfectly :)

The kitchen is always so full of light!

And blue mugs, of course. And tea. As the autumn comes closer (and colourful leaves are turning in the air :)
I tend to increase my tea consumption by litres!

Now, let's move on to the dining room.

Here's some personal thanks to Margret, my boyfriend's mum. She's sewn ALL the curtains in our place (and that's a LOT!) and I just can't thank her enough! Margret, a big hug for you! Besser hätte es keiner machen können.

Still need to fill those niche shelves. We went to the flea market as sellers last week and got rid of so much ugly stuff! I'm very confident that one feels happier if he's surrounded by the things he loves.

As usual, Frau Müller says Hi in a rather suspicious way. She turned 3 last week! Congratulations, Vivi, you're the loveliest cat in the universe. We're so happy to have you! (Well, now this blog is a REAL Katzenblog!)
So long,
Fr. Mayer

Paumes books for sale

2010-09-16T16:07:00.000-07:00

This summer I received two lovely books as a present. They're wondeful but they're just not really working for me and I guess someone else would have much more fun owning them.

LONDON kitchens - Paumes Store
LONDON Vintage - Paumes Store
As both books are completely new - I've only quickly flicked through them - I'd like to have 15 Euros per book plus 1 Euro shipping costs (which beats the official Paumes store :)

UPDATE: sold to wonderful Donna Flower, have fun!

A glimpse of the living room + a practical bonus

2010-09-12T12:54:00.000-07:00

I guess I'll never manage to post regularly and tell long, emotional stories about the leaves landing on my balcony. Whatever. Here's a couple of (too dark) shots from my living room. This sofa makes me and everybody else living here totally happy. It's also a constant source of anxiety (Spots! Jumpy cats!), though.

I need a million of frames. The living room is still not cosy enough...

This is not really the living room - I just wanted to show off my door. And the wallpaper (it was one extreme experience, standing on the ladder, trying to get the stripes straight. Those ceilings are 3,80 high!)
This is not a pretty picture. However, this piece of furniture makes me extremely happy. It's three meters wide and holds just about everything that needs to be tucked away. And - for the first time in my life I have a decent closet. Everything fits! Bliss...

Blog chaos

2010-09-07T14:00:00.001-07:00

I completely destroyed my old blog design. Just didn't want it to be 'shabby' any more.
Hope one day I'll have a lovely header and all those thingies every decent blogger gotta have. Not now...

My study: a little tour

2010-09-07T06:59:00.000-07:00

I guess I'm ready to show a glimpse of my study. There's still so much to be done but if I wait until I'm finished there'll be no updates here for centuries. So, let's get started, dear non-exis.

Ikea + some DIY, I painted this cubby shelf white and covered Ikea pinboard with striped wallpaper. There are some washing pins on the wall holding my favourite postcards and the blue lamp by Lisbeth Dahl is a total highlight of the room. the pictures on top of the cubby shelf will go soon - you can't see but right behind me there's a huge plastic box full of frames and pictures in urgent need of framing. 15 more frames :) - and my art wall is ready to be set up. I'm also planning a massive Etsy splurge, so let's hope Euro becomes stronger.

Talking about the power of white paint. I painted wooden mag holders from IKEA and covered the files on the bottom shelf with a map (1 Euro, flea market) - as well as the little box on the top shelf. I'm a huge fan of paint chips, so I used those to make my mag holders look a bit more colorful.

A little bonus - what I see from my window every day. Usually, there are some squirells sitting on that roof and making Ms. Müller agressive.

A bonus bonus - the garden. No wonder Ms. Müller wants to go for a walk on the balcony all the time.

I'll see you all non-exis later. Due to a rather gloomy weather I can't show more but there'll be updates, I promise :)

Ideas to steal from the current House Doctor catalog and a weak vital sign from Fr. Mayer

2010-09-04T05:48:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't love some House Doctor? Well, their catalog is a constant source on inspiration. And pinecones. And mushrooms. You know, I'm a total sucker for a mushroom, so if you want to attract a bunch of drooling Frau Mayers, just place a mushroom in your product and wait. Well, let's see what's in this one...

Long candles, tied together with a bow.
Europallets on castors, covered with glass (go for it?)
Simple candles in a glass with beautiful labels/papers on them
Pinecone garlands (totally easy! Gotta make one!) and pinecone wreaths (not easy at all. Need one anyway)
Mushroom baubles (again! Gotta have my load of custom-made mushrooms soon :)

A while ago I purchased a fireplace. A fake fireplace. Basically, it's just a frame. If the Ebay God agrees to be nice to me, I might even receive it soon. I'm prepared to trade it for my flu which is the second flu this month which makes me kind of sad because the weather's so good and we've been planning an active fleamarket (Us! Loading the car with all the .... and selling it for a bunch of money) for ages. I'm so sick of being sick but at least I have a couple of minutes to look at beautifully arranged pinecones and mushrooms now. And clean up the mess in my room. And order those frames. And prepare for the good times when I can go back to work and function normally, without being hit by some sly little virus.
Images: House Doctor

A perfect flat....

2010-08-24T12:23:00.001-07:00

Just found this lovely article + a bunch of funny comments. Each of them describes Fantastic Flat.

Good to know!

Do you remember?

2010-08-14T12:47:00.000-07:00

Do you recognize this piece of furniture? I invested several days of my life into making it blue and perfect - and now it's a blue dream came true. Everything's labeled, placed in themed boxes etc. Heaven!

Here's the left part of the cupboard which I like.

And the right one I'm not sure about. Please let me what you think (although I know none of you exists).

More impressions from my dining room. If you remember this picture, you'll certainly like this one! The blue picture has finally joined the party. Still have two more wallpaper scraps, lalala!

Please allow me repeat myself. A before picture.

And an after. It took me SO much time to finish all four of the chairs and the truth is that they're actually still not completely finished.

I have to reveal something. I have a tin fetish. Here's the proof. Watch out for more tins coming soon!

Let's have a little sneak peek into my room. Got this beauty while passing a pharmacy. Saw an "everything for sale" sign. Stopped. Went in. Fell in love. Bargained. Bought. It's perfect for storing all my school stuff + there's place for crafty stuff, too.

The pictures are waiting to become a part of an art wall. The cubby shelf used to host CDs. I painted it white and haven't put too much effort into filling the cubbies yet. Recycling is everything.

Also, as a little extra to this quick update, I really need to vent some fury. You see, I love reading Neon. It's my favorite German mag. It's witty and seem to reflect on my lifestyle perfectly. But today they just went too far. "Especially the creative people seem to be shockingly similar when it comes to decorating. Mix old and new. Put a designer chair in front of an antique cupboard. Place an Apple computer in your flat."
I really wonder what their problem is. Is one supposed to live Ikea-only? Designer-only? Domäne (HATE!) only? Personally I think that old furniture brings life into flats. So does new when chosen right. I also do not think that my apartment looks like a typical shabby chic one. It does look like a mix of old new though. You know why? Because it IS a mix of old and new and it's SO not like any given flat of a "typical creative person". Grrr! Let me know what you think even if you don't exist. See you soon!

Bonus: Frau Müller saying Hi from the new sofa.

I'm back!

2010-08-14T11:52:00.000-07:00

Yohoo, the Queen of Blogging Ignorance previously known as Frau Mayer is back!
What have I been up to? A short trip to Denmark+Sweden, of course.
Here's the proof.

Obviously, there are loads of boats in Copenhagen.

They make the place somehow cosier, me thinks.

We did something illegal with these bikes - but I'm not telling you what :) Nothing too bad, though, s don't worry!

A lovely girl I know from livejournal (yeah, I do have another blog in another language, very enigmatic) showed us Copenhagen from the roof of her office. Stunning!

It's never going to beat Germany (I'm such a patriot!) but it's still rather beautiful...

After having drunk a shocking amount of Swedish cider (yummy!) in the company of Irina (loads of insider information: car taxes, taxes, more taxes, salaries, real estate, taxes again, typical Danes, terrible German language, shockingly boring Danish countryside etc. - nothing beats meeting an insider!) we went to the place of its origin and stayed in the middle of a wheat field not too far from Malmö. Well, whoever decided that Malmö is beautiful should go to Germany and take a look around.
I can't say more about Sweden because we had to leave early and didn't really see much of it. A couple of exotic countries are on my current "to travel to" list and I'm totally looking forward to some time with my best friend living SO close to an Antrhoplogie store... I'm also going to pick a year's worth of Living etc
Coming soon on this blog are some teaser shots from the apartment. It's been a while...

Progress report

2010-07-03T12:55:00.000-07:00

It's been a while. Too hot to work, to be honest. Well, there's still something I'd love to show you, my dear non-existent readers.
Where shall we start?

What have we here? It's definitely blue...

But what can it be?

Oh! What soft lines... and more blue!

Oh yes! It's a cupboard!

It took me several weeks and many many hours of work to get this far. As you can see, there's still a couple of things to do - but I am already totally happy with the results. I've wallpapered the back wall and also the insides - more close ups to come!

More news from the dining room - my latest supermegaüberdeal from eBay. I paid an exact amount of 33 euros for 4 of these beautiful chairs. They're to become white, of course - and I'd love some advice on new fabric.

What was in the background again? My new shelves in the niche!

Well, there are more blue pics coming soon - let me know what you think, dear non-exis! Meanwhile, I'm gonna mix a mojito or two...

Cupboard and me

2010-06-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

I've just spent three hours sanding and painting the cupboard - and only managed to finish the first layer on the upper half. Well, if I keep working like this, I'll be done by the beginning of the holidays. This glorious day is so close - next Wednesday! Freedom, freedom, freedom - six weeks of being creative, traveling, taking care of the fantastic flat, finally reading all the books I've wanted to read for so long etc.

What's slowly becoming clear is that I'll need a long time to make this flat look the way I want.
Another thing I've realized: It's all even more fun than I had thought! Things are slowly coming together and it's a feeling you can't really describe - I just keep walking around and asking myself if it's true, if this is really the flat I'm living in. We're surrounded by a bunch of really wealthy people, driving their oldtimer convertibles for a walk on Sundays - but so far it's been rather nice.

Well, I'm off for a couple of rounds around the park - as I've got no posh convertible, I'll be taking my inline skates :)

Massive Mushroom Attack

2010-06-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

Remember my mushroom musings?
Well, I've discovered a wonderful source! Finally!
My friend Veronica, a madly gifted girl, has recently started making them. I'm already going to order a whole bunch for my X-mas tree. Can you believe it? Real mushroomy mushrooms! Yohoo!
Here's a little mushy-mushy sample

The chaos is blue

2010-06-15T09:23:00.000-07:00

My countdown number: 6. My mood: better. My kitchen cupboard: partly blue.

I'll be posting shocking pictures today. The flat's been cleaned but the relatively clean condition didn't last too long. My painting equipment and all kinds of instruments are everywhere.

Here's the proof. I guess some people would never dare to post such non-photoshopped ugliness - but Frau Mayer is a really brave woman. Check it out!

So far I'm love how it's turning out. Will probably need 10000 more hours to finish it - the blackanddeckering process is very time-consuming.

Front view

Here's another side of the dining room with the table I purchased at the local Depot store for under 150 Euros (they were getting rid of the furniture and I guess they still are)

May I introduce? The smallest kitchen in the world. I totally love how it turned out - and there's more to come. I'm going to have a long open shelf installed above the entire worktop (it's 2,65 m long! Imagine me trying to fit this thing into my tiny car).

The stove is supposed to be white - according to IKEA - but it's actually more on the creamy side and it fits the fridge so perfectly I could cry :) I know, it sounds a bit matchy-matchy but there'll be a light blue shelf and a bunch of yellow and blue accents!

Found that guy at the flea market a couple of weeks ago for 20 Euros. It looks like an owner of a Shabby Roses of France or Sweet Patina Chic blog would kill for it, lol :) I'm replacing the knobs and letting him reside by my bed :) Need I say I spent about an hour in a bath tub, trying to get rid of all the dirt + spider webs + don't really wanna know what.

My beloved mirror (another 20 Euros at eBay) and a yet-to-be-unpacked-and-presented chandelier. Haven't decided where it's going yet, might have something to do with another bunch of auctions I'm constantly watching.

Remember the good old tea box? Still looking for a set of wheels + a partner for it. Don't be shocked seeing the sofa in the background, it'll be kicked out the second our new one enters the place. See the floor? It's really hard to believe I'm actually living together with these floors. I'm feeling like I'll have to get a big cowhide for them....

Here Frau Müller the Cat is inspecting a part of my bed. She's so tiny in this enormous flat, my poor thing!
Well, the sun is shinig outside and I'm going on a big Pax hunt - wish me luck, dear non-exis!

Breaking the rules again.

2010-06-13T12:44:00.000-07:00

I admit it. I haven't blogged/posted any pics for a while although I'd promised to do so. I'm not feeling too guilty, though, cause my current fan club consists of non-existent persons only.

It's been a very stressful time and I'm longing for the holidays. Do you want to know what's worse than not having a huge, gorgeous flat to live in? To actually live in a huge, gorgeous flat - and not being able to take care of it. Commuting to work takes me 25 minutes. I sometimes have to be there at 7 30. I'm never home before 2 p.m and when I am, I have to lie down and regenerate.

Somehow I managed to cover the kitchen worktop in transparent varnish (it was a torture as I made a pretty stupid mistake in the beginning and had to remove a part of it. Brrr!) and one sunny day our fridge got delivered. After a rather long fight, we could install it (the door had to be hung on the left side - there's simply NO space) and - well, it's currently filled with the leftover party drinks. Well, I started painted the long shelf - it's gonna be finished by Wednesday - needs to be turned twice) - and maybe another lovely day will face us actually cooking in that kitchen. Need I mention some of the tile paint came of when I removed masking tape? Grrr.

As for the housewarming party which happened here yesterday - it was lovely to see good old and new friends and rather sad to see some of the 'friends' don't even care to type a `sorry I can't make it`.

Our basement looks like a massive landfill but the flat's much better now - the party gave us a bit of motivation to finally clean (actually, rather to push boxes into corners). 10 more days and I'll be investing ALL my energy into this place. Can't wait, honestly.

Totally against the rules (a post with NO PIC!)

2010-06-06T13:22:00.000-07:00

Why, you'd ask, have I been so silent? Well, I was busy-busy-busy commuting to my new workplace and back, being all excited about my new job, preparing to move, buying furniture, desperately trying to have everything delivered before we move in etc.

Well, some of these things worked out just fine, some didn't.

Here are the facts - no pics, just the naked truth :)

1. We're in! All of us - and that includes Frau Müller The Cat who's running around like crazy - she's never been in a place that big!

2. 120 square meters! I need like an hour to get from the bedroom to the bathroom!

3. The floors are FANTASTIC! Unfortunately, they're very sensitive, too.

4. The kitchen is IN! It's a very simple IKEA one - although I decided to invest a bit into good appliances. Will show it as soon as it dries (had to take care of the worktops).

5. We've still got no fridge! It'll hopefully arrive during the week. Can't see Chinese and Lebanese food any longer.

6. Happy happy happy, can't wait for the holidays to begin so I can invest all my energy in the place.

7. We're having a housewarming party on Saturday. You're all welcome!

News from the Fantastic Flat

2010-05-16T02:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we intruded the FF again: this time we brought a folding rule with us (along with the camera, of course).
Following things were discovered:a problem in the kitchen (re-planning!), freshly painted walls in 2 of the rooms, a newly tiled bathroom and the horrible black tiles painted white and looking spotty-gray, just like Frau Müller the Cat.
Here also comes some good news: I am a Flickr Pro now! Yohoo!
After facing and sorting my past for a while I now have all that unlimited space to store pictures of FF.

The dining room - it's shaped in a rather, hmmm, challenging way, so I'll have to be inventive.

Another balcony and a view of the garden (as seen from behind the dining room balcony door which wasn't to open :)

The door is gorgeous but this wallpaper will have to go. Real quick!

The other side - from my room.The green will have to go, too.

This is what I'll see when I wake up.

The living room - with all the yellow gone. The windows will have to be painted, too.

The flat is full of such details. Love.

According to the tradition: Another horrible kitchen shot. The tiles in their gray beauty.

Next week in the flat: more painting + floors.
In 2 weeks: top secret :)

Bedtime!

2010-05-13T11:12:00.000-07:00

Everybody needs a place to sleep. Even Frau Mayer.
After her round bed disappeared, the question arose: what next?
I was going to combine my study and the bedroom so the searched-for-object wasn't allowed to look too "beddy". Plus, it should be possible to turn it into a loungy sofa any moment. A bit of ebaying and - here's the solution!

More kitchen inspiration + money talk

2010-05-13T00:57:00.000-07:00

Here it is, another almost perfect kitchen. discovered at Emmas Designblogg
The sink + the blue chair are talking to me in a loud, clear voice. Meanwhile, I've purchased the fridge - only to discover it's sold out and will be available again on the 19th of May which will leave us with 10 days to have it delivered in time.
The kitchen's completely planned, I've just purchased door knobs at eBay (apothecary ones, what else?!) - and we're awaiting a reply from an installation team. IKEA does offer installation help for 239 Euros (4 hours) but with all the things that need to be connected (dishwasher etc.) and shipping it'll surely add up.

IKEA's got several special offers right now - for instance, all Faktum Abstract door fronts are 1/4 cheaper. They've also go that 0,0 % finance offer (with a fee of 39 Euros :(
I guess, I'll be going for both as the total cost is quickly approaching the 2000 Euros mark.

Inspiration + Inline skating

2010-05-05T10:43:00.000-07:00

It's time to go outside and skate a bit :) However, I've promised myself to update my lovely little bloggy a bit more often (as if anyone cared!). I'll also take care of the blogroll soon - it's time to show those I read daily how I appreciate their thoughts and pictures (as if some of them needed additional PR from Frau Mayer, a highly non-famous blogger).
Right, my first task is The Kitchen. I've already chosen a fridge and a dishwasher and now it's time to move a bit further. The place is SO tiny I don't even need to be creative. Well, not really.

The kitchen of my dreams. Well, I do have a couple of ideas... My version will be pretty ikea-ish, of course, and as I am not very keen on the black dishwasher/black handles on the picture, I'll go for lighter ones.

I told you. No Smeg = no high electricity bills. Also, I am going for a smooth beige version. Hope it won't stand out too much. Another problem - the sink. The Ikea one which looks like this is a double sink which probably won't really fit (also, what do I need a double sink for?) The single one is not a free-standing variant and has to be integrated into a worktop. Talk about dilemmas.

I'm loving the handles!

Suspect N1 - the double sink! It HAS to be this shape. HOW am I going to fit it into a ktichen 2,80 metres long?

Leaving you with this non-existent riddle, dear non-existent readers.

My Weekend: Cake and Cupboards

2010-05-02T12:58:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to show my non-existent readers a couple of my weekend snapshots. The set I created is called A Sunday in May - well, it's not exactly Sunday, it's Saturday, I just loved the sound of it. Right, let's proceed to the pictures!

Marinage, my most favorite store ever. I keep discovering furniture gems there! I haven't made any pictures of my new chest of drawers yet as we were too busy trying to get it into the car but here are some snapshots I made after completing the mission.

This guy has taken the place of my beautiful Küchenschrank. Guess what? I want it too!

This one keeps changing faces as the store owner is so gifted and re-decorates every now and then.

Just look at all those adorable details!

I wanted to have this one, too. Too late...

The green corner.

A lovely medicine closet.

As I don't really know when I'll happen to go to Hildesheim again I couldn't miss the chance of going to Hofcafe (Domäne Hildesheim). They have the best cake around!

This choice can make anyone suffer! Well, I went for the raspberry version - people seemed to be crazy about it!

My dream, standing in the corner, filled with forks, spoons, candles, tea etc. The cafe owner told me a story about buying these treasures at eBay and paying around 1000 Euros. They were shipped from Bavaria!

I'm in love!

All right, I have to keep orgainzing my temporary workspace. It doesn't look too good here and I keep missing things as most of them are already in the basement of my new flat. I'll leave you with the cakes, don't drool too much :)

New Flat

2010-05-01T10:31:00.000-07:00

All right. I have moved. However, there's going to be another great move in the end of the month because our beautiful flat is in need of some freshening up. The floors, the tiles in the kitchen (I'll show you this horror!), the walls - everything's going to be renovated. Moreover, two extra doors will be removed, leaving the flat with just one entrance (right now it has three!)

Most of the furniture is sold, the rest (plus a million of boxes) is hidden in the basement, waiting for us.

I'll show you a couple of pictures though - luckily, they're really bad so you don't have to get too jealous (yet!)

Some basic information: 120 sq m, 4 rooms, full bath, 2 balconies. Well, yeah. I've never lived in something like that before and every time I enter this place I just feel overwhelmed with happiness.

Let's start!

Living room - it's going to be white, of course. My personal pain: curtains.

My room, facing the garden. It used to be a nursery hence the green walls. I'm thinking light blue... Well, what should I say. It's fantastic.

Look, there's a door to the dining room (have I just written that?)

The balcony (one of).

The horror in the kitchen - a little revenge of the previous tenants whose extremely expensive used curtains we weren't interested in :)

I'll leave you with the pics and be back with a couple of inspiration posts later!

Bastelattacke

2010-04-26T08:47:00.000-07:00

Basteln = arts n crafts, dear non-exis.
This is what I did today. The flat's dirty like hell, there's stuff and half-packed boxes everywhere - and in the middle of it all Frau Mayer was compensating what she's been missing so much.

I made a bunch of cards and some bookmarks. I also attempted a secret project for my friend's newborn but wasn't too pleased so there'll be no picture. Not yet cause I'm not giving up!

So what do you need to create something like this?

A bunch of paint chips (I have a stunning collection and always want MORE - there's no better and cheaper material than paint chips. To be honest, they're free!), a Martha Stewart craft punch, scissors and some glue + really lovely scrapbooking paper.

That's pretty much it - and this is what came out! I played around with colors and patterns. Frau Müller the cat was bothering me ALL the time, trying to steal things, play with ribbon etc. There was a lot of displeased meowing :)

FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDOM

2010-04-19T12:28:00.000-07:00

All right, my dear non-exis. Frau Mayer is done. A very long, very painful, very tiresome phase of her life is over.
Now I'm looking forward to loads of decluttering, my move to the city I love, loads of planning, decorating and enjoying life.
I'm feeling so powerless I've spent the day in bed. Finally, I have some time to show none of you my Morocco pics.

Here we go!

Our riad in Marrakech. It's a really good one. If you speak French, hehe. Otherwise, it's just a good place where you can't talk to anyone. Which is OK, too cause I had someone to talk/cuddle with me.

All Moroccan riads have this lovely pool in the middle which never gets used. It does look good in pictures, though.

Let's keep talking about out riad. It had this absolutely amazingly decorated bathroom which I just wanted to rip out and take with me. I had to stick to pictures, though and I'm trying to comfort myself saying I'd get tired of all those colours in a couple of weeks. Hail simple white bathrooms, bla bla.

Breakfast at the patio. Blue-white dishes. Sun. Palm trees. Well...

This is Achmed carrying our breakfast. It's nice to be a capitalist from time to time.

This is going to be a little teaser for the next post where I'm going to tell you why I didn't like Morocco too much, what tips might come in handy when shopping in medinas, what to bring with you, what to watch out for and why the hell I wasn't allowed to buy a sink (I did buy a carpet and use it to fly home, he he he)

Wallpaper decisions

2010-04-01T17:09:00.000-07:00

Dear non-exis, never mind this post. I'm a bit insomniac and have nothing better to do than choosing wallpaper. I'm planning a huge closet with sliding doors. Huge means 3,80 m huge.
My guess is: neutral, duck egg to grey combined with white, calm, bigger pattern.
Let's check out Tapetenagentur!

I guess, this is my all-time-favorite.

Might purchase the first one for smaller projects, though.
All images - Tapetenagentur.

The visuals...

2010-03-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

The lovely Geninne isn't just a wonderful artist - she's the sweetest person ever.
I'm sure non of my non-existent readers remembers these beautiful pictures I purchased from her a while ago. Well, they got lost in the mail. That happens. I was prepared to say goodbye - but Geninne just sent me new ones, charging me no extra cent. Yesterday I finally laid my hands on these beauties.

Now, very soon I'll be needing a whole bunch of frames. I'm actually kind of scared of HOW many frames I'll need because you know what? Look at this!

Well, have I mentioned my dining room? That's where these beautiful prints are going to live!
And.... Keep looking!

Eva is the amazing artist behind these prints. I kind of went crazy and purchased half of the store. I'm so happy I finally can do such things without feeling guilty. Nope, not a single bit! I enjoy being practical, having less than 10 pairs of shoes and driving a Toyota Yaris but purchasing art is NOT a luxury, it's simply a must. I've known that since I purchased a Georgia O'Keefe poster while I was still studying. It cost about 4 euros and somehow the last picture shown reminds me of its tender colors. I'm never going to part with my O'Keefe posters (I have two now, the iris joined by a lily on grey).

Well, right now I'll disappear in order to get some work done (and to keep looking forward to seeing those prints live). So long, dear non-exis!

New Küchenbüffet + a little store tour

2010-03-30T11:13:00.000-07:00

As I still can't make myself tell you more about M...o, I thought I'd share my latest (well, not really as I shopped like mad in M..h) purchase with you! This one is going straight into my dining room. Have I just typed this? I am going to have WHAT? A DINING ROOM? Sound like a joke. Well, whatever, just look what I've found right next to my modest place in the village soon to be left!

The minute I saw this one, I knew it's going to be mine. Luckily, it was for sale - and cheap! I could hardly believe my ears as I heard the price - and immediately got another 20 Euros off. No shipping costs as the piece is standing right next to my apartment and it'll simply be carried into the moving truck.

Right now, this beauty is housing a lovely collection of antique tins and a bunch of beautiful china. Well, it should wait till it meets my beautiful, perfectly mismatched collection!

I was also thinking of taking these guys with me

It's a pity I already have some silverware - really simple, basic ones (17 Euros for a bunch of 40!)

Green Gate keeps following me - and look at this green little alarm clock! It's the sweetest one :)

Easter is around! I'm considering this lovely shell box for my future bathroom (it'll be newly tiled! Can you believe that?)

The lady who owns the store is most talented. She sources antique furniture everywhere in the vicinity, she teaches classes at an evening school where she shows people how to paint furniture and create that 'shabby look', she consults and she's just totally sweet. I planned to quickly look in and stayed for about 30 minutes chatting to her. So eager to help! She says her mission is to promote living with antique, unique pieces and she's much more interested in people being happy at home that in money making. I might be posting more about her later - and this is one of the rare cases where I'm really sad about my readers being so non-existent.

This little shop is so easy to walk by without seeing it - and this is exactly what one shouldn't do!

P.S. I' m not revealing the store name here as I' m rather sure I have no readers who live next to it and it doesn't have an online presence.

Fridging around....

2010-03-28T16:10:00.000-07:00

Right now Frau Mayer is in bed, with her laptop wide open and some beautiful fridge pictures spread all over the screen.
Fridges? Now? After taking a quick look at my Flickr photostream none of my non-existent readers might have figured out I just came back from somewhere fun... Well, I'll be writing about that country, starting with M and ending with O, very very soon. Just need some daylight and a little effort to shoot my loot (which is absolutely awesome! And yes, I did buy a carpet, hehe).
So the reason I've been looking at fridges is an especially pleasant one. Frau Mayer + Frau Müller are moving back to their favorite city! My apartment has got a new, lovely lady tenant who was kind enough to inherit the colourful walls (I'll be adding some furniture, my old fridge - which takes us to the topic of this posting - and curtains) and yours non-existently is looking forward to a MASSIVE amount of shopping. Yohoo!

Now, what's bout those fridges? As you can probably guess, I've been salivating over Smegs for a looooooooooooooooooong time.

However, I figured a Smeg wasn't a very smart choice. It's just not energy efficient enough to be bought by Frau Mayer (yes, I drive a very small car, always recycle, go to fleamarkets, the list goes on). After a quick research I found out Gorenje was the place to look for colourful fridges that aren't just pretty. This cremey guy will be living in my kitchen soon. It also costs around 400 which is waaaaay less than a smeggy Smeg. The model pictured here is a Gorenje rk 60359 dc in creme - and soon it will be mine :)

Vintage globes and other highs

2010-03-14T13:54:00.000-07:00

Good news, dear non-existent readers! Frau Mayer is alive AND she went fleamarketing again.
And this is what The God of the Fleas had in store for her today:

The vintage globe in this picture (made in Denmark in 1980, obviously for Germany as everything on it is in German) says: Why do you dare take pictures of me that don't transfer a 1/10000 of my beauty?
Frau Mayer says: No one's gonna care cause all of them gonna be DAMN jealous!

So, just let it flow, my dear non-existent friends and I won't tell you the beauty cost 9 Euros!
I am SO looking forward to the fleamarketing season! Something's telling me it's gonna be one of the best ones in my entire life!

Real Living - an extra copy for sale plus new arrivals

2010-02-21T09:25:00.000-08:00

Hello, my dear non-existent friends from the blogosphere! I've found a double copy of my most-favorite-mag ever - and because I'd love to share the fun, I'm offering this copy for, let's say, 6 Euros (shipping to Germany included, all other countries pls inquire within :) Please be warned, one page had been torn out by some unknown fan, the overall condition is, however, OK. The mag is still available and will be until otherwise stated!

And here are those botanical cards I've been talking about. Adorable, aren't they?

Inspiration in the tub

2010-02-17T13:40:00.000-08:00

I consider myself a happy person. Most of the time. While I'm desperately waiting for several things to be finally over, I'm checking on that Alvhem site quite often - and always make myself tea as soon as I discover new pictures there (which means - Frau Mayer is going to intensify the pleasure :). Today was such day again...

Me+laptop+tub+this flat:

There are so many elements I'm loving here: the art wall, the sheepskin on the pristine white floor (too scandi to be anything else), the shelves in the background, that A (WHERE do people find such letters?) + Kusmi tins on them, my favorite flowers on the coffee table... And the colourful Eames chairs!

Those shelves are too lovely not to do a close-up! Mmmh... What have we here? Beautiful cookbooks, vintage scales + botanical postcards arranged in a frame (guess who has recently purchased two deliriously beautiful botanical postcards. Well, it might be Frau Müller the Cat but ...) Ikea lamp, got you!

What makes me feel a bit better is the fact that my coffee machine is cooler. But that's about it.

Yes, they have a little vintage table here. And some cushions on the floor. Lovely. Ebay's been mean to me recently - no good tables out there. But it will change, I'm pretty sure! And then I'll post pictures so that Nadine can be proud of me :)

See that sofa? As for me, I do it all the time - in every second scandi blog I visit. I wonder if it has a name...

And there's something about those white Ikea picture boards/shelves that makes me want to have loads and loads of them as I've already accumulated enough artwork to fill at least seven!

Don't you want to steal all kinds of scandi ideas when you see such flats? I certainly do!

Objects of desire: Cavallini

2010-02-13T10:54:00.000-08:00

I've spent ages recently looking for this calendar by Cavallini&Co:

It's called Flora and Fauna and it's sold out EVERYWHERE in the world but some shop in Florida that hasn't answered my request yet. The German distributors aren't worth mentioning, it took them more than a week to process my order and in the end all the calendars I ordered were suddenly "not available" (though listed on their webpage).

Any hints/advice on Cavallini calendars are welcome here. You may even stop lurking!

I wonder why a company producing such wonders doesn't care enough to get itself decent distributors. I guess the calendar's gone now. Can't imagine finding it offline anywhere in Germany although I did come across this set of cards which was mercilessly purchased the moment I saw it:

Happy Cats II

2010-02-12T01:21:00.000-08:00

THIS is going to arrive soon. The Happy Cats are tired of Winter - and are looking forward to Spring! Just like me :) I'm so happy I got to know Dasha and her talent. Hope one day she'll start selling these bundles of positive energy on etsy. So far, this post is your chance to tell her these pictures are wonderful!

Esplanade - probably the loveliest store in Lower Saxony

2010-02-07T10:18:00.000-08:00

As I spent Friday driving around Hamburg like a total madwoman and spontaneously went back to Hannover in the evening instead of shaking the stress off at a salsa party, I only managed to get to this wonderful place on Saturday - 10 minutes prior to its closing-time. Fine! I also didn't have my fancy camera with me so the pics are lousy, too - but here's a little store tour for you, my dear non-existent readers!

Of course, the place is in the List district. Where else? It's chock full with Pip, Greengate, Rice and Co (take any shabby blog and find tons of these thingies there!) - and sometimes I give in to the temptation, too. This time two wonderful coffee cups and saucers as well as two mugs (yes, they were Pip, spring-sky-blue AND beautiful) kind of jumped into the bag. They'll look especially good displayed next to some simple Ikea bowls in a matching tone of blue.

See? They're on your right!

Greengate! Let's drool :) Next temptation I'm going to give in to is getting myself a couple of blue bowls with white dots ON them and planting something IN them (I know that everybody does it but isn't blogging all about being inspired by other people's ideas?

Mmmh! Love the pillows :) Oh, and see the little cabinet next to the lamps? I've recently found a similar wooden one and I'm going to use it as my first victim-to-paint!

Waiting for a similar table to appear on eBay! Those legs....

Due to the über-lousy quality of the picture you can't really see how gorgeous this old painted wardrobe actually is. Well, think 1000 times more gorgeous and you'll be close!

All right, that's it for now, there's a couple more pics at my Flickr account so help yourself and I'll be signing off in order to have some fun with tuna steaks and beans (been eating in a better way for a while and it's paying off!)

Freedom is so near or Happy Cats

2010-01-26T07:27:00.000-08:00

Today is a very special day for Frau Mayer ( not for the cat, though, cause it's REALLY cold outside so she can't use her bed on the window sill any more and is currently using my duvet) - although not everything went quite as she wanted it to be, from today on she is going to finally finally finally have more time for herself. Just like these happy cats created by the most talented Dasha a girl I'd never met but known online for ages.

I've made a long list of things that need to be done and totally loved it! I'll start with cleaning, making doctor's appointments and sorting things out and slowly but surely I'll get to:

1. Selling all the things I don't need any more. Yes, including that cross trainer. And the mags.
2. Going through my huge mag collection and deciding what stays and what goes.
3. Decluttering the basement. One can hardly move there - and I'm not lying, I tripped on some unknown object yesterday while searching for something in one of the endless boxes. This process will also include some wonderful moments - for instance, sorting my art!
4. Doing sports! Probably not today, though, because it's about -15 degrees outside and I hate the very thought of driving to the gym. Also, I've just eaten an organic chocolate cookie :) A wellness day might be a good idea for a smooth comeback, though.
5. Finding a new tenant for my place. Don't wanna paint!
6. Reading + doing some holiday planing. Haven't been on the road for a VERY long time.
7. Shopping for all those necessary thing: camera bag, new printer+scanner etc.

I guess, 7 is a wonderful number so let's call it a day and look at some more lovely pictures! I wish Dasha would draw a happy cats picture for me one day...

The last picture is my all-times-favorite! I wish I could draw....

Dreaming of freedom

2010-01-23T12:30:00.000-08:00

Right now I shouldn't even be online. I should be working like hell. On my drafts, on my lesson ideas, on whatever.
However, I am online and I'm typing this post. Damn tired of being under pressure all the time. Damn tired of drafts, drafts, drafts. I haven't had time - and nerves - for being creative without having a terrible conscience for ages. Let's think of something really good, for instance, about porcelain (a really fresh and new topic on this useless blog)! What am I going to buy myself as soon as I get to London - or maybe even the States? Right you are, I'll be heading to Anthropologie that Sarah has been musing about so much lately.
I do have a little wish list. Number 1 on it is clearly this mug.

To be honest, I'd love to have at least three. An A, a K and a V to start with. Let's hope Anthro won't discontinue them before I get to a store (shipping is 40 damn euros! For three mugs 4,44 euros each!)
Great, productive weekend to everyone reading this entry.
Or a great, relaxing one which is even better but not the case here.

Visualizing wishes

2010-01-21T11:28:00.000-08:00

There's a lot being told about visualizing one's wishes in order to help them come true.
I have never been really serious about it - and should probably give it a try.
Let's start with porcelain!

I can recall endless hours spent reading and re-reading, re-re-reading and re-re-re-reading this book. At a certain point I even started biting little pieces off the pages, probably trying to swallow a part of that magical world. Mumins are the best possible creatures ever and I still love them all dearly!

And this is Mumin Troll himself!

And these are Hattifnaten, those weird electrical creatures who always travel in groups and never say anything.

Oh, so many childhood memories... I would love to have the entire collection - but a couple of them actually costs a small fortune (which is why I need to visualize those :)

And now back to the more realistic items. I know that nowadays almost everyone who's a bit into Scandi style possesses some Greengate items. And I know I never really liked polka dots. However, I was thinking of adding some blue to my future kitchen (right now it's down to all possible tones of yellow+green) and I guess these would be just perfect for planting some future victims of mine:

Well, green will not be forgotten, for sure!

I'll be modest and call it a day - and there's another draft waiting to be written.

See ya none, dear noones!

Making cards or a bit of marthastewarism

2010-01-15T11:30:00.000-08:00

Do you know what marthastewarism is? Of course you don't cause
a) it's a VERY rare disease
and
b) you don't exist, he he.

Here's the answer, though: it's what happens to everyone who wants to posses more than one Martha Stewart craft punch. Yeah, I should spend my money in a smarter way but, to be honest, I haven't shopped for clothes for ages, so I guess I can allow myself a couple of used mags, tea boxes and deliriously lovely craft punches.
So what do I need them for? Let's see...

That thingy in the background is my X-mas present, an ultimate Swiss cheese lamp.

The possibilities are, indeed, endless...

Some matching envelopes to go with the cards. Bought these ones in Thailand and totally regret not having bought MORE!

Has anyone said X-mas was over? But winter isn't which pretty much legitimates my making christmassy cards...

The hottest tea box ever

2010-01-15T11:15:00.000-08:00

Guess what my latest, freshest, hottest Ebay find is, my dear non-existent readers! Oh, right, you don't exist so you can't really answer. It's alright cause I have a couple of pictures I just have to post because I've just picked up the hottest future side table in da hood!

Just look at the ornaments! Mmmh... And yeah, I'm a complete idiot, spending that much money on a tea box - I could ve bought a similar one for a tenner in HH - but the ornaments just broke my poor little heart.
Now I need cute little wheels to make the thingy even more practical and then we're all set (might use it as a night stand, though, still considering different options).
See you very soon!

The secret of scandi design - a bit of picture analysis

2010-01-13T16:19:00.000-08:00

Every now and then the entire blogosphere seems to admire apartments sold by a Swedish company, Alvhem.

They've got a wonderfully yummy site where they post numerous pictures of wonderful places in the middle of Göteborg.

I've been brooding over these pictures for so long, I started analyzing them and as all the flats are very obviously styled by the same person, I'm going to post a couple of my favorites here, along with the elements of that yummy scandi style that are to be found everywhere.

Let's get Swedish!

So, already in picture number one we have at least seven of them:

1. huge windows, filling the place with light

2. white walls

3. canvas/frames covered in fabric (a hilarious idea, in my opinion, as I happened to have found three lovely Ikea frames on a street one day and also to have scored some deliriously beautiful silk - in three different pastel tones - on my trip to Thailand this summer. And yeah, I got myself a staple gun at ebay if you know what I'm driving at...)

4. a fur on the floor - mostly a sheepskin

5. a beautiful chandelier
6. accent pillows on a neutral sofa - generally good for everyone who's not ready to spend his days with a lilac sofa + pink pillow covers
7. floor made of natural materials - a big NO to laminate

Take this one and find almost all of the above here. Plus number 8 - art wall (sometimes it consists of differently sized frames, sometimes it doesn't. Oh, I'm SO looking forward to creating my first very own one).

and number 9 - pastel walls. Mmmh! Don't they look like a freshly brewed latte? Here also comes my personal favorite, number 11 - a ladder shelf. Yes, I possess 3 of them. Thanks for the hint.

Let's move on... These floors make me have a severe drooling attack! Sorry, I was actually about to point out some further favorites. Number 12 - a vintage item integrated into an otherwise modern environment. You know, sometimes you just surf by some blogs that are stuffed with shabby chic - and nothing but it. Brrr! But this cupboard looks like it's been there for ages (and, indeed, it has). Number 13 is a bit Freudian - a low-hanging lamp in the kitchen. I guess I'll go for it as soon as I have a kitchen table that's slightly bigger than 2 DINA4 pages glued together. Notice the smart use of black here (which is not my favorite, though).

Right, 13 is a good number, I might go on some other day, should there be any non-existent interest.

Winter in the kitchen

2010-01-10T05:11:00.000-08:00

My X-mas decorations this year looked like this:

That's it. There was nothing else, mostly due to the fact I wasn't really at home...
Using the chance, I'll show a couple of kitchen impression. I hate the naked backsplash, and as I'm moving out soon, I decided not to invest into any further shelving. So what to do? Bought this very simple line at ebay for a couple of euros, got some wooden clips from a hobby store (less than a euro), hung my favorite images (the one in the middle is me in London on an ultimately sunny, wonderful autumn day) - ready.

I bet you know this cat!

More cats! I'm a hopeless cat freak. Got this one as a little keepsake on my last trip to Strassbourg (love the city! And all the Flammkuchen!)
So, down to business now, wishing my non-existent readers a non-existently lovely Sunday.

Shopping therapy

2010-01-07T15:27:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a back to work day. I've been fighting a lot, predominately with my lazy self. The holidays were all about sleeping in, lying around and eating, eating, eating...

So what can help a very demotivated Miss Mayer (not the cat, she's perfectly OK and going shoelace-crazy for the 1000th time today) out of this mood? Shopping! Right you are!

First of all, a bit of boasting: I got myself a beautiful Acer Aspire laptop and a new GPS for Christmas. Both were absolutely necessary purchases. Both make me happy (my not-so-old netbook was a nightmare - never buy a Samsung NC20 - and my GPS was way older than my car which says a lot!).

And guess what I got myself today? Pure, pure beauty!!!

These are SO going into my future study! (One of the things I'm anticipating most of all, after, of course, cancelling the rent for my current apartment as I seriously can't stand the landlord, is creating an art wall. All the shells, mushrooms, little birdies in one place, what a delight!) The artist behind them, the most wonderful Gennine creates pure magic.

Mmmh, I'm so looking forward to these flying in!

Happy New Year from Frau Mayer n Cat

2010-01-05T12:44:00.000-08:00

Hello there, my dearest non-existent readers! Frau Mayer and Cat are both alive and are looking forward to the last couple of months in their teeny-tiny flat in H-town. What will the year bring them? We'll see.

As I've been rather lazy during the holidays and didn't get to know my camera a bit better, the only pics I can post are these ones, shot in May. Since then I've added a couple of interesting details, such as my coffee machine (he he he) or a lovely shabby ladder/shelf. I also brought a crazy amount of wonderful things from my Bangkok trip - and have to keep them in the basement as there's simply not enough place to display all the beauties. Well, that might change quite soon!

And, anticipating your non-existent questions: I did get that mushroom poster for X-mas! And a wonderful, magical white lamp creating the nicest of evening lights. And a sewing machine!

As for now, I'll be showing around my place - again.

Can you spot five cats in this picture? I can!

I never thought I was capable of shooting such bad pictures - but here you go. At least you see that I'm a huge fan of Georgia O'Keefe. And that I definitely AM in need of a round blanket for my round bed. I currently have two ladder-like Ikea shelves next to my bed, which provides a couple of books a
nd a huge bunch or magazines with a temporary home.

Have I told you I was learning Spanish? Well, I am. This is the reason I went through all this pain of getting myself of a Magnetic Poetry Spanish Kit, buying a magnetic Ikea board, covering it with green gift paper and creating a coordinating picture (which shows two tiny kittens, looking so much like Miss Müller when she was a baby). I never really got to play with those. Well, at least I'm honest. And I never use that blender for making healthy smoothies. In fact, it's somewhere behind the curtains right now and the place on the fridge is all occupied by the HOLY COFFEE MACHINE.

I don't really know what you need this picture for but in case you've got absolutely nothing to do you could compare it to a pic of my kitchen. There's some funny similarity I'm not telling you about!

Right, and now I'm going to finally do what I've been going to do for the past year. Wish me luck!

Slurm in Berlin

2009-12-06T12:15:00.000-08:00

I guess I am not going to say anything new if I mention that Prenzelberg, Berlin is the place to go to. Yes, it's a bit TOO trendy, a bit TOO "in" but still totally charming, full of cozy little cafes with a special charm...
One of my favorite breakfast places there is called Slurm. Just found a couple of snapshots from my last visit - I totally loved the wine crates on the wall and my hot chocolate (which came along with the tastiest of all baguettes. Yeah, ok, I admit it. AND a cookie. It was a healthy cranberry one, ever heard that cranberries are good for your health?)

That was such a wonderful, sunny autumn day. Now that it's freezing cold outside, the skies are grey and it seems that the rain will never stop, it's especially nice to think back and feel the sun on your face. Those guys have WiFi as well - which is sursprisingly difficult to find in that area.

Old pics, new post...

2009-12-05T02:20:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been so nice of Holly to mention my most modest blog on her huge, adult one :) Thank you!
Unfortunately, I haven't had time for shooting pictures and feeling inspired lately. This is why I have to dig out some VERY old pictures to show you a little bit of my living room/bedroom (you see, my apartment is really tiny).
Talk about wallpaper use...

Besides the Ikea curtains (and a table, and a ches of drawers, and a rug, and a little table AND a lamp AND a frame, well, I'm contacting that fashionable Room Magazin right away!) there's something that came from Tapetenagentur as well. I bought a simple MDF board at a Baumarkt and covered it in wallpaper. Smart, huh? Initially I was going to use it as a large, funky frame for pictures. However, the amount of stress that followed the initial nesting stopped me from completing lots and lots of projects, not only this one.
Here's a close up. Please forgive the quality. To think it was shot by a "professional"!!!!

Let's proceed to the revelation number two. I've got a round bed!

Yes, I know, it's Ikea again. Managed to find this one for about 300 Euros (it retails for 800) and had to pick it up from Bremen. My biggest round dream is a lovely round day cover for that bed (the square one just doesn't fit). The picture is The Ligh Iris by Georgia O'Keefe and a quintessence of femininity for me... I also possess another O'Keefe print which is not on the picture, though. Oh, I really need to have another shoot :)

p.s. I have no clue where these gaps between pictures come from but they're just DRIVING ME CRAZY!!!

Kusmi Tea Madness

2009-11-20T08:24:00.000-08:00

My parcel full of Kusmi Tea arrived today! (Evil French, they sent me mails in their language!) Yes, I'm a total copycat and just had to have it. Why do the tins fit my color scheme, you'd ask? A pure coincidence!
Still want that mushroom poster so badly.
All right, so where are those tins?

Mushroom attack (again!)

2009-11-14T03:59:00.000-08:00

I've been procrastinating a lot (which also means some really spontaneous shopping/window shopping - online, of course) and after having finally purchased a bunch of punches :) and a delirious amount of Hot Cinnamon Spice tea which will arrive here in December (*ANTICIPATION JUMP*), I got back to that mushroom thought.

Vintage (or vintage-like) educational posters have something about them that makes me want to frame/hang each and every one. As you can guess, dear non-existens readers, I've been drooling a lot.

Let's see. Allposters.com thinks that they can charge almost 50 Euros for this:

Oh yes, it IS absolutely beautiful but even with that 20%discount I managed to find I'd still have to pay 44 Euros for a piece of paper sized 28X43 centimeters.
I'm rather unsure about it....
At first, I was totally smitten by this colourful page from I See All, a kids encylopedia (this one was borrowed from Flickr User mark-s album but blogger won't let me link to it). Thank you, Mark!

The entire encylopedia costs about a hundred and it predominately consists of black-white pictures so after giving it a try (thanks, dear Royal Mail, for having lost my package!), I guess I'll just skip this idea altogether and turn to good old German ebay where loads and loads of vintage mushroom pages are being offered for more than reasonable prices.

P.S. While I was at it, I also laid my eyes on some orchids/ferns pictures.... I guess they'll go wonderfully with all the mushroom goodness I'll treat myself to very, very soon (and I DO have a reason!)

My green wall & some stories behind it

2009-11-03T14:06:00.000-08:00

Here's another little peek into my little appartment - the green wall, which is home to my most favorite picture of all times, Neuf heuref du matin, New York by Jean Sempe (You probably know him already - he did appr. 2 zillion New Yorker covers and is, in my humble opinion, a pure genuis).

I painted the wall myself (had the colour mixed at a local store), scored that Billy shelf at an Ikea Fundgrube (10 Euros) and made it over with some wonderful gift paper (unfortunately, it comes from a X-mas collection and is sold out forerver). The orange tree was given to me by my best friend and has never bore fruit (although it tried but was severely abused by some unpleasant person who always forgets to water her plants). The candles, boxes and mag holders are from Ikea (of course!) and the rest just doesn't look good enough to talk about it so here we go again.

Well, that must be all for today, see ya soon, dear noone!

Kitchen updates & a tiny pet store bonus

2009-11-02T06:21:00.000-08:00

Been neglecting my lovely useless blog for a while. Heaps (not kidding, this is what I can see from my comfy bed) of work and no relief in sight..
However, you need something to cheer you up even in the most heapful (hm, is that a neologism?) times. Let's say, wallpaper. And frames. Mix them up and get:

Also in the picture: two deliriously expensive Rice bowls (OMG, did I REALLY pay 13 Euros for each? I must have been mad and there was no one to stop me!) which make me deliriously happy (look at that shape!), a tiny tin palace, loveliest Ikea cups ever (too bad eveybody has them) and, mmmh, well, more Ikea stuff.

I also made a third picture using the blue wallpaper but it just didn't fit.
By the way, this is my kitchen shelf before - I just removed all the things I never used.

Sorry bout the picutre quality, good that noone reads this blog anyway! The blue garbage can had to go (yes, I now possess a fashionable yellow one, who could imagine that?) and I managed to purchase a 1-euro-folding table at ebay which was kindly installed by a very dear friend (total cost of the project: 11 euros - had to pay the shipping, too.

And finally some eye candy for my non-existenst readers: a teeny tiny pet store I discovered at a flea market in Hamburg. I recall paying 2 euros for two houses. They are made in England and too die for.

Well, I guess that's it for today, see none of you ( there's no one here anyway, right?) later!

Giveaway

2009-10-28T11:35:00.000-07:00

Been trying to avoid work (successfully) and found this
http://denvitajulen.blogspot.com/2009/10/tavling.html

Enter to win a lovely X-mas book (the blog's lovely, too)

Sunday musings

2009-10-18T06:45:00.000-07:00

Let's see. Lately, I've learned the word Katzenblog (German for a blog nobody is interested in), spent a LOT of time home but also travelled to Reutlingen and Mönchengladbach to visit some of my wonderful friends. Here's a big YAY to the Internet, bringing people together. Of course I was accompanied by Ms. Müller the cat, who enjoyed a lot of attention and behaved nicely all the time.

Now that the amount of work got so frustrating I don't even want to think of it and provided the fact the school's kicking off again tomorrow, I' ll try to put it in a nutshell.

Deborah Bibby, the most wonderful mag editor ever, sent me 4 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) back issues of the most wonderful interior mag in the world. Thanks again! I also won a couple of ebay auctions and am now the proud owner of the entire stack of Living&More mags from 2008 + some from the actual year. These mags are pure beauty and so inspiring I just want to run to a Baumarkt and get some white paint/a brush in order to finallly start working on some of my long neglected projects.

However, I do have something in mind to birghten up my days. Tapetenagentur.de is such a great source of inspiration! I already posses a whopping roll of this wallpaper (framed/glued on a wooden base some of it) which was my housewarming gift from a friend.

So yesterday I did a fair bit of blogging and then went into my kitchen to make a fifth liter of green tea and there it was, a tiny idea... I guess that's what my kitchen walls do to me - the warmest, sunny yellow possible.

Mmmh, I'm not telling you what is going to happen to these most delicious wallpaper scraps ever (maybe there's even more to come!) but I'm so looking forward to that package. The wallpaper is from PIP Studio and is available at Tapetenagentur. The best thing about that store is that you can order samples... *happy anticipation*

All right, there's some ebay activity awaiting me (I'm putting in a lot of interior mags as well) - catch you, my dear non-existent readers, some other time.

Cleaning madness

2009-10-04T10:01:00.000-07:00

Cleaning is not just cleaning.
How about ironing your entire winter wadrobe (how the hell did I manage to collect SO much stuff?), rearranging the closet etc.
Need to put some stuff on Ebay, keep cleaning and stop playing SororityLife on Facebook (that's a REAL timewaster if you ask me).

And yeah, I need some shoes. Flat ones. However, these El Naturalista babies are just too pretty. I'm trying to suppress the thought of already owning two pairs of rather-high-heeled winter boots. *Showing some signs of self-restraint*

It's holiday time!

2009-10-03T04:28:00.000-07:00

Which means Frau Mayer is spending time in bed, surrounded by her faithful laptop and two kitties, Ms. Vivian Müller and Ms. Müller's son, Mr. Button (two times larger than his mom, very fluffy and playful). Somehow these cats seem to hate each other and I'll be very relieved when Button gets back to his Hamburg home. They are both lying next to me - Ms. Müller is being VERY jealous, he he.

Lots of things that need to be taken care of.
Let's see...

Swapping summer clothes for the winter lot.
Giving the basement a quick clean-up.
Cleaning the flat and rearranging some of the cluttered corners.
Writing, writing, writing. 28 pages to go.

Right now I'm finishing some weekend work and looking forward to getting out of my chaotic place for a couple of hours. Have a nice weekend, my dear non-existent readers!

Happy, happy, happy!

2009-10-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

My first REAL LIVING mag has finally arrived. It's the November edition and it's all about spring down under :) Its totally funny to read about spring clean ups while there are some IKEA boxes I need to fill with my summer clothes in the corridor.

Yes, it's been a total pleasure and I'm totally craving for more! My favorite shoot is the home of Viv who also has a beautiful blog called Ish and Chi right here

HomeGoods StyleScope - I'm a Bohemian Casual

2009-09-24T14:04:00.001-07:00

HomeGoods StyleScope - I'm a Bohemian Casual

Frau Mayer, you are a Bohemian Casual

You are interested in creating a place where people feel relaxed. You have a variety of interests and influences and so appreciate different styles, cultures, and objects. Your home is cozy, with comfy chairs, throw pillows and places to set a drink or a book. But it also feels creative and visually intriguing, because you have an artist's eye that allows you to find objects that appeal to you in a unique and personal way—whether from your travels or from a local shop. This gives your home a feeling of being laid-back, and maybe even a bit quirky with its mix of pieces—some of which are classic, some handmade, some ethnic, and some just rich in meaning to you.

You value comfort. Your home is a warm and open friendly place, and you feel happiest when everyone is cared for and relaxed in your space. Elements like pillows, throws, overstuffed furniture, and good lighting set the mood. You may also enjoy layering different fabrics or mixing patterns to create a cozy effect.

Putting Your Style to Work!

With your style and needs in mind, here are a few tips that will help you make your home a little happier.

1. Your Design Challenge: MAXIMIZE

Design is all about tricks, and with small spaces, the game is to literally trick the eye. Mirrors obviously expand a sense of space, and if possible, place them across from windows so they pick up the light and the outdoors. Leggy furniture gives the illusion of more space, as you can see under it. And, a mix of upholstered and non-upholstered pieces also makes a room feel less dense. Also, consider multi-tasking furniture, like a dining table pushed against the wall—it can be a desk by day and gets pulled out for dinner parties. Or a bedside table big enough to accommodate a chair and function as a desk.

2. Your Happy Place

You can make your bath like your own private spa, an escape from the world—even if you share it! Consider making every useful thing beautiful—from the soap dish and toothbrush cup to a pretty jar for cotton balls and a plush, new set of matching towels (white is the most calming and spa-like). You deserve this! Using trays for corralling perfumes and bowls or cups for makeup will make things look organized and attractive. A really lovely idea, if you have space, is to include some real furniture like a little lamp or a stool for setting towels or even a comfy chair by the tub!

3. Be Party-Ready All the Time!

Mood: Nice, flattering light makes us feel good. So nix the harsh, direct light from overhead fixtures in favor of the softer glow from floor and table lamps. Also, keep some votive candles and a couple of hurricane lanterns for setting around the room.
Scent: The first thing you notice about a home is how it smells. Use naturally fragrant cleaning products. If you find a scented candle or fresh potpourri you love, stock up on it. Any scent you like, whether perfume or linen spray, can be used on upholstery, bedding or just spritzed into the air.
Food: Devote space in your pantry or on a shelf for go-to party essentials: crackers, dip, chips, nuts—whatever you like to serve. Keep on hand a collection of attractive bowls and cocktail napkins, and you'll be able to set a spread—instantly!

Drink: The simplest and chicest thing is to have a drinks tray or table always set up. Include a mix of pretty glasses, an ice bucket, a lovely pitcher, and bottles of soda and water. When the bell rings, just add ice and limes.

Chaos Vs Feng Shui

2009-09-13T03:03:00.000-07:00

Together with the growing amount of work, chaos has made itself at home in my little apartment.

Last night I realized I wasn't really able to think clearly so the first thing I did this morning were the dishes ( I HATE living without a dishwasher, have I mentioned that?)

There's obviously a connection between the state of one's flat and his/her thoughts, don't you think?

I'm off to fight the chaos and leave you with a little peek into the lion's lair!

Longing for mushrooms....

2009-09-07T04:06:00.000-07:00

It's already fall, isn't it? I guess this is why this little voice in my head keeps telling me "All you need is a mushroom!"

Just look at these beauties!

And there are more of them - this time in real people's places!

This one decided to move in at Holly Becker's place

And this one belongs to Nadine at the wonderful Herz-allerliebst blog.

Needless to say, I filled my working breaks with mushroom search. Nothing. The only possibility is to order all six of them from Denmark which is still a bit too pricey.

Well, this is one of the moments where I'd really need all those non-existenst readers with their helpful hints.
Will report more on the mushroom hunt later this month. Take care, no matter if you have your mushroom or not.

Images: Decor8, Herzallerliebst, Maileg

Magazine Junkie

2009-09-06T07:28:00.000-07:00

that's pretty much how I could describe myself right now. As I don't have enough energy to get really creative and actually do something with my hands, I certainly tend to buy too many mags. And yes, although I now own a Real Living subscription (Yay!), there are still so many yummy back copies out there down under I'd LUVE to be able to lay my hands on...
Just got a mail from an Austrlian ebayer who - for absolutely no reason whatsoever - refused to send her lot to Germany. She must be thinking I'm a really bad German who must be punished by not looking at the gorgeous mags. All right, let's see if there's some help out there.
The magshop site is pretty strange as well, as the only vital sign I got from them after having paid a bunch of money for the subscription was the tax invoice. Australian service? Well...
Let's just wait and see...

Autumn is almost there...

2009-09-03T13:02:00.000-07:00

I guess this is the reason my beloved GUESS sunglasses broke today. Right, who needs sunglasses in autumn? Apart from Miss Mayer who once managed to drive on red after she had left her sunglasses on a rather turbulent London trip (yes, she was immediately *blitzed* but the letter never arrived, he he) and who tends to get partly blind in direct sunlight? Right, absolutely noone!

Well, I was rewarded for that loss with two l-o-v-e-l-y things in the mail today.

N 1, Der Impressionen Katalog.

As usual, it's full of inspiration - and it makes me all giggly that I got this gorgeous shelf 40 euros cheaper than the list price (minus shipping, too, thx to my HH-connection!)

As there's not that much space in my bathroom right now, I'm going to use this lovely item as a book/folder shelf in my one and only room (have I mentioned there was just enough space here to fit one stressed Miss Mayer and one relaxed Miss Müller The Cat?)

Where's number two, my non-existent readers will ask... Well, I can't hold it any longer - I finally possess an INCREDIBLE Canon Eos 1000D. Who knows, maybe one day I'll be able to take acceptable pictures? Post them here? Get famous? Let's wait and see and make getting a memory card for my new toy the first step.

Images: Impressionen

The places to surf to...

2009-09-02T04:42:00.000-07:00

Frau Mayer certainly does have her daily routines!
As soon as she gets home from school, she sits down at her comfy kitchen table, flips her pretty white laptop open and refreshes her igoogle page to check if there are any updates on her favorite blogs.

Which are here for you to enjoy.

In the first place I always feel totally inspired by Holly Becker - both her lovely official blog, Decor8 and her 'private' one, HausMaus are absolutely wonderful although I personally prefer the latter as it feels so homey :)

Swedish designer Benita Larsson makes me feel ashamed every time I see her über-clean place at Chez Larsson She's also the queen of DIY.

My latest favorite comes from that place down under where they produce great interior magazines *wink* and tend to live in places as fancy as a Beach Cottage
If you like all things white, that's definitely the place to surf to!

Well, last but not least, the place I don't visit too often in order not to die of envy is Apartment Therapy

It's jam packed with yummy house tours from both costs and between - not all of them are NYC-loft-goodness, though so there's always something I can hide in my inpsiration box.

IKEA - flop of the year?

2009-09-01T04:28:00.000-07:00

The new IKEA catalog arrived yesterday.

My first thought as I flicked through the pages was: "Tja..." (those of my non-existent readers who speak German will understand).
The second one was: "I'm pretty much over it".
Most of the rooms shown were dark, cluttered and didn't really speak to me. Black furniture? Huge, chunky sofas? I don't know...
I will, of course, buy from IKEA in future (see the lovely trestles) but the way they served their furniture definitely hasn't blown me away. It just didn't make me want to fetch the car keys and set off to the next store.

What do you, my dearest non-existent readers, think?

I wonder why

2009-08-31T08:55:00.000-07:00

pictures can make one so happy... That's nothing new though: I'm addicted to design mags. Pics, pics, pics, all getting my fantasy organ working.
What is new is that now I am the happy owner of three (!!!) hot subscriptions. Wow. It all went so fast... Many thanks to a very special person who's partly guilty of the above.

And: probably later this week there'll be very special pics right here, on this modest blog (so that my modest non-existent readers have something to be looking forward to) as I've finally purchased another much desired object. Yes, I can! (or will be able to)

Motivation issues

2009-08-30T03:12:00.000-07:00

As my motivation was slightly damaged this last Friday, I needed some emergency help...
A short visit to Ikea to find out they DO have Vika Artur trestles in white!

I'm going to add a very simple plain white top (or hope that I'll find something that looks a bit more vintage).
Love the wall colour, too. However, there's too much IKEA for my taste.

Found the pics here (be sure to check out this page if you're ikeaized, too) - ikeafans.com. Tons of pictures!

And: I've finally done that! Got a 1-year-Living etc-subscription. The only fly in the ointment is that to keep the costs at bay, I'll have it delivered to my London-based best friend and collect them next year - the earliest I'll make it to England.

Pictures: ikeafans.com

Pefect froth mission accomplished

2009-08-28T11:30:00.000-07:00

Got it! The secret was too easy to be proud of it.
Take a plain macchiato glass.
Fill with milk.
Put under the steamer.
Wait.
Ready.
No moving, no fiddling round with cups, nothing.

Gonna hit another fleamarket tomorrow.
Started ripping my mags, only keeping the pages I really fancy - definitely need space.
The rest really doesn't deserve mentioning.
A bit more than half-a-year without a dishwasher.

X-mas, where r u?

2009-08-27T01:12:00.000-07:00

Good news: I've finally learned to make a pretty great froth. Espresso's still in progress. The overall result is definitely drinkable/enjoybale to me.

Not so good news: X-mas is so, so far away. Which means: I'll have to wait for my Real Living subscription for ages.

So far it's the best design mag I've ever read. I guess, it even beats Domino due to the down-to-earth projects featured on practically every page.

My next favorite is Living etc - discovered it on my Thailand trip this summer (I actually dragged home a bunch of back issues - there were TONS of them at Chatuchak market - dating back to the late nineties) and purchased some more at ebay a while go. For some reason, the British seller refused to ship the mags to my friend in London so I'll have to go through the whole procedure once again - this time having made sure the mags are purchase via the English ebay account. Nerving!

More fleamarket finds

2009-08-25T13:17:00.000-07:00

I need a break so badly! Somewhere in the world there are women busying themselves inventing a yummy dinner for their hubby and pulling scrapbooks together. Well... Not the case here.

Tonight there're more fleamarket finds to adore.

I found this beauty in an old paper box full of 50 cent garbage. It's handmade in Greece.

Here it is, enjoying its second life. (I absolutely HATE the wallpaper. Can't wait to get into a place with plain walls in need of some lovely paint).

This bat-marked treasure cost me 3 euros. I couldn't believe my luck! There are many lamps like this to be found at German flea markets - in all possible colours.

Yet another proof of my tiny-bottle-fetish. This baby cost me 50 cent - and it looks so unique compared to the mass Ikea bottles with a terrible plastic cork.
The peppers come from my MOST favourite Turkish store round the corner. NB: you shouldn't keep olive oil exposed to direct sunlight unless you REALLY need to showcase the bottle it's in.

The final pic for today: my flower-pot-to-be:

You got it all right! 50 cent!

2009-08-23T06:21:00.001-07:00

My pics all got cut by the vile blogspot!
HOW do I get them repaired?

Ghost of the Flea

2009-08-23T03:02:00.000-07:00

I finally made myself take some pictures!

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours at the Langenhagen flea market. The place is huge and a visit without a thick layer of spf and your own coffee flask is highly non-reccomended (it got REALLY hot and the coffee was sensationally BAD).

And this is what came home with me yesterday (apart from some pimp-my-bike thingies like a basket and a bell that cost €4 together and that still need to be fastened)

The biggest highlight of them all. I fell in love at once. Imagine some fancy shabby chic online store selling this cuteness for €49,99 :) I got it for 5! (pls dont pay attention to the spots on my kitchen table, it really needs to be sanded and lacquered)

It's time to admit it. I have a tin fetish. This one is going to hold my baking supplies (although I virtually never bake).

The lid view. Isn't it just beautiful? 50 cent (no hip hop allusions here!)

I also have a clear tiny-bottle-fetish. When I grow up and have a kitchen larger than 2,5 square metres, I'll have loads of shelves to exhibit my passion (filled with all kinds of olive oil).
€ 2,50 for three.

This glass is shabby chic pure. It says "Le Parfait super" and I still have no clue what to fill it with as I don't eat any sugary stuff.

That is probably one of my most grown-up purchases ever. A silver cutlery set from Solingen (50 pieces). I happily invested € 17 and can get rid of my ugly IKEA cutlery (worn out plastic blue handles, brrr) now.

The shells were for free. Oh yeah, and have I mentioned I have a shell fetish, too?

I'll be uploading part II today with some older, wonderful flea market finds and right now I'll be heading to the garden to get some work done (on Sunday, yes).

Badregal abuse

2009-08-22T23:49:00.001-07:00

After several pretty unpleasant ebay fights, I finally got it!
It wasn't too cheap but I' ve got several folders standing around and I really need something to put them on in my room.

Unfortunately, the earliest I can pick it up is September... Until then the folders will have to lead their lonely life on the floor and I'll be checking the ebay store I bought the shelf from - they have LOADS of Impressionen stuff (and I can't really afford buying anything new off Impressionen - that shelf was 50 % off compared to the original price).

Pics or no pics - that's the question

2009-08-21T06:26:00.000-07:00

Checked out my very modest Flickr sets. Too ashamed to post anything... I do need a new camera SO badly.

So after a really HOT (in the means of temperature :) week, it's raining here. Totally refreshing...

I'm drinking an excellent (and pricey) sencha, listening to salsa and entertaining Ms. Müller while anticipating a trip to the huge Langenhagen flea market tomorrow. Hoping to find some stuff to pimp up my bike (basket, bike bell, lamp etc.) and, if i'm lucky, some nice cutlery. Will do my best and keep my distance from decorating thingies - my flat's getting too crammed.

Speaking of flea markets... I do have some incredibly great items I might get to photographing later in order to compensate the non-present flat pics... Just have to finish the cleaning action :)

It's here, it's here!

2009-08-15T04:50:00.000-07:00

My wonderful Magnifica coffee machine arrived yesterday and I've already done a fair bit of experimenting!
Have to do some reading on making a perfect froth/a really good espresso, though. And I need macchiato spoons (not only them, my cutlery is ultimately ugly so one day I'll have to get updated in this area, too). I'll also need a cool container for the coffee beans - and more space (the entire fridge top is now taken and the window sill is full of stuff, too - will I ever have a larger kitchen???)

Off to the gym but I guess I'll be posting some apartment pics tonight - it's time to show the world Frau Mayer and cat's little nest :)

2009-08-10T05:30:00.000-07:00

So, I got very reasonable provided how much extra stuff I'd need to go along with the stylish yellow Ascaso masterpiece.

What's moving in in my kitchen looks just like this

Wow, isn't that an adult decision?
Looks like a junkie one to me, though :)

Now I'm going to be full of anticipation and go sit at the next coffeeshop until it arrives!

The coffee question

2009-08-09T05:22:00.000-07:00

Just look at those babies!
Drooling all over the yellow one. The only thing that makes me a bit sad is the price.
For appr. 300 I could get a DeLonghi Esam - a pretty hot thingy, though not a bit as stylish as this Ascaso dream thing (the name does fit!)

In the last months I ve definitely spent a couple of hundred on macchiatos here and there, so I guess this is a really money-saving investment. If only I could decide myself...

Too bad my blog doesn't have any readers yet, noone with a good advice... I should probably send Frau Müller to go and take care of the advertising :)

A warm welcome :)

2009-08-08T06:21:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe but instead of being in the sun, I'm finally doing it!

Another completely useless blog which is probably going to be filled with some kitty pics and half-finished DIYs as well as pics of cool stuff I don't possess.

I guess, I'll write in English, sometimes slipping to German.

Absolutely no time for such stuff, no decent camera, nothing that I could show the world.
Whatever, let's get this party started, Frau Müller, my secretary is not excited at all which means - good luck to me :)

Yours,
Frau Mayer & Frau Müller