...but on it's way. This is the way our balcony looks at the moment. On a day such as today it just feels great. The weather is amazing with only a slight breeze. There is one thing though: we haven't done anything to the floor yet, but that will probably be the next thing to address. It's actually b****y cold when I go out there with bare feet!

T. just came back, which made us really happy. Another thing that made me (especially) really happy was the fact that he brought so many plants for our balcony. We now have a "Delgrina" dwarf apple tree (which apparently will grow to a maximum height of two metres); herbs such as basil, oregano, sage, rosemary and thyme; a white hydrangea (thank you, sweetie!); some wild strawberries from his parents' garden and a rather unusual type of begonia from his sister (who is a gardener — thank you, too!). Grinning happily, I have spent most of the evening putting everything into pots and I promise I will take pictures of it soon. It just looks pretty messy at the moment, however, and I need to clean it up before even bringing the camera out there. Let's hope all the new plants will thrive!

As I've indicated before, we've been moving things around in the apartment lately and I thought I'd give you a sneakpeak of it. We might still change a few more things of course, but right now I feel pretty happy with the result. I have felt that there were things I wanted to change in the living room, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Today T. and I decided to turn the sofa around and suddenly it all fell into place. I then bought some potted plants for both the coffee table and the dining table and re-planted them in low glass vases. The arrangements look really nice and add the element of green that I was longing for. This evening I really like sitting here, curled up in the sofa corner. I just wish T. had been here too... but he will be in a few days.

We've focused on moving things around mainly in the bedroom this weekend. We have taken out all the books and reorganized the shelves, moved my grandparents's beautiful old chest of drawers and mirror from the bedroom into the hallway, the desk from one wall to another (while waiting for the 26 inch computer screen we're going to place on the wall behind it), and taken down some shelves that we're going to put in the bathroom instead. We are also talking about trying to find an old wardrobe where we can put our clothes (we need a bit more storage space now when T. has moved in), another chest of drawers to match it and a new (but old-style) slightly bigger desk. Additionally, we have ordered an apple tree which we're going to pick up in a few days. We have been pretty busy, but at least we took some time to enjoy the crunchy rhubarb pie I made after having made lasagna for dinner. Yummy.

We've had a few rather busy days lately. Last week I was working a lot and this was the case at the beginning of this week as well. T. has moved in now and we're slowly creating new habits that suit all four of us. It feels amazing to have him here and it's interesting to see how the process of "moving in together" continues.

Over the weekend we went to T.'s parents and, seeing their fantastic garden, I realized that it's time to do something to the only "garden" I can have at the moment: our balcony. We bought some plants, which we have planted in pots already. Next week we will get some herbs and we have also talked about buying a small potted apple tree. I really love white hydrangeas and I'm sure we will buy one of those as well.

A few other things need to be done too. We have just bought two boxes to plant the herbs in (and put them together IKEA-style); we'd like to put a wooden floor on the balcony (the concrete one is not that nice to walk on); and we're talking about buying some new outdoor furniture. We have looked at the floor above from Jem & Fix, the ÄPPLARÖ table and the TÄRNÖ chair from IKEA, and perhaps also the table cloth from H&M Home. I'm sure our list does not end here, but it's a beginning. I have to say that this is a nice break from work at the moment and I really enjoy planning and carrying out this project together with T.

The remake project I talked about earlier has at least begun. I've finished the big lamp now and it actually looks pretty good.

I've grown tired of my old lamps from IKEA and I decided to do something about it. The design is not complicated, as you can see, and I do like the lamp foot, but the paper lamp shade has been slightly problematic from day one. It breaks.

Today I found a really nice fabric, "Lomma" designed by Gunilla Gunnarsson for Almedahls, and decided to use that to make new lamp shades (using the old metal frame). It shouldn't be too complicated, but there are two lamps of the smaller size and one floor lamp, so it might take an hour or two. Let's see if I have something to show you by tomorrow evening...

I've had a lot to do at work lately and I've also been travelling, which means that I've had little time or energy to decorate the new apartment. Today was probably the first day in weeks when I've felt like doing anything to it, so I took advantage of that and drilled holes in the walls to put up the newspaper rack for magazines (as seen to the right in the photo) I had planned to put up for ages. I also emptied a few more boxes and put up a few hooks in the kitchen for oven mittens and other things. It's beginning to look a bit better, but I'm definitely not ready to show the entire apartment yet. I promise I will... sooner or later. :)

Daniel Kessler's poster "Celebrating Diversity" can be found to the left of the newspaper rack, the two framed photos (there is a third further to the right) are my own that my partner framed for me, the fruit dish I bought at Ellos ages ago, and the beautiful smoke-coloured candle holders from Holmegaard were a gift from my partner's uncle the Christmas before last.

When I get back from a journey, I love buying fresh flowers. It makes me feel comfortable in my own home again, especially when I'm travelling between the two homes we have at the moment. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, just something that catches my eye when I pass by... something that makes me happy. Today I bought some beautiful white ranuncula and two small pots of tiny bright yellow daffodils.

I'm happy to say that my Margrethe bowl set in anthracite is complete now. I found the mixing jug at misshome.se and I've ordered it together with a small Aalto bowl (suitable for nuts or candy) and tea light holder in the brand new colour apple green. Celebrating Spring!

Today the first H&M Home collection was released and so many bloggers have acknowledged the event. Most of them don't seen to be too enthusiastic, but I actually do like quite a few of the items. Most things I simply don't need, but I do need new kitchen towels, fell in love with the black ones and just ordered six of them. Additionally, I ordered a pair of oven mittens of the same type.

I'm looking forward to using them, perhaps while baking this "oriental" peach cake... and yes, I will be using my Margrethe bowls as well.

Images from H&M and Allt om mat.

I learned that my anthracite-coloured bowls from Rosti Mepal were actually the last ones in that colour and if I want something similar I could go for the black ones instead. The idea didn't make me thrilled. I did, however, decide to order the two smaller bowls I had seen at hpnielsen.dk and right now I'm just hoping they will arrive. Another thing that cheered me up was the fact that I, on the Rosti Mepal website, found a mixing jug in "luna graphite." I really do like them in anthracite, but luna graphite seems to be something similar.

To my great joy, my mother managed to get hold of four anthracite Margrethe bowls (1.5 ltr, 2 ltr, 3 ltr and 4 ltr) from Rosti that I received as a housewarming present when we moved to the new apartment and I really enjoy using them. Since then I've been looking for the other sizes (0.5, 0.75 and the 1 ltr whisking jug) in the same colour. The two first are available at hpnielsen.dk. I have not yet had any success to speak of in locating the jug, however, but I haven't given up. I try to remember to put all these items on my wishlist when the time comes.

Other things I really like are the new Filippa K pattern "Splash" on the mugs from Rörstrand, the practical door hanger for bathrobes or bath towels from Zack, found at formodesign.com, the small white eco-friendly bamboo bowls from Ekobo and the sturdy steel thermometer from Bengt Ek (both available at Cosas).

I'm extremely tired right now and should probably go to bed rather than writing, but I thought I'd just share something I saw. In the online version of a Swedish interior design magazine, Hus & Hem there is one particular newbuilt home that just spoke to me. Situated in a fishing village in the far south of Sweden, overlooking Öresund and Copenhagen, a couple and their two children have built their beautiful home in a surprisingly economic way, putting money into the most important features. She is an architect and has also, together with her father, helped build the house. There are 17 photos of their home and they all look very inspiring. W-a-n-t-t-o-l-i-v-e-l-i-k-e-t-h-a-t! Now... time for bed!

I noticed the brand new Reader's Nest from wis design (but available at David Design) and liked it very much. Looking at the wis design website, I realise that I'd love to have several things designed by them. The electric candles, Orgel, are available at By Rydéns and the wallpaper can be found at Decor Maison. All the images from the above places.

As usual when moving I tend to try to use my old furniture in new ways. A chair that was in the hallway has now been moved into our bedroom. A table that was in my son's room now stands in the living room. Some things are moved to the storage room because they don't fit the current layout of the apartment, but I'm sure we'll use them again in some other context. At the same time there are thoughts of how to mix my partner's furniture with my own when we move in together, which hopefully will happen within a not too distant time frame. I'm sure we'll find a larger apartment or house sooner or later as well.

There are a few things, however, that would work nicely with what we already have and above are a few examples. I would love to have the wall lamp, "Dots," from Färg & Form in our rather dark hallway. I found it at Stickspåret. The tin jar from Marimekko can be found in the same webshop and it would be perfect in the kitchen. I fell in love with the white MagBag from Maze International the first time I saw it (sorry T., I know it's rather expensive), and I found the beautiful (but perhaps not necessary as such) minimalist book Minimum from Phaidon at Urban Living. The bread basket and the heart tag are both available at Mixin.se and I think they are both really cute. The beautiful plaid can be found at Cosas. All the images are taken from these places.

This is a detail of my living room of the dinner table and chairs. The chairs are brand new, but the table is, on the other hand, really old. It's a baking table from the 1850s and has been in my family ever since. The last two and a half years it has been stored at my parents' since I had no space for it, but now it's back and I'm happy. I hope we will have reason to use it a lot.

We're done now. The old apartment is empty. All the three bedrooms, the living room, the kitchen, the bathroom, the two small walk-in closets, and the hallway are squeaky clean and we're actually one day ahead of schedule. Everything has worked out really nicely and we're going to leave the keys to the landlord on Friday morning.

I still have tons of boxes to unpack at home (at least it feels that way), but it indeed feels good not having to go back to the "old" apartment and spend so much time with what has been. It's time to concentrate on the new now.

One thing is sad though: My parents will be leaving on Friday morning since they have to get back home in time for a funeral on Saturday, which means that they won't have time to see my partner who is arriving on Friday evening. We had planned a real get-together this upcoming weekend, but we'll have to postpone that. Let's hope it won't be for too long.

My mother and father are here to help me with the final cleaning of the old apartment and we've managed to clean three rooms today: my oldest son's room, our bedroom and the living room. All three rooms are all completely empty now. We have vacuumed the ceilings and the walls, cleaned the windows and the doors, and made sure that there are no visible holes in the walls.

Two weekends ago my partner, his sister and her husband came here to help move all the large furniture (which was a huge task considering the fact that the old apartment is on the fourth floor and there is no elevator) and we have continued to move the rest of our things after they left. We're almost done by now and we're taking a new load (of smaller things) every time we leave the apartment.

This afternoon, while my mother held the fort in the new apartment, my two sons, my father and I went back there again to clear out the storage room in the attic and I was really proud of them all. They are really hard workers, all of them. Climbing the stairs to the fifth floor and carrying heavy boxes and other things all the way down again. It probably didn't take more than an hour before we were back here with things that immediately were put in the new storage room. Luckily there is an elevator in this building.

I'm amazed that everything has worked so smoothly and just so very grateful to all of them: my partner, his sister, her husband, my parents and my children. They are totally amazing people!

Image from Nowsourcing which has been tweaked by me in Photoshop.

We've been carrying box after box for a week and a half now and slowly these boxes are now being unpacked. The only room that is (almost) completely done is our bedroom and it actually feels great. For once, I actually enjoy spending time in it. I enjoy sitting in the chair reading or using the computer, I enjoy having all my books in here and I enjoy having the possibility to close the door.