minnasisko Bygones of England

Fancy a chalkboard?

2011-09-09T11:00:00.000+01:00

For those important plans and lists, and little notices and the big messages - every home should have one.

To buy chalk paint and do a cupboard front up, it's easy peasy.

Trip to the local paint shop and
all you need is, chalk!

The temptation is too great...

www.minnasisko.com

Studio space to call it own!

2011-09-08T14:30:00.000+01:00

Lucky few can have a whole room to oneself and call it a studio. Some of us have to settle for a corner or alcove of a room!

Let's see if we can spread a little light and add somes crumptious ideas to cheer the studio space up a bit.

As ever, you may access the respective websites from the images by righ click.

Painted floorboards..

2011-09-06T12:26:00.001+01:00

If I ever get time and energy I'd paint our wooden floorboards and let the light reflect in, in a different way. It's just that what colour to choose?

www.minnasisko.com

Websites to relevant photos, right click to find the link - courtesy of individual publisher.

Last days of summer!

2011-09-02T15:21:00.000+01:00

Holidays nearly over, summer almost gone. How lucky are we today to have a mini heath wave (+25c) No time but to head to the beach for a 'spur of the moment' BBQ with friends, and for some frolics... Here some snap shots from Dorset, Cornwall and Kent that I've found while emptying my camera:

Pictures by minnasisko

Bathroom planning!

2011-08-08T22:21:00.001+01:00

I'm in the midst of getting the feel to our downstairs shower room. We've 3.8 x 2.6 space and lots of enthusiasm. Here I've collected the most appealing images, styles and designs, in random order as ever. I hope I can find my inspiration from these...
PS This is my last post before a well waited brake - I'll be back with something nice and random by end of August, cheerio!

The last 6 images and more can be found from the good old House to Home website! Other images and their respectful sites, as ever, can be accessed by right click.

VINO!

2011-08-05T13:35:00.000+01:00

Just a one then...cheers!
This summer I favour Italian wines for their fresh and delicate nature, Saluto!

Today, I'm feeling..

2011-08-04T12:59:00.000+01:00

..moody rooms to match the rainy day blues..

Google images - right click to access the relevant website.

Dreaming of swimming pools..

2011-08-01T13:57:00.003+01:00

How lovely it would be if we had our very own swimming pool, just outside, in the back garden. Dream on, SPLASH!

Google pictures - to access the relevant website right click from the photo to find the link!

Hanging pictures

2011-07-29T10:47:00.000+01:00

Great ideas for hanging your favourite pictures and art, for all to enjoy.

White & Blue

2011-07-27T22:01:00.001+01:00

And today it's a white & blue theme (or is it blue & white?), love it!

White & green..

2011-07-27T13:26:00.001+01:00

Lovely, summery, bright and fresh - there's nothing quite like it!

Oyster Festival 2011

2011-07-23T20:01:00.004+01:00

If you're not here in Whitstable this weekend and all of the next week, you should. The annual Oyster Festivals are in a full swing...

Landing of the Oysters Sat 23rd July, 5:30 pm
Whitstable’s People Sun 24th July, 12:00 pm
Postcards from Whitstable Mon 25th July, 11:00 am
Victory Wood walk Tue 26th July, 10:00 am
Whitstable’s People Tue 26th July, 3:00 pm
Sunset Saunter Tue 26th July, 6:00 pm
Walk in Time with David Kincaid Wed 27th July, 2:30 pm
Times Past Wed 27th July, 7:00 pm
Whitstable – town, country & seaside: Canterbury Ramblers Thu 28th July, 10:00 am
Postcards from Whitstable Thu 28th July, 11:00 am
Whitstable for Better or Verse! - The Walk Thu 28th July, 2:00 pm
Grotters and Glows Thu 28th July, 3:00 pm
Oyster Festival History Walk with Kent Wildlife Trust Thu 28th July, 6:00 pm
Blessing of the Waters Thu 28th July, 6:45 pm
Glowing Grotters Thu 28th July, 8:30 pm
The Missing Pubs of Whitstable Fri 29th July, 6:00 pm

Sad day..

2011-07-23T10:07:00.000+01:00

The news has shocked and saddened us beyond words.Our thoughts are with all our friends in Norway. x

Friday feeling..

2011-07-22T09:44:00.000+01:00

Woop, woop it's the end of the school year for us and 6 weeks summer holidays are here. The Friday feeling doesn't get any better than this. While is still quiet I'm searching ideas for the kids rooms for my boy and my girl, as they both need a DIY overhaul (after the hols though). Which one do you like?

Google images

Display ideas..

2011-07-19T11:46:00.000+01:00

Create a lovely inspiring display of your favourite home wares. As long as you don't mind regular dusting, bring all your lovely dishes out and let them shine.

Lights to love..

2011-07-19T11:08:00.000+01:00

I stumbled upon UK based Jim Lawrence website, beautifully hand crafted lights & accessories to die for. But which one to choose?

Window sill..

2011-07-18T21:46:00.002+01:00

Now that I can upload again after getting rid of Firefox (crashing PC for 2 wks) there's no stopping me. This time inspirational window sill displays, enjoy!

Summer evening tables..

2011-07-18T20:54:00.000+01:00

Just as I was looking for my little wrought iron candle holders to set the table with, I ended up in here, Googlin lovely photos instead.. Do you approve?

Garden hide-aways..

2011-07-18T16:46:00.003+01:00

The garden shed use to be a place for the man of the house to call his own. For decades men would escape the wife and children and use his hideaway in many different ways, some for woodwork or as a mechanical workshop.

Long gone are those days, the garden shed has re-born as the Ladies hideaway and now often has got furniture, tables, warm soft furnishings, wood burning stoves, running water and even drapes at the windows.

*A shed is typically a simple, single-storey structure in a back garden or on an allotment that is used for storage, hobbies, or as a workshop.Sheds vary considerably in the complexity of their construction and their size, from small open-sided tin-roofed structures to large wood-framed sheds with shingled roofs, windows, and electrical outlets. Sheds used on farms or in industry can be large structures.

Go and create your own hide-away, see what structure learks in the folds of your garden...

Sunny outdoors..

2011-07-01T10:49:00.003+01:00

The warm and sunny weather has finally hit us in the North Kent coast, the temperature soured into +30c and my computer overheated and switched itself off.

It's time to relax and take your favourite cushion, blanket, book and a drink and make time to enjoy the sunny outdoors.
Whether it is your balcony, garden, court yard or the park bench, find your inspiration from this mixed bag of images google from magazine styled to just normal peoples homes...

...more from the shop!

2011-06-23T10:59:00.000+01:00

THE FURNITURE SERVICE

If you're looking for a specific object to complete your look, let us know and we'll source it for you. We'll search high and low to find your perfect piece and deliver it to your door.

From Armoires to Zebra skin rugs, nothing is impossible!
E-mail us today!

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.
'William Morris'

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside..

2011-06-21T18:14:00.002+01:00

Talking of daytrips, which coastal town shall we travel by train today dear children?

Look what I found in my virtual Travel Shop, feel the nostalgia...

Google images

HAPPY MONDAY

2011-06-20T17:37:00.004+01:00

The popular Finnish interior magazine AVOTAKKA has court my eye on this rather grey Monday afternoon..

And little something from Russia, with love...

Google images interiors.ru

Come on in - more vintage goodies to be listed this weekend

2011-06-17T08:51:00.001+01:00

minnasisko - Bygones of England
VINTAGE HOMEWARES SHOP
Online shopping to enhance your home with carefully selected antique, vintage and retro homeware items.
One off authentic English originals.

Personalize your space by layering fixtures and adding mid-century accessories to truly stamp your home with eclectic style. Find the most useful and well made trappings of days gone by, full of the charm of yesterday.Noun BYGONES (plural) things that happened in the past

All things Finnish

2011-06-16T15:06:00.005+01:00

Whilst browsing the net in my usual state of melancholy and home sickness, this is what makes me feel better as these are the things that make me proud to be Finnish. Timeless designs and home truths, from Finland - enjoy!

Tove Jansson's MUUMIT

Visit Moomin World from this badge!

SAUNA

A sauna ( /ˈsɔːnə/ or /ˈsaʊnə/) is a small room or house designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more of these and auxiliary facilities.
A sauna session can be a social affair in which the participants disrobe and sit or recline in temperatures typically between 70°C (158 °F) and 100°C (212 °F). This induces relaxation and promotes sweating.
Saunas can be divided into two basic styles: conventional saunas that warm the air or infrared saunas that warm objects. Infrared saunas may use various materials in their heating area such as charcoal, active carbon fibers, and other materials.

SANTA

Joulupukki is a Finnish Christmas figure. The name Joulupukki literally means Yule Goat. The Finnish word "pukki" comes from the Swedish "bock" (equivalent of the English "buck" or "billy-goat") and is an old Scandinavian tradition. Over time, the figure became more or less merged with Santa Claus.

There is a long Finnish tradition of persons dressing in goat costume to solicit or perform for leftover food after Christmas. Historically, such a person was an older man, and the tradition refers to him as a nuuttipukki.^{[citation needed]} The term now also describes the practice, reportedly continuing in some parts of Finland.

Today Joulupukki looks and behaves mostly like his American version, but there are differences. Joulupukki's house and workshop are situated in the mountains of Korvatunturi, whereas the American counterpart resides at the North Pole. Another difference is that instead of sneaking in through the chimney during the late night hours, Joulupukki knocks on the front door during the Christmas Eve celebrations. When he comes in, his first words are traditionally "Onkos täällä kilttejä lapsia?" (Are there (any) well-behaved children here?)

He usually wears warm red clothes, uses a walking stick, and travels in a sleigh pulled by a number of reindeer. Unlike the American version, the reindeer do not fly. In Lapland, pulkka rather than a sleigh can be encountered. The popular song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" in its Finnish translation, Petteri Punakuono, has led to Rudolph's general acceptance in the mythology as Joulupukki's lead reindeer. Joulupukki has a wife, Joulumuori ("Old Lady Christmas"), but tradition doesn't have much to say about her.
Santa Claus LIVE official website


SUOMI

Finland (ⁱ /ˈfɪnlənd/; Finnish: Suomi; Swedish: Finland (help·info)), officially the Republic of Finland,^[5] is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.
Around 5.4 million people reside in Finland, with the majority concentrated in the southern region.^[2] It is the eighth largest country in Europe in terms of area and the most sparsely populated country in the European Union. Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in Helsinki and local governments in 336 municipalities.^[6]^[7] A total of about one million residents live in the Greater Helsinki area (which includes Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen and Vantaa), and a third of the country's GDP is produced there. Other larger cities include Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Jyväskylä, Lahti and Kuopio.
Finland was historically a part of Sweden and from 1809 on, an autonomous Grand Duchy within the Russian Empire. Finnish Declaration of Independence from Russia in 1917 was followed by a civil war, wars against the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, and a period of official neutrality during the Cold War. Finland joined the United Nations in 1955, the OECD in 1969, the European Union in 1995, and the eurozone since its inception.
Finland was a relative latecomer to industrialisation, remaining a largely agrarian country until the 1950s. Thereafter, economic development was rapid, Finland built an extensive welfare state and balanced between the East and the West in global economics and politics. With the best educational system in Europe,^[8]^[9] Finland has recently ranked as one of the world's most peaceful, competitive and livable countries.^[10]^[11]

Movies by Aki Kaurismäki

Alvar Aalto

Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (February 3, 1898, Kuortane – May 11, 1976, Helsinki) was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware. Aalto's early career runs in parallel with the rapid economic growth and industrialization of Finland during the first half of the twentieth century and many of his clients were industrialists; among these were the Ahlström-Gullichsen family.^[1] The span of his career, from the 1920s to the 1970s, is reflected in the styles of his work, ranging from Nordic Classicism of the early work, to a rational International Style Modernism during the 1930s to a more organic modernist style from the 1940s onwards. What is typical for his entire career, however, is a concern for design as a Gesamtkunstwerk, a total work of art; whereby he - together with his first wife Aino Aalto - would design not just the building, but give special treatments to the interior surfaces and design furniture, lamps, and furnishings and glassware. The Alvar Aalto Museum, designed by Aalto himself, is located in what is regarded as his home city Jyväskylä.^[2]

The Famous Finnish Composer

Jean Sibelius ( pronunciation (help·info)) (8 December 1865 – 20 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. His mastery of the orchestra has been described as "prodigious."^[1]

The core of Sibelius's oeuvre is his set of seven symphonies. Like Beethoven, Sibelius used each successive work to further develop his own personal compositional style. His works continue to be performed frequently in the concert hall and are often recorded.

In addition to the symphonies, Sibelius's best-known compositions include Finlandia, the Karelia Suite, Valse triste, the Violin Concerto in D minor and The Swan of Tuonela (one of the four movements of the Lemminkäinen Suite). Other works include pieces inspired by the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala; over 100 songs for voice and piano; incidental music for 13 plays; the opera Jungfrun i tornet (The Maiden in the Tower); chamber music; piano music; Masonic ritual music; and 21 separate publications of choral music.

Sibelius composed prolifically until the mid-1920s. However, after completing his Seventh Symphony (1924), the incidental music to The Tempest (1926), and the tone poem Tapiola (1926), he produced no large scale works for the remaining thirty years of his life. Although he is reputed to have stopped composing, he in fact attempted to continue writing, including abortive efforts to compose an eighth symphony. He wrote some Masonic music and re-edited some earlier works during this last period of his life, and retained an active interest in new developments in music, although he did not always view modern music favorably.

The Finnish 100 mark bill featured his image until it was taken out of circulation in 2002.^[2]

^{Now all I need is to go home for a long waited visit..}