Split gateway......

going downstairs.

I believe you dear readers know by now, that I'm a slow doer.

Still my determination is just as strong as this iron gate! 

 

My truly beloved french antique find, bought many years ago,

 has finally been tranformed and split into two shutters

for the stairs leading up/down to my workshop.

I'm so fortunate to have the most wonderful and skilful blacksmith in

my team of craftsmen, we've been working together for a couple of days,

trying to figure out the best way to do this.

 Made-to-measure doesn't come prefabricated!

 

He's put his heart into this wicked idea of mine and

 I'm so grateful for his brilliant solutions!!!

 

My perservering plans are in progress, the next will be 

some work in reinforced concrete.

It's September and normally the beginning of fall should be 

crispy and chilly but the weather is absolutely gorgeous here 

in Stockholm,  the breeze is warm and the sky is bluer than blue!

Thanks!

❤

The final touch

always seems to be the hardest...

and this time it has it's double meaning!!

All I need is some marble for countertops to go with the one

that already is (but not shown here)

The thing is I want the marble to have a clean look without to many dark spots of quartz.

We are aware of the extra work the marble will bring on us trying to keep the surface 

somewhat intact, still this is the right choice for keeping the original style of this house, 1916.

Most retailers in the Stockholm area have been short of this marble for some time now,

 so I grounded the project long before Christmas and focused on other things. 

 I tend forget the fast progress that started at the end of July '12.

So now with the fantastic Northern daylight returning rapidly 

and the terrible flue finally sweeping out the door, 

there is no longer any excuse for not bringing myself 

together and visit those ware-houses again in search for the right stone!

Talk to you soon

❤

Art noveau

I've been spending a lot time in research of the epoch Art Noveau lately

and it's a grand time for design and architecture.

I recently found this fascinating story about Georg Jensen, 

the danish silversmith and his jardinière, designed in 1926

but remained a sketch until 2012 when it was found in the archives. 

With more than 900 hrs of craftswork this fruit bowl in sterling silver represents

 a truly unique and magical piece of Art Noveau performed 86 years later.

For more pictures read the whole story here www.georgjensen.com

Building an alley....

is perhaps not what one had in mind!

At least we didn't,when starting up
 the project at the end of the summer,
 building an extra workshop for carpentry!
Nor did we expect the immense number of hours
to be spent scraping off the layers of paint from these
late 1700 century doors.....the cold made us stop for now.

The family grapevine has graciously 
been saved, now climbing a new wall.

The narrow alley has been equipped with a large lantern from France.

The weather is tedious, sloppy wet snow dripping from the roofs.

Ia

Building a nest

takes time........trust me!

It's also a lot of fun.....

and educational

spending time at cabinet-maker's workshop.

A more than a 100 years old set of a glass-enclosed veranda

is being restored to fit into the kitchen porch.

Folding doors that easily open up on sunny days...

and one can slip outside to the joining porch.

This is the new fasad.....

and 

this is what it looked like a month ago!

This isn't over yet......trust me!

I'm working on it......  ☕  Ia