Author: ghetran

At home

Tired again. I make some changes and then I end up right back on the old path- working too much, eating junk or just drinking coffee and then plunging in bed. Today was one of those days again. I was supposed to be home at 3 and take another walk in the woods with Sam and instead I wasn´t home until 8 and too tired to even speak. Don´t get me wrong, nobody´s forcing me to work this much, it´s just that in this game, you´re either in our you´re out. I kind of feel that I have to. And I love my work while I´m doing it, so it´s easy to forget how tired I feel afterwards.

Enough about that. There´s something about fall and the cold sneaking up on us again, I feel so grateful for having a home, a place of my own, a warm and cosy cave to creep into. I never feel so attached to my home and my little family as I do this time of the year. Thought I´d share some pictures of my home and loved ones with you.

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Stockholm penthouse

This gorgeous apartment belongs to Caroushka Streijiffert, a versatile artist and interior architect living in Sweden. It took her three years to compose the apartment and bring it to its current stage. She wanted it to be inspiring as a home as well as a scene for her work. The apartment´s frame is out of this world- the view, the light, the windows, the space. And she did a marvelous job decorating it with carefully chosen pieces, it´s living art, if you ask me!

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Walk in the woods

Today was a perfect fall day- sunshine, crisp air and not a gust of wind. I was home early and what better to do than take my Sammy to the woods. We Oslo people are very lucky to have nature just outside the city center, the only thing you need to do is  get on a subway and in half an hour you´ll be in the forrest.  So we went to Frogneseteren today, where we had a fabulous time bonding and breathing in fresh air. Sammy was besides himself with joy, he bathed and grazed and barked at the trees out of joy. For my part, the best of it all was the sour cream porridge and the muffin I could get in the café. And the bonus was to be able to enjoy it outside in the sun.

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Restored French Farmhouse

How ya´doin´? I´m at home from work at 13:30 and can´t believe my luck! Taking my Sam out for a walk in the woods, but not before I share this amazing house with you. And I´ll be sure to post some pictures of the reddish trees and my cutie pie when back.

I love the mix of the cavernous walls, the old wooden beams and the sumptuous furnishing. The dark walls and the colorful fabrics also add up to this idea of cave, of man against nature. Not to mention the fireplace! My favorite place though is the swimming pool with its lavender garden. Pure bliss!

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Amazing estate in Italy

This is a holiday retreat for a Milanese couple, architects Ludovica Serafini and Roberto Palma, located in a 17 century old mill. I love its cavelike feeling and all the splendid design details. The scarce furniture adds to the estate´s vacation feeling, making it an ascetic refuge.

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Atlanta house

I stumbled across this amazing house designed by Texas-based Barbara Hill in Atlanta. I like its rustic feeling and the fact that it´s kept airy with a few wow-pieces. I would have found it a bit too cold to live in, but would love to stay in a hotel like that.

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Saturday plans

We´re in the midst of a horrible idea of mine- preparing coarse walls for paint using filler over the entire hallway. I won´t say people didn´t warn us, but I´m always so optimistic, you see. Instead of helping out, I soon found out I could make a soup and tidy up my closet.

We´re now sitting on the floor wondering how long it will take, at the same time as we´re making plans to redo the whole apartment in the summer. Do it the right way- check into a hotel with cat and dog and let professionals do their magic. Meanwhile, I´ll show you some of my favorite bathrooms. I like different styles and the bath tub with lion feet has been on my list for ages, but I´m not so good at cleaning, so I think I´ll make it easy on myself and go for something where you can just flush the whole room with soapy water and it´s clean. What do you think?

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Lovely condo in Grunerløkka, Oslo

Grunerløkka is the hipsters´neighborhood, formerly a working class area, now throbbing with life- restaurants, cafés, shops, you name it. The food hall Mathallen is just nearby, they have Sunday markets in Blå and Birkelunden and you´ll never be alone for the rest of your stay there. If that sounds interesting enough, this apartment is for sale!

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Sardinia, mi amore

Last year´s holiday went to Sardinia and Corsica. We tok a cheap flight to Olbia, a quiet little Sardinian town where you can rest for a day or two, eat a lot of gambas and then follow your course. It´s pretty enough and the beach is just outside town, but the real Sardinia is in the countryside or in Alghero or Cagliari. We stayed 4 days in Alghero and it was great. Having rented a lovely apartment through airbnb, we tok the bus to different beaches outside town and couldn´t wait to get hungry because the food was so lovely and fresh! We even managed to get some shopping done- I found an amazing Liu Jo leather jacket on sales!

After 4 days in Catalan Alghero, about which they say it´ s more similar to a Spanish town than an Italian, we tok the train to Cagliari. I won´t say it was easy. There was a lot of waiting and I was starting to think I´d been mad to come up with such a route, but it was so much fun when we arrived at last. Again we rented through airbnb, this time an ensuite room at the lovely librarian Louisa. She had a killer balcony and prepared some drinks to enjoy in the evening. Her English was very good, so was her companion´s, so we had chatty jolly evenings on the terrace overlooking the town. Cagliari is such a beautiful city! Between the old town with the castle and the fortifications, the restaurants, the pine-fringed boulevards or the ragged old town, the Italian charm was everywhere. For the beach you could take a bus just a quarter of an hour away or a day trip two hours away in a little corner of paradise.

On our way to Corsica we stopped for 4 more days in Santa Teresa di Gallura, all the way north, an hour from Corsica by ferry. A lovely little mountainous resort, the village had stunning views and amazing rocky bays. My husband liked it best of all Sardinia. There was no hassle and no shopping, the only thing to focus on was the swimming and the food. Try the asti spaghetti, the female lobster, the real deal was beyond our pockets!;-) Enjoy!

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Gozo, Malta

I always chose my destinations based on pictures.  I like the pictures, I find out more about the country. And although Lonely Planet is my favorite guide,  they really underestimate the power of pictures. As you know, a picture says more than 1000 words… So this is how we decided we should go to Gozo 6 years ago. I had read about it in a magazine, it was near enough, meaning we wouldn´t have to travel for more than two weeks, it was wild, pretty and a little exclusive. No giant hotels, no neon lights avenues.

If you´ve ever dreamed of going to Malta, try Gozo instead! It has everything Malta can offer you and on top of it peace and quiet. We´ve been to Gozo twice, both times in Qala, a cute village with 5-6 restaurants, 5 minutes by car from Hondoq Bay, this lovely gulf you see just below. The main reason we came back to Qala was the hostess, a lovely English lady in her 40s who runs Lellux B&B and does everything to make you feel at home. Everything else is just a bonus: the water, the snorkeling, the friends we got, the amazing food.

You should go in late August, otherwise the weather is unbearably hot. Besides, August is time for fiestas – traditional village celebrations- and the Gozo Wine Festival. It´s so authentic and so vibrant that you´ll never settle for Costa del Sol again. Let the pictures speak for themselves!

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