I LOVE this house in Copenhagen, found via Indenfor & Undenfor (The same website that inspired this post.)
To my opinion, this is a very personal and successful decor. The owners have not received the memo that shabby chic is out. They have in fact redefined shabby chic to work for them. They've assembled objects with character, nothing is matchy-matchy, nothing is done to impress. They've mixed the old with the new (mostly Ikea it seems), played with a very unique color palette. It's a house that brims with love and playfulness.
I was thinking about the interiors that give me acid reflux in TV shows like cribs or Housewives of Orange County or New York (or whatever that is I'm trying hard NOT to watch and would never admit to watching, unless of course i just have.) Money, money, money, cold hard cash was poured into those interiors without a shred of creativity or invention.
More and more, and I've said this before, magazines that display the kinds of interiors only money could buy make me yawn. But I get thrilled by houses filled with things found, reused or home made. There is a soulfulness to those interiors that cannot be store bought. In a way, the kind of decors I love these days are pretty much recession-proof.
I was thinking about the interiors that give me acid reflux in TV shows like cribs or Housewives of Orange County or New York (or whatever that is I'm trying hard NOT to watch and would never admit to watching, unless of course i just have.) Money, money, money, cold hard cash was poured into those interiors without a shred of creativity or invention.
I guess when the money is there you might not need be resourceful when it comes to furnishing your house. The result is accumulation of goods. Everything bought. I'm not saying everything is always ugly or in poor taste, but it's bought: the brand new floor, the brand new rug on the floor, the table on the rug, the tchatchky (spelling?) on the table. You can practically smell the maniacal shopping frenzy that went on to make sure that every surfaced is occupied, every corner filled with goods QUICK!!! The point of course being that the interior needs to be completed. Done. Finished. Like a race.
Those interiors might inspire shock and awe, and maybe that's a perfectly acceptable goal, but I don't feel the love, and I don't feel the personality.
See, this house took time. Generations even. It took some looking and scavenging. It took curiosity and love. It took ingenuity and selectiveness.
Love it!!! " gives me acid reflux" no pruple pill will do but a purple chair might:)
Posted by: nadia | March 05, 2009 at 12:54 PM
I agree absolutely with every word you say. Those images are so inspiring, I wish I had the knack to create a home like that.
Posted by: cybill | March 05, 2009 at 09:04 PM
It seems like the Danish have a special talent for design and decorating. Everywhere I look, stories about Danish apartments and houses are popping up and every single one of them is wonderful in its own way. I have been thinking about moving to Copenhagen, just to be surrounded by so much charm ...:)
Posted by: Nikella | March 05, 2009 at 10:58 PM
I love it!!! Would be so great to live there :-)
Thanks for sharing :-)
Posted by: Anne A | March 06, 2009 at 12:56 AM
I love it! And I agree with you
Posted by: Elisa Day | March 06, 2009 at 01:18 AM
What a gorgeous romantic place... And I completely agree with what you write!
Posted by: ninainvorm | March 06, 2009 at 01:31 AM
Ces photos sont superbes ! Et sinon tout a fait d'accord avec toi ! tu verrais l'état de notre salon (tout vide suite travaux.. juste un canapé, la table et la TV), mon mari veut qu'on attende pour tout remettre : trouver le meuble parfait, le truc qui colle pile à cet endroit... En attendant c'est ambiance loft ! :)
Posted by: Nutella | March 06, 2009 at 03:07 AM
Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is how I grew up...my apartment now is slightly shabby due to lack of funds & it really does need some sprucing up, etc. But I still prefer it to the sterility of so many abodes I have been in lately & those in a lot of "shelter" mags. They're "lovely," but cold. If I had nerve, & didn't need a contract soon, I'd forward this to a friend who is "doing" nothing but her new house (well, her fiance's...of ten years, gag, & no I do not say anything -- anymore -- about this sad situation). They asked me over Thanksgiving what they should put "here," "there," "that corner..." Man, I said, let it grow organically. Sure, we're all in our mid-late 40s so maybe you want to accelerate it a bit...but just let a corner "sit" or leave a wall empty until you know something is right...move things around. Etc. Like I said, if I wanted grief, I would just send your link to them & call it a damn day. They might not "get" it anyway, you know? They're the same way with clothing...no artful nuttin'...
Have heard of these Housewives wherever programs in Times/Post but don't have cable. It sounded revolting. One of my sisters keeps swearing off one of them but said she finds herself drawn to it -- inexplicably. And then is annoyed with herself for watching. I told her to get over herself; I watch Supernanny.
ciao!
Posted by: Susan | March 06, 2009 at 07:26 AM
Thank YOU very much for sharing these photos with us and I agree with you totally.
This is not a house, this is a beautiful home with lots of character and full of love. This is what I see from this photos.
Posted by: Helena | March 06, 2009 at 08:30 AM
You have written the most perfect text to go with these graciously beautiful interiors. I very much "decorate" like this, (perhaps not quite as well though) but often times wish and dream for more money to purchase newer nicer things. I feel silly now about that. I will embrace my decor of thoughtfulness and warmth and found things and loved things AND I will use this post to inspire me even more. I am going to throw out all of those silly Pottery Barn catalogs right now!
Thanks Corine!
Posted by: Danette | March 06, 2009 at 09:36 AM
I'm with you!!
Happy Friday!
:)
Posted by: Sabina | March 06, 2009 at 11:28 AM
what a gorgeous Ladurée color palette that looks so comfy! Also stop by over weekend if you have second, I left you something.
Posted by: bethenais | March 06, 2009 at 02:33 PM
I love this apartment! Wow...it's good motivation for me. I need to change things up here a bit...something I used to do a lot of until I moved a year and a half ago. I lost that "something" that used to make me want to rearrange, create special little spaces. I don't know how that happened.
Posted by: petunia | March 06, 2009 at 03:10 PM
There's no accounting for taste! I too watch the "real" housewives and have to agree. Have you seen the Orange County wife (the ditz) with her almost ocean front home? There is absolutely no decoration what so ever in her home. Good gawd!
Posted by: shelly beson | March 06, 2009 at 03:52 PM
I could not have said it better myself.
Lovely home, brimming with charm.
Lisa
Knitty, Vintage and Rosy
Posted by: Lisa | March 06, 2009 at 04:58 PM
this place is alive! if i would only paint the walls my favorites shades of greens and blues, pluck the petals from my garden each and every day, make things... anything...with the beautiful fabrics i covet i would be a very satisfied artist and human being. that's what this home is to me. pure expression of a love for life!
Posted by: robin bird | March 06, 2009 at 08:09 PM
beautiful! this is my kinda home too, and i totally agree with you re: homes that money can buy. i love real homes! where real people live! xx
Posted by: pia | March 07, 2009 at 01:40 AM
I want to live in this post... I love one of the last photos of the porch... I would like to spend most of my time there... LOVE it!
ENJOY your weekend!
Fifi
Posted by: Fifi Flowers | March 07, 2009 at 12:22 PM
i love the ikea like bunk beds.
looks just lovely.
xoxo
Posted by: kasey | March 08, 2009 at 05:29 AM
I am with you 100% on this. A home is something that evolves and expresses you and your family as people. I find it so boring to look at houses that have been put together with a LOOK they are so impersonal.
Posted by: Di Overton | March 10, 2009 at 12:57 AM
I way prefer inventive and clever decor - with lots of stories in every corner - to well financed decor!
Posted by: Freshly Found | March 10, 2009 at 02:17 AM
This is what I call "humble perfection". Every little corner is well-thought, but everything looks random, but in such great harmony. There is a lot of effort, but it all looks so effortlessly perfect. Very wabi-sabi!
As for those other types of houses you mentioned; you can buy "things" but you can't buy "taste".
Posted by: alis | March 10, 2009 at 03:46 AM
IT IS SO CHARMING . I would love an ambiance like that.It is very inspiring
Posted by: le petit cabinet de curiosites | March 11, 2009 at 05:56 AM
Hello.You have a wonderful blog!! I thought you might like to know that this is actually the families holiday house.If you go to
taverne-agency.com and into interiors/retro and select Helle and Jonas you will see their city home.Its fabulous! They are very eclectic.I think they have a clothing label.Anyway they are the owners of some of my favourite living spaces and yes the weekender is heaven.Clare
Posted by: clare | March 15, 2009 at 03:59 AM
Hi,
Nice article... I love the design and decorative made for this house...A home is something that evolves and expresses you and your family as people.
Posted by: venetian blinds | March 17, 2009 at 03:28 AM