Quaint & Rustic in Italy

I am preparing for a ten day's art class in Umbria, Italy this fall. (More on that when we return). Here is another place - Albergo Diffuso in Sextantio S. Stefano, I've been contemplating for another art course in Italy. It's VERY rustic, and reading the visitors comments on TripAdvisor, many of the beautiful rooms have very small windows and are poorly lit, so they may very well be too dark to work in, should the weather be bad. What do you think? Would you stay in a quaint Italian village & hotel like this? 

WABI SABI interior design art photography

Adding deep blue color to a monochrome space

This may not be wabi sabi, in the strictest sense, but as an artist, and lover of color, I enjoy seeing what a touch of color can do to an otherwise monochrome or all natural interior. Here - a deep, blue shade. Ink blue, almost black. Rather beautiful, don't you think?

Gillar du färg & färgsättning? Vi planerar ny färgsättningskurs i vår. Läs mer om våra kurser här. 

These collages are based on images found at Pinterest.

WABI SABI interior design art photography

Love What You Do

WABI SABI interior design art photography

Relaxed styling by talented Lisa Holmnäs

I rarely have time to take pictures of my student's work. But today Stadshem published a new home for sale on their website. The apartment is decorated by one of my students - the very young and talented Lisa Holmnäs. Lisa made this as part of the interior design course I teach twice a year. During the course the students make a professional homestaging job in co-operation with a local estate agent, in this case Stadshem in Göteborg. This is the result Lisa presented at the course. The small images = before pictures, snapped with a phone, hence the quality. The large photos are from Stadshem/Janne Olander. 

The apartment had been rented out and was lacking many of the big and little things that makes an apartment an attractive contemporary home.

Lisa looked around in her own house, borrowed from family and friends, and this is how she choose to decorate this one room apartment, in order to make the spacial qualities obvious for the potential buyer online. (No walls, floors or other parts were painted before the sale.)

Lisa didn't want to use the same prints and photos you'll find in most "trendy" Scandinavian homes right now. Instead she framed images she found in magazines and online, to give the apartment a personal touch. Good work, Lisa Holmnäs, and good luck with your future career as an interior designer! 

WABI SABI interior design art photography

How do you see colors?

Interior decoration is really, really hot in Sweden. "Everyone" wants to work as an interior decorator - something I'm aware of as a blogger and educator (my courses are always fully booked). At my courses, the students spend a full day studying, analyzing and discussing color in theory and practice. In one exercise I let my students "calibrate" their brains (!), to understand how different we all interpret color (good to know when you meet your clients). Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Today I found an interesting test online, where you can test YOUR color vision. I just did, and I wasn't perfect ;-) I made 4 misstakes. Test your own color vision here.

WABI SABI Lisbeth Williams @ Williams Design