~ listening to the radio?

love at first sight...

are you familiar with this concept?

am almost certain that you do...

personally, the more social platforms like Facebook encourage us to "like" things,

the more selective I'm drown to be...

resulting in a need to:

 ~> shop less, 

~> have less,

but at the same time the need to like as much as possible

anything and anyone in my life

from people who are in my immediate environment to

to each and every object in our home & household,

to the work I do,

to the work of others,

to how I spend my time

both in virtual & real life.

this being said, there is a tendency instead to rather fall in love 

here is how I define falling in love with someone's work:

"being positively stuck with it since the very first visual encounter,

while both the eyes, the soul and the mind are

experiencing a state of intense pleasure and calmness.

moreover, the object or work in any form 

are since then always remembered

and recognised when seen again"

so has been the case with {AM radio}

or else one of the most stylish and beautiful

vintage shops operating on etsy

what fascinates me is that Melissa,

the creative person behind AM radio company/shop,

 has actually turned her work into art

this fact is something that marks me forever...

I mean when I come through people,

whose love and passion for what they do

instantly tranforms their work into art.

selling can be a very commercial issue (if but anything else),

or perhaps a very artistic issue,

with a successful outcome, counting as commercialsm as well

whenever I think of sales & material things,

then examples like Chanel come in my mind.

would miss Coco ever go out in the streets* "shouting" about the quality 

of her work?

* in current societies it is the Internet

I sincerely doubt it,

as she would have no time to actually produce quality, would she?

now what do Coco Chanel and {Am radio} or for that matter any other 

similar shop have in common?

a dynamic trio if you ask me:

[via]

unique quality, originality, love & passion for what they do.

one of the reasons Am radio is shared with you here today

is that its success is mainly based on the

extreme beauty of the work,

may it be the vintage finds Melissa choses,

or the impeccable in every way styling and photography

of the objects

there is no blog connected to the shop, neither a FB page at the moment,

yet she was a {featured etsy seller this April}.

I admit to not being always informed about everything that is going on

on etsy {therefore I only read Melissa's  interview just today}

or even all the blogs that I follow,

 simply cause if I really did,

then there would simply be no time to actually live a life,

even more a creative life,

as everything that I would create would be nothing but a mere

combination of countless inspirational stimuli from here and there

allow me to say that this is not my idea of creativity.

as fine as it may be to reproduce a favourite DIY project that we saw in a magazine,

or a blog,

as fine it is not and it cannot be named as creativity

when we see something, like it and then set on our

"adventure" to recreate it or "cleverly" reproduce it

yes, I do believe in the freedom of ideas to flow and to even change hands,

but at some point, there is a source,

and for me the source of creativity can be nothing but our true selves

so to return to AM radio, 

going through the shop's items,

I'm left with no doubt in the world,

that the person who is doing all the creative work,

is actually in love with what she does,

from the time she sets off to discover new treasures,

to taking care of them by cleaning them,

to styling her "models" to photographing them

to finally communicating with customers

it is all there

the love

the passion

the care

the excitment

 I believe this to be and to forever remain the basic ingerdient of success

how many years they may pass, how much technology may evolve,

advertisment will always be a help in promoting one's work,

but in the first place, there should be work worth of mentioning,

in order to survive in time.

on another point of view, I'm extremely happy to be sharing these finds

with you here today,

as these beautiful porcelain letters below

are the first purchase I did for my future, little studio corner

in our soon to be new home

adoring white, natural materials like porcelain and typography in general,

these could have not been any better for 

putting together my creative corner

and even though I' m since a long time extremely careful with expenses

and shopping, I'm happy that new horizons are opening for me,

therefore allowing for such small spontaneous treats as these

ones below

[via]

aren't they just darling?

so you already know by now, which is the basic inspiration

my future studio corner's creation will be based on:

well, hello ideas!

[via]

saying that, I'm so thankful for the fact that through the renting process 

of our current living space,

so mamy doors are opening to me

the clouds' silver linings are slowly and steadily beginning to appear...

[via]

 these amazing milky white glasses

would have easily ended up in my shopping cart,

 had I not efficiently learned to "hold my horses"

they would indeed look marvelous 

all lined up with flowers inside, at our new dining area,

but I have to keep in mind that

there is a renovation awaiting ahead

and this is no time

 to be indulging in

every temptation

perhaps they'll still be there next time I visit the shop

or perhaps the'll end up in one of your

 beautiful houses

so my dears, 

I' ve really mentioned enough points in this post

and will just let you enjoy looking at some more

pictures...

I'll wait for you at the end for a nice closure...

[via]

[via]

[via]

[via]

[via]

[via]

I suppose that after this visual bath,

it's time to share a picture of Melissa* with you....

*btw Melissa means bee in Greek, quite an appropirate name for a creative & productive person,

don't you think?

honestly, when you see such a person's eyes & face expression,

is there really any doublt in the world,

that above all, 

she's trully a kind person,

appreciating the life she has and all she does?

do hop {here} to read her whole interview...

I' ll just fininsh this post with some of her words that deeply touched me:

Where would you like to be in ten years?
Still seeking out vintage treasures, loving my husband more than I do now, watching my little girl grow into a lady, and possibly building a cottage tucked neatly away by the waters edge.

[via]

wishing you all a wonderful day ~

it has been such a pleasure putting this post together,

while at the same time mails were being exchanged with Melissa,

in her effort to assist me in every possible way she could.

till next time... 

take care and consider this:

Energy... comes from within... take care of your soul & psyche as much as your body & mind

........................

All pictures are originally styled and made by Melissa for AM radio.

The first collage, second diptych and the one before the last are put together by me for Domestic Stories 2011

[all rights reserved]

what's on your mind?

[via]

well my dears, 

 seeing your response in the {latest post}

has been again just so heart warming,

so thank's a lot!

I don't know about you, but I love handwriting

{thank's mum for teaching me calligraphy from the very early years}

and the whole aspect of forming letters in order to communicate

a certain point is kind of ingenious, isn't it?

however for granted 

we might be taking it

I mean, can you imagine life without written speech?

the impact it has in our lives?

do you sometimes wonder how life was before certain inventions?

oh but please, do not mention Internet,

as it has really become a cliche... 

and as far as I' m concerned,

life was still nice before internet, despite its numerous amazing indeed applications,

{writing a blog being one of them, ahem, ahem}

somehow I sometimes get the feeling that

not far are the days that people will be avoiding

being online, tired of being over connected,

overexposed themselves

&

over bombarded by advertisement and promotion techniques

yes, I know so far we call them social media,

but really who are we kidding?

how many "pages" can we really like and actually follow their updates,

still having quality time to ourselves

&

 still being able to experience true calmness, relaxation

and this wonderful feeling described in

the German language as " Wohl fühlen"?

{feeling complete}

how many acquaintances can fit in our FB account,

filed under friends?

sometimes being online starts feeling like watching a favorite film

on a rather bad national T.V channel,

interrupting every little while for advertisements,

honestly how much stimuli can fit our brain capacity

and then

how many hundreds of things can we actually like?

since FB was invented I believe the word LIKE

to have totally lost its original meaning.

we may hit the "like" button in fractions of a second,

which is rather too fast for any real connection

to be established in our minds

between what we actually saw and what we really like

personally I don't need any kind of reminder

 for the things I like,

and the same goes for the people I like

exactly because I like them,

parts of their personality and way of life influence my thinking

then "hell might freeze"

they will be still remembered, respected and in some cases also loved.

and to make this a little more personal,

if you forget about this blog, my work or me,

because I do not remind you a few times a day,

every day, 24/7,

then may it be that you forget about it!

it means that other things are more important for you

and that is quite all right.

I do though have the impression that quite a few of you here,

always remember these pages,

even perhaps have them in a pretty, little corner in the back of your heads, 

regardless of the exposure I try {or not} to bring

and then I feel very, very honored...

cause who saw a breathtakingly beautiful woman

 and forgot her after she disappeared?

 who met kindness and never recalled it again?

 who read magnificent poetry and forgot their favorite lines?

 who entered a magical place and forgot about it

 because they never returned or heard about it

again?

this blog might not be a breathtakingly beautiful woman,

or a poetry book,

it might be no palace either

but of anything that it might be, it is the truest expression of who I am

and developing into being each day

and I think this to be carrying a significance of its own

so, I hope that you come back and check new posts from time to time

as much as perhaps returning to reading some of your favorite previous posts

around here

...........................

and how about seeing together a couple of {my favorite prints} of meaningful quotations

styled by Lotta Agaton, the work of which I truly admire?

it'd be great if you shared which ones are your favorites

and why

I'll do the same in the comments section,

after yours though ; )

[via]

[via]

"It's the small things that make the big things happen"

[via]

I mean, really, even when we sometimes go through these self love periods

and we feel that somehow we might be a little bit fabulous in our ways,

so what?

there are just countless fabulous people out there...

[via]

and how true is this... rephrased to:

"the world is but a mirror of ourselves"

[via]

and then,

familiarizing ourselves with fear 

can perhaps be the most liberating 

experience of our lives... 

at least when I stopped ignoring my fears

and starting facing them,

they immediately begun loosing all of their glory....

have your tried showing your teeth to Mr Fear?

ha!... then you'll see who's scared....

just like an elephant scared of a tiny mouse, 

 only to realize that the poor little "thing" 

cannot actually do much harm to him

and after all that, in the end of the day...

 what is more heartwarming,

 soul soothing & mind relaxing 

than saying 

 to this one special to you person:

i love you...

[via]

have a lovely evening my dears

till next post!

all images of prints by Therese Sennerholt, styling by interior stylist Lotta Agaton

............................................................

P.S: in case some might be offended by the seemingly unkind messages of some sentences, my apologies, please do not take it personally. This is just a general post.

... and I love you she said ~

and "I love you" she said...

  since I heard or read this phrase somewhere,

 whenever I focus on our favourite wooden ampersand,

 brought in our home at the very beginning, to symbolise the effort 

 two people place in order to merge two lives together, 

 two past lives, two hearts, two minds,

 &

  in our case also 

two different cultures and countries,

 I can only but whisper to myself...

 and I love you she said...

 there is no need to turn this post into a personal confession of feelings,

 still I find it quite all right to state here that:

  

 love in all its expressions is the driving force 

 I have always wished to lead my life

 then, I can only say that in {this little Penthouse},

 love in all its possible ways has flourished

and survived so many hard times

I learned {and of course am still every day learning} 

 to love in a healthy way being in an intimate

relationship,

 to love a person himself / herself,

 rather than the vague idea of love,

 let that person be a life partner or a friend.

 I learned to love who I am,

 despite all shortcomings & disadvantages in character,

 and be able to feel totally grateful for all that life graciously offers to me

 I learned to love what I have 

 and cherish my experiences, even when they brought much frustration 

 and tears in my eyes.

 I found out that I indeed love with all my heart what I do,

 which instantly transforms a person to a rich one,

regardless of any bank account statement

 or belongings

 I found out that so long as I love who I am and accept also who I have been to reach here,

 there is no need for labels to feel a sense of identity.

 so in this spirit of love and lots of light,

I'm so happy to share that the next person who'll be living in the little Penthouse,

has officially been found.

she' s a wonderful person and already so in love with her soon future home!

 and I couldn't be any much happier for the fact that I feel connected to her,

 which means that there's no need to say a permanent goodbye to this place.

maybe a new friendship will arise,

who knows...

what's amazing is that as we'll be moving out from here,

and I'll be settling our new home,

I'll also still be decorating this place, as the new inhabitant agreed to

work with me on putting her home together here,

while some parts of the interior

are already purchased by her.

 this is making the movement process so much easier for both parties

honestly, things couldn't have worked out any better...

.....................................

 there is currently a total ease with the whole changing process

 and rather than being sad that soon living here will be over,

I cherish each moment like the most precious present...

enjoying every sun ray, 

every different shadow that is formed...

this joy has begun settling since {the previous weekend},

when Ilaria was here for the magazine photo shoot...

I enjoyed so much styling around in order for her to photograph

{ok at some point we were both photographing!}

and it was such a joy to watch her create magic with her hands,

 when she was not working for the magazine photographing but for herself,

sitting in my favorite corners around the house...

speaking of magic created by hands,

{Ilaria} crochets and makes such wonderful things

like garlands

 not only monochrome and white like this one here,

 but endless combinations of wonderful colors

more of which you can see {here}

what I love about Ilaria and actually every person who love what they do,

and do what they love, is the story behind it all...

when she realized that crochet was something that has acquired a new dimension in modern life,

she decided to bring into practice all she had been taught by her favorite aunt,

when she stayed with her for a while back in time, 

in the beautiful Italian country side.

in pictures like the one above, I can see clearly the purity of her happiness,

merged with healthy pride she takes in what she does...

it's happiness of past, present and future blending together...

and then seeing that people who come in our place

feel so happy to be here,

almost immediately at home, relaxed and in peace

is the biggest compliment for my work...

creating interiors that promote a happy and healthy way of living,

human focused interiors, 

using good interior architecture, design and decoration processes 

merely as a means for achieving a happy & fulfilled life.

after all, the pages of magazines we all fall in love with,

at least most of them, carry a story behind

&

often are the places where happy & successful people live their lives

it is the life that we imagine inside that we fall in love with,

rather than purely just the interiors themselves

.....

"Decorate" is the book that brought Ilaria & I together,

as we both attended "meet the blogger" event in Amsterdam,

having as its major sponsor {Holly Becker}, who also signed her books there,

along with giving a very inspiring speech.

more of the event through my eyes {here} & {there}

now, am sharing a couple of more pictures taken during our days of the photo shoot and after

until recently...

capturing corners and different hues of light, 

depending on the time of the day and the weather conditions...

take a look and then come with me at the end for a mostly delightful revelation...

can you start seeing something in the background?

still not?

may be now?

if you have spotted something modern with a traditional twist

resting on our sofa,

then you have come across the most beautiful handmade blanket I have ever been given so far,

made by the magical hands of Ilaria

&

 specially thought out from her so that it fits our home

and my personal approach to style

 a totally simple & minimal {white blanket from Ikea},

with 6 circles of different sizes,

all crocheted by hand with 100% pure wool in ivory white

 sewn upon the blanket.

I'm thrilled to have the honor of the blanket being named after me

when it hits {the shelves of Ilaria's shop} after it is reopened.

please meet Miss Ivy Blanket,

ready to make cozy hours on the couch

 just a little bit more cozier and certainly

much more beautiful & personalized

You 'll be seeing more of it throughout this autumn and winter

in my shots

and then you can see all circles

and how beautifully and wisely they are randomly spread

let me sum up here where you can find Ilaria, in case you don't already know:

~ her blog ~

~ her shop ~

~ her flickr ~

~ her twitter ~

yeah... I think this has been actually two posts in one, 

as I both wished to share the news about the Penthouse

and Ilaria's creations...

other than that, today we are meeting with the person who will possibly be chosen as the worker to help us with our renovation and I just can't wait to meet him!

 am sincerely hoping to be able to come and post here very soon, as inspiration is flowing like

a mountain stream these days

and would both like to share and make posts on this journal as a reference

till then, a shot of me in my recent favorite cardigan,

which is making styling an easy matter 

&

 dressed comfortably a chic occasion

take care ~

have delightful days dear all!

Woody Allen & other famous people illustrations

[via]

 hello everyone on this Saturday afternoon!

 thank you so much for showing up and sharing nice comments

 about the days spent in our current home

 &

 around Frankfurt with {this} lovely lady.

 ... developing friendships is so precious nowadays...

in case you are you perhaps wondering how come you are seeing me here

three days in a row during a busy period,

well... I was rather not supposed to be having time to

be on line today, at least not until later,

but a slight change of plans is 

resulting in me "stealing" some time

as I'm collecting inspiration lately

together with planning our future home to be,

I randomly stumble upon

quite a few things and people,

whose work drows my attention & feel it's quite suitable to bring 

to our rather selective pages

there are already a couple of people whose

work has touched me beyond words can describe

and am looking forward to sharing here,

but such posts require no time limits,

as I may be writing... forever!

this post will be kept relatively short,

and in all its spontaneity,

I'll proceed with sharing

a choice of prints

from the ingenious and quite recognized work

of illustrator {Judy Kaufman},

since yesterday I'm also becoming familiar with it...

I really like the famous people illustrations,

my favorite ones being these of 

Woody Alen & Charles Chaplin

{the 1st & last pictures here}

there is actually a collection of  9 of them

where you can choose a set of three from.

hop {here} and there you are!

I guess my 3rd choice would be {Frida Carlo}...

what about you?

does this kind of art attract you?

yes? which would you choices be?

personally, I'm also attracted to such prints like the ones below:

[via]

..................................... this neighborhood ...................................

[via]

........................... this tree in black & white .................................

................................ with its cleverly "hidden" birds ...............................

{can you actually count how many?}

 

[via]

........................... this urban city and cars.....................................

which attracts my eye with all these graphic lines,

 simplicity & soft grey tones...

[via]

&

....................................... Charles Chaplin .................................

................... last, but certainly not least as it is my favorite ...........

......................

so my dears, clock is ticking,

break from "real life" is over, 

and running right back to it,

 as the weather

today is a wonderful gift,

especially for us living in the middle & northern parts of Europe

I'll have to wish you already a wonderful weekend ahead,

and renew our date here quite soon,

 this time sharing more pictures from

 the {recent photo shooting around our home},

the special handmade gift I received,

while also sharing inspiration,

lovely artists I have been having the pleasure of personally 

getting in contact with thanks to this blog

&

if all angels of the earth and universe bless me with the gift of

time,

a little taste of the ever on going creativity sessions taking place here

&

perhaps some shop updates to share

take care ~

enjoy your weekends!

Ida & Ivy in Frankfurt

hello & happy Friday everyone!

does it feel good to post here a second day in the row, 

after a seemingly long time...

big smiles for that : D

how are you?

well, as one picture says 1000 words,

could it be that you have already figured out by now,

where have {the fingers on the keyboard 

&

 the person behind the screen}

of this blog "dissappeared" since the past 

few days?

a little {hint was given yesterday}...

this lovely lady with the bright smile,

who is checking the life view while I was trying to make

decent pictures of us focusing automatically,

{the camera was somehow convinced 

that the focus should always be on the handwriting of the mirrors!}

has been hanging around our {little, beloved home} for the past couple of days.

Actually, we got to stay together and enjoy each other's company for four days,

her being my honoured guest,

while working on a common project for {Casa Facile},

the Italian interior design/decoration magazine she works for on a freelance basis.

{Ida} is the second name of Ilaria, an extremely creative person

who adores what she does, whether it is {crocheting},

{decorating} or {photographing interiors}.

This time, she came to photograph our living space,

while I was taking care of the styling.

Being herself very sensitive and talented in this domain

it was great exchanging ideas and tips!

Unless you have been following this blog for a few months at least,

you might not know how the two of us have met.

So here is a summary of our story:

 we have been knowing each other virtually through our blogs

&

{Ida Interior Lifestyle}, the flickr group Ilaria takes care off

as if it was her favorite garden, 

{and to which I also gladly contribute}

This June we also met each other in person, 

when we both joined {Meet the blogger} event.

we had the chance to hang out together,

visiting some awesome vintage shops,

{I still haven't found the time to post about!}

next day,

as my partner and I were driving back from Amsterdam to Frankfurt,

we made a stop to Eindhoven and visited her 

{colourful, cozy and handmade home},

spending a great time with her and her husband.

Now back to current times... 

a few pictures from our visit in Frankfurt this Tuesday,

before she departed boarding an afternoon train back to the Netherlands...

delicious antipasti lunch or else:  a tomato +  mozzarella + pesto panini

delicious!

... at the stylsih benches of {this} fabulous cafe, in one of Frankfurt's favorite

streets.

Here, in the {Altstadt}, around the Weißadlergasse,

the one cafe is more stylish than the other

& 

what is more fabulous is the fact that there is a mixture and variety of styles,

so every taste can be satisfied.

{Cafe Bar Roselli} is situated next to {Korres},

a brilliant Greek cosmetics company, 

well known from Athens, to Paris, to New York

to a few dozins of cities all around Europe and actually the whole world.

we "landed" here, Ida in her striped skirt

and me in my bell bottom jeans,

carrying my {black trechcoat} inside out,

so that its gigantic dots match nicely with the stripes,

I know, I know, it is a tiny detail, 

probably even crazy to mention it,

but we both couldn't help noticing how nicely they work together!

and then I couldn't help noticing how the weathered green of her leather boots,

matched nicely with the elegant {despite its huge size!} shopping bag,

I had just purchased from {Kontrast},

wisely spending €3 so that I carried the day's small {but then oh! so delightful shopping}

in a practical and stylish manner.

Of course, my {jean + camel leather Fabric & Handle bag} is accompanying me alsmost everywhere

what I seemed to surprisigly love about a lunch break in this area of Frankfurt

is the mix of people:

lots of stylish women with a rather personal approach to the whole story of styling and dressing,

among men in grey suits and carefully polished brown or black leather shoes...

quite an interersting mix...

and then, most people so eager to speak in English as they heard us talk to each other in this language,

rather sabotaging my honest efforts in advancing myself in German...

 even the people at the shoe repair store I visited spoke in admitedly super high level of English.

wow ~ respect!

but then that was so helpful

{ thank's so much in case you are reading these lines ; )}

now my dears, I'll leave you today with this post,

while I prepare the next one, sharing some shots we made during our photoshooting,

much like {these ones} posted yesterday,

letting you into some details of what made this weekend one fabulous one,

{someone got an amazing personalised, handmade present to give you a clue ; )}

while also introducing you to Ilaria's work.

till then ~ be well ~ be you ~ 

discover & chersich the unique person each and every one of you are!

Love,

Ivy 

__________________ 

All pictures presented in this post made by Iro - Ivy Nassopoulos for Domestic stories with Ivy 2011 [all rights reserved]

Like the "Love mirrors"? ~> check {this} & {that} out!

~ moving on...

hello everyone!

 this is just a little glimpse into some of the happenings of the past few days

 fresh flowers, randomly arranged in various recycled bottles - upcycled vases,

 bought together with a lovely person I had as a guest for

 four days, with whom we worked together on

 a little project.

 I'll share more in the next post {already put together}

but before, I just wanted to share

that having enterred a transitional phase 

involving creating and eventually settling in

a new home in the upcoming weeks,

I notice that I'm quite happy when involved in and concentrated on my projects,

and prefer to keep all this process private for now.

I'm off course eager to share "before and afters" in time, 

but as together with being a person who openly posts

I'm also a very private person,

enjoying quality time with myself and loved ones,

not having to comment on our daily life 

is also very important to me

so I hope that you'll be enjoying posts here whenever they take place!

I'm always happy to connect with you

&

delighted to be reading your caring and encouraging mails

about the movement, taking into consideration

my {past sad feelings} about having to leave the Penthouse...

well, in fact we didn't have to, it has been our choice,

despite not moving to a dream house at the moment.

"Time is a doctor" is what my wise and wonderful in countless ways granny

used to say...

truly, as days flow, I'm coming into good terms with the change

&

am willing and determined to start writing {and reading} the next chapter of my life

till then, I' ll just share some fragments of these past few days in the next post ; )

take care lovely all ~