{have been} looking for charm...

 hello.

     smile :*)

 passing by to share random pictures from our winter garden & kitchen *

 it seems that I' ve been preoccupied with 

  looking for charm in our new home...

 ... am almost certain I've been doing neither the space nor myself a favor

 these past few days.

I simply need time.

to get used to the changes

& 

rediscover myself through designing our new home

&

what needs to be a new life in it, with new basis.

am also passing by to personally thank you for the 

sweetest and most heartwarming comments on my {recent post},

as much as everyone for silently reading 

Thank you so much Claudia, Fiona & Katrin.

kisses to you all ~

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

* if you can absolutely not understand at all the layout of the space, I do not blame you at all.

when more works are done, I'll stop being so mysterious & start sharing plans & wide angle pictures.

promise.

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

Pictures, styling & collages of this post are done by Iro - Ivy Nassopoulos for Domestic Stories with Ivy

dancers, sweets & demons

Welcome Monday... 

  welcome new week...

 welcome you here...

 how have your weekends been?

 nice ones in all possible ways I hope.

 if you are inquiring about mine,

 let me make what resembles a list with weekend events,

 instead of the usual communicative paragraphs:

 ~>  personal demons came out of the "closet"

 despite all efforts to soothe them & "make them go away"

 ~>  once more, facing & accepting them

 turned out the most liberating part

 ~>  in between preparing our winter garden / dining area

 to be dressed in its new floors

 &

 actually doing so with my partner,

 we managed to hate each other as much our new house

~>  worst parts of our personalities came out

only to feel better next Sunday morning,

while facing the results of our work

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

this is not an "easy" house to love

but so long as we are put down by all the difficulties arising,

we will never come to actually enjoying it.

do you believe in time?

I do. I think it's one of the most magnificent aspects of life

& have enormous respect for it,

 especially as years pass by.

on the one hand, one shouldn't waste it,

on the other hand, it seems rather pointless,

to be pressuring & rushing things.

Time means opportunity to evolve,

to grow,

and speaking of growth,

I feel that life in our new house,

is intensively pointing out the need 

for me to grow as a person

btw, what are collages combining ballet dancers & delicious sweets doing around here?

they are representing the sweet parts of this weekend....

what do I mean?

you'll see in the next lines ; )

Sunday afternoon & early evening brought a nice closure to the WE...

that's what happened...

some hours of exercising / dancing

marked the return to what is appearing to be a new routine

here

I find incredible joy in body moving

and for the first time after a few decades

when I attended dance classes

the expression that comes through movement

is more therapeutic & balancing than anything else.

yoga & meditation seem to be incorporated in the dance movements,

and the outcome is more "whole" than ever before

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

and what are pretty parcels doing in the collage?

well, they are reminding of what I' m currently incredibly missing:

crafting & photographing,

but patience, we'll get to that again.

there needs to be a somehow finished studio corner

(yes, this will be out dining area, cause of the plenty natural light,

where the large table will have a double use)

&

 a new camera, as the current one could sadly not be repaired.

I'm amazed that some good pictures are still made despite the malfunctions.

It's definitely not a pleasure working with it though.

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

and sweets, what are sweets doing here?

well, there is almost no bad mood that a hot cup of tea

and some chocolate cookies can not beat,

even when they are not homemade

and looking as gorgeous 

as the cupcakes and cakes in the pictures above & below

... speaking of cupcakes,

there is more work to be done in the next weeks that will have as models

these fabulously charming ladies:

looking so much forward to working with them!

wishing you all to spend one lovely week.

will be quite busy around here, as we are getting help in the house.

there are just some things that unless one is an experienced hand worker,

 cannot be pulled off.

and before time & energy is wasted,

we are so happy to be investing in getting some professional help.

hello isolated winter garden.

hello finished floors.

yes. these are the hellos I wish to say soon.

you' ll notice when I do ; )

till then, take care & keep warm my dears...

&

thank you for steadily growing our wonderful group of readers here!

merci!

[via]

collage curation: Iro - Ivy Nassopoulos for Domestic Stories with Ivy

picture credit: diptych ~> left & right

collage ~> clockwise from top left: 1.2.3.

silence & movement ~ oui, je vous aime aujourd' hui...

Good morning my dears,

well, appropriate would be a happy Friday, right?

bounded as this blog and its author are to be monitoring the truth,

this is everything but a happy day here.

oh well. 

while everything appears to be going wrong,

there's one thing that still feels quite right...

and this is posting here.

Today my thoughts are on silence & movement

 Silence, which is often all that is needed for peace to thrive again...

 silence, in which {there is so much beauty}*

 still most people are afraid of it...

*I was so surprised to read that post shared more than a year ago

and so incredibly energized for the fact that many things have indeed changed.

Not only I'm no longer undecided,

but very positively & strongly supporting 

my work shared here

& incredibly happy for the fact that this blog has come to life.

I'm sure its a direction to lots of creative & successful moments ahead

[via]

now coming back to silence...

some more thoughts:

 "everyone" seems to be rushing to make the next post, the next update, the next movement,

so that "something" is happening in this fast paced world

...

the next plan, the next dream, the next challenge,

the next goal, the next accomplishment, the next....

the next... the next...

and there can be so much meaningless "noise" produced,

that life is lost among all plannings for the "next"

it certainly characterizes our era

but does it really lead to any truly & deeply felt happiness?

there are some serious doubts about it in my head

and you?

what do you think?

I know that most of us are "trapped" in this kind of behavior

& thinking more or less often 

and don't get me wrong,

I do adore having things accomplished,

&

yes, new desires come along the way...

there just seems to be less of an "obsession" about it...

and then...

  there is the {beauty of the moment}...

I still cherish it even in difficult emotional & practical moments

and no... not being lost in memories of happiness that has passed

or dreaming of the ones that are to come.

simply embracing the moment as it is.

Purely.

Silently.

and when there is need to break the silence,

no force, or masked abuse of any kind will be used to achieve it.

rather surrendering to the beauty of the movement.

[via]

have you ever surrendered yourselves to your favourite tunes,

your eyes closed, 

while dancing, 

feeling light & airy...

almost as if your body is out of control...

but in fact just it being totally released of its tension

and tuned to the music as if they were one?

magical ~

Our bodies need movement as much as rest

&

it seems that the "modern" way of life of doing everything in front of a tiny or a mighty big screen

calls to our attention...

have you moved today my dears?

the woods are there waiting after days of having had a cold...

it has snowed a bit, which reminded me of the beauty of the frozen lake

across {our home} last year...

[via]

I'm patient but longing for changes, too...

wishing you all a lovely Friday,

as yes indeed, posting once more has served in soothing intense emotions

& my wishes to you can now be true

happy, happy Friday my dears!

leaving you with a diptych that speaks to me of positivism, freshness

& beautiful innocence

----------------------------

Collage picture credit clockwise from top left: 1.2.3.4.

Diptych picture credit: left - right

collage & diptych curation: Iro - Ivy Nassopoulos for Domestic Stories with Ivy

~ secrets & spices ~

you know the times when words just don't come the right way my dears?

I think this might be the case since a couple of days here...

yes, that must be it.

due to rather intense emotions...

                                                         from both sides of the spectrum...

                                                           the bright ones & the dark ones...

and then a little tireness due to this silly flu & cold together that came partying in my organism

without my persmission,

then again me being overanxious to get over it

in order to proceed with works at the house,

only to be finding me resting in bed again the next day

uff and uff again.

as a result, it seems like too much of time

has passed since I've been meaning to come here and thank you very dearly for 

warmely accepting my invitation 

&

 having shared a mostly wonderful {cup of comfort} with me.

what an experience!

I really enjoyed connecting  with you

both here & over at my private Fb account

what's really great is that this post & the interaction with you

has served in establishing a clear connection in my thoughts

about a factor very critical in

experiencing Love & Happiness in our relationships and living environments:

well, can you guess what it is?

bingo!

C o m f o r t 

no matter what

no matter who

no matter how

I cannot think of any environment & relationship being

perceived & felt as happy, healthy & lovingly,

unless there is plenty of comfort in them.

you know...

something that begins from acceptance

passes in between warmth & reaches to support & growth

this is what good interior design & functional relationships of any kind are to me:

Comfort. Plenty of it.

mmm... it seems that coming here and starting to type also serves as

a comfort to me

& as I see, words are no longer difficult in any way of being spelled out.

perhaps, cause I also feel very happy for the fact that some of you I really have warm feelings for

 are reading these lines.

perhaps...

o.k. this is the time that you and I agree that enough has been said...

right? ; )

pictures please & to the point!

So, on the opening picture of the post,

you can take a glimpse of the totally unfinished part of our bedroom,

aka the 3.10m x 4.60m {height by width} wall behind our bed, which is patiently awaiting

 a few hands of sanding and then to be dressed

in nice & stylish wallpaper.

till then, you can see how I spent some time taking breaks while busy in the house,

{had been dealing with folding laundry at that time}

away from the main pc, which is a big temptation due to all the creative work that can be done there

& only but temporarily logging in selectively to some of my favorite on line places

using precious mrs netbook

... the lights have been shining on Pinterest these past days.

no doubts for that ; )

and then, there is a little peek into our temporarily arranged

cooking corner, that is for those of you who haven't already seen it 

on {flickr}, {pinterest} & {fb}

Love is... the best spice

would you agree with me?

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

sorry for the big leap without a word,

I hope you haven't missed me ; )

above is a little collage I prepared to serve as an icon for 

{domestic stories Fb page}

not much of written information,

but just some favorite moments in interior design, crafting, styling & photography,

including recent shots of our new home.

All unitied under my favorite umbrella:

S t y l e

well what do you think?

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

the time has come to say good night cause it's already late for us here...

and I really can't go without sharing with you

a few lines written to describe the picture below,

which turned out to be 

a little, mighty poem,

I'll dare to post here:

S e c r e t s 

They say the night & darkness hold one thousand secrets...

 I find life's secrets hidden in light...

Thousand little miracles masked in eternal white...

Patiently awaiting for the brave ones to unfold them.

and you dear ones?

do you know your secrets?

.... have a beautiful night... or day

and see you quite soon  ~

... mmmm, a cup of comfort... anyone?

 hello darlings,

   how about a cup of comfort for this Friday & the weekend ahead?

  a hot drink, some pieces of dark chocolate & slices of my favorite

  German "Stollen",

 were my treats after another day of soup eating.

 Not that I dislike soups in any way, to the contrary, actually {love them} for the winter,

 but try eating the same kind of soup a few days in a row

  &

  you'll possibly notice that sense of boredom

 The frozen sunshiny days seem to have left our region

 and rainy weather is thriving again... 

 Guessing what that means?

  time for candles, candles & more of them even during the day to

 warm the light & atmosphere in our environment,

 much like {then}...

The pictures are taken in what will one day be our dining room

& my little studio corner.

It in fact is a room mostly made of glass,

or else a winter garden,

connected to the kitchen area,

having an outlook to some neighboring houses & the woods

In our current & quite temporary arrangement,

 there seems to be an unusual amount of color 

for my standards,

but then this room will see many faces & phases,

till it's done, so why not?

 ; )

Here's some little help for you to start taking an idea...

Other than placing our new {table} & a {bench},

this room is rather undone & in serious need of :

1 ~> new floors to be placed

(temporarily stored under our couch & bed,

 which were bought from {this} company)

2 ~> 5 more jalousies like the one just temporarily placed,

to dress the 6 vertical windows in a row,

so that we have more of privacy when wanted

& 

some extra isolation against the cold that indeed is brought

inside during the winter

3 ~> a curtain,

 whose {fabric} is already chosen & sewn, 

to be placed on the side of the "window" wall 

(not seen in the picture)

4 ~> a little desk shelf for my individual work corner

5 ~> cables for pendants lights to be placed by an electrician

so that they "fall" above the dining area

&

actually quite a few other details, it rather makes no sense to mention,

when all the room is not properly displayed

in time though my friends...

in case you are looking forward, just imagine my own anticipation

... other than that, we have been also very much

enjoying the light of our new lanterns (one in white & one in grey)

and occasional meals,

while covered in blankets ; )

here is a shot made on the 24th of December,

when we first used our new table & room

for breakfast

 and here is one more shot taken this afternoon,

 a little before sundown when rain was pouring...

I kinda love this moody light...

I think...

      make it a great one my dears!

... the good old ways ~

... the most adorable little card, with a minimal & very essential message arrived to our new home a couple of days ago, from a very dear family friend residing in New York & vacationing in her apartment in Greece, where we usually meet:

                                                    " I wish you peace & joy throughout the year "

 ... how could any one ask for more? Thank you so much Mrs Angeliki! Sending you all my love, xoxo

~ happy till my heart melts... 

~ this darling handwriting and to find a card in our new home address - even if after the holidays, has been such a lovely surprise... 

~ oh how do I treasure the "good old ways" in our kind of crazy, virtual, often overloaded & hectic world...

~ have you written & sent any cards this year? 

  I so tremendously missed it due to our movement & ongoing house renovation works this year

~ memories of {last year} bring some compensation & a happy longing for the next holiday season to come.

Wishing everyone  peace & joy  throughout this year!

... nouvelle cuisine et la femme douce ~

bonsoir mes amis!

unlike my beliefs & hopes yesterday morning that recovery had perhaps begun, life had other plans for me, ending up in a high fever evening which completely exhausted my organism.

It turns out, it's not a simple cold I caught after all, but that a... hungry, seasonal virus (affecting so many others too!) has come visiting,

playing with my bones and all the nasal system making everything hurt. A lot.

Nevertheless and as feeling sorry for myself & helpless is something that doesn't suit me at all lately,

I insisted on coming out of bed and doing but a few household jobs.

 feeling happy with these tiny achievements:

~ took all the way down the stairs, reached the kitchen {this is indeed a much bigger space than our previous one} organised the clean dishes from the dish washer in their place

~ hand washed a few other ones

~ vacumed cleaned (!) our bedroom upstairs & aired the covers,

~ prepared two laundries to be washed tomorrow, when I' ll hopefully be reminding more of myself

~ managed to slightly work on two pictures of our kitchen to share,

taken just before we departed for {our trip to Malta}

and

prepared an "Aujourd' hui j'aime" post to share with you :)

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

On another notice, I'm looking forward to my camera properly working again as it is partly damaged

& am expecting a part to arrive,

so as to really begin exploring our new home,

through the lens!

till then, the diptych above portrays the cooking corner of our totally new kitchen, 

fully designed by me & built from scratch by ourselves.

{big smiles & tap on the shoulders for that :*) }

I can hardly believe that we already have a brand new, shiny white kitchen,

new appliances

&

new floor which my partner & I are also putting by ourselves in the whole house.

We have still two places to go:

the dining area & the area around the stairs on the second floor

pictures & details will be coming anytime soon :)

just for the record, the first evening our kitchen was completed,

I fell asleep on the floor, {on a flokati & having a pillow}

reassuring myself that this is not just a dream.

When the day will come that more pictures will be shared & I'll also show you the before ones,

you'll most probably understand my {slightly exaggerated, ahem ahem} enthusiasm

till then & cause this kitchen is about four times as spacious as our previous one,

it totally inspires in cooking & baking!

... {this pumpkin & cheesecake recipe} below is one I'd love to try out.

looks delicious, not to mention Nikole Herriott's impeccable styling

[via]

leaving temporarily the kitchen talk behind us,

today I love...  la femme douce.

it's an expression which directly translated into English would be:

the soft woman, but in fact it 's all about a woman who simply knows how to also be soft,

who knows exactly how to be a woman...

a woman that manages to keep her identity in an ever changing & demanding society,

a woman who knows how to love herself, how to love a man & how to love others.

a woman who allows to be approached, but firmly also knows how to decline,

a woman who stands by a man & enjoys being his woman, his wife,

without being afraid that she will be labeled dependent,

perhaps less capable...

 in our modern, sometimes even confusing times,

being a soft woman is something that requires a lot of courage,

 work, persistence & actually

a heart that is not only sensitive but very, very strong

there's nothing easier than "showing one's teeth",

assuming strength, 

but then again, this would mean that aggressiveness

in any of its forms is powerful, when in fact it's the opposite.

so my dears,

today I love all of you who stumble upon these pages,

 cause despite our individual differences we share a lot in common

picture credit clockwise from top left: 1. 2. 3. 4 

just before I say good bye

a few links, posts & on line places I love & would like to share with you:

~ {this} etsy treasury, featuring {this art installation}, put together by {this} fabulous shop & woman behind it.

~ {this} awesome simple & full of character corner in Desire's house

~ Nina's {home office}

~ {Angelica's amazingly sweet view on the world}

~ {this touching mini film}, illustrating a world full of possibilities & hope. 

coming together with wonderful music ~

au revoir for now,

thank you very kindly for all your get well wishes

 &

just remember:

[via]

... it makes all the difference in the world,

 for us personally 

&

  for the outcome we deliver to this world.