Friday 30 August 2019

Newly Listed: Hand Knitted Bedspread


Hand Knitted Bedspread, bed throw, Super Soft Couch throw, Couch Blanket, Handknitted Afghan, Pastel Colors by StarHomeStudio
Flower Art Print, Macro Photography, Hygge Art, Boho Wall Decor by JudyStalus
Blue, green summer nature photograph cool tones, pale blue, deep green, winter white air original fine art photo by shannonpix
Owl Winter White Snow Forest Feathers Tree Branches Birds Wildlife Nature Frozen Woods Photography by EclecticForest

Monday 26 August 2019

Big News!


It has been quiet on our blog, as our life has been hectic these past few weeks! We bought a house!
This has been going on for 4 weeks now but as of Friday the house is officially ours. It is not in he town we live in now but 40km away. The sea is a bit further away but because of that the house was affordable and it is HUGE! It is 375 square meter (4000 square feet). It has a huge basement which is perfect for our work, much more convenient than we now have. The house we live in now is 140 square meters plus my little house of 40 square meters. So this is double the size which is really what we needed with the number of materials we have, and stock of items.



It is brand new we are the first to move in. It does mean that it needs cleaning and as we are now completely broke we are slowly doing it ourselves.


All windows etc still have their stickers but they have been on it for way too long, it has been torture getting them off. The tiles wouldn't be our choice much too crowded, planning something about those!


There is so much stuff we need to buy but we have to wait a few months as we just can't afford it right now, if you were planning to buy something from one of our shops, please buy now :D We need money ha ha! :)


The garden also needs a lot of work. No grass, but trees, giving shade, oxygen and will be a water-efficient garden.


One part of the huge basement, can't wait to move our workspaces in here. At home we now have two workspaces, here it will all be in one which will make things much easier and efficient.


Every time we go to the house we fill up the car, as we can't pay for movers right now we are moving as much as we can ourselves for the moment. Eventually we will need a big truck.


I've been steaming off the window stickers, still a lot of windows to do but I finally found the best way to do it. Good thing we have a steam cleaner.


It says max. 3 months everywhere but it has been a year :/


Can't wait to show the fun part like decorating but things will progress very slowly, I'll show the progress. The house we live in now we will fix up for both Airbnb and to put up for sale. Selling might take a while so we will make sure the house brings money to finance all the work for both houses. It is going to be a hectic year or so, but we are very excited!

Friday 16 August 2019

Patched Up


We scored these 3 chairs quite a while back and they have been in our overfull attic ever since. They are very solid and heavy and have a fancy shape, however, their original upholstery was done with fake leather that was worn down till the thread, at some places there were even holes, even worse was that they were extremely sticky, some kind of chemical reaction to the leather with the heat or something.


They were extremely well upholstered, which was a pain to remove.


And while pealing things off it became clear why they are so heavy, 3 layers of wood! One layer for the feet, one for the seat and then the body as well, very well made (except for the choice of fabric).


The dark brown paint got sanded and then they got painted black.



Each will be different as we are using vintage embroidery for them. They will look great together as well as solo.


To match each embroidery we cut 60 (!!!) pieces of velvet from discontinued fabric catalogs for the back sides of the chairs.


180 pieces of straight cut velvet, it was a mess :)


But the results are worth it in the end, we had a perfectly matching patchwork.


Time to dress up the chair.



What a difference :)


I still had some hand sewing to do.


And time to cover up the ends and staples.


The saw was my birthday gift of this year, yes that was what I wanted :)



It is always the little finishing touches that take the most time.



All nicely covered up now :)


Now time to put all pieces back together!


I've made this chair in 5 different rooms and the terrace, she has traveled and my muscles are getting bigger :)


But the result is satisfying and worth all the muscle aches.



Hard to imagine that this is embroidery! The fabric is white!! Not a millimeter of fabric can be seen with all the stitches.


Cutting those pieces of fabric and painstakingly sewing them together was well worth the effort.


Beautiful from each and every side, one down still two to go!
Available at StarHomeStudio.

Friday 9 August 2019

Turkish Traditions


Throughout the years we have blogged about Turkish traditions. As expats, it took us a while to get used to them, we now know them but they still are exotic :)


I've listed this table in our Home shop. It is called a sofra in Turkish, it is a floor table. Traditionally there were no normal tables in Turkish homes. A  wooden piece like this or just a round ring would be put on the floor, then a large piece of cloth and on top of that a circular tray with all the food brought in from the kitchen. We have one of those as well in the shop.


Soup gets served in bowls but all the other food is eaten directly from the pans, no one gets a plate. Bread is crucial at the Turkish sofra, a Turk does not feel full without bread :) And plates get al cleaned up with bread. The cloth is where everyone 'goes under', the cloth covers the legs and prevents crumbs to fall on the floor, it is a big sin to step on bread so this is a precaution for that as well as an easy cleanup.


The sofra has no limit on how many people can sit around it. Those that are full get up and those who come later can slide right in. Surprise guests are normal. No chairs mean just sitting a little closer when it gets crowded. The sofra is now seen as the poor's table, they say that you get full quicker as your stomach get suppressed by sitting in such a position. When the meal is over the sofra is hung on the wall, occupying no floor space.


Our sofra is pretty unique, it has hand-painted and torched details. Would look great in a bohemian home with floor cushions.


Nowadays sofra's are made of MDF with collapsable plastic legs, not so pretty, or you even have them entirely made out of plastic :(