Autumn (random pics)

The winter is almost here; you can really feel it in the air. Every day now it might snow here in Helsinki. Even though I miss the summer, I can’t seem to wait for the holiday season to begin. Every Christmas we go to Mikko’s mum at Saarijärvi. What we have there is a proper Christmas with Santa, Sauna and loads of good good food. Every time we visit Saarijärvi, I just have to visit these few places…they are called FLEAMARKETS. (say you had NO IDEA!)

After Christmas it’s time to pick up the spring courses at the university and tadaa, soon it’s summer again. Now that you’re now familiar with my cycle of the year, here’s some random shots I’ve taken with iPhone’s Instagram application during this autumn. They’re pretty cool.

PS. I found this lovely finnish enamel mug few days ago. Maybe my next post will be called Finnish Enamel Special!

Twinkle twinkle little star – vintage Fisher-Price Music Box Record Player

Guess what I found yesterday from this fleamarket Kaivarin kanuuna, downtown Helsinki?

 

This lovely children record player from  the early 70′s! It came with 3 records and the player actually plays them!

There was this old lady bringing it to her table and I started to chat with her. She had found the music box from her attic, where she had put it herself many years ago. The toy had belong to her own kids and she had wanted to save it to her grandchildren…well, for some reason they didn’t want it now and she thought that it would find the right home eventually. The lady said that it’s propably broken…it had been all covered up with dust and she had tried to clean it up, propably too rough, cause now it didn’t want to work anymore.

Well, I thought that back in the day the toys were build to last and as I got home, I took the screwdriver and started to work!

  

Eventually, I got it open, but I got to admit, it was a bit TRICKY!  So, my beloved neighbours, if you heard yelling or something, it was just me figuring out how the **** and *** and ***** should I proceed my task Saving the old piece of ****!

The machine was all covered up with rust, dust, hair etc. so I went it through gently with the toothbrush and some soap water. After that I added some oil to the parts and then there was a MIRACLE; it started to work! I put everything back like it was and now it’s our treasure.

Girls can put it on on sundays for sure!

You can watch a video here and see the beauty (the record player) in action!

Holiday inspirations

OK, I’m back!  This summer we’ve been around Finland and around fleamarkets, recycling centers, etc. as well. I have found tonns of stuff that somehow inspire me very much. One of the best findings was propably this huge roll of original retro flower wallpaper for 5 euros. I used it on my glass drawer cupboard’s walls and it turned out so cute, huh? I just love it!

I’m also planning on covering some old frames with it, like this and then making some sort of bright picture wall collage. There’s Mikko in the pic, btw, maybe 7 years ago. I took this one morning after his very first sleep-over at my place. It’s important part of our history, I’m telling you! Well, back to the wallpaper…I still have plenty of it left. What to do with it? Any suggestions? Maybe something to the girls’ room…these curtains would go lovely with it.

I also found this old finnish home mag “Kaunis Koti”  from the 60′s…1969 to be exact.  As you might know, I love these retro flower mirrors made by Mäkisen Kuvastin and guess what?  I found this little informative add from the mag about the mirrors.

The add tells about the material and designer (Tuula Lintinen) and about the colours available. The price was 1969 16,5 Finnish Marks. If you want a mirror of your own, you don’t have to hit the fleamarkets. Finnmirror (former Mäkisen Kuvastin) has these  mirrors in it’s collection again and the price is 49,90€.

Btw, this same magazine tells about Marimekko’s fabric Meloni, price 15,80 FM/metre . It is still in Marimekko’s collection with the  name Melooni and you can buy it, for example, from the Finnish Design Shop for 34 euros/metre.  Those of you, who can count, let me just say: Minä kaipaan tässä nyt vähän markkoja. (I miss the marks, just a little!) Of course the value of the money is pretty different nowadays than it was back in the day.

Now I need to get ready for the school. Last night we were at Bruce Springsteen’s gig at Helsinki Olympic Stadium and, well, I need a shower.

About my latest find and some finnish design

Have you started your summer holiday yet? Well, we will soon…it’s time for the midsummer this weekend and after that there’s only one week of work for Mikko and then, off we go!

This summer we’ll propably hang out at Saarijärvi over at grandparent’s and maybe there’s going to be few shorter trips to Rovaniemi (arctic circle…where the Santa lives), Stockholm and Kajaani, which is my home town (I moved away 1996).

But hey, now to my latest find I did on friday. It’s this cute little stool. The bottom says Lahden puutyö (Lahti woodwork), so It’s finnish and propably from the 50′s or so. I love it so! I redid the fabric cover from this old curtain and now it’s pretty classy and simple; just the way I like it. Almost everything in this pic is second hand. Well, almost everything.

The white table is from Skanno and my auntie has made the mat.The mat was originally going to my beloved grandmother Matilda, but then she suddenly passed away and the mat was homeless. And I came for rescue. My auntie Mirkku told everyone this story at the grandmother’s funeral. She told about the mat and how she and grandmother had discussed about the suitable colors:

“I don’t care what the colors are, as long as the mat can hide as much SH** as it’s possible!”

For that, it’s perfect, I think.

Well, back to the livingroom. The shelf is from the retro plastic moduls, Palaset, designed by Ristomatti Ratia and manufactured by MK-Tresmer Oy. Palaset is perfect for vinyls! I found this set from the net auction and it cost 80 euros! It was my lucky day!

Lamp on the table is from Pentik and the drawer from net auction Huuto.net (it cost 10 euros). On the Skanno table there’s this old mushroom enamel bowl that I got from very dear person once (I miss you Paavo!).

It’s designed by Kaj Franck and the illustration is Esteri Tomula’s. Isn’t it fab? These babies are pretty prizy nowadays.

But now, off I go! I’ll be back somewhere during the midsummer to tell you about the midsummer traditions we have here in  Finland. IF I’M NOT TOO DRUNK (ha-ha-haa, just kidding, but very finn-like huh?!)

Cutest chairs ever!

Aren’t they adorable?

I found these cool little toadstool chairs from the Keltainen Pörssi for 10 euros/each. Isku had these in it’s collection some years ago and they cost 75 euros each, so the deal was pretty good. They are as good as new. The idea is actually very old…my mom, who works in a daycare in this old house, said that they had similar, over 100 years old mushroom chairs there.

If you want a chair of your own, check the pages of Criminal Sanctions Agency. The products are made by prisoners in finnish prisons.

…Nämä ihanat kärpässieni-tuolit löytyivät Keltaisesta Pörssistä 10 eur/kappale. Todennäköisesti nämä ovat Iskun mallistosta muutaman vuoden takaa, jolloin myyntihinta oli n. 75 eur/kpl. Kun nämä olivat vielä kuin paketista otetut, niin aika kivat kaupat tein. Myyjä oli vielä oikein kiltti ja toi nämä Stadikalle mukanaan, joten postikulunkejakaan ei tullut. Kovasti ovat olleet tyttöjen mieluiset jakkarat.