Okay, readers, update on the overturned box full of crap that is my life. Dan and I “successfully” moved into our new apartment last week, and by this I mean we got all of our stuff into the new place. This can only be considered a success if you have very low standards for success. It pretty much looks like a moving truck threw up in an otherwise nice apartment. The good news is that my beloved Husqvarna is here. The bad news is that we toasted a transformer when trying to use an American projector and now I’m terrified of attempting to get the Husqvarna going on the European current. But I can’t deal with that anyway because anything I would need to sew is buried under the crapvalanche as it is.
Since folks have been asking, here are a couple of photos of the place. You can tell my priorities are in order because the first thing we had to do was to run out to Ikea to get the enormous PS Maskros hanging lamp that I’d coveted since I first laid eyes on it:

Seriously, this lamp is a BEAST. It is nearly a yard in diameter and it is a bucking fitch to assemble and install. Plus as we have discovered, it is a “one time use” lamp. You put all the paper florets on, but you can’t take them off later, so there’s pretty much no way to move it unless you have Go-Go-Gadget arms. It will live in this apartment and this apartment only. But it makes such pretty shadows on the walls and ceiling and it’s such a joy to wake up to in the morning that I don’t even mind that Dan has blisters all over his fingers from assembling all the wires and plastic bits. Also cool? When you’re partway through attaching the paper flowers (the easy part, albeit quite time consuming) it kind of looks like a friendly version of the partially reconstructed Death Star. Yeah, decor-related Star Wars reference!


Incidentally I’ve ordered swatches of celery green cotton velvet to do some drapes for that room and pick up the lighter green color in the bedding.
Here’s a partial view of the sewing room/guest room:

This room will get the blue and ivory striped silk dupioni curtains. It has two built in closets that I will undoubtedly stuff with fabric, and off on the far right hand side is one of the corners you can’t see where my sewing table is. I am currently plotting to replace the queen size bed with a daybed or other something that can fold up so that I can consume more of the room with sewing stuff. I want my guests to feel as though they are less important than sewing. Because it is true. Take that, friends and family!
And if you’re standing in the sewing room looking out the door, you see through the dining room into the living room where one of the movers is. He’s gone now though.

There are a couple of other rooms as well, but for now these are the only pictures that don’t look like crazy town. More soon though. And as soon as the drapery lining I ordered for my curtains shows up, there may even be some *gasp* sewing!





55 comments
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November 10, 2010 at 6:35 am
sewsister
OMG, your apartment is G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S ! ! ! From my limited experiences in Holland and Germany, most apartments are quite old and certainly not as modern and beautiful as yours. The leaves are still green on the trees, you must be somewhere in the southern part.
Enjoy your life there, I hope to move to the alps once we win the lotto!
November 10, 2010 at 6:59 am
Nancy K
It’s an absolutely gorgeous apartment worthy of fabulous draperies. If you ever get to use your sewing machine.
November 10, 2010 at 7:02 am
Kimbersew
Look at the size of that thing!! heheh. beautiful lamp! It also looks like a dandelion ready for blowing- which I remember from the guggenheim coat- you like because you don’t garden- love it!
November 11, 2010 at 12:34 pm
Gabriella
Maskros (the name of the lamp) means dandelion in Swedish :D
November 10, 2010 at 7:04 am
CGCouture
Your apartment is gorgeous! The light is very cool, bummer that it can’t be moved with you later. Hope you get your electrical stuff figured out soon, so that you can get back to sewing. :-)
November 10, 2010 at 7:13 am
Marie
So totally Selfish to leave us wanting more! You have accomplished the goal of making us envious. Enjoy!
November 10, 2010 at 7:27 am
Fiona
Transformer issues – I’ve had them! Since I moved to North America 2 years ago I’ve blown up several, once requiring fire extinguishers to be deployed (slightly scary). Luckily my sewing machine hasn’t caused any of those problems … so I haven’t been banned from using it (yet!) – it draws so little current that it apparently is OK on the smallest of transformers. I’m not, however, allowed to do any more baking or cleaning as the stand mixer and steam cleaner both blew up their respective transformers.
I’m looking forward to the end of January when we get to move back to Europe (Germany) and I get to sue everything on real electricity again without any blasted transformers!! Your flat looks great – hope we can find something similarly stunning where we’re going!
November 10, 2010 at 7:29 am
Tanit-Isis
Yup pure envy over here! All that White pannelling obviously required striped silk drapes. Have fun, and I hope you’ll be settled in soon… And that you figure out how to not fry your sewing machine. :)
November 10, 2010 at 8:42 am
Nikole
I suppose the curtain episodes will be as exciting as the knitting ones. Dear selfish I do believe you may be losing you nasty touch, has Europe made you soft?
The lamp though is gorgeous. I would have probably left it half finished; it gives and interesting look
November 10, 2010 at 9:02 am
Darci
Glad to see you back with us, dollface! LOVE that light fixture and its happy shadows. Hope you’re sewing soon, even if it’s only boring-but-necessary drapes.
November 10, 2010 at 10:51 am
sisters4saymoreismore
loving that enormous hanging light fixture!!!
November 10, 2010 at 11:03 am
BJ
Beautiful apartment! Wondering exactly which European country you are in? Our apartment in Germany was the top floor of a house, and was not nearly as big as yours.
Also, lucky me, I bought my sewing machine at the PX (Pfaff 295) and it has a switch at the bottom to switch electricity–no transformer needed. However, we never went back to live in Germany so the switch has been unused. Sigh.
If it’s Germany you live in, then a big “Gruess Gott” from me.
Barbara
in Maryland
November 10, 2010 at 11:55 am
Funnygrrl
Beautiful place! The lamp is gorgeous. I may have left it looking like the Death Star though…
Looking forward to home dec projects…no, really, that wasn’t sarcastic.
November 10, 2010 at 1:07 pm
Carol@KeepingUpWith
If you truly want to impress your guests with their actual place in the pecking order, I heartily recommend that you pitch all non-sewing related furniture and invest in an inflatable mattress for guests. We have one which inflates via an internal pump to sit approximately 2 feet off the ground. This looks impressive, as though you care for their comfort. However, strategic placement of the mattress on a bare wood floor will let your guests know exactly how you feel. As soon as they attempt to rest their invasive little heads that night, they will be rewarded with the squeak,squeak of the mattress in tune with every twist, turn and heavy sigh. Suspending shelves above their intended sleeping location, properly loaded (menacingly) with fabric, sewing reference books, etc. to keep their eyes occupied while their ears are serenaded with the flatulence of the mattress will be sure to keep them up all night plotting their escape from your hospitality.
Other hints: 1) be sure to leave your pincushions on the available seating. 2) invisible string scaps should be kept and tossed around the room – it will drive them crazy. 3) use your company’s pillow cases as pressing cloths and accidentally scorch them with your iron. Guests love that odor.
November 11, 2010 at 1:42 am
Colognegrrl
It will not only squeak but also keep them cool because the air in the mattress will keep only half the temperature of a human body, especially if the landlord prefers to lower the room temperature at night. Been there, done that.
November 10, 2010 at 1:23 pm
Samina
That is one cool lamp! What do you mean that it’ll have to stay in the apartment? 1. You can surely find a box big enough to pack it in when you move on & 2. I can’t imagine that a mover in world would give you a problem about carting that thing wherever you want to take it. Especially when you show them the Death star similarity. See? Easy peasy.
November 10, 2010 at 1:24 pm
PetitePear
Gorgeous apartment and I love that lamp even though it’s absolutely not for us. We live in such a dusty place that the whole thing will be coated with dust in a week and who’d want to dust that thing?
LOL@Carol’s hospitality above.
November 10, 2010 at 1:45 pm
Cadienne
The air mattress works well. If someone stays over, we just throw it on the living room floor with a few blankets (although, if the guest is welcome, we do try to shake the dog fur off.) Throwing a mattress on the living room floor works well, because it gives a subtle message to our guests as I shuffle by in the middle of the night in night shirt and bare feet with my aging dog for walkies — occasionally bumping into mattress(es) on the floor.
I have my sewing setup in the dining area. Guests are forced to eat outside or at the counter. This is also helpful in conveying warmth and hospitality. If I really like someone, I warn them about what fire-ant mounds look like, too. If I REALLY like someone, I make sure they know the proper technique for jumping into a swamp, too, as well as our pond.
November 10, 2010 at 2:49 pm
Carole
I noticed a bare bulb in the hallway. Why haven’t you assembled the second awesome light fixture for that location? I don’t think Dan has enough blisters yet, and as someone else noted, one fixture like that isn’t enough of a dust collector.
November 10, 2010 at 3:33 pm
Marie-Christine
I have a Lyksele from Ikea for a guest bed, and it’s perfect. I slept on it myself for the first 6 months, so I know it’s comfortable. And it makes a great, unobtrusive couch for the sewing room. I totally recommend that approach, unfortunately it’s hard to sew that much when you have guests underfoot anyway..
November 10, 2010 at 7:18 pm
Jane S
What a gorgeous new home…and terrific light choice, well worth your vicarious pain. Hope you work out the transformer issue so your machine is humming smoothly soon.
November 11, 2010 at 6:53 am
Pam in Napoli
Hi Selfish,
I use a tranformer with my machine (Singer CXL 1000) and have had no problems for two years. I use a 2000 or a 2500 watt to handle the surges in power. I’m in Naples, Italy, and, trust me, if you are in Germany, you have far fewer worries with electric current. Super cool light, by the way, you must feel like a fairy sleeping beneath a dandelion.
Pam
November 11, 2010 at 8:05 am
Av
The Unikko print duvet from Marimekko looks divine in your bedroom. Pairs up well with your big lamp! I have this devilish grin because I know which country you are at……..
November 11, 2010 at 8:08 am
sewsister
You may have spilled the beans Av! I Googled Unikko Duvet Marimekko…
November 12, 2010 at 6:31 am
selfishseamstress
Hahaha. I enjoy a good trip to Finland as much as the next person, but there was no way that I was going to move *closer* to the Arctic circle than I was in my previous abode. The sheets are classic Finnish design, yes, but I purchased them in N. America and then brought with me to my non-Finnish new home :)
November 14, 2010 at 9:15 am
Av
The photo with the window is alarming! It is never so warm/sunny in Finland at this time of the year. Think 5 months worth of snow… brrr! I did try to visit Eurokankas (hope I got the spelling right) this summer and failed. But I made it to Marimekko 4 times in 3 weeks… tsk.
Ok, I give up guessing (until the next photo comes up).
November 11, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Dilly
A belated welcome to Europe! (from a long time lurker…) A great addition to this continent. I love the light, and loooooove the shadows it casts – I very nearly bought one too, but ended up with a shade from Habitat with animal shapes all over it, which casts great and very cute shadows too. Good luck with the home decor sewing…
November 11, 2010 at 3:32 pm
lorrwill
AH-HA! So you do have friends and family and aren’t all selfish snarky heartless cold and soulless an you would have us believe.
I knew it . I just knew it.
November 11, 2010 at 4:12 pm
Leticia Maguire
mercy! I have been eyeing off that Ikea light for a long time. While it always did look pretty large in the store {that should have been enough of an indication to me}, I can’t believe the enormity of it in a regular room. Don’t jump out of bed in a fright or you’ll send it spinning and have to put all those little dandelions back together again.
November 11, 2010 at 6:35 pm
raquel
I was thinking: five little monkies jumping on the bed …heheheheh!.
November 12, 2010 at 2:44 am
Jali
The light is such a statement piece. I keep thinking that if I have it in my room, it will fill half the space.
I am currently, sharing my sewing space with the guest bed as well. It just lies there for most of the year. Please get a day bed that you can shove away and get a cutting table in there pronto.
November 12, 2010 at 7:33 am
Cadienne
You will never get the Selfish one to reveal her whereabouts. Don’t ya’ll know she is secretly assigned to a special covert MIB-type team, doing bizarre scientific experiments in a conspiracy with said MIB agency and extraterrestrials. She may have SAID she was abducted by aliens earlier, but in fact she was in cahoots with them.
It’s so obvious. I can’t believe ya’ll don’t see it.
If you knew where she is now, she’d have to kill you. Or have one of her ET assassin-friends teleport to your home and hit you with a death ray, a lot cleaner and harder to trace than death by sewing shears. (Of course, the little green assassin would find it harder down where I live — too many Cajuns armed and ready to start a roux and a pot of rice to go with an “exotic” form of meat… hehehe)
November 12, 2010 at 7:35 am
sewsister
Switzerland, that’s my best guess. She’s fluent in German, a scientist/teacher of some sort and very efficient, a perfect fit!
November 12, 2010 at 5:10 pm
lorrwill
but, but, she has to kill you now for revealing her nefarious plan, right?
November 12, 2010 at 12:49 pm
Hana - Marmota
Pft, Selfish Seamsteress losing her nasty touch? Hardly, with displaying Marimekko bedding right before the eyes of this poor student. It’s unmistakable, and makes me envious, and I don’t want to be envious, ergo Selfish is nasty.
*giggle*
Your apartment looks lovely, and the lamp is fabulous.
November 13, 2010 at 8:41 am
Finnish reader
Nice to see Finnish desing in your blog! :) Keep on the same way! But I personally think Marimekko has way better prints than Unikko…. :)
November 14, 2010 at 9:11 am
Av
You are absolutely right, Finnish Reader. I think Unikko is overdone. There are several old prints which are lovely and deserves more recognition. Their latest woman’s line is oh so pretty!
November 14, 2010 at 11:05 am
selfishseamstress
Oh geez, people. Look, I’m happy for you that you’re so knowledgeable about design and so up on the latest and greatest. Personally, I didn’t buy anything because it was Marimekko or because it was Unikko. I bought them because I saw them and adored them upon sight, and because they are the perfect colors to go with my black and white with green eyes cat. I’m not trying to “recognize” Marimekko or Unikko by buying sheets that I like. Keep that in mind when someone looks at photos of your new place and tells you that the things that you adore are overrated and all the stuff you should have done differently.
November 15, 2010 at 1:35 am
Av
I am sorry if I had offended you as I didn’t mean it as you had thought earlier. I adore Unikko too and have several dresses and bags with Unikko stampeding on them. However I still think the print is overdone and this is my personal opinion of the print (and not of your choice for bed linen). I did not, in any way, state that you had poor taste. My previous comment wasn’t an insult to you or your choices, so you need not be agitated by my remarks.
You share about sewing and crafting and as such, I am sure that you are magnanimous enough to discuss fabric prints. This was what I think both Finnish Reader and I did previously – discussing fabric prints and sharing our personal opinions that there are prints that deserved more recognition.
Whilst your sheets might have sparked the topic, it wasn’t your sheets that we were talking about. I am sorry that we weren’t talking about your sheets. Perhaps you wouldn’t be so huff puffy if we did.
November 15, 2010 at 1:43 am
selfishseamstress
Hahaha. I’m not much of a huffer and a puffer. Much more of an eye-roller :)
November 15, 2010 at 4:30 am
Anonymous
Just be careful not to roll those eyes off the sockets :)
November 13, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Pamela
I ran my Bernina off a transformer for three years with no problems at all while we lived in Spain and France. I had contacted Bernina before I left and I was assured it would be fine; sewing machines dont pull much power ( sorry, my apostrophe key is printing Russian right now). I also ran my KitchenAid mixer off a monster transformer. I was so glad I brought the mixer with me, because those things cost a fortune in Europe. We bought all our transformers in the US and had them shipped to us 3 days before the container was loaded. They were much cheaper to buy in the US. A good source for appliances, kind of a Craigs list if you will, is the US Embassy in whatever city you live in. We were able to sell all our Euro appliances in Madrid when we left. The buyers got a terrific deal and we did not have to cart back a bunch of stuff we would never use. We had the stuff sold in no time.
November 14, 2010 at 11:23 am
selfishseamstress
You are giving me hope :) The sewing machine may get plugged in sometime this week for a trial run with one of our monster transformers. As for the KitchenAid, I can’t say I didn’t consider purchasing one before heading over. But counter space has turned out to be at such a premium that I don’t regret it… yet :)
November 13, 2010 at 9:14 pm
erinrx2
Those windows! Those floors! Your apartment is awesome!!!! Have fun settling in!
November 14, 2010 at 5:03 am
katharinec
Welcome back to Europe, I just found your blog and am a sewist living in Europe as my third continent. I know the pain of a sewing machine slowly crossing the ocean by seamail. Wish I had known how to knit or crochet at the time to keep my fingers busy! Your new home is lovely. Enjoy the transition.
November 15, 2010 at 1:05 pm
clearlytangled
i am enjoying all this commentary about finland.
AV- i believe it’s eurokangas, and not anything special in my opinion, so you didn’t miss anything.
also, selfishseamstress, when i bought my husqvarna a few years ago here in the u.s., the dealer PROMISED me that my machine would work with a transformer if we ever moved back to finland. so maybe, if my dealer wasn’t LYING HER PANTS OFF, yours will be fine.
November 15, 2010 at 1:07 pm
clearlytangled
i meant to mention that i almost bought that duvet when it came out.
November 15, 2010 at 8:27 pm
Avonne Chee
I’m married to a Finn and so perhaps OD-ed on Unikko. However Marimekko carries very beautiful things such as the two dresses I received as a birthday present this year (one of which, is Unikko shocking pink flowers on a white background) or the vehicle design for children products… which was what I was trying to highlight. There are soooooooo many Marimekko designs! Pleasant surprise to find some Japanese designers on their list of designers too.
Am relieved that I did not miss much in Eurokangas… hehehe.
November 16, 2010 at 1:53 pm
clearlytangled
OOO i am ALSO married to a finn. that practically makes us sisters.
November 17, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Av
And if you are ever in Helsinki during summer months, we could meet up and have hot chocolate at Fazer’s at Alexanderkatu (I hope i got that spelling right too). Always pleasant to find new friends, especially those to have yummy treats with!
November 18, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Amber
Oh, it looks like a beautiful place! I’d say take your time in getting settled and stuff, but frankly, I want you back at your machine asap. And you know, it’s all about me, so…. ;)
November 22, 2010 at 12:43 pm
clearlytangled
AV – that would be nice- love fazer. not sure when i’ll be in helsinki next. feel free to contact me here: clearlytangled (at) gmail (dot) com or via my blog- clearlytangled.blogspot.com
i’m sure the selfish seamstress would rather us move this conversation elsewhere!
November 22, 2010 at 3:09 pm
Meredith P
Speaking of your black, green-eyed cat? Did she make the trip with you? Or did she have to stay in North America?
Lovely light fixture BTW!
December 5, 2010 at 6:48 pm
Anonymous
Wait, so am I less important than sewing?
Sa
March 14, 2012 at 10:57 pm
Susan (Between Naps on the Porch)
Wow, the shadows it casts on the ceiling are awesome! Loved your commentary on assembling it…too funny!