The House that Lars Built | Crafts, Design, Style & Life

Copenhagen + Life + This week / Sunday, 3 Jun 2012

This week

This week we had the best guests in town: Cree and Amanda Jones. The. Best. Guests. Look under “guest” in the dictionary and their names will pop up I promise you. We just had the greatest time with them. We laughed, we cried. We laughed and cried at the same time (well, some of us did while watching this). Sadly, we couldn’t go on all the touring adventures with them but I love seeing how they view Copenhagen based on their instagram photos (I’m really wishing I could use the app they use but alas, my iphone 3 doesn’t handle such novelties). Aren’t these fantastic photos?! We’re already planning our next adventure together. Let the good times roll!

What went on this week?
Made DIY mini art save-the-dates for Brooklyn Bride
Showed the awesome digs of our Berlin loft
Unnur guest blogged and created a Reykjavik, Iceland thrift store/vintage shopping guide
Amanda took some magical photos of some of my oversized paper flowers in the nearby park

Pics from Amanda and my Instagrams

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guest blog + Iceland + Life + Shops + Style / Tuesday, 29 May 2012

Guide to Reykjavik vintage shopping

My wardrobe consists of what I like to call “story clothes” or, in other words, clothes that tell stories of where I’ve been. Thus, vintage/thrift stores are a must when we travel. Our friend, Unnur, a Reykjavik native and savvy second hand shopper, was kind enough to take me out on a second hand shop tour in Reykjavik when we visited Iceland last month. I asked her if she’d be interested in creating a guide for all of you because somehow it seems like a lot of you have been to Iceland, are planning on going or would like to go. She did such a thorough job and I’m so grateful for her research. I’ve gone ahead and added the locations into a map which you can access on Everplaces.com Thank you! Take it away Unnur!

Hlemmur is where it all begins. It is just about the easiest place to find in Iceland because all the main busses go there and every single Icelander in the whole wide world knows where it is. The Grand Central station of Reykjavík if you will.

The first, and my personal favorite, vintage shop is right across the street from Hlemmur and chock-full of goodies at the lowest prices. It may not look like much from the outside but venture in and you won’t be disappointed. Fatamarkaðurinn(The Clothing Market) is a sort of side project for another vintage shop, Spúútnik, selling similar clothes at a lower price.

Kassetta (cassette tape) is only a couple of blocks down Laugavegur, the main shopping street in downtown Reykjavík. It is a small but ohh so cute half&half, selling new jeans, lomo cameras and vintage clothing among other things.

Nostalgía (Nostalgia) is as cute on the inside as it is on the outside. A truly joyful place to visit. The prices are a bit higher than the previous two places, but it is worth the visit. FIY they sell Vintage Kimonos. Something everyone should know.

Spúútnik (Sputnik) is the mother of vintage in Iceland. They have an outlet in Kringlan mall as well as a side project vintage shop, mentioned earlier in this post. The shop on Laugavegur has a great selection of women’s clothing as well as the biggest selection of men’s vintage clothes.

Rokk og Rósir (Rock and Roses) has the most gorgeous dresses along with other beautiful and girly vintage things. Even though their prices are generally a little bit higher than most other vintage shops they have sales and special offers every once in a while that totally make up for it. So keep your eyes open and your wallets stocked and ready because when they offer 7 items for only 55 dollars you are going to be able to find at least 14 vintage things you can’t live without.

To some “second hand” does not sound as exciting as “vintage”. But let me assure you, the Red Cross second hand store on Laugavegur has an incredible selection of beautiful vintage clothing. It is one of many Red Cross stores in Reykjavík, but I am pretty sure they hand pick the clothes for this little shop. You can always find something exciting in there, and the best thing is it’s generally cheaper than the other places in the area and you can usually get a discount, that is if you are a bit flirty and good at negotiating …I highly recommend paying the full price though, because its the Red Cross for Pete’s sake!

Dótturflélagið (The Daugther Company) is a cute little half&half with a lot of character. The shop might not have an overload of vintage clothing, but it has wonderful employees who are more than willing to help, inform and make you feel right at home. There is even a little wall for poloroids of mothers and daughters who visit the store together and a little kiddie corner so the kids can play while mom tries on that awesome looking vintage jacket.

Gyllti kötturinn (The Golden Cat) is an interesting, medium sized half&half. Even thought it is a couple of blocks from the majority of the vintage shops its worth the walk. They have a mixture of new and interesting designs and vintage that fits ohh so well together. And the shoes, all those lovely shoes.

Kolaporið (The Flea Market) deserves a post of its own. In fact thats exactly what I am going to do. Some come back to my blog for a look at the one and only Icelandic flea market.

Thank you so so much Unnur!

Edit: I’ve since added these into a map for you using Everplaces. Check it out here.

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Europe + Iceland + Life + travel / Thursday, 24 May 2012

Iceland: off the Golden Circle

The Golden Circle consists of a three major tourist sites: the waterfall Gullfoss, the geothermal geysers including Geysir, and the national park and site of the first parliament, Pingvellir. These are all awesome, but you know what’s even more awesome? Going off the beaten track. Well, most things in Iceland are of the beaten track so that’s not very hard. Paul had remembered a crater he had visited the last time he was there so we went on a crater hunt. First, we ran into this red rock mine, which was located next to a mountain. After climbing the mountain we found out that the it was in fact a crater.

THEN, we drove to another site where Bjork had what I think must be the best music venue of all time. She performed on a raft on the water of this crater:

Darn that automatic timer.

Are you getting the sense that Iceland is just amazing? (As if I haven’t talked about it enough) I do have to thank a few people for giving me some really awesome travel tips. Jenna was an absolute sweetheart for giving a huge itinerary including a Google map that we used. She wrote about her adventures in several parts starting here. Michelle, Marlou, Linda, Kurt, Brenda, Gnomie and Anne also gave me some really awesome advice. Thank you so much for taking the time to let us know!

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Interiors + Style + This Girl / Wednesday, 23 May 2012

This Girl: XII

This Girl loves her some red stripes!

Girl | Reads | Sails

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30 til 30 + Crafts + DIY + Party + Projects / Tuesday, 22 May 2012

30 til 30: Gold!

Guys, I’m SO behind with my 30 crafts in 30 days before 30 years. I hope this isn’t a premonition of this upcoming decade. Yikes! But today’s is SUPER easy. I mean, SUPER. Just get some gold spray paint, masking tape, and some kraft paper notebooks and you’re golden (te he, sorry, punny.) I picked these notebooks up in Berlin at a store I like to call “heaven” but it’s really called Modular. It’s a supplies store with anything your heart desires and Germany prices are SO amazing. Anything is compared to Denmark though.

1. Just cover the parts your want protected with masking tape. I didn’t have any at the moment so I used some cheap stuff that comes off easily.

2. Give it a little spray from about 18″ away. It doesn’t need too much.