This beautiful, small, five piece dish collection came out already last year, but I can’t resist showcasing it, even though you probably have already seen it. I also just featured a cup from this collection on a blog post of black and white printed dishes, and the collection is on sale at the Scandinavian Design Center.

The collection is called Mademoiselle Oiseau, and it is designed by the Swedish illustrator Lovisa Burfitt for the historic Swedish Rörstrand brand.

Lovisa Burfitt is an illustrator and fashion designer and she runs the Burfitt fashion house. Her fashion illustrations can regularly be seen in several of the most prestigious fashion magazines in the world, and her wall paintings decorate some of the trendiest places (hotels, nightclubs, stores..) in Stockholm. The Mademoiselle Oiseau collection she created for Rörstrand tells a story of the eccentric Mademoiselle Oiseau in five parts – mug, espresso cup, side plate, trinket box with lid, and a cake stand. The gorgeous sketches remind us of Paris, and look stunning on the thinnest of bone china, the actual dishes are designed by a prize-winning designer, Anna Lerinder.

Mademoiselle Oiseau is available at the Scandinavian Design Center, starting at $14.

photos: Rörstrand, illustration: Lovisa Burfitt

I featured the bold colors from H&M’s spring home collection a few days ago, and exactly how all the bolder colors are like directly from Pantone’s 2012 color picks, so are the more neutral colors in the H&M’s rustic collection.

This part of the H&M home collection includes vintage style products like in previous H&M home collections, and this time lovely pillows, bedding and kitchen accessories that could be directly not from Stockholm – but from USA or Paris.

Here are some of my favorite products from the rustic collection, and I do love the color scheme in these a lot, great for apartment living and to be matched with white.

See more pictures from the H&M home for spring 2012.

Photos: H&M

Jennifer Lopez is launching a collection at KOHL’s debuting in September. The clothing, accessories and home product collections combine old Hollywood style with today’s trends with affordable prices and is launched at the same time as Marc Anthony collection at Kohl’s. While Jennifer Lopez certainly hasn’t started as an interior design icon, and may sound as an odd name to be featuring a luxurious home collection, her name as someone with excellent interior design taste emerged at the latest when the stories of the luxurious nursery came out a few years ago.

Veranda magazine also featured Jennifer Lopez’s home in California, designed by interior designer Michelle Workman. Her home reflects old Hollywood glamor with Art Deco touches, and the color palette is neutrals, but instead of tones of beige, the home is decorated with tones of grey and ash blue. Jennifer Lopez has impeccable taste in interior design, and her home collection at Kohl’s reflects her style.

Jennifer Lopez Home Collection at Kohl’s

The Jennifer Lopez home collection for KOHL’s includes 600 thread count sheets made with 100% egyptian cotton in geometric prints that remind of old Hollywood. The tones of the collection are neutrals, blues, grays and beiges and the look is very sophisticated. The sheet set prices range $149.99-199.99. The clothing collection is even less expensive, you can read more about the Jennifer Lopez fashion collection and the Marc Anthony collection launched at the same time at our lifestyle blog. Here are some photos of the Jennifer Lopez Home Collection, and as you can see – the collection looks great in photos and the 600 thread count cotton sounds so luxurious.

August 19th is Coco Chanel’s birthday and we are all cuckoo over Coco.

If you love the rich look of Coco Chanel’s home from the Coco Chanel’s 31 Rue Cambon Apartment pictures, here are some tips how you can get the same look for your home.

1. Coco Chanel came up with the concept of the little black dress as one of the must-have clothing pieces in your wardrobe, and she also loved to decorate with black, and especially combining it with beige and gold. Her apartment was decorated with beiges, tans, black and white.

2. Coco Chanel used room dividers and fabrics and luxurious wallpaper to decorate her home. Bring in some fabrics in rich bold prints to get the same luxurious look.

3. Bring in flowers! Camellias were Coco Chanel’s favorite flowers, and you can incorporate them in some of the fabric prints.

4. Crystals and glass ball lamp! Coco Chanel’s apartment had several crystals, golden accents and lots of mirrors. Versions of the glass ball table lamp in Chanel’s apartment in the 50’s can still be seen in most decorating stores. Chanel also liked crystal balls – maybe she was able to see into the future.

5. Add mirrors. One of the most famous elements in her apartment is the entire mirrored wall in the hallway, and you just can’t have a Chanel-inspired room without a mirror or two. Or three. One of her favorite mirrors was an eloganated octagon mirror that is in the same perfect shape as the top of every Chanel no. 5 perfume bottle.

6. Add sculptures. Coco Chanel had several statues and sculptures in her apartment, including two large deer sculptures in her living room. Large statues can be very expensive, but look for them in the antique markets – or opt-in for decorative items from less expensive stores like the deer pictured from Potter Barn.

I had an opportunity to attend Disney Cruise Line’s Inaugural cruise on the new Disney Dream earlier this week. I will be covering many highlights from the trip and the ship itself the upcoming few weeks at Skimbaco Lifestyle and at Skimbaco Travel, but I wanted to share some of the more architectural pictures here. Disney Dream took several years to design, and every single detail is throughly thought of and the Disney imagineers were able to create a cruise ship with old world feeling that brings back nostalgic glamour from the 40′s but combined with the best that today’s technology and design can do.

When you step onboard the ship, this majestic three deck high atrium welcomes you, and you will immediately realize that Disney Cruise Line and Disney Dream is so much more than Disney characters, it is a luxurious retreat on water, and not just for the kids. An amazing chandelier descending more than 13 feet from the ceiling, and spanning more than 22 feet in width is a masterpiece sparkling with thousands of hand-crafted crystal beads. Reminiscent of early 20th century transatlantic ocean liners, contemporary design and Art Deco style grace the grand lobby to exude sophistication throughout.

Every Disney Cruise Line’s ship has a character statue in its atrium lobby, and the Disney Dream isn’t any different. Almost a five feet tall bronze Admiral Donald Duck stands atop a marble pedestal. Like the grand piano and the majestic staircase would add enough to the lobby, the Donald Duck statue brings in Disney magic and a great photo opportunity for the guests.

It wouldn’t be Disney without first class entertainment onboard. Disney Dream has two theatres onboard, and both of them are elegant and give the old Hollywood and Broadway feeling.

The restaurants are designed to full fill an appetite for design as well. The Disney Dream includes three main dining options, and two adults only fine dining restaurants. The Royal Palace is designed after classic Disney princess stories and you will feel like a princess yourself when dining there.

You are welcomed by marble floors and a “family crest” when you walk in to Royal Palace. Hand-painted potraits of the princesses delight the youngest ones in the family, and you will be blown away by the luxurious interiors including hand-blown chandelier, custom carpeting and iron railing. The windows are dressed in tiara-topped window valances, and the fluted columns in the space are modeled directly from Cinderella’s ballroom scene.

On the upper deck you can find the only premier dining option on the sea. Disney Dream introduces Remy, with a menu created by a Michelin-starred chef, view to the ocean, wine vault full of rare wines from all over the world, and interior designed to wow you and the experience transports you to France, just like in Disney’s movie Ratatouille. Remy’s classic French design features sinuous lines on chair backs, nouveau-style floral and leaf design carpet and the tables are set with Frette linens, Riedel glassware and Christofle silverware and china custom made for Remy. A private Chef’s Table offers a private premier dining option for eight in a room with Paris scene on the wall.

Disney Dream continues the magic and the luxurious feel even in the state rooms. The cabins are decorated with the charm of the old world, immaculately appointed staterooms feature a contemporary, Art Deco-inspired design and most of them have its own veranda – or extra Disney magic with Magical Portholes offering a “window” to the world with a real-time view outside the ship with animated pictures places on the top of the live feed. Disney Dream has two signature royal suites and the Roy O. Disney Suite below embodies the Art Deco glamour of the 1920s and 1930s. Extravagant details include a whirlpool hot tub on the private teakwood verandah, dining salon, pantry, wet bar and sweeping ocean views through floor-to-ceiling windows lining the main living quarters.

Subscribe Skimbaco Lifestyle, Skimbaco Travel and Skimbaco Home to get the full coverage of the Disney Dream.

Full disclosure: Disney invited me to the christening cruise and all my expenses except the spa treatments were paid. My opinions are my own.

I had an honor to meet Lisa Fontanarosa at the Vegas Market earlier in August, and get to see some work from the artists she represents. Lisa has an eye for unusual and curious mind for design not yet discovered, and she brings several artists to our attention.

One of the artists is Marie Christophe, whose whimsical wirework lamps and chandeliers are as light as air and as transparent as bubbles in a glass of champagne. Marie’s sculptures of wire, beads, and other materials are objects of beauty and centerpieces of any space they find their home in.

Marie Christophe lives and designs in Paris, France, and her sculptures and lamps are available in the US via Lisa Fontanarosa.

One of the things Coco Chanel loved was wheat. Yes, wheat!

Wheat symbolizes luck and of fertility in France and the French word for wheat, blé, is a slang word for “money” and a symbol for prosperity and fruitfulness. It makes sense that Coco Chanel who came from less than humble settings, wanted to surround herself with wheat. By the way, Karl Lagerfelt used wheat in the Chanel 2010 fashion collection’s prints to honor Coco Chanel’s admiration of wheat.

Some of the most famous wheat pieces in Coco Chanel’s apartment with wheat are the Salvador Dali’s painting with wheat and the wheat table. And she even tucked wheat behind statues and just to peak behind other decorative items. If you want one easy and very inexpensive design tip inspired by Coco Chanel – get some wheat going.

The famous wheat table. Don’t buy it unless you really have a design eye to make it work. Let’s just focus on some easier ways to bring the wheat element in your home.

The easiest way is to get ready made flower arrangements from your florist. The fall harvest cornucopia is perfect even for Thanksgiving, and the Martha Stewart Autumn Harvest Bouquet also brings some other warm colors for the fall time table decorating.

You can find some decorating items with wheat from home decorating stores, like the wheat bookends. Great way to get a permanent way to incorporate wheat in your room’s design is choosing wood trim with wheat design. I have to say that my favorite way is to bring real wheat inside. You can find wheat wreaths from several decorating stores, especially during fall-time, the wreath pictured is from Target, as well as the basket with wheat. The blue pot with wheat is from Etsy. Another Etsy find is the wheat wall decal, it comes in different colors and is another easy and inexpensive solution.

These pictures from Brides.com taken by Ross Whitaker give inspiration how to decorate with wheat. The prints are art prints from Art.com and under six dollars each. If you really want to go all the way following Coco Chanel’s footsteps, the wheat table lamp ($350) might be of your liking.

This week I am inspired by Coco Chanel, and wanted to dive deep into her interior design style. She was a trendsetter and her interior design taste was beyond her time. She revolutionized women’s clothing by showing women can be elegant and wear pants, and the little black dress is a timeless classic that will never be out of style.

When it comes to interior design and decorating, Coco Chanel had some revolutionizing ideas in her 31 Rue Cambon apartment as well. Chanel’s favorite colors were beige, black and white, and those were the colors she also chose for her home. While those colors may seen so normal today, decorating with light colors like beige and white were not common at all in the 50′s. Today we have easy-care materials and cleaning products, but not so much back then. One of Chanel’s brilliant ideas was to use suede as upholstering fabric – suede, that is so common nowadays.

I found pictures from Coco Chanel’s apartment in Paris and wanted to show how you can create a luxurious living room inspired by Coco Chanel. Yeah, in your dreams, right? Don’t turn away so fast, I will also show how to get Chanel inspired living room with a smaller budget – and even not-so-much-of-a-budget in upcoming posts.

Pictures from Coco Chanel’s apartment:

The Hollywood regency style wheat table with glass top has been one of those items that has been popping in design magazines the last couple of years, and it is making a huge comeback. You can find it on eBay or antique markets, flea markets if you are lucky, but I was not able to find a copy or reproduction of the wheat table. But I wouldn’t be surprised if indeed someone is starting reproduce this unique table some time soon.

One of the most famous pictures of Coco Chanel is the one taken for Hearst magazine, Chanel in a white chair. The chair originally was just a prop for the photo, but later on was purchased and now it resides at Coco Chanel’s apartment. I think she would approve, it reflects her design style and goes perfectly in the room.

One of the things to mention is that Coco Chanel used dark colors for the walls, and the wooden furniture was black, giving the room luxurious feel, but light colors for upholstered furniture and a lot of glass and crystals to bring lightness, and feminine delicateness to the space.

The quite opposite to the feminine objects are the statues Chanel collected. Coco Chanel liked combining antiques with modern items, and creating spaces that still today look stylish – style is forever.

Photos: Live Your Style

Another theme for my B&W living room! Modern Paris Chic with hot pink.

I am hosting an e.l.f. Cosmetics Makeup At Home party on Tuesday and wanted to get some pink going on to our living room for the party. I thought Paris Chic theme would go well, and I’m of course making pink cupcakes to tie it all together. In fact, I will probably get a glass container full of pink candy for a center piece. Candy and flowers make great and easy ways to bring more color to your room!

We still don’t have all of the elements for our living room that I need, but I promise, I will be posting photos how far I have really come, and how I added pink accents to get the Paris Chic party look for my makeup party for my friends.

Products in the design board:
Pink lampshade ($14.99) – with this low price, you can use it only for a while, and then maybe embellish it with something to get a new look?

Save money and skip the real chandelier, get a wall sticker instead. The pictured is from Wall Tat and comes in several colors and sizes. Another way to bring the chic chandelier in your living room: the chandelier pillow ($14.99) in hot pink brings color and style!

What’s a Paris Chic room without an Eiffel Tower (or two)? Wire Eiffel Tower brings Paris in just for $19.99. The wall clock ($29.99) gives nice vintage feel to otherwise so modern room and makes it warmer and more welcoming.

I love simple black photo frames. My favorite things to frame are black and white photographs, but the simple frames make it easy to swap the photos to something else to reflect my decorating mood. For the Paris Chic theme I framed Fabulous Friends Boxed Cards from Cambria Cove ($30 for 20 cards, 4 different styles) and I cut out vintage map pictures from Cavallini wall calendar ($12.99).

I also added a Mama Mio’s hot pink Gravida Candle ($26) to get my family’s living room to smell ah, so Paris Chic!