Month: January 2018

Inspirational words by William Saroyan

Inspirational words by William Saroyan

Let me share these inspirational words by William Saroyan to start the year. These beautiful words by William Saroyan have been wrongly attributed to Ernest Hemingway on Pinterest. Saroyan published them in a book called “The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze”. For those who never heard of William Saroyan, he was among the most reputed American writers of the early 20th century. He won a Pulitzer Prize, an Oscar, and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award. In his books, William Saroyan tells stories about the challenges and delights of rural America through the lens of life in the Central Valley of California. As Stephen Fry put it: “He is one of the most underrated writers of the century. He takes his place naturally alongside Hemingway, Steinbeck and Faulkner.” American Authors were my dad’s favorites. That’s all he read and he was reading a lot. He could easily go through 3 to 5 books a week. He used to have a mood board in his bedroom with pictures of all his favorite American Authors. What …

Breakfast in bed

Breakfast in bed

Indulging in breakfast in bed this morning because I have a really busy week ahead and I need to quiet my mind to avoid giving into stress and panic. I’m off to Paris on Wednesday for a very exciting project dear to my heart. I’m going to photograph 20 women wearing a beautiful fashion collection over two days. Then Saturday, I’m photographing two more clients and will head to London next Monday. To add to the positive things, I’m kicking off week #4 of my sugar detox with the last slice of gluten-free, sugar-free banana cake I made over the weekend (recipe here). I found that baking a banana cake is the best way to use those dark, ripped bananas that the kids won’t eat. I like mine with some natural goat milk yoghurt but Mila loves warming it up and adding some butter on top. However, one thing that I learnt this weekend is that sugar-free or not, if a cake is available in the pantry I will eat it so next time, I will freeze half …

10 coupes de cheveux courts portées par nos françaises préférées

10 ways to rock short hair like French women

Haven’t you felt like a million $$$$ after coming out of a hairdresser appointment? It is a sure way to look and feel good providing you’ve found a Hairdresser you trust and love of course! I have now and she got me hooked on Moroccan Oil products. Especially the moroccanoil treatment which enables me to nourish and style my hair dry and the moroccanoil heat styling protection, a necessary evil if you’re going to use a hair dryer (check the new range here) or a hair curler (my favourite for wavy hair). So if you’re in need of a change to start fresh with a new look, new vibe, new you, here are 10 ways to rock short hair like French women. This doesn’t mean that women from other nationalities don’t sport short hair well, of course, they do! I’m obsessed with Alexa Chung and Uma Thurman’s hair here but being French and all that, that’s the angle I’m going for ;-) CHECK THE NEW L.K. BENNETT COLLECTION >> CHECK THE NEW HUSH COLLECTION HERE >> Which haircut(s) do you prefer!? …

Fab personal planners from Juniqe

Positive personal planners to match your mindset

Now that we are well into mid-January, back to work, how do we make this year a productive and positive one? If you are a check-list person like me, I find that the best way, is to consign all the things you want and need to do in a personal planner following the SMART goal framework: SPECIFIC MEASURABLE ACHIEVABLE RELEVANT TIME BOUND For instance, as one of my major goals, this year is to make 2018 sugar-free (and I’m talking refined sugars only!), I can easily focus on doing one week at a time and tick each day on the page of my personal planner as a mini success and then cross the whole week as a weekly success. Week after week, I’m building positive momentum. I write down other things that will help me to achieve this goal (i.e. finding food I really enjoy eating, food that gives me plenty of nutrients, etc). By the time, you have crossed a whole month, I bet you will be pretty happy with yourself. There are lots of things that I …

5 inspiring ways to use your natural basket. Read on www.karinecandicekong.com

5 ways to use your natural basket at home

When I was running the shop, this natural basket was one of our best-sellers. I still have a few at home and regularly change the way I use them. Here are five practical ways to use your natural basket at home and if you haven’t got one of these yet, I’ve added a small selection at the bottom of the article. {#1 USE YOUR NATURAL BASKET AS A PLANTER} Talented Stylist and Photographer Line Kay used hers as a planter (while the other way round probably wouldn’t work) and in the process, add some textures to her room. The natural basket fits nicely with the green of her Papyrus plant and all the items she has in the room. Urban Outfitters has a nice selection of rugs here. As an alternative to the traditional planter, I’m using this paper bag in our London home. {#2 USE YOUR NATURAL BASKET TO STORE THROWS & BLANKETS}  When I first added the basket to the BODIE and FOU collection, our mostly used mine in our lounge (below) to store our throws and hide …

A minimalist home in London built around a plywood kitchen 1

A minimalist home with a plywood kitchen

Thank you so much for answering my little survey last night in my Instagram stories. Since 98% of you wanted to see more house tours, I thought I would kick in with this home in Islington (nice area in north London to visit if you’re planning a little trip). Featuring a minimalist plywood kitchen, it’s a home I find really inspiring for several reasons. First, it’s filled with natural light which in a city like London, is always a good thing. We added a lot of large windows when we renovated our home in London and I can’t stress enough the positive impact it had on our well-being and the overall vibe of our home. So if you’re planning a renovation, think about large windows (I’ve compiled some great examples of windows here). It has also a polished concrete floor, which is what I’m hoping to have in the next home we renovate. A brilliant space-saving design concept And then, there is this beautiful plywood module that hosts the kitchen, stairs but also includes a desk with …

our new Urbanears home sound system

Our new Urbanears sound system

Just before Christmas, I got this beautiful minimalist grey speaker (see below) from Urbanears which has provided me with a lot of joy and our home got a new sound system which was badly needed. I often work from our dining table so it has been very relaxing and mood-enhancing to listen to some music or podcasts while working. I’m also a huge fan of the simple design of these speakers that come in 6 different colours. The Baggen speaker in concrete grey, fitted perfectly the wall I  had recently painted in the lounge. I mean, how often can you match your speakers with your walls or interior!?? I loved it SO much that I ordered the smaller version in pink for Mila to go with her recent bedroom makeover (see her teen’s desk area makeover here and how I made her bed comfier and cosier here). We had both her pink Stammen speaker and my grey Baggen speaker in the lounge over the Christmas holidays but now that everyone is gone and I’ve tidied our home, hers is going back to her bedroom …