VINTAGE FINDS AND AUCTIONED TREASURES FROM BUKOWSKIS MARKET

I had the opportunity to take part of a campaign by Bukowskis in collaboration with Indedays, to write a post about my experiences of bidding and buying from Bukowskis Market - you may recall that I have bought quite many items from the auction site during the years, and rather suitably I just bought home a big wardrobe from the early 1900's via Bukowskis Market!

Out on the farmhouse, where we stay most of the time nowadays, I hadn't had a proper wardrobe for my clothes; some I kept on a rack and the rest in a drawer, which basically meant they all hanged on a chairdrobe in the corner of the bedroom... So I needed a proper space to put them in, and as most furniture in the house is old I wanted to find and old one for this purpose as well.

Every time when I’ve wanted a specific piece of vintage furniture I've usually started with Bukowskis Market.  I do check in on any other auction and second-hand goods sites as well, but  in most cases Bukowskis will have what I’m looking for. It's rather fascinating actually - if they do not have such an item for sale the one day I usually check back in a week and there will most likely be something that suits what I've had in mind - but not that strange as the site does feature about 3,000 items of art and design. So there is a lot to browse and find. Bukowskis was the first of the large quality auction houses to launch their online bidding site Bukowskis Market (in 2010). Even though I've mainly scouted vintage furniture from there, which there is a lot of in different styles and eras,  they also sell a lot of art, as well as jewellery and the occasional designer fashion item (like bags or shoes). 

I've bought home items that I've specifically been looking for, like this three-arned lamp, one that I had been coveting for years and then found on my first try. Some years ago I set out to finda sofa, not sure what I was looking for, but found lots of options and ended up bidding on and winning this classic piece by Carl Malmsten.

(Sometimes I've worried if the items I bring home arent' really child friendly, but even though most people always seems to be in a horizontal position on this sofa it is still doing rather well.)

I've also stumbled on items I did not know I needed -that can be dangerous, but good for us that we have a big house to fill.... - for example, the 1930's lamp here in the corner.

Or the lounge chaise I also happened to buy. But it ended up being very useful (especially for the occasional random daytime nap)!

Buying from and bidding on Bukowskis Market is as easy, you give your max bid for an item and the site will automatically raise your bid if needed placing the smallest necessary bid at every time, up to your maximum bid amount. Because Bukowsis is a quality auction house, they will have evaluated each item before puttiing it up on sale, meaning you know with certainty what you are bidding on, which for me is a huge plus, obviously. Some designers and eras you can look up in their Bukipedia (kudos for the name); to find out more on the style of the piece or the art you are bidding on. There's also a wish list to save items on if you are not sure you want to bid on them right away. Bukowskis Market also features and estimated price to which the item is valued, which is a good guideline to check before/when bidding. The final price may end up way over the estimate if several persons start coveting and bidding on the item, but may as well sell for a lot less, if you happen to be lucky and scout an item others weren't that interested in. Bare in mind that there will be a commission on your winning bid which, depending on what country you are in, will raise the final price with about 20%. That, and the transportation of your item will make the final sum considerably larger than the winning bid so it is just worth keeping in mind all trough the process. Regardless of that I have managed to get a few items very affordably from the site.


I was the only bidder on this lamp for example- I am often on the look out for nice vintage lamps; you (almost) can not have too many armatures at home!-and got it for a very nice price. I am however rather competitive, and if somebody starts outbidding me I will raise my max bid several times if needed when I truly want something. For me it's not always just to be able to scout everything for a low price, if there is a piece of classic design furniture it is definitely worth paying for. Bukowskis Market has a mobile app which is easy to use that I recommend you download to your phone for easier bidding, bid raising and browsing.

Bukowskis will ship items between their houses in Finland and Sweden; shipping is between 60 and 80 euros and takes up to three weeks, after which you can pick the item up yourself. You can also arrange and order transportation to your home door yourself. Earlier the items I ordered to Helsinki had to be picked up from their downtown location but this year when picking up the wardrobe we got it from a warehouse in Vantaa, which was definitaly easier to reach with a van than a pedestrian street in the city centre. Bukowskis will give you eight days to pick the item up before they start collecting warehouse rent, so when you win an auction that is not in your location it is best to pay right away so you can order transport, for during which the eight days counting will freeze, and then start again when the item arrives.

So back to my wardrobe. After not winning the first wardrobe I bid on I found this Jugend style (Scandinavian art nouveau) piece on the site and the last moments of the auction did indeed get a little shaky as someone else had been eyeing the same wardrobe as well. But oh the relief when you win it!

The wardrobe could be transported in pieces (phew!) and then put back together at home again.

Like luxury ikea from a hundred years back.

Dag enjoyed his new hideout as long as he could, before the dresses took over.

And now my clothes have an actual place to lay in. Yey!

Disclaimer: even though this post is made as a campaign for Bukowskis all items featured have been bought and paid for by me and all thoughts here are my own.

SUSPENDER SKIRT BLISS

The best thing I've sewn myself this year (and well, also the only - stage costumes don't count -altough the wish list is long and fabric pile high!) was the black suspender skirt; the one I replicated from a skirt I previously had.

Blackl anbd comfy and stretchy, the only thing missing would be pockets but sometimes you know, you just have to go without (sigh).

It is very easy to wear with anything and goes with most shoes, easy to pull on and off when going to and from the studio and I've also had it with me on all my travels. If I could only ever pack one thing with me anywhere it would be this. Well, and a top too, obviously. Hehe.
So yey; skirt-yey!

FOUR THINGS A WHILE AGO : ALL THE FLOWERS OF MAY

I'm back home, after being here and there and away for about half of the month!

And it is warm and lovely and summery (which is something you will see me comment every time it occurs. Because I do live in Finland you know.)

I had a day of no-makeup and wear whatever is the nearest and comfiest (in this case my "Moomin dress") and hang out in the garden and even attended it a little - first time this year, and it looks thereafter.

We picked greens for dinner with Dag - Ground elder to sautée, dandelion leaves for salad and the flowers and buds (of which you can make "capers" too I've heard) to fry in butter and garlic.

 (Well pretty much everything tastes good with butter and garlic, right?)

I also drank some flowers. (Or well, hot water that they had soaked in...)

This is rosebud tea that Eddi brought home from Teheran. He was there a few weeks ago for work. (My father happened to be there the same time, working with same-same-but-different things, and he told me my blog would not open up there on the web.  As a little interesting side note.)

And the appletrees are blooming here now; and I am happy I managed not to miss it, as it still is only such a short time that it stays like this.

The appletree is full of the sound of a soft warm wind and the sound of hundreds of bees buzzing about. For the moment it makes me think that that is like the sound of life.

And on many levels it is, because bees are important you know.

THE BIG T IS BACK!

I'm still traveling but meanwhile here's a little happy story about a happy old car:

You may remember I have an old car. It's from the seventies. And I am rather fond of that car, even though it has been neglected for quite some time now. It's spotted in many of my outdoor pictures as it has been waiting next to the apple tree at the farm. Or one could say: has been stuck.
(The photo above is of overgrown sad car, 2014. It looks the same now with appleblossoms and all but the car is not sad anymore.)

And waited it has. I parked it there almost five years ago, when I was pregnant with Dag and started driving a more family-friendly car. I took it off registration and insurance after about a year, and at some point that dear husband of mine insisted of driving a bit with it (which is just good for the car, to drive around and not just wait outdoors) and also on keeping the keys, the only set of keys there were -you may see where this is going- and then of course ending up losing/misplacing/what-f'ing-ever-they-were-gone-anyways the keys.

So my poor old Taunus stood there for a few years growing moss. (Literally)

But now he is sad now more but happy shiny and running again!
My friend Asko have been fixing on the issue during the winter; we've ordered different keys from car sites of other old Taunuses to find one that'd hopefully fit the ignition. None did, but we did get one set to open the door. In the end we ordered a new whole ignition from a veteran car site and some time ago Asko came over to set it in (demanded a bit of work due to a lot of stuff and technical details I guess there is not much point to get that much into here.)

So we played the 1950's for a while where the guys could mend the car and the women stay in the kitchen and prepare food and drink wine.

Well I did go out to sort of help too (read: check the situation), it is after all my car.

But the next time I went out they -plus the men from next door - were already blissfully driving around with it.

Mossy car drives away.

Shiny car comes back!

And I finally get to hop in! (Note, hop in, not behind the wheel yet...)

And it's sooo happy and shiny again! Woop-woop, car-woop!

TUBE FLOWERS

(Yes I'm still away on a trip but I've scheduled a post here -  apparently I nowadays post more when I'm not present, ehrm.)

My test-tube collection have been ugly and dusty and left with some dried flowers  over the winter but just before I left I put in the first flowers of the spring. An instant cheer-me-up thing!

TOO MANY BAGS AND TOO LITTLE TIME

It's the morning of a very long day as I am still continuing my Saturday here at 5am, stretching out the final hour before heading over to the airport soon (no use to go to sleep for just a mere hour, putting my hopes on the flight instead) : London calling!
It's been a day of crazy organising and packing, both for the show we had earlier tonight (which definetly was the best night we've produced so far! Been giving myself mental taps on the shoulder here), for five days of London with two performances - tonight and Wednesday at Dingwalls, for Estonia straight after that and for Dag for the time I'm away; Eddi is in Iran so the little one head over to relatives for next week. I mean, that's a lot of packing all at once, which I had to finish after coming home from our event as I had too much else to attend before. Phew. But London, yey! It's almost like vacation altought it's work! Heh.

PS. Happy mothersday and enjoy the sunshine!

FOUR THINGS RIGT NOW: SUNSHINE, WARM WINDS, HAPPY CATS AND MOTHERSDAY

It's finally warm and sunny  -yes I know I said that already but it really has such a big impact on everything around here!

Dag and I had our first outdor lunch on the back porch.

 And I opened my mother's day card and gift - the bracelet on my wrist- he'd made me in playschool today already as I will be away tomorrow on the actual day.

And look! My tomato plants planted from tomato slices a month ago are growing! They seemed to do so earlier but then disappeared back into the soil and I though they'd died but here they are making their way up towards the sunshine!

SOFT YELLOW, PINEAPPLES, MINT GREE AND BRAIDS

Two weeks ago it (kind of) snowed and now we have warm and sunshine and it almost feels like summer and it's fun to wear clothes again. Away with the mittens, bring on the pastels!

ALL THOSE SOFT SUNDAYS

I have this one Spotify list for soft Sunday music; for those days when you just want to - and maybe even have the chance to - take it easy, tune down and listen to mellow music. But it just struck me that I have been adding songs to that list for as long as eight years! That is quite a long time already. It's more than six hours of the last eight years and looking trough the list it serves as a reminder of times that have been. I mostly listen to just the latest fraction of it, which often equals songs I've added during the past year, but sometimes let the whole thing play in the background and be reminded of how things once were and how they felt.

There's The Specials that we'd listen to in the summer of '08 when we hit the town with Ina. And Air's Playground Love that's always been one of my favourite songs and that I remember playing on repeat to when having the lone shift at Vuosaari harbour back in the winter of '09, sitting in the small little gate box by the sea, and for that time being very heartbroken. It was one Saturday morning in particular that I remember, an early, eerie foggy one when everything was white outside, snow and ice and an thick air, I was sad to begin with and read fractions on Facebook that in the end cleared out to be the story about how a friend of mine had found her boyfriend who had hung himself the night before. Whenever I hear that song now I think of that white lonely morning at the docks wen everything felt weird. And there's Chet Baker from when I used to take some long city evening walks in light pastel shaded May evenings later the same year thinking about THINGS and what to do with them. Lou Armstrong that I listened to when my grandfather had just died and Wandering Star that my cousin sang at his funeral, and Mother and Alphabet Song that I played when I was expecting Dag and Shades of Cool the summer that I misscarried plus a lot from late nights when I've been driving my car along road 51 from the city to the farm. I know it sounds like a mainly a lot of sad or blue memories but that's just when I write it out; I guess those are the things that are the easiest to pick out and spot. There's a lot of good one from sunny days and cosy rainy breakfasts too.

I don't add to it that often, just a handfull of songs per year whenever I am reminded of or stumble across something that suits my mood for the moment. Let's see what song will be next, and what it will make me think of a year or two from now...
(Soft Sunday on Spotify)