Goodness Gracious Me!

Oi Soi Oi is Vietnamese for “goodness gracious me!" and that is exactly what I said when I saw this beautiful turquoise table by Oi Soi Oi in Denmark. It's not a color you'd think to paint a table from Vietnam, is it?



It certainly makes you rethink those dark brown wooden cabinets and tables that you find in Asian furniture shops, doesn't it? You can paint them in colors like goldenrod, turquoise, black, white -- even a very bright pink.





I guess it's all about thinking outside of the box and not being afraid to paint wood on ethnic pieces. I say that as long as it's not a valuable antique - go for it! Customize until your heart is happy!

These photos from Oi Soi Oi make me happy today. I'm so glad that Danielle wrote about them on her blog!

Oh and for those who have emailed me, oh my -- no we still don't know whether we have the apartment that we want yet. Agents here are mostly slow moving and can be a bit tough to deal with... But while waiting for this one another one has popped up that we will go see hopefully this week only a few doors down from the other so this is great news. It's best not to put all of our eggs in one basket. I have hope that something will work out and then we'll see where we land -- my goal is to move on September 1st and the great thing is that Thorsten's brother will take our current flat so we don't have pressure to move by a certain date which is nice. But I am sooo ready to move. I thorough cleaned my house today and it looks nice and organized but there is still TOO MUCH STUFF in these small rooms and no space to really breathe. I have an exercise mat that fits perfectly in front of the TV as long as I don't extend my arms outside of the mat because I will hit and knock down things. It's the only floor space I have to do exercise which makes me sad because I really enjoy exercising at home with a balance ball, mat, hand weights, some DVDs... but there is not even space for that. I also need a proper workspace to write and such and would like very much to eat in the kitchen in the next space -- I don't like having a dining room table IN the living room though this is very common in Germany -- it just feels a bit odd to me. I like a dining room table in a dining room and a kitchen table in a kitchen unless it is a loft - then it doesn't matter because you have a very large space for your living/kitchen/dining room. But when you have a small living room and in it is a china cabinet, dining table, seating, TV, etc. and it's all in one rectangular small space, it is hard to really be creative with the floor place since I can only fit the sofa on one wall and the TV on another and table and chairs can only stay where they are. I need a space where I can be more creative because I love to move things around and play with my space frequently and I feel so limited. I know, the grass is always greener, but I guess in my profession my sensitivity to all of this is heightened, you know?

I just want to LIVE my life and I've learned in this small space experience that it really IS important to have a home that works with your lifestyle. If you are working from home, love entertaining, enjoy some exercise at home, have lots of housework to do like iron (I barely have space to set up an ironing board), love to sew but have no area for it... these things are essential to happiness for me and without a home to support my lifestyle I feel like I am in a studio apartment on holiday and not really living in my home yet. I know I must be patient, and I'm learning a lot in the process of hanging out here until I find suitable living quarters, but I know one thing for sure: I must move by winter because there is no way I can hang on another winter or I'll go bonkers. :)

I have a lot of traveling to do later this month and in July so I want to move in September -- let's see where the cards fall.

And when they fall... I want to paint something wood and transform it into turquoise heaven, too. :)

(images oi soi oi)