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I am finally finished wrapping presents for Christmas and although mostly they are wrapped in a beautiful grey paper, I decided I needed a little bit of variation. I have been looking for brown wax paper everywhere (it is everywhere on pinterest right now) and in all unlikely places, I found it at Ellos! If you live in Oslo you can order until tomorrow and still have it before Christmas, if you are out of paper or you want a bit of variation, this waxed paper is perfect! 

As for ideas on how to wrap the presents, this year I kept it very simple, ribbons in mat colors tied in bows, and leather strings with eucalyptus for decoration ( have you seen my Eucalyptus Christmas wreath by the way?)

I tried to make a video on how I wrapped my presents , however I think the Youtube video where I learned how to do it explains it amazingly well , you can find it here. In less than 2 minutes you will learn how to wrap any box, without the need of a tape and without awkward edges with a single piece of paper, all in a perfect parcel like looking result. The video also explains how much paper is needed each time, much less than what usually is used and with an easy way to measure ( just roll your box a couple of times on the paper and you have your measurements). You can start by using tape of course, but I promise, after wrapping one or two you will find it is super easy to do without tape, it just wraps onto itself perfectly every single time! 

Have a happy holidays everyone, I will be soon be posting again from the cabin!

// Photography and Styling by Katerina Dima

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The post :  Wrapping Tip : Wax Paper , appeared first on Only Deco Love

Styling and photography by Katerina Dima unless otherwise stated.

//Photography by Katerina Dima

I am so happy to see my little pileas grow. I propagated them from the only pilea peperomioides I have and since it was my first time I really did not know what to expect. It turns out it was quite easy : with a sharp knife cut the new pileas that naturally grow around the plant, then plant them in a new pot (I found a useful video here). Water when the dirt dries and keep in a sunny window. After a while the pilea baby will start to grow once its new roots take in the new soil. It took about two (maybe even a little more) months before the two that I propagated started to show any growth though. There are many techniques as far as I read, one suggests putting the new pilea in water until it grows roots, another that states the pot must have a drainage hole, and another that suggests using a pot without it. I used pots with and without drainage holes and the baby pileas show the same growth, in fact the pilea without the drain takes longer for its soil to dry so it needs less watering thus making it easier to maintain. 

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The post : Pliea Love, appeared first on Only Deco Love

Styling and photography by Katerina Dima unless otherwise stated.

When it comes to wrapping presents there are many ways to do it, I personally prefer the simplicity of the Scandinavian way so this years theme was very much based on that style. I used paper drop cloth (usually used for masking floors while painting), ribbons in various sizes ( mostly black, navy and white color), some string and name tags that matched the color of the paper, and for decoration I used some branches of cotton and fresh eucalyptus. I wanted the presents to also have a personal feel, so every one of them is wrapped and styled slightly different, so they are all unique.

I also wrapped a few of the smaller ones with linen napkins (mine came from Hale Merchantile & Co). This is a great way of wrapping a present in a very sustainable way for no extra waste, but also for something extra in the form of the napkin. 

There are so many more unique ways to wrap the presents using the materials I used, I also just wrapped them with big ribbons, you can see more of the presents under my early Christmas tree in this post. 

//Photography and Styling by Katerina Dima

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The post : Scandinavian Christmas Gift Wrapping , appeared first on Only Deco Love

Styling and photography by Katerina Dima unless otherwise stated.

I think every scandinavian house has an indoor olive tree. They are easy to grow and their look is so very unique , yet it fits in almost any style.I got two myself a couple of months ago and one of them quickly filled with olives.Today I decided to take a few minutes from my day and harvest my small olive tree ( you can see how small the tree is here). I wasn’t planning on doing anything with the olives , I mainly wanted to relive the tree of its fruits so it would grow during the winter. However I felt bad just throwing the olives away so I thought I would treat them so they become edible in a few months. I have done this many times while in Greece where I own my own olive trees, though we mostly gather the olives to produce olive oil. In fact the olive oil I do have at home right now comes from my own olive trees! 

I felt bad for just throwing the only olives my little indoors tree produced for the first time, so I decided to treat them. If you have indoors olive trees and you want to treat them, do read on for a full tutorial. The whole process takes less than 10 minutes so you should really try it!

Instructions :

Step 1 | Pick the olives from the branches with your hands, this should take only a few minutes if you have a small tree. If you have a bigger one then you can gather them faster with a very wide plastic hair comb.

Step 2 | Make a small incision in each olive with a sharp knife. 

Step 3 | Use a clean clear bottle ( a plastic one is recommended ) and drop all the olives inside. Add a little bit of salt but only a pinch.

Step 4 | Seal the bottle and let it rest in a cool place where the sun does not hit for a couple of months. It is important that the bottle lays flat and the water covers its neck completely so no air comes in at all.

Step 5 | Once the olives are cured (read below for tips on timing) make a brine with fresh water, some salt and vinegar. Taste the brine and make it to your liking. Some prefer it saltier, some prefer it more sour. Add more salt or vinegar to taste. Fill a container with the brine and mix in the olives. Keep in a cool place.

Depending on how big the olives are the process might take more or less than 3 months. The incision speeds up the process especially when the olives are bigger but it is not necessary. Since I already cut my olives (and due to their original size) I expect they will be ready around Christmas. 

To test if the olives need more time to mature just open the bottle and try one. If it is still too bitter to eat then empty the water from the bottle, fill it with new one, seal it and lay flat as before for a few more weeks. 

That is all it takes to cure your own olives. I am really looking forward to how mine will taste like, although they are so small there will be more stone than olive! Hopefully next year or the year after that (olive trees produce fruits every 2 years as a rule) my indoor olive tree will be big enough to give significantly more olives in a bigger size as well. For now I will let you know how this experiment turned out around Christmas! 

//Photography and Styling by Katerina Dima

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The post : How to cure your own olives, appeared first on Only Deco Love
Styling and photography by Katerina Dima unless otherwise stated.