Pass Me The Tape...

This is one of my favourite lamps. Ever. A friend of mine is a collector of unusual art pieces and found this treasure which he could use as a lamp in his apartment in Nørrebronx, DK. He usually asks his guests to guess what material it's made out of. Can you guess? Well, it's good old brown tape, the brown stuff that you never really use unless you're moving on to your next accommodation. Cheap material with awesome results!

I'm currently brainstorming ideas for an individual art piece for one of my arty modules (I swear this counts towards my science degree - LOVE University of Manchester for being so diverse!) and then for my bedroom wall. Hmmm...this has given me an AWESOME idea. Stay tuned folks.

Your space is only as big as your imagination!

K.E.G. x

Sometimes It's Necessary To Leave It Bare.

UNIDECO PROFILE#2: Charlotte

Studies: Medicine (another medic!)
Where?: Originally from Sweden, Charlotte now studies at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Interests: "Parkour" (google it - it'll surprise you!), eating out and exploring the city and wedding planning seeing as she has just got engaged - Congrats!

I had the pleasure of stumbling upon a lovely apartment in some of the oldest and well-kept regions of Copenhagen and was shown around by the lovely Charlotte. She lives here with her fiancé and told me that even though they splashed out when redecorating the bathroom they kept their interior design budget tight when it came to the rest of the flat. Instead they let used a few tricks to freshen up the place.


When it came to painting the walls they stuck to a crisp white to allow maximum sunlight to bounce around the place. However, they thought one wall looked really interesting just as it was. So they left it bare. They also transformed a boring coffee table into a work of art by placing different tiles in a random mosaic-like fashion.


Using frames of different styles and shapes to create a photo montage makes a forgotten corner come to life.


Fill a window sill with overgrowing plants and large melted candles. They even added a minature orange tree to add a little zest to the room. Oh, I went there...


What is a Copenhagener without their bike? Here's Karen with hers. Look further to a previous blogpost where you can find how to leave your ride hanging indoors. Literally.

UNIDECO TIP#4: Want to create an interesting centre to a room? Designate just one of the walls and commit to it!

Long-term place: You could try funky wallpaper and would only need to buy a few meters! Alternatively you could go all out brave and opt for a bold colour. You could even paint it pitch black and use chalks for drawings and messages. If you can't be bothered then you can always try removable wall stickers - just plaster them on! Check out the Funky Little Darlings range here.

Short-term stay: Best bet is to collage. This could be in the form of photographs, posters, plates, stolen signs (probably shouldn't be saying that...), scratched old vinyls, a weird collection of bits and bobs. Go crazy. Then pull back.

Your space is only as big as your imagination!

K.E.G. x

Copenhagen Living. It's Nothing Without The Bike.

Nothing stops us cycling in Copenhagen... from Grit Tind on Vimeo.

If you haven't guessed already,  I miss Copenhagen terribly. So here's a short film about an average day in the life of a Copenhagener. Made by RUC students about Copenhagen students. This was so much fun to film so just to shout out a thank you to everybody who was involved and a special thanks to Amalie, Luna and our awesome editor, Grit!

Tak!

K.E.G. x

Copenhagen Home #1

A memory page is dedicated to my first flat in Copenhagen! Okay it's not one of these beautiful buildings but it's behind it! So this is where it all started - learning that just because you're young and, well, broke...doesn't mean you can't live well!

When I first came to Copenhagen I didn't know many people in the city. I didn't know that the way to go about finding a place was by posting an ad on FB. I just used BoligPortal. However after two months of advertisers not replying to mails I started losing hope and even when they did reply they were often creepy old men looking to live with a twenty-something old female student (don't tell me that's not weird) - and that's when I totally gave up. Then one day, out of the blue I received an answer from above! Well, it was a message from four fabulous people named Simon, Mathias, Charlotte and Sara! The rest they say is history. Especially seeing as this was quite a few years ago...

Anyway's here's to show some examples of how they changed my view on student living. Enjoy.


A framed map of USA with a drawn route of Charlotte's crossing from the West to the East. So every time she looks over at it she's reminded of sunny memories from that trip.


A B&O Tv never looks out-of-date. The more advanced tomorrow's technology becomes, the more retro this Tv looks.

UNIDECO TIP#4: Souvenirs don't need to be tacky or disposable plastics! - We've all been there. When at the time you want nothing more than to buy a Spanish turquoise DreamCatcher but 3 years later it just adds to the growing load of crap that you're trying to stuff under your bed. If you do have a super awesome holiday (obviously I hope you do!) - be creative about storing your memories! I don't know, you could create a lampshade out of black&white photos of your trip or like Charlotte, draw an outline of your route on an old map. Your best memories shouldn't be thrown away!

Your space is only as big as your imagination!

K.E.G. x

Hit the Lights.

Great now I have your full attention. I now want to show you something that's caught my attention. It's like I'm a moth to an artificial flame.

First, a disclaimer: Apologies in advance. There will be a lot of whining and suffering in today's blogpost. Bear with.

I swear this is ONLY going on my wishlist - I swear! I'm gonna come clean, this is an unnecessary but equally amazing type of lamp to hang on the wall. I know, I know, it's not exactly student-budget-friendly but, but...screw it, I'm gonna show it off because if I can't have it hanging above my bed I'll bloody have it hanging around on my blog!

Yes, it's all about the artistic self-expression through the form of neon light. Created by Seletti.


They are around 17cm in height and obviously vary in width. Because they're different letters, duh.


Yes, they are so so cool. Damn it, I want!

I first found them on Urban Outfitters for £40 each (yep. gulp!) but with an NUS student card (10%) it comes down to £36! I then found them slightly cheaper at £35 on Dot Maison. But then there are shipping costs...


Really? Can I justify buying one then?


Worth a try.

If you could have 3 letters saying one word - what would it be?

Your space is only as big as your imagination!

K.E.G. x

UNIDECO Meets Cycle Chic

I'm also known as the 'Over and Out' girl on the world-renowned Copenhagen Cycle Chic and we often get sent a lot of really cool material. Luis, a Cycle Chic fan, sent in a picture showing how he hangs up his Keirin masterpieces in his living room in Osaka-shi, Japan. Adding a splash of true Cycle Chic to his living space!



Then there are others who want to hang their bicycle from the ceiling, like Simon, owner of Ølsnedkeren in the hipster neighbourhood of Copenhagen.



For more Cycle Chicness check out the world-famous blog Click Here!

UNIDECO TIP#3: Want to add a splash of Cycle Chic to your room? Find a bicycle wheel in a scrapyard (don't go steelin' now!) or any other bicycle part that you find interesting and simply hang it on a nail! Alternatively you can find some awesome Cycle Chic posters here or check out these awesome posters from Pop Chart Lab here.

Like this one.


Your space is only as big as your imagination!

K.E.G. x

When Sara Gave Ikea A Cartoon Kick

UNIDECO PROFILE#1: SARA

Studies: Medicine 

Where?: University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Interests: Travelling, Marathon running and collecting chunky history books. Not to forget old-school comics. Geek chic.

So she bought a large Ikea bookshelf in white to hold the weight of all of her chunky history books. Now white is a standard goes-with-everything colour but when you have too much white on your palette, well, it can get rather clinical...and for Sara who spends long-hours doing hospital shifts, she may not want to come home to that. 

So together with a friend, they went out and bought a couple of 70s comic books from a local thrift shop and in 'papier-mâché' style they covered the whole bookshelf - inside and out! It took a few days but cost no more than $20. Neat, eh?

Note that if you ever come into possession of an unusual or very large glass wine bottle, do the classic 'stick-a-candle-in-the-neck' for an instant romantic candle-holder!

UNIDECO TIP#2: Got a piece of furniture that needs a new look? Paper mache it all over with scraps of comic books, newspaper, magazine cuttings - well any scraps you can think of using! Just make sure that after the transformation that your piece of furniture doesn't come into contact with water...may start to unravel!

Your space is only as big as your imagination!

K.E.G. x

Are You A Late Person? You Need A Ready-To-Roll Wall!

It's confession time. I am a very late person by nature. I was even late to my own birth. I was overdue by two weeks and even when they tried in vain to induce me out into the world I just wasn't budging. I was happy with my cramped yet cosy room at the time. So they had to cut my mum open to finally yank me out!

But lateness doesn't really agree with our world so I've had to find ways in getting to grips with the idea of punctuality. So I created a 'Ready-To-Roll' wall complete with a bag-holder, a jacket holder and a place to keep the keys and sunnies - hey, in Copenhagen it was a crime to leave the building without your sunglasses!

Ready-To-Roll Wall

I was lucky really when I moved into this flat. There was space on the wall next to the door with large nails sticking out randomly making it look, well, quite shabby. At first I was annoyed but then it dawned on me to take the stuff I did have and reorganise it in a way that could give this space function and purpose. Just ignore the dying plant.

UNIDECO TIP#1: If you've got an ugly wall or beam that annoys you, don't bang your head against it or ignore it - give it more attention! You could arrange different styles of mirrors or framed black-and-white photographs to make some sort of wall collage. Stick to one type of object or theme otherwise you may overdo it!

Your space is only as big as your imagination!

K.E.G. x

Let's start with a Hej!

Hey or 'hej' there! I'm just your average twenty-fun year old student simply doing her bachelors at the University of Manchester, UK. I'm not an arts student or even an interior design student (god, that would be fun!) I'm actually from a science background, my curiosity about the grey mush packed inside our heads led me to studying Neuroscience.

However, other things outside the conventional science circle has caught my eye. For instance, I have a real love for architecture and design - and being brought up by a Danish mother that means it has to be bloody good design! I also totally love the bicycle scene and just spent summer'13 in Copenhagen working for Copenhagenize (it's all in the name!) and blogged for their famous company blog Cycle Chic. When I wasn't talking about bicycles 24/7 I also couldn't help noticing the way Danish students would arrange their living space...

They seemed to take pride in the environment they lived in and all shared a cultural belief that an attractive living space simply meant a higher standard of living. Errr...well, yes, that does make sense. I couldn't help but hone in on their knowledge pool of tips and budget tricks.  When I returned to the UK I thought it was about time to create an online space to share ideas with students from all over the world. Together let's define what it means to 'live as a student'.

Got an idea or tip? Send it in to kristinaellagjerding@gmail.com

Your space is only as big as your imagination!

K.E.G. x