mimosa pompoms

Yellow fluffy pompoms to brighten up the place!

I love mimosa and its characteristic fragrance, an early bloomer that cheers you up.



Saturday evening Henk organized a Portuguese dinner for our friends Jan & Els. As always, everything was arranged down to the last detail by my creative chef. We had a delicious dinner and a super fun evening. Our friends brought a bunch of mimosa and fritillaria in pots that are about to bloom. Els knows exactly what I like! Both by far my February favorites...

mimosa all over the place

Yellow puffs of fluff brighten up the house.

One bunch of mimosa divided over several vases, ergo mimosa all over the place.

mix don't match

Day & night.

The new pendant light on the ceiling is an alluring wedding anniversary gift from Henk.
Made of terracotta, raffia and fringe, an unusual combination, which fits very well in our mix-don't-match bedroom style.
The light effect on the ceiling is surprising and phenomenal, it adds so much atmosphere.

Our bedroom has such a good vibe, day and night, it feels like a cheerful, comfortable and spacious hotel room.

easy like sunday morning

Waking up at nine and getting out of bed at twelve.

Last night we traditionally celebrated a typical Dutch 'pakjesavond' with our family at Pippa's. We had such a lovely and cozy evening together. 'Sinterklaas' gifts under the Christmas tree, for this year it is Pippa's first Christmas tree in her own home. Joky and touching Sinterklaas poems, music and lots of fun memories of pakjesavond when the children were younger.

Perfect weekend sofar.

handmade harlequin pillow in moroccan hues

New handmade harlequin pillow in my Etsy shop.

A moroccan inspired version of the pillows I made before.

The basic color is moroccan pink, almost the same shade as the panelled wall in our bedroom, combined with bright and spicy colors which are completely common in Marrakech.

I started this harlequin pillow project on one of the last days on the ferry to Ilha do Farol, so also a tiny portuguese touch. (when I bring my hook and yarn on holiday, I hardly ever touch it, but if I don't, I always miss it haha...)

I recently finished the pillow and it turned out surprisingly warm, due to the use of characteristic colors.

This week I sold two(!) of my handmade pillows on Etsy, one of which goes all the way to Australia. Do you know i still make a dance of joy when i wake up in the morning and discover, someone on the other side of the world bought one of my handmade items overnight?

Since autumn has made its entrance here, I'm working on all kinds of crochet projects again. I wonder if you guys also get straightaway back into crochet mode in September?

Well, if you want to make your own harlequin pillow, you can download this pillow pattern from my Etsy shop. You can use yarn leftovers and for the base a fresh ball of yarn in your favorite color.

we booked the bedroom for easter

We booked our new bedroom for the Easter weekend.

We transformed Minne's old bedroom into our new bedroom and moved from the attic to the first floor this weekend. The wall size world map that Henk once painted has remained, but furthermore the room underwent a metamorphosis.

We have been working hard in recent weeks, cleaned thoroughly, made a panelled wall, painted the floor white (twice), finished all the unfinished details from the last 15 years.

We reused most of the furniture, dyed the duvet cover and added some sentimental treasures and art work.

We agreed to buy as little new furniture as possible and we both would style our side of the bed.

This is my side off the bed;
I chose a design classic from Kartell, the componibili as a bedside table and borrowed the H.T. Huang toucan lamp from the living room, which we once found in Palermo.

To compensate for the inescapable stay at home, we treated ourselves with a fresh spacious bedroom.

The end result is far beyond expectations, I think... and I will show you the rest of the room soon.

Happy Easter to you all!

2020 calendar

Happy New Year and cheers to new beginnings!

We all need a fresh start every year, right?
New goals, new dreams, new intentions, new plans and a new calendar.

This jumbo calendar we bought last week in the Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven; The Big Dutch Art Calendar 2020

Three kilos of home-grown art. Too heavy to hang, so we decided to leave it on the desk.

This Big Dutch Art Calendar shows a different work every day on a large format, from both renowned artists and up-and-coming talent. This tear-off calendar is packed with visual art, photography, fashion, illustrations, architecture and design.

dahlias

The dahlia comes originally from Mexico and is named after Swedish botanist Andreas Dahl. It is the national flower of Mexico and was originally used by the Aztecs as a food plant.

Once the dahlias were spread around the world, they became much loved for their beautiful vivid flowers, but I still use the petals to cheer up the salad.

home art gallery update

New on the art wall; Tate Modern poster by Camille Walala

New on the bamboo vintage chair; secondhand striped cushion set from the Villa Augustus leakage attic clearance.

bling & yang

Once more no traditional Christmas items overhere, but instead unexpected and unusual December decorations. Our 'x-mas space' consists of opposing but complementary objects.

Christmas will be bling and also yang.
On one side bling; gold, glitter and over the top 'bad taste' with a wink.
On the other yang; exotic animals, natural materials, authenticity and obviously some green.

bright light

After weeks and weeks of long 'backyard' summer evenings, we moved to the living room because of the summer storm yesterday. For the first time since a long time, we spent the evening indoors. Cooler days ahead of us...

The August days are slowly getting shorter, so we also need to turn on the lights. Well that has its charm too.

The 1980s toucan desk lamp designed by H.T. Huang, our vintage find from Palermo, ushered in the first indoor-evening. Bright, cheerful and funny light.


Palermo, 19th of June 2018 - our toucan in the vintage shop, a practical souvenir because of the folding beak.

Have a cool weekend you all, wherever you are!