Shoe molds

I found these wooden shoe molds from, surprise surprise, a flower shop at The Hague Central Station. Molds do not look particularly old, but they are still quite nice. With a price tag of 1 euro each they were a real bargain. And I do like bargains ;-)

The scent of lavender

I found these pretty little bags filled with gorgeously scented lavender from Dille & Kamille. Lavender aroma is suppose to be calming and soothing, just what I need :-) The perfectly shaped fossil was bought from an antiques market in The Hague.

Beauty of linen

When choosing the fabric for new living room curtains, I had my mind firmly set on pure linen. I have no regrets. I love the simplicity of these curtains. They look especially beautiful when the sun filters through them and you can see the lovely texture of linen.

My mother's house

Few pictures from my mother's house in Finland (published with her permission). Interior decorating is her passion and I think she is very good at it. She likes white, grey, beige and other toned down colours, which is quite obvious when looking at these pictures. She also likes old and wonderfully shabby objects she finds from all kinds of places and uses them quite creatively when decorating her home.

I reckon she should start her own blog and share her brilliant ideas with all of us, don't you think? :-)

A dash of colour

I had a sudden urge to inject some bright cheerful colour into our living room. I wanted to try a colour I never used before, so ended up with bright pink. We will see how quickly I get bored with it and go back to white and beige, but so far so good :-)

Home office

Few pictures from my partner in crime's office, which is his kingdom. The 1930's oak filing cabinet is from our local antique shop Hoets Antiek, as is the lamp base. We like the cabinet a lot. It looks like it was made for this room and it is also very practical.

I reckon the green Aalto vase from Iittala goes very well with these old objects. Mind you, though it is new, the vase was originally designed by Alvar Aalto in 1930's, the same era as the cabinet.

The globe is pre World War II, featuring countries that no longer exist. I found it from another local antique shop and it cost only couple of euros, a bargain. Oh, and by now the mirror is already hanging on the wall :-)

Bathroom details

Our bathroom is still a big project and I keep buying pretty little things, trying to make it look a wee bit nicer. I got these gorgeously scented soaps from Dille & Kamille (their shops are full of lovely things) and the cute old foot powder bottle is from Juffrouw Jacoba.

My Madonna

Well, one of my Madonnas. I find them wonderfully kitsch. I am also somewhat lucky, as one of our local antique shops is full of all kinds of Madonnas. I just need to pick the ones I like the most. Next on my shopping list is an all white Madonna... And I know just the right shop to go to ;-)

Classic living

This picture is not from our house, but I wish it was... I especially like the mirror. I would love to find a similar one somewhere. Colours are subtle and the whole atmosphere quite sophisticated. Oh, so simple and so pretty.
Photo by Homes & Gargens magazine

Spring feeling

This Laura Ashley rug is our latest purchase. It was a bargain with a 60% discount and pretty much exactly the kind I have been looking for. It is rainy, windy and grey outside, in other words miserable, but this rug brings a little bit of spring feeling into our home :-) Every little helps.

Dining room plan (part 3)

Finally our dining room plan is starting to take some shape. The aim is to get a lighter & brighter dining room. First step was to paint the ceiling pure white. It makes such a difference in this small space. The whole room looks much fresher & airier now, just with a lick of paint. I am very pleased :-) There is still one small paint job to do and then of course we need to change the furniture, but at least this was a start.

More artwork

We got this artwork from an art gallery in Haarlem. Her name is Herta and we find her quite adorable :-) Suppose you could describe the style as mixed media, as the artist has used several materials (for example paint and paper) to build the picture. We know it might not be for everyone's taste, but we like it a lot and that is the main thing.

Pretty old things

Few more details from our kitchen. I found the old scale from Juffrouw Jacoba and could not go home without it. The red colour is spot on. We actually use it as a fruit/veggie bowl :-) The old tin container belonged to my boyfriend's granny. It is one of the many we inherited from her.

Dining room plan (part 2)

As our buffet cabinet is also dark coloured teak we are planning to replace it with a white wash version. Of course we could sand it down the same way as the table but it would be way too much work. Buying a new one is much easier, at least for my boyfriend who would have to do all the sanding ;-)

Favourite flowers

White tulips are definitely one of my favourite flowers. I simply adore them.

Details matter

Few small details from our kitchen. Because our kitchen is from the 1920's we got some jars that breath the same atmosphere

Dining room plan (part 1)

This is how our dining room table looks now, a dark brown colonial style teak table. Our dining room is very small and the dark floor together with dark furniture makes it look even smaller. This is why we decided to change things and the first step is the table.

We are going to sand the table down and make it look like this. It will be a lot of work but worth it.

New kitchen lamp

Our brand new old style kitchen lamp which replaced a horrible fluorescent ceiling light we had previously. I am glad to say our kitchen looks much nicer now.

Welcome to 2008

A new year and new plans. My new year's resolutions are to take better care of myself, to keep in touch with my friends more and to explore The Netherlands more (so many nice towns to visit).

My holiday is over and tomorrow it is time to go back to work again. Which also means I will not have time to publish new posts so frequently. It will be tough to wake up at 7am tomorrow morning, but I'll live. Thankfully it is only three days and then it is a weekend again :-)

Have a lovely New Year's Day!

Willow Tree angels

Yes, I like my angels. These two are by Willow Tree. The angel on the left is called "Angel of Hope" and the one on the right is "Angel of Caring". Cute little things.