Scandinavian Simplicity meets Belgian Linen Cosy

Hi.

I really like this apartement in sale on Bolaget.

It is scandinavian but it reminds me also the linen colors that are so common in belgian interiors. 

Credit and full tour on : Bolaget

Window Treatment Rule

Dear blogfriends,

Just a small but very important thing :

Credit : Honey and fitz

I learned that this is also true for very big windows like my bedroom's.

Have a nice WE!

Paper Lanterns in Anouk's Bedroom

Dear blogfriends,

I love decorating the nursery, because it seems that every project can be completed in a very small time!

This one is a record breaker. It just took 10 minutes!

The ceiling in Anouk's bedroom are very high and since there is no big furniture, there was an echo!

So I hung these paper lanterens from Fly (I think it was 3 EUR/pc). It absorbs the noise perfectly!

Edit : If you'd like to read Joanna Goddard posted on her blog an interview of the animal photographer Sharon Montrose (who shoot the cute animal pics above anouk's crib).

The Truth About the Bedroom

Dear blogfriends,

I really wished I could post a real room reveal, but this is not happening yet.

We worked a lot and we are more than half way through. But things have been difficult. The built-in closet was a to ambitious DIY. We did a great job and I am very happy with what we have done. But I would not do it again.

There have been some mistakes also with the paint color and the window treatment.

The architectural layout is also wrong. I want to fix that by displacing the heater.

Anyway, this is a short overview of what we've done yet!

1. Good things :

a. I now like the paint color as headboard color (so at the end, it should remains on just one wall).

b. I love the Gion Sarfatti light fixture (mounted this WE).

c. The window treatment is now much better, but still not perfect.

d. We are almost done with the built-in closet and I think we did a great job.

e. I am pretty happy with the artificial lighting. We used 3000 Kelvin's LED and halogen. I'll post about that.

2. Indulgence

a. As you can notice, one circuit isn't working on the fixture. So we'll have to unmount it to fix it. What a pain.

b. Window treatment (already redone, I'll post about that) is still not perfect as it doesn't allow to open the window the easiest way. So we'll have to change it again.

c. Biggest indulgence : the heater is placed on the wrong side of the room. I think the bed should face the entry. So we will have to get it displaced.

d. I'd like to get rid of this Ikea furniture. The dresser is just collecting clutters and the bedside tables are ugly.

We tried a few days ago to put the bed in front of the entry... much better!!!

(sorry for the poor quality of the pic)

3. The pics you shouldn't have seen

This is what the room looked like just a month ago. Just seeing this pictures makes me wanna cry.

(I don't apology for the quality of the pics because you don't want to see more!)

Amazing Ikea Stockholm Collection 2013

Hello!

Probably all decoristas already know the Ikea Stockholm collection 2013.

Ikea Stockholm is the high standard Ikea collection and it's usually very pretty. But this year, I think it is just amazing.

Here is my selection.

1. Things that I do want right now :

Credit : La Maison d'Anna G

This mirror for our dinning room.

Credit : La Maison d'Anna G

These pretty side tables and those pretty boxes.

2. Very pretty things to be considered :

Credit : morning-by-foley.com

These very pretty chairs which reminds me of this Hans Wegner Chair that I've always loved. I'm not sure the walnut color would work with the lacquered contemporary white table that we bought last week though...

But never mind, Ikea will launch at the same time this very similar chair in black finish...

Credit : Livet Hema

Don't know... maybe.

Via : L'atelier Azimuté

I do love this suspension. Of course, I do.

But I'm afraid every house will soon have it.

But it's still very pretty.

3. Things I'll just dream about:

This leather couch.

I won't buy a new couch. But damn... it's very very pretty.

Via : L'atelier Azimuté

(No) Clouds in the Sky and Ratan Chair Makeover

Hi!

What a beautifull day today!

Cold but sunny! There's absolutely no clouds in the sky...

But there's one in Anouk's new ratan chair!

I've been collecting them in pinterest for a while :

Credit : April and May Studio

Via : Pinterest

Credit : Not on the higt street

via : Pinterest

They are cute and confortable (they work as lumbar cushions for kids!).

I got mine at Little Vintage Lovers .

It works perfect because the chair is a bit deep for Anouk.

I'm smitten by the way she sit ostensibly while drinking her feeding bottle.

I' not tottaly satisfied by the makeover.

I first spray painted with mat, then gloss. I wish I had something in between. But there wasn't a lot of spray paint choice.

Anyway. It's not that bad.

Remember how the chair looks before?

 

Crackles. Two coat of paint (one applied with a brush!). Ugly brown color.

As expected, stripping a ratan chair wasn't easy. It took a few nights to get it off.

Unfortunately, the ratan wasn't in very good condition, so I couldn't leave it as it.

I took advantage of last week's sunny weather for a second coat of spray paint...

And this is how it looks right now !

Cold Outside, Spring Inside

I know.

Last week we were having lunch outside.

I did clean my balcony.

And today, Mr. Winter's back, with 20 cm of snow. No public transportation working (I walked almost all the way down to my workplace).

BUT, it's no big deal because I bought hydrangeas and anemones last WE.

Those are pretty vases I bought at Hema.

The pink candle is from my local grocery store. No big deal.

Spring is gonna win!

Happy Woman Day : Fab Role Models For Little Girls

Hi!

Today, in the car, we were discussing, my partner and I, about how little exiting the literature for little girls is.

Anouk received once a hand-me-down coloring book with Disney princesses (that she loves, unfortunately) and my partner was deploring its stupidity.

For the moment, Anouk mostly owns pictures books that aren't gender orientated, but when she'll be older, I really want her to have interesting role models.

I immediately think about two extraordinary role models for little girls. Both funny, crazy, busy, self confident and super cute. And I would love my little girl to be inspired by them :

1. Eloïse, Kay Thompson's character

Eloise is a six-year-old girl who lives in the "room on the tippy-top floor" of the Plaza Hotel in New York City with her Nanny, her pug dog Weenie, and her turtle Skipperdee.

Via : Improvised life

I love that her room is not "tidy".

Via : Moby Mioches

Via : Happy to see you

I love that she hates "love stories".

Via : Happy to see you

She is so sweet, self confident and full of tenderness.

Really, every little girl should look like her!

All pics are from Kay Thompson's book, but please go checks the links, you'll read the testimony of grown-up Eloïse's lovers.

Improvised life says, for example :

"The other night a friend who was recuperating from an injury asked us to tell him a story as he fell asleep. A story, we wondered, h-mm-mm. Why not read a kid’s book for this exhausted, wounded grown-up. Looking through our library, an ancient copy of Kay Thompson’s Eloise jumped into our hands. As we read it aloud, we marveled at the precocious little girl on the loose in the great hotel. We’d totally forgotten the story: a self-possessed kid surviving in the face of a wealthy mom who wasn’t there, and a nanny who was. Eloise used her unfettered imagination to act out, fabulously."

2. Pippi Langstrumpf, Astrid Lidgren's character:

Again, a sad story : no mother, no father. Yet Pippi is the most enthousiastic and optimistic character EVER.

She is the nicest, she is tough, she is clever, she's got guts and backchat.

She is fab!

Via : Cinema.de 

Credit : Illustration of Karin Engelking

Via : Luebeck

Via : Bz-Berlin

I wish you a fun and exiting Woman Day!

Looking for a Vintage Carboy

I've been looking for a (not expensive) vintage carboy for ages

...

(and I don't want to drive kilometers to pick it up)

...

(and I want to find the perfect seafoam shade)

Credit : House Doctor 

Credit: Southern Living

Via : Vosges Paris

Credit : Lekker Frisss