A Pretty Boat House

Look at this pretty Boat House....so lovely and inviting. What a perfect spot for a Summer Holiday.


Image 1 & 2 - Mike Newling

Inspirational dining rooms

Indeed, I have changed my blog lay-out. I adapted my blog less or more to the lay -out of the website of my company http://www.lefevre.be/. I tried to use the colours of the site in my blog.

Some days ago I was reading an interesting post about 10 tips to create a well designed blog (here). The post was written by Maria Killam at the Colour Me Happy Blog.

Since a few weeks I really wanted to publish larger pictures. My goodness, what a difficult job it was to me!! But in this blogger community there are such a nice people, who are so patient and willing to help! I have to thank Vanessa from the Decor Happy Blog and Julie from the Being Ruby Blog for their support!

I also want to thank my sister-in-law Nathalie to help me with the use of photofilter to create the new header of my blog!

Enough about my blogchange!

Today a post about beautiful, inspirational dining rooms. I am working on a dining room re-do for one of my clients and I was searching for pictures of dining rooms to show my client. Going through my files I stumbled upon some dining rooms of different styles that I wanted to share with you today.

This dining room by John Saladino is one of my favorites.

Beautiful colours for this dining room. And a beautiful chandelier.

No clutter for this contemporary dining room.

Classic furniture in a contemporary area.

A mix of classic and country style. I love the contrast of the dark brown painted walls and the white painted mantelpiece and doors.

Very classic but classy.

Sitting at this dining table makes you feel like a “chatelaine”.

Country style with a Swedish touch.

Solid table and gorgeous lighting.

Love the beach chairs around that table.

Don’t you love the combination of a dining corner and a sitting area in one room?

Royal dining room.

I love these chairs!

Royal dining room again ! This is one of my favorites!

Blue and white in combination with mahogany is always successful.

I always have loved a pair of wall tables placed at each side of a window.

Dining room by N. Haslam.

Not only the design of these chairs but also the colour of the fabric that matches the colour of the paneling, I adore in this room.

Comfortable chairs I guess!

I simply love this dining room.

Have a wonderful weekend!

xx

Greet

Kathryn Ireland Book Signing at Black & Spiro

I am so thrilled to announce that U.S. Interior Designer Kathryn Ireland will be doing a book signing for the launch of her beautiful new book, Kathryn M. Ireland Creating a Home, at Black & Spiro on Monday 8th February, 2010 at 12 noon.

I am extending an invitation to all my blog readers, clients and friends to attend this very exciting event here at Black & Spiro.

Please email me for further details if required. anna@blackandspiro.com.au

We look forward to seeing you. Everyone is welcome.

Black and Spiro

768 Brunswick Street

New Farm Qld 4005

Australia

Ph - 07 3254 3000

Image 1 & 2 via cote de texas, Image 3 via Kathryn Ireland

Colonial Mexican Architecture Series - Another Merida, Mexico Gem

I'm afraid I'm in one of my obsessive runs lately with colonial Mexican

architecture.  Since we're (me and my sweetie) planning a trip to

Merida, Mexico to get a feel for the city and to look at properties, I've

been scouring a lot of properties online so we can narrow down properties

we want to look at.  They include properties that are totally finished and

properties that need a lot of work.  I'm showcasing some of the homes that

have really inspired my imagination and hope it will do the same for you.

This home has clear Moroccan/Andalusian influences on it with the

detailing in the arches.  The home is a fantastic blend and comes

turnkey.

I'd have to say that this courtyard is pretty fabulous.  You get a

great centralized view of the entire home and property.  The

home is developed in a "C" shape.

You may wonder why the pool is above ground.  There is a lot

of limestone and bedrock beneath the surface.  If you hit bedrock

while trying to dig a pool, you may as well make an above ground

dipping pool for all the trouble it is to jack hammer bedrock.

Here's that outdoor living space next to the courtyard.

It leads right into one of the 3 bedrooms in the house.

This is the side living area.  The glass doors are really great

so you can open them up completely for outdoor/indoor

living.

Here's a more traditional piece of furniture.  It

makes sense to have all the holes in it to breathe.

A lovely dining space.

The kitchen is gorgeous with a modern twist on the classic

Yucatan kitchen.  The Andalusian influence is very obvious.

Since the rooms are so large, this designer

but two double beds in one room.

This is one of the really unique rooms in this home.  It's a

completely Moroccan styled bathroom - right down to the

sink being smack in the middle of the floor.  I imagine in the

olden times, it was a small fountain that was used to wash.

Upstairs next to the balcony is a room that

serves as an office or an extra guest bedroom.

A nice little washing area next to it.

They either had this piece custom built or they

got really lucky in fitting it into this nook!

I love the little lanterns strung across canopy made of

branches.  The branches are perfect to provide some

shade while still letting light through and the lanterns are

perfect for ambience at night.

A view from above.

So what do you think of this home?  What do you think

of having a courtyard in a home?  I personally love the

idea of a courtyard. 

Photos from Buena Vida Realtors

Chateau-Couronne

This amazing hotel is situated in an ancient castle in one of the most picturesque and historical regions of France. The name of the castle literally means “castle - crown”. The present-day owners turned this antique mansion in a cozy and stylish hotel
which gained recognition and attention of celebrities.

Big & Bold in 2010

Sonia Arriola's report on this years Maison et Objet in Paris reveals that a trend for large scale prints, bold colour pairings, denim blue, and neutrals that shimmer will be all the rage in 2010. I loved this image she shared on her flickr of some curtains hanging in the Dedar showroom in Paris...the fabric was apparently created to represent a digital print. To me they even look a bit ikatish!

Image - Katherine Kostreva

Impressions of Maison & Objet and blogger "meet and greet"

Although I am back home from Saturday night, I really did not found the time to post about our trip to Paris for the Maison & Objet exhibition.

It was a very nice but exhausted visit.

I have taken a lot of pictures but I will show you here some impressions of Maison & Objet and a few of my favorite pictures.

There were so many items to discover as table wear and table linen, bedlinen, fabrics,...but I have to say that I was in particular interested in furniture and lighting companies.

I hope you will enjoy this little tour!

.

At the entrance, beautiful coloured presentations of Maison Hermès!

www.hermes.com

www.duboutdumonde.com

This picture speaks for itself!
www.cotemaison.fr



Exquisite "pièces d'orient" at Nadia Lazibi , France.
(no website)



Nadia Lazibi





Solid exotic wooden tables at Lysimport.
www.lysimport.com

Yummy yummy!!!

www.laduree.fr

I can't remember the name of this company!

Again wonderful wooden furniture and artwork at Jerome Abel.

www.jeromeabelseguin.com

Socles made of wooden trunks.

www.poldermans-group.com

I loved the presentation of the lighting at the entrance from the JNL stand.

JNL is a Belgian luxury furniture company.

http://www.jnl.be/

www.jnl.be

www.jnl.be

www.jnl.be

Again a company of which I can't find the name anymore, but I loved the combination of black and orange throughout their stand.

Again a anonymous picture of a beautiful chandelier.

Burlap at Chehoma.

www.chehoma.com

www.poterie.com

Beautiful facade detail of the House of Porters.

www.houseofporters.com

Impression of Scapa Home.

www.scapahome.eu

Entrance of the Ralph Lauren stand.

www.ralphlaurenhome.com

You know that I wrote about the blogger "Paris meet and greet" in my previous post!

Well, a few of us met in the Hotel Duo Bar in Paris!

This was the place to be....

....and here we are!!!

From the right to the left : Maryanne Flaherty (Texas) of Beadbourdupcountry blog ,

Tracey Leeson (Australia) of Porchlight Interiors blog ,

Peter (husband of Maryanne), Amanda Harris (Australia) of Oliveaux blog,

Haley Leeson (sister of Tracey) and me.

Maryanne and me

Amanda and me

Tracey and me

Haley and me

My husband Jan in a good conversation with Peter!

It was so nice meeting Maryanne, Peter, Amanda, Tracey and Haley. We talked a lot and learned to know eachother better!

I am so thankful that they all did an effort to meet us there!!

So a few cocktails and glasses of Champagne later, we kissed good bye and went to our hotel room because we were all tired of walking around at Maison & Objet during the day.

Hotel Le Tourville

This is the hotel where we (Jan and me) stayed.

www.hoteltourville.com

We haven't seen a lot of Paris itself of course, but driving from the Maison & Objet exhibition to the hotel, who was situated in the heart of Paris, we had a beautiful sightseeing of Paris.

.

I hope that I inspired you to visit Maison & Objet in September!

xx

Greet

All images by me (except the one of the Hotel Duo Bar website).