Dorm Room

As much as I do love the look of a gorgeous bunk room, I have found that bunk beds really are such a pain to make. Lately I have been preferring the look of a large dorm room with rows of single beds like the picture above. I love the lidded basket placed at the end of each bed - perfect for storing each person's clothes in. I personally would be much happier making these beds instead of numerous bunk beds.

image - cote maison via aged & gilded

Decorating A New Home {Over Time}

When I look at these images I love that they are all so casual and not overly decorated. I am leaning towards this more pared back look in our new house. I want it to be a home where we can relax and not be too worried about the white slip covered sofa when the big 1 year old {yes he turned 1 yesterday} Golden Retriever jumps up on it.

I am dreaming of faded denim fabrics on sofas, washed out florals and checks and stripes and mismatched pieces of cane furniture on the verandahs - not new cane - old mismatched cane collected over time. I will retain all of our Antique pieces of furniture which Brad & I have collected over the years. That's what I love about Antiques...they transcend fashion and trends, they are the pieces we hold onto and they are the pieces we pass onto our loved ones. I find I never tire of my Antique pieces. It's the mass-produced pieces I tire of very quickly.

This time round Harry and Brad have made me promise not to have the floors painted white. My obsession with keeping our current white-painted floors clean is all too much for my boys. All the internal walls will be painted my usual white but this time I think we might just sand back the old wide plank floorboards and apply an oiled, not glossy finish.

Everything about this house will be about living and enjoying and adding to it over time. I find that so many people {me included} rush into renovating or decorating a new home. I have learnt that you must live in a house for a period of time before you start the process of change....something my mother has been trying to instill in me for years!!

This time, I am going to take my time and enjoy the process of decorating the house which my children will call home for many, many years to come.

image 1 - pamela easton's home via creative homes, image 2 - deborah needleman's home via lonny, image 3 - via charlotte, image 4 - via charlotte, image 5 via lonny

A B&B in my neighbourhood

If you ever plan to visit me in Belgium, then please read this post about a beautiful Bred & Breakfast in my neighbourhood, about 15min. drive from my home. I am sure you will love to stay there!

The beautiful B&B “Le Pavé” is located in the region of The Flemish Ardennes, surrounded by a picturesque décor with its shelving skyline and typical cobbled streets. So the region is very famous for the Belgian cycle-racing and in particular for the ‘Tour of Flanders’.

Peter and Angelique’s farm lies in the middle of the ‘Tour of Flanders’ route. The spirit of the cycle-racing is subtly present in their B&B. Peter Van Petegem (the owner) was a famous Belgian cycle-racer.

The name “Le Pavé” refers to the victory of Peter in the Paris-Roubaix  tour in 2003. Le Pavé (French word that means street stone) alludes to the cobble stones that are omnipresent in the Flemish Ardennes. 

 

Beautiful view of  The Flemish Ardennes.

 

  Shelving skyline.

This picture is the view we have of the surroundings if we stay in our own garden.

 

Typical cobbled streets.

 

Tour of Flanders.

 

Another view of the region.

 

  Ancient wind- and watermills are silent witnesses of the cultural resources.

 

The Paris-Roubaix 2003 trophy of Peter = a cobble stone. It has become the symbol of the B&B “Le Pavé”.

 

 

   The cobble stones even reach to the farm’s courtyard.

 

Angelique has been engaged in interior design for years . She loved to decorate her beautiful B&B in a warm rural style!

Breakfast corner.

“Le Pavé” counts 2 elegant rooms : Suite Marie & Suite Victoria.

 

Staying in “Le Pavé” means a carefree relaxing moment.

Angelique and Peter

“Le Pavé” B&B

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT THE PAVE WEBSITE AT http://www.lepave.be.

Le Pavé Bed & Breakfast

Meersestraat 16, 9667 Horebeke,  Belgium

I hope you enjoyed being introduced to this wonderful B&B in my neighbourhood and I hope to pick you up there one day!

xx

Greet

 

All images of the website of Le Pavé except image of  my backyard , the typical cobbled streets and image of the Tour of Flanders.

Most of the text I took over from the text of Le Pavé website.

Nursery Thoughts...

My friends keep reminding me that I have a baby's room to decorate. With approximately 8 weeks to go I decided last week that I needed to at least get a few things organised.

My few things ended up turning into a complete room scheme for our little bundle. It all started with the original joker water colour by Rupert Hamilton dated 1916 which I stumbled across at a little Antique store here in Brisbane last week. I then decided I would collect a few bits and pieces to work back with it to create an artwork cluster wall full of lovely colour.

From there I selected the watermelon coloured Brunschwig & Fils Ikat which I am having an old chair I have recovered in and a lampshade for a floor lamp will be made in the small patterned chinnoiserie fabric. I also have an old Eastern embroidered piece of cloth which I will have made into a little cushion for the chair.

Over the weekend I started to wonder what I would use as a change table so Harry and I made a quick visit to our friend Nick Wallrock on Saturday morning {the most wonderful European Antique store in Brisbane}. We purchased a lovely circa 1780 Swedish Walnut cabinet from Nick which will be perfect.

I plan to use fresh white bed linen for the turned white timber painted cot which I picked up on Ebay for a mere $57.00 {a new mattress will be made and it will be re-painted with a fresh coat of white paint} and a few little Etsy cuddly numbers will be hunted down over the coming weeks.

So I can now say to my friends...yes it is all under control, I am organised!! {Fingers crossed it will all be made in time!!}

I Love...

Every now and then I spot a room I absolutely love and this one above, as published in Elle Decor, is one of them. I think it's the lovely fresh colours against the all-white background, the dining chairs and the beautiful old marble fireplace which I love most!

image - elle decor via frolic via seesaw designs

Spring coloured images

Because I am very busy this weekend and I will not have enough time to blog, I posted some beautiful spring coloured images.

Enjoy and let spring into your home!

 

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Hope you will all have a beautiful spring weekend!

xx

Greet

Image 1,3 & 5  Sorry, do not know source. Image 2  Zoom Interiors. Image 4,9,11,12 & 13 Taverne Agency. Image 6 Tim Clinch. Image 7 Beautifulism.blogspot.com. Image 8 Mari Eriksson. Image 10 Gordon Beall. Image 14 Kees Terberg. Image 15 & 16 Michael J.Lee.

Friday Flowers

A weekend full of time spent with Harry is what I have planned. I have worked many long and crazy hours this week so this weekend will be catch up time with my boys. Hope you have a lovely weekend. See you next time.

xx

Anna

Hacienda Series Part I - Hacienda Uayamon in Campeche, Mexico ~ I'm off to Mexico

I am officially off to Merida and Campeche, Mexico this Saturday for an

entire week.  A much needed vacation.  I'm Very excited about the tropical

weather that I'm going to be experiencing.  In the meantime, I wanted to 

share a special Hacienda from the area around Campeche, Mexico with 

you.  Many of you may not realize that the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico

was home to the most number of millionaires in the world at one time.  

Amazingly, they had made their money from what they termed "Green

Gold."

 What is "green gold?"  Green gold actually refers to henequen which is the

plant material used to make sisal.  Before synthetic material was created to

make rope, henequen was solely used to make rope, rugs and many other

products.  With the onset of synthetic materials to make rope, it pretty

much made henequen (sisal) obsolete.  

During the hey day, all of these wealthy merchants built huge estates and

haciendas littered the Yucatan.  After henequen was no longer used for

rope, their fortunes disappeared and all of these once beautiful haciendas

were abondoned.  In the last 10-15 years, people have been slowly buying

these neglected haciendas up and fixing them up as luxury resorts.  The

funny thing is that the world sisal is not the material itself but the port city

on the Yucatan that was used to export the henequen.  It's the same sisal

you see in rugs today.

This is Hacienda Uayamon in the province of Campeche, Mexico.  

What I think is so striking about this particular Hacienda is that instead of

trying to repair or take down the old ruins, the architect chose to preserve

 some of the ruined architecture and build around it - including this

 fantastic pool.

Very tastefully appointed rooms.

I love the traditional wooden doors.

Doesn't this look romantic?  Notice the stone work on the walls.  Today,

the builders literally use the same building techniques they did 300 years

ago.

I love the little dipping pools - sometimes you just want to sit and

dangle your legs to cool down a little without having to go swimming.

Isn't the setting just fantastic?  There aren't many luxury places where you

can still sit among original ruins.  It really is a novel idea to incorporate it

into the existing landscape.

Simply Wonderful.  Can you imagine a wedding here?

Isn't the ambience just fantastic?  Very unique.

I'm on my way to the cities of Campeche and Merida on the Yucatan this

next week so no post next week.  Will definitely take photos and share.

Photos from Hacienda Uayamon and the Kiwi Collection