Happy Times

My beautiful dad.

The beach houses surrounding the house we stayed in. The agapanthus grows wild in front of these houses. I would love to see them flowering.

The gardens in this small sleepy beach side town are to-die-for.



Table set for Dad's Birthday lunch.






I spotted this cute beach shack when I was out picking flowers and loved it. In New Zealand I've noticed they paint many of their houses black and white which I love.



I had a bath in this huge clawfoot bath every day we were there. I love the little vintage butterfly prints on the wall.




When we eventually renovate the kitchen in our new house I definitely want to have a cabinet built just like this one which was in the kitchen at the beach house. It was so perfect for all the plates, platters, cups etc.

The beach in front of the house.

We've just returned home from a week in New Zealand where we celebrated my father's 60th Birthday. After spending a few days in Auckland we caught a plane down to Napier and drove down to a beautiful beach house my parent's have been frequenting over the past 12 months in a sleepy beach side town in Hawkes Bay. We spent 3 days here with my parents, brothers, cousins, aunty & uncle and our grandmother. It was the most wonderful holiday with lots of laughs, lots of tears and lots of reminiscing. Mum cooked an amazing lunch for Dad on his birthday. I went down the street and picked some gorgeous roadside flowers which I arranged for the table. It was the most amazing week away from work and the craziness of life. Happy 60th Birthday Dad. You are one in a million and we all love you so much.

If anyone is interested in staying at this beautiful house click HERE for details.

Natural, grey or weathered , old or new – and my blog ANNIVERSARY GIVE-AWAY!

 

Saturday, the 31st of July I will celebrate my FIRST BLOG ANNIVERSARY !! I can’t hardly believe that I really am blogging for a year now!

Blogging has given my life a new dimension! So many lovely people from around the world I have learned to know the past year! So many of you became friends!

Every morning, the first thing I do, is reading your comments and emails! And I love it!

A special thank to my friend Brooke from Velvet and Linen (I know that most of you know this wonderful, lovely lady), who introduced me to the blogger community the 2nd of August 2009, HERE !

Thank you Brooke! You are so special to me!

And I want to thank my colleague bloggers who wrote or mentionned me in their blogposts (and a lot of you did!)!

Thank you my friends!

And thank you to all of you, my readers, who support me through reading, following my blog or through commenting my blogposts. Or through adding Belgian Pearls to their bloglist.

Thank you my readers!

So many of you emailed me to say that you love my blog and some of you mentionned that I am as an ambassador of my country Belgium. … I am so pleased to hear this and honestly it makes me feel proud!

Thank you so much!

At the end of this post I will mention you my give-away and will explain how to take part in my anniversary give-away.

__

This year I noticed that most of you love all things Belgian and especially the typical Belgian design look. That’s why today I will show you some beautiful pieces of furniture with a Belgian look. The furniture are antique pieces of new-made pieces, with a natural, grey or weathered look!

All the images I posted are from 3 Belgian companies, one of them (Malvini Belgium) is a company that makes beautiful new furniture with the Belgian look, the other 2 Belgian companies are selling beautiful antique pieces.

 

I want to mention explicitly that I have no benefits or that I am not getting paid to post about any of these companies or these mentionned in earlier blogposts! I would never do that! I write about them because I am proud of our Belgian companies and I love to introduce all things Belgian to you, my readers!!!

So, enjoy this post and don’t forget to read the instructions for my give-away at the end of this post!

 

Image 1  Am Projects

 

Image 2 Am Projects

 

Image 3  Am Projects

 

Image 4  Am Projects

 

Image 5  Am Projects

 

If you are interested in the furniture and decorative items of image 1 till 5, please contact AM PROJECTS HERE .

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Image 6  Garnier Antiques

 

Image 7  Garnier Antiques

 

Image 8 Garnier Antiques

 

Image 9  Garnier Antiques

 

Image 10  Garnier Antiques

 

If you are interested in the furniture and decorative items of image 6 till 10, please contact GARNIER ANTIQUES HERE .

______

 

Image 11  Malvini Belgium

 

Image 12  Malvini Belgium

 

Image 13  Malvini Belgium

 

Image 14  Malvini Belgium

 

 

Image 15  Malvini Belgium

 

If you are interested in the furniture of image 11 till 15, please contact MALVINI BELGIUM HERE .

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My blog anniversary give-away.

All you have to do to take part in my give-away, is to become a follower of my blog (if you are not yet) and to leave me a comment on this post before Sunday the 1st of August, at 12 pm Belgian time.

And don’t forget to mention which of this two presents you would prefer to have : the organizer or the tea light candles.

I will announce the 2 winners on Monday, the 2nd of August.

The RIVERDALE organizer box.

The RIVERDALE tea light candles.

 

THE ONLY THING I WISH TO DO RIGHT NOW IS TO THANK ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT THE PAST YEAR! MY BLOG WOULDN’T HAVE ANY MEANING AND WOULDN’T BE OF ANY IMPORTANCE WITHOUT ALL OF YOU!

THANK YOU !

xx

Lifestyle Designer Maria Gabriela Brito of NYC

I recently came across a chic "Lifestyle Designer" named Maria Gabriela Brito.

Maria is originally from Venezuela and her firm is in the Big Apple (New York

City.)  She gave up a corporate law career to do what she loves which is art, 

interiors, shops and showrooms.  

She helps clients in not only designing their home spaces but also tutoring them

about wine, how to purchase art and finding an individual sense of style. (It doesn't

hurt that she's married to a Brazilian wine aficionado.)

I especially liked her choice in art in her own home.

And what she's done for other clients.  Love the image on the 

wall and the Union Jack chair.  As many of you know, I'm a 

sucker for the Union Jack and art that features the Queen... And

no I'm not English ^_^

I love how she has pops of color in the room but it's not 

overwhelming either and still keeps its sense of poshness 

(probably not a word but oh well.)

Definitely can't afford that bag but it certainly makes for a great photo shoot.

Love the scarf.

I'm a magpie at heart so I have to say 

the shoes definitely caught my eye.

As with most New York condos, the kitchen is not large but
the space is used cleverly while still leaving one side open
so it still feels airy.  Very functional.

Love her outfit in this photo!  Super Chic, although
it's not what the main point of the photo is...

Another fantastic choice in art work.

 This looks like a homey and lived in room. 
The wallpaper is a lot of fun.

I love that the floor of her nursery is made up of all carpet

tiles.  Because the colors are pastel, it's still cute but oh

so functional.

Hope you enjoyed a taste of Maria's style 

and gleaned some ideas for yourself.

New York Spaces Magazine

If you are interested in seeing more New York spaces, I highly

recommend this magazine which I subscribe to:  New York Spaces.

I have a link to Amazon so you can find information about the magazine

but I would not recommend buying it from Amazon.  For some odd reason

the subscription fee on Amazon is unusally high.  You can usually get a 

subscription for much less (I don't remember exactly but in the $10-$15 

range.)

Photos from Maria Gabriela Brito's site

Paneled rooms

As being my readers you know that my compony LEFEVRE INTERIORS  is specialized in wood paneling.

Through the years I filed a lot of inspiring images of paneled rooms.

There are many different types of paneling. There is the painted paneling, the wooden paneling, all with their specific kind of finishes.

I posted here a few of the images I filed. What kind of paneling would you choose for your home?

So make your choice.

1. Andrew Skurman

 

2. William Hefner

 

3.

 

4. JK Palace Capri

 

5.

 

6. Andrew Skurman

 

7.

 

8.

 

9.

 

10.

 

11. Thierry Thenaers

 

 

12. Lefèvre Interiors

 

13.

 

14.

 

15. Lefèvre Interiors

 

16.

 

17.

 

18.

 

19.

 

20. Nicky Haslam

 

21.

 

22.

 

23.

 

24.

 

25.

 

26.

 

27. Lefèvre Interiors

 

28.

 

29. Lefèvre Interiors

 

30. Lefèvre Interiors

 

31. Lefèvre Interiors

 

32.

 

33.

 

34. Lefèvre Interiors

 

35. Lefèvre Interiors

 

36. Lefèvre Interiors

 

37. Nicky Haslam

 

38. Lefèvre Interiors

 

39.

 

40.

 

41.

 

I hope you enjoyed this post of paneled rooms !

xx

PS Sorry for the unknown source of most of the images.