Christmas Brunch

So what did you do at Christmas? S and I both had to work but I couldn't let Christmas go without not celebrating it. So my dear friend V came by and we had brunch. It was lovely.

Woonbeurs 2009

Just some pictues I wanted to show you from the interior fair De Woonbeurs that I visited this year. They had so many inspiring things to see that I was overwhelmed and loved at the same time.

Kitchen

Here are some before and after pictures of our new kitchen. We weren't planning to install a new kitchen but once we started working on the house, we realised that we might as well do it now while there's a mess all around. Luckily we knew exactly how it was going to look like because we had done our research and visited a lot of kitchen stores.

This is the before...


Not very much to see. We placed a wall between the corridor and the kitchen so that the kitchen would have more space.

And this is the after...





I think that this is the best part of the new house. It has been installed now for about a week and I can't stop looking at it. Before this we already lived in the house for 7 weeks and lived on take out food and microwave meals. I am so done with it that I appreciate everything much more. On Christmas eve, we had family over and we made a great meal which everybody loved! On December 31st we're having friends over for New Years and are planning to cook again. S and I made a promise to ourselves that we won't be having take out for a long, long time.

Update 2009

So, finally an update about what is going on with me and the house. First I want to show you some great pictures of the snow we had last week. Doesn't it looks beautiful?






I had some problems with putting pictures on my computer; that's why it took so long to write and show you something nice. Well, be prepared everyone, I'm back! And it's great ot be back!

Finally...

Hello everybody,

Remember me, I'm the girl that never blogs...

I am so sorry for not keeping you updated and leaving messages on my blog but it has been such a hectic time. Between my last post in September and now, a lot has happened. On November 2nd, we recieved the key of our new house in The Hague. We immediatly started painting and making the upstairs ready so that we would be able to live there because the builders would start later that day with the ground floor on the toilet and the ceiling of the living room. Initially we wouldn't going to do the kitchen. The old kitchen would stay and we would buy a new one next spring. But when the builders started working we realised that it would be better to rip out the old kitchen and so that's what we did. We already knew what kind of kitchen we wanted so we ordered it and they ripped the old one out. So we have been out of a kitchen now for almost a month and we have been living there for about three weeks now... The new kitchen will be installed next week and I can't wait. Since last week we could start on decorating the living room and realised that most of the old furniture has to go because the shape and size of the new livingroom is different than the old one. So now everything doesn't look right. So slowly we are changing everything around and buying new furniture and getting rid of old ones.

Internet is finally working so hopefully next time I have pictures to show you. I have been looking at different websites for inspiration and boy, there's a lot out there for interior lovers like me! I can recommend the blog of madebygirl, decor 8 and Yvestown. I check out their website almost everyday and saw some great things. Go and check them out!

Well, so far a little bit about what has been going on. I promise, next time I'll have some pictures of our new house!!

Have a great weekend!

Neglect

I'm so sorry I've neglected my blog... It has been such a busy time with working and handling the sale of our current home.

But I have great news to share with you. The house has definitely been sold and we are going to move in ou new house in the beginning of November. We will have a week to move from the current home to the new one and renovations to be done but we can't wait! So we have had meetings with estate agents, mortgage people and builders. It has taken every minute of spare time but we know that eventually everything will come together and in a few months all will be done.

So just to let you know that I'm still here and I haven't forgotten you. Next time I will have some pictures as well!

Have a great weekend!

Maastricht

Last week, S and I attented a wedding in the south part of the Netherlands, Limburg, and decided to stay a few days longer (the bride looked beautiful by the way ;-).

We went to the city of Maastricht which I think lookes nothing like the other cities in the Netherlands. Maastricht has a lot of influences of Germany, Luxemburg and Belgium because it's located so nearby the border. So being in Maastricht feels like you're walking in a completely different country and I love it there.



We took a boattrip along the Maas and made a few pictures of the forest.

Now let me explain why being around a forest is so special for me. I live along the sea in a very crowded part of the Netherlands. So every piece of land is being used to built houses on. There are small forests in the area but nothing compared to those in Limburg. And not even mentioning the hills there are over there. You might know that the Netherlands is basically flat, especially where I'm from. But not in Limburg! No, there are actually hills over there, not very high... But there still there.




So again, it doesn't feel like being in the Netherlands. You should really give it a try.

At home

I was working on my computer at home this evening and saw a beautiful sky from my window. I tried to make a picture of it but I'm not wel skilled for that with my camera so it ended up looking like this.




What do you think?

Julie & Julia

A few days ago I read on the internet about a new movie called Julie & Julia. It will take a few months before it premieres in Europe so click here to see the trailer. Enjoy!

The beach

Yesterday S and I had dinner with two friends of ours at the beach of Scheveningen. The Hague is located near the sea and went you want to go to the beach, you can go to Kijkduin or Scheveningen. It's has a special place in my heart because my mother had lived there for about 20 years before the family moved to Maassluis where I was born. But quite often we would go to Scheveningen see the beach. A few years ago I worked in a hotel what was along side the beach and saw the beach everyday. Now I go there to visit my friends and having something to eat and drink on the boulevard. And this is my view:



Our friends live opposite this building which was recently beautiful restored and I love it. We checked out how much it would sell for and it is far over our budget, starting at 350.000 euro. But you can so much for it, everything new and a fabulous view over the sea.


Hmm, maybe in the future...!

Hotel

A few days ago I was working with a colleague and I brought my camera to work. He took the camera and made a few pictures around the hotel. I think they turned out pretty great!







That's me at the end of the stairs!

Perfect for the kitchen

I saw this picture a few months ago somewhere in the world of internet (forget where) and saved it on my computer. Today I was checking out all my photo's and saw this one again. I would love to make a little sitting area in the kitchen and that's why S and I are planning to make an open plan kitchen in the new house. Because we both work crazy hours and don't see eachother a lot, we want to be near eachother as much as possible when we're at home. And that means that I don't like cooking because the kitchen in our current home is on the other end of the house. I would love to have an open plan kitchen and a little bar so that one of us is cooking while the other keeps company.

Hopefully I can get a little pink in there one day. Just make sure that S won't notices it because pink isn't exactly his colour...

Have a great day everybody!

Sorry...

Hi Guys,

It has been a while... You will not believe the hectic time that has been and is still going on. We found a new buyer for our house but yesterday, the real estate agent told us that the buyer possibly can't buy the house and we will know more at the end of the week. That ,with some family issues, is making me not the most positive person in the world. And I believe that this blog should only have positive things to be talked about so therefore I kept a low profile.

And I will not complain and just carry on. I have to keep on believing that everything will be okay. So I'm sure that the photography will eventually come at some point because it has been some time since I last took a photo and now with the sun shining, I should just go to the beach and start shooting. But it will come.

So please have some patience and the fun will start on this blog which, despite everything, I'm still proud of.

Talk to you soon!

The new couch...

A few posts ago I told you that our house was sold and that we were looking for a new house. Well, a few things have changed...

The buyer of our house backed out of the sale which means that we lost a whole month trying to sell it. We saw a house we really wanted to buy and were about to make an offer but couldn't do that because we want to sell our house first.

What we did do was already buy a new couch for the new house. We were both really in love with it but also had to cancel it. But we are positive that very soon everything will turn out fine and that we can move into our dream home and sit on the new couch.

What do you think, will this couch match with the Egg chair that some day will be in the house too?

The Conran shop in Paris

Before we went to Paris, I read some articles in Dutch interior magazines about Paris and made a list of shops where we had to go to. On the top of my list was the Conran Shop. When we were in London last fall I didn't know about the Conran Shop until we got home and then it was too late. So when I found out that there was an shop in Paris as well, we just had to go!

I didn't quite know what to expect but when I saw my favourite Egg chair by Arne Jacobson and in red too!! I knew I was going to love it!
After sitting in it for a few minutes and feeling like I was in heaven I asked S to sit in it. He doesn't really understand my fascination about this chair and hopefully he would understand it a little bit once he tried the experience! Of course I hade to make a picture !

Well, he likes the design and it sits ok but thinks it's too expensive... Hm, that's means I'm not getting it for christmas this year...

When we looked further, I saw another one! So quickly, before someone of the staff saw me, I made another picture!


Beside the fact that the chair is about EUR 5.000,00, I realised I couldn't take it with me on the train back home... Well let's save the money first and then I will see where to buy it, ha ha. Or maybe S will give it to me for christmas. What do you think?

There were also these Eames chairs which I love but S thought that it wouldn't sit very well. Hmm, I might have to agree but so what if it doesn't sit perfectly, it looks amazing!

The Eiffel Tower

Even though I have been to Paris many times, I have never been to the Eiffel Tower. So this time it was finally time to see it. Unfortunately, the weather was not so great so it was no point to go up and see the view.




What facinated me was that in different parts of the city, you could see the tower because it is so high. So every change I had, I would make a picture!

View on top of the department store Galerie Lafayette

View from the Louvre museum


But please don't think that it is romantic when you're by the Eiffel Tower... Unless you think that groups of children standing in line to go up the tower and making a lot of noice while men trying to sell cheap souvenirs and coming up to you every 30 seconds is very romantic. But still, something that you need to go and see for yourself!

Paris, part II

There's something about the Louvre... I love being there, especially sitting outside and watching all those people. I love the architecture and the way it all comes together.



And it is so strange when you're inside the pyramide, before you go downstairs to the musem. So amazing!


And those who have read of seen the Da Vinci Code... Well, in real life, it is a bit different. The painting is small and look how many people there are... It seems that people are still facinated by the Mona Lisa


Close by the Mona Lisa, there's a painting of Napoleon and Josephine which I find very interesting.