I love books

I received a beautifully wrapped parcel in the mail. I saved it for a while, because I loved the wrapping so much that I wanted to have a picture of that as well. Today I had time to do some picture taking and unwrapping, assisted by my two lovely ladies. I loved the parcel, but I love what's in it even more! Three beautiful, leather covered diaries, in soft pastels. They are hand made by Marjolein Delhaas. The leather covered diaries are a limited edition, a perfect Christmas gift (I hope that the two persons I'm giving it to are not reading this) (I'm keeping one for myself). You can find more beautiful books, dairies and journals on Marjolein's webshop I love Book. Me too! Jeske Weel gave this tip to me through Facebook, thanks Jeske!

snow

I'm still so very happy with my camera, the Olympus Pen E-P2, because it allows me to capture magical moments like these, first snow, in such a beautiful way.

redecoration of a showroom, part four

To give the sunglasses a better display and give the stylist an opportunity to try them on, I designed these mirrored shelves, and Douglas van Vugt made them. They sort of wrap themselves around the pillars in the showroom. Normally those pillars just take up a lot of room, not anymore! One of the shelved walls I covered with sackcloth and painted white, like the front desk in the entrance. In the area where all the clothes are processed, curtains were made of raw linen. They give a calm, pure look in an area that is normally quite cluttered. And they match the white, beige and black palette perfectly.

redecoration of a showroom, part three

..so the wall can function as a clean and neutral background for brochures, booklets and small items. The walls in the entrance were painted white. The front desk was also painted white, and I stapled sackcloth over the light boxes and painted that white as well. Now the entrance is clean and welcoming and it gives a preview of what you will find when you turn the corner.

redecoration of a showroom, part two

With Richard from Tools, I made this wall, using only old timber (except from frame).

And then the painters painted everything white...

redecoration of a showroom, part one

A few years ago I worked on an intensive redecoration of the showroom of the PR-company Unlimited PR in Amsterdam. Because it celebrated it's 10th anniversary this year, I did some finishing touches to enhance the festive feeling. The showroom is huge, on the ground floor of a big loft style building. I'm really happy with the result, the owner made the wise decision to have all the floors repainted by DRT vloeren. The big building jobs were done by the men of my favourite contractor Tools and carpenter Douglas van der Vugt built the beautiful mirrored shelves. I'll lead you through the story in a few posts.

the images above show the showroom before the latest renovation and the design that I made for the wall in the entrance.

food for joy

My friend Maaike Koorman told me about this (fairly) new lovely place in the centre of Amsterdam, Two for Joy. They roast their coffee beans themselves, so you'll find the best coffee in town. But their sandwich with chicken and tarragon, on  real, crunchy French bread is to die for. I want it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I quite love carnations/preview

here's some left overs from the party from yesterday, more later (next week!)

some inspiration for the house

While I'm at it, here's some of the images that I'm using as inspiration, which I found on Danielle de Lange's blog Style Files. The combination of dark wood, cement, concrete and natural colours was exactly what I had in mind for the house. The look boards that I put together a few months ago show the same athmosphere.

quick update

What with all the preparations and the finishing touches of some interiors, and the start up of a big renovation of a house, I hardly have time to post new things. And there's so much to tell! I will try to snap some images of the PR office I redecorated recently. But I have to show you this fantastic stove that I saw on Designboom, a very inspiring website about architecture, design and art. The stove is designed by Wuehl Yanes and was first shown during the interior biennale in Kortrijk. The stove would fit perfectly in the house that will be renovated the few coming months.

off to Buenos Aires (in a few months)

Normally I'm not a big fan of the days after New Years' day, but now I can't wait. Last week we booked our tickets, it's definite: we're going to live in Buenos Aires for a few months. I'll be posting blogs from there, I look forward to the inspiration I'll be getting there! That means our beautiful loft will be for rent. Anybody interested? Send me an e-mail or check Amsterdam Beautiful for more information.

to satisfy your eyes

there are always plenty of nice things to look at if the men from Weltevree set up their shop somewhere. Weltevree is a Dutch designcompany, well known from their Dutchtub and their beautiful, sturdy iron heater. It is designed for use outside, but could also work inside if you make sure the surface of your floor is fireproof.

and some more

One room was decorated with all sorts of eco-friendly products and designs, also known as sustainable luxury, brought together by blogger Annouk Post, creator of the blog Hiphonest.

some (late) news from Lloyd Hotel

Because I'm a bit late with my news from the InsideDesign fair, I'll make it short. The rooms of Lloyd Hotel (my favourite office away from my house), were decorated by different brands, designers and artists. In these images you can see the many possibilities of the cabinet units of Montana . Like a bench with space for books and magazines under the seat, and a slim lined kitchen work counter.

more at Ijm

Ijm is created by Frank Visser, but he always shares is work, ideas and his studio with a lot of other creative people. During InsideDesign you could also have a look at the drawings of Charlotte Koopman and Veronik Willems (below) and visit Mieke Willems  a shop that is set up by Mieke Verbijlen and Veronik Willems. Lovely work that puts a smile on your face.

Marlein at Ijm

People that visit or work with Frank Visser's studio Ijm, are always spoiled with Marlein Overakker's food. This weekend, during InsideDesign, she cooked in the evenings, that was served inside Frank's studio. So you could feast your eyes as well as your stomach. I still dream about the dessert: whipped cream with crushed raspberries, dark dark chocolate and cookies. Served from a big jar...

If you ever visit Ijm, don't forget to sneek a peek at Marlein's kitchen, a dream for every food and style lover.

a weekend at Ijm

Busy times again! I haven't even posted all my Paris-inspirations yet, but now that's all blown away by the things that I saw this weekend. On friday InsideDesign opened, a three day-design fair organised by (the Dutch version of ) Elle (Decor). Frank Visser, color king and creative brain of IJm, always partakes in this fair and shows his magic in his studio. The good news is that they have developed their own brand of paints: IJm Colourspots. Finally! It's not in the stores yet, byt the story behind is is beautiful, very logical and very Frank. Send an email to paint@ijmcolour.com if you want to know more about it.

Also check wongema.nl, a story behind a story.