Placards & a quick garden update

 

First of al I want to thank you my readers for the nice comments on my garden post! I am so pleased with your interest in the evolution of our garden. So nice to read your thoughts about it! Thank you! I so appreciate it!

We really enjoyed spending this long weekend in our garden and Jan has created the steps I loved to have since a long time, he added more gravel on the paths and started to prepare our future vegetable garden. Here are some pictures I took yesterday.

  Now we have to plant some more of the hedges on both sides of the steps.

 

Adding gravel.

 

Preparing our future vegetable garden.

___

And now over to the “placard” post.

A “placard” is a cupboard or wardrobe attached to the wall, or even built in in the masonry. I have always loved to see a placard in a room, especially the French provencal style placard.

New-made or antique placards, both can be beautiful and can be used in different rooms.

 

Love the way of displaying the china here in both sitting areas. Notice the led lighting inside!

source : unknown

source : Tim Clinch

 

Cupboard placard in this dining room.

  source : here  photo credit Francis Peyrat

 

Even used as a bookcase. Love that!!

source : Magazine Riant Wonen, issue 2002, Renoveren in Stijl. Renovation company Renoplan.

 

source : unknown

 

Love the old patina of the placard doors here in both pictures.

source : unknown

  source : unknown

 

This placard is placed in one of my favorite Belgian restaurants “Onder de Toren”. They serve very delicious food and it is a very charming and cosy place to be! (check their website : here).

source : here

 

source : here  photo credit Patrick Smith

 

A placard is not only used in dining or living rooms! It is a wonderful piece of furniture brought into the kitchen!

source : here

source here

source : here

 

A corner cupboard placard!

source : unknown

source : unknown

 

I love the mix of wooden and painted placard doors in this kitchen.

source : Magazine MTC , issue 2010-5

 

Oak placards in this very Belgian styled kitchen.

source : here  photo credit Jo Pauwels for Beta Plus Publishing

 

source : unknown

source : here

source : here

 

One of my favorite pictures! If I had to redo my kitchen, I definitely would go for this kind of kitchen by Pamela Pierce. source : here photo credit Peter Vitale

source : here

 

Placards used as wardrobe in a bedroom.

source : here photo credit Patrice Binet

 

So very French and romantic!

source : here photo credit Alexandre Réty

 

Shutter doors used here!

source : here

  source : here

 

source : here

 

A placard with mirrored doors in an entry hall.

  source : here

Placard de vestiaire in the entry hall of my home. Photo credit Efie De Grande

 

I found an interesting address in the south of France where you will discover gorgeous antique placards and all kinds of beautiful doors :

 PORTES ANCIENNES

These (images of website Portes Anciennes) are a few of the range of antique placards they offer.

Beautiful walnut armoire de chasse placard.

Bow-fronted walnut placard.

Placard in pine.

Placard of shutters.

Click on logo to visit the Portes Anciennes website.

So for those who travel to the Provence this summer, this company is definitely worth a visit!

I wish you all a fresh start of this new week.

xx

One room 2 Looks with: I Suwanee

Ok this post is a bit off schedule but honestly it deserves an entire weekend for you all to obsess over.

This talented ladybird needs zero introduction. She has one of the most popular and recognizable blogs in blog land, she has a crazy cool store, and she's a damn gifted interior designer. We were fast "blog buddies" and I am so glad cause she is WICKED COOL!

I just got these puppies in my inbox and I couldn't believe it. No words, just these photos and I am totally OK with that. Thanks Jamie! 

"TaDaaahhhhh"

BAM BAM....

HOLLA....

Fabulicious....YES

Best DIY's of the century!

I fancy myself a rookie DIY'er so I marvel at the projects some people can accomplish with a bit o' elbow grease and a head on their shoulders. I get all a fluster like a cheerleader eyeballing "Johnny quarterback" when I come across a rockin display of DIY. My wheels start turning and I have dreams about accomplishing such splendiferous fabulousness. Alas I have a really tight schedule and it seems to be getting crazier by the day so my time slot for DIY has dwindled. I am left to drool and that's a bummer but I am cool with it.

Anyways here are a couple of my current faves.

this is AMAZING and WOWZA....that is the only words I could muster.

see the tutorial HERE

How about this super cool ottoman? I would choose a different fabric for myself but I really love the look.

see tutorial HERE

What a brilliant lady Jenny is. I want to do this so bad! 

See tutorial HERE

I would like to do this above a bed......But HUGE

see tutorial HERE

See tutorial HERE..I would try one of those cool color duct tapes. 

Neon Pink!!

Neon Lights

I was writing up a guest post for one of my lovely co-bloggers on the topic of color and I decided I love it so much that I would write about over here also.....

I ask you, whats a better color that the brightest color out there....well my friends, how bout some
NEON!

All of these things are pretty cool and you should go and buy them because I can't afford to..... 

Good ol' home ownership and child-care will get you broke every time.

Neon-purchasables 

{sources}

1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8

A long weekend in our garden!

 

As we have a long weekend here in Belgium and the weather forecast is very promising, we certainly will enjoy our garden!

Tomorrow Jan will finish some jobs that have to be done in our garden. He wil lay bricks for a flight of steps, add some gravel to the paths and will start the lay out of our vegetable garden! But that’s for tomorrow! Today we will relax and enjoy our garden.

So I decided to share with you some pictures of our garden I took the passed weeks.

We moved in our house 4 years ago (June 2007) and we are very pleased to watch growing all the flowers, plants and trees we planted the passed years.

These plane trees we planted Autumn 2009.

The old garden roses we planted in September last year.

Honorine de Brabant

Ulrich Brunner

Madame Isaac Pereire

Our hydrangeas (planted April 2009)are a bit late this year! I am so looking forward to their flowering!

The young fruit trees and hedges in our backyard are doing well. We planted them Autumn 2009.

 

Apple trees, pear trees, walnut trees,…

 

The lawn.

I so love this wall hydrangea at the façade of our house. (Planted in 2008)

 

Rambler Kir Royal (2008)

And I am so proud of our grape-vine we planted in 2007 at the wall of the orangery! He is doing so well and gives us lots of white grapes!

On both sides of the graveled path : ‘Aspirin’ rose.

‘Aspirin’ rose.

View from the terrace.

I hope you all will enjoy this weekend!

xx

NEW STUFF and Macrame

I have added a button!!!!!!! So please take my little button and add it to your blog if you love whats goin on over her at AID...
Also If you have mentioned me or my projects on any of your blogs please let me know so I can give you credit and link on over to you.
in other news.....

How cool is Sally England Macrame? It's art to say the least. It would look stunning as a full wall room divider..don't you fink. She also applied it as a headboard which I thought was radical. Go check it out here

I could totally DIY this! on my list