countertops!!!!!

It is so close I can smell it. Epoxy and thin set that is.... My whole house wreaks of it. To me it's the smell of success, to the Duck and G , it's headache and hallucination inducing.  I finally feel like I have accomplished something in this whole kitchen/home makeover madness.  We are so close.

Here is where we are at... Counter tops are in and half of the back splash is up...UP!!!!!

I will start with gratuitous product name dropping as soon as we have a finished product. We couldn't have done this without the help of soooo many people. Lovely people willing to take pity on a family desperate to get rid of the evergreen carpet and grape leaf wallpaper and cut us some sweet deals!

To be honest, I can't tell you how pleasant all of our trades folks have been. With the exception of one bad egg in the bunch, we have been soo happy with our crew it was eye opening to see that not all major constructions have to have problems. You can have a positive experience and people who will work and be fair cost wise! I will supply names and numbers soon.

The sophisticated classically modern design of Jamie Herzlinger Interiors & The peace-ful rural homes of At Ease Interiors

 

Jamie Herzlinger Interiors is a nationally renowned Interior Design Firm as well as a leading custom home building company, specializing in high end residential, with offices in New York, Scottsdale and Tucson.

Jamie Herzlinger is a designer who blends diverse elements, periods and cultures to create a sophisticated intercontinental environment.

Jamie Herzlinger

Her design style is inviting, yet elegant and luxurious, and above all irresistibly comfortable.

“To me, a home’s aesthetic should draw on diverse influences within a particular style. One’s home should be beautiful, exciting, thought provoking and emotionally accessible.” explains Jamie at her website.

 

I love all of the seats, especially the design of the armchairs, Jamie has chosen for this room.

 

Very classy!

 

Sophisticated!

 

 

Intercontinental environments…

…as you notice here at this kitchen with the French provencal influences.

 

Or in this Italian styled dining room with its gorgeous Italian chairs.

 

 

 

This is one of the houses built by Jamie Herzlinger home building company.

  You really have to go to the renderings page, of Jamie’s website where you will discover some beautiful renderings together with “before and after” images of some of Jamie’s pojects.

 

To visit Jamie’s blog : click HERE.

To see more of Jamie’s gorgeous interiors,

please visit her website by clicking on logo of Jamie Herzlinger Interiors.

___

 

A second designer I want you to meet is the Belgian designer Bieke Pittoors, owner of At Ease Interiors.

At Ease Interiors is a unique concept, that has grown out of Bieke’s hobby to  her true passion : helping her clients to build a house and create a warm, peaceful home where you immediately feel ‘at ease’.

Bieke Pittoors

Bieke creates welcoming and warm rural homes with character.

“My goal is to help to create a warm and nice home, where, after the rush of the day, you can relax in a cozy, homely atmosphere.” explains Bieke at her website.

 

My readers, who are following my blogposts over the last year, will definitely recognize a lof of the characteristics of the Belgian rural design style at these images of Bieke’s work.

So enjoy!

Subdued color palette and Belgian linen upholstered seating.

 

Belgian blue stone floor.

 

  Very peaceful and relaxing atmosphere.

 

Well chosen decorative items.

 

 

Notice these wooden children’s chairs!

 

 

From the first construction or renovation plan or specific to that one decorative object, Bieke is willing to listen to you.

If you wish to invoke Bieke’s services, you are always welcome to visit At Ease Interiors by appointment or contact Bieke HERE.

To discover more of Bieke’s Belgian design style, please visit her website by clicking on logo of At Ease Interiors.

___

I hope you enjoyed this post about these fabulous Interior Designers.

xx

Image source Jamie Herzlinger :  Jamie Herzlinger & http://www.jamieherzlinger.com

Image source At Ease Interiors : http://www.ateaseinteriors.be ; Photo credits : Bieke Claessens

reader request.

So I guess my big blog flaw is that I don't give enough info when I post as to where my pretty pictures come from or how to score some of the goods I source. All I can say in my defense is...most of the time I just forget where everything has come from. My computer is a virtual library with tons of images and zero information regarding where I jacked them from.

 Note to self: remember to post where my pics are from and remember to give info as to where to score the sweet deals.

Here is one I can remember. Recently I turned the BFF onto kmart.com. Now I dunno if you guys know this but there is a lot of cool chairs on the site. In fact I am going to purchase them for myself, just as soon as I dig my way out of the giant debt hole I have recently jumped into.

Take a look....again all are from www.kmart.com

kmart $170 bucks for the pair!!!

as desk chairs....or even dining chairs

$233 for the pair!

lonny mag

Sketch 42

A beautiful Belgian farm house

I love to tell and to show you a lot about Belgian architecture and interior design, so that you all become more and more familiar with it, my dear readers!

Today I am talking about a Belgian farm house, that is one of my all times favorites.

The house is new built but thanks to all the reclaimed materials, the owners brought in, it looks aged and very authentic!

Ingrid Segers and Annemie Coppens, the owners of the building company Porte Bonheur, and even the owners of this house, together with the decorator Natalie Haegeman, have done a wonderful job.

The house has a limed façade and the home extension is built with reclaimed oak.

Reclaimed Belgian roof tiles, which we call here “Boomse pannen”.

The use of steel windows and doors are one of the characteristics of Belgian architecture. I wrote about this HERE.

The kitchen dinner corner.

Even the interior of the house has an aged appearance because of the antique and aged furniture the owners and decorator have chosen for. I love it!

The architectural plans of the house were designed to match the old doors which the owners bought long ago before the house was built. The door between the living room and the kitchen is an old stable door.

Even the exterior as the interior of this house are so charming and cozy, which creates such a familiar atmosphere!

Natalie Haegeman, a decorator of Antwerp, ( I wrote a blogpost of Natalie earlier (HERE) ), was asked to create a warm and inviting interior! She did it in an outstanding way, by choosing beautiful aged furniture, carpets and fabrics!

Natalie is also specialized in custom made lampshades. Her website of these remarkable shades will soon be on line HERE. So she took care of the sconces, the floor and table lamps. Sometimes she used old pots that she transformed into beautiful table lamps.

Remarkable are the aged stools, placed around in this house. Very practical if all your friends are coming over!

Beautiful combination of the oak table and wicker chair.

Aged oak boards used as flooring.

“Although the chosen colors for the interior are held rather subdued, this antique secretary is an eye catcher.” explains Natalie. “It is an antique piece of furniture that is crooked, but it has the perfect look for this house.”

Notice the sconce with one of Natalie’s custom made shades.

The applied tadelakt technique gives the bathroom a rural and natural look.

Well-meant congratulations to Ingrid, Annemie and Natalie with their gorgeous, successful project, which is a wonderful example of the Belgian rural architectural design.

I hope you enjoyed this farm house tour of today and I wish you all a wonderful week!

xx

Architectural design by Porte Bonheur

Interior design by Natalie Haegeman

Images scanned Belgian magazine Wonen Landelijke Stijl – oktober-november 2008

Photo credit : Bieke Claessens

Dream Weaver

I am so sure you (my 4 followers) are bored with these lame stories and boring progress shots, but something really funny happened this morning and your gonna hear about it cause I DON'T GIVE A CRAP! My house is finally starting to resemble that of "a house" and not a nuclear testing site which makes me so emotional I am dangerous to be around. I might grab you and make you let me cry on your shoulder. Or I might blog about my wacky dream/realities and bore you to death.  Let me explain.

This morning when I heard G stirring on the monitor I did what I have done every morning for the past month.

-got outta bed and looked for some shoes and a jacket so I could shuffle onto the back patio where our fridge has been living to get G her morning milk. The jacket was on so I could brave the cold and take a healthy heaping breath in of our living hell, and the shoes, because my journey into the construction wilderness would leave me covered in dirt and dust. The same drywall and construction dirt and dust that has settled on every single solitary surface within a three mile radius of my nuclear testing site house.
I got outta bed to take the dreaded journey out of our room so I could curse myself and my choice to re-model our perfectly tolerable outdated and ugly home.... And then I stopped dead in my tracks.....and BAM!.......it hit me.

I rubbed my eyes and pinched my self... I stood at the patio door and stared at the empty spot where our fridge has been living and  Holy Shit, our fridge is not outside...It's gone...someone has stolen it. Someone has came in the night and backed thier truck up into my yard, loaded it up, and stolen my frickin fridge..

And then the loud screech of my teething toddler echoed in my ears and I realized that no one had stolen my fridge. My fridge was in the house.. In its correct spot in the wall nestled somewhere between my rough topped and almost finished kitchen island and my LAUDRY ROOM...All constructed and dust free..kinda. My fridge was there and my jacket and shoes were not needed because I had heating and floors. Beautiful, beautiful floors. And a warm and cozy.... kinda... HOUSE.

I happily filled G's cup full of milk and ran into our room...."Ducky..the fridge hasn't been stolen. It's in the wall inside the house and we have floors...Ducky there are floors out there"

His look made me realize that I have officially lost my damn mind and that this kinda brain damage is most likely irreversible but I don't  care.
I have a fridge thats inside my house!

Pictures to prove it!!!

Wish boner Chair

"She will be mine, oh yes, she will be mine" ~ Waynes World

I want these chairs... I can't say much more about them other than that they come in some cool ass colors and I like them enough to tell you again "HEY I Want these!!!"

sorry here is where you can buy these! They aint cheap

or 

you can buy them here....still really pricey

here are some reasonably priced options that a little can of spray paint would fix!!

Viva Terra

Overstock

Front doors and accessories

I’ve always had a weakness for beautiful front doors. I came across these pictures of French front doors I wanted to share with you today.

 

 

French LXV styled door, walnut.

 

 

French LXIV styled door, oak.

 

French door “de Provence”, walnut.

 

Antique French farm house front door.

 

Typical French “door de Provence”. My favorite!!

 

Painted country house door.

 

  Painted 18th century styled door.

 

 

Let’s take a look at some awesome front door accessories.

French door knockers

 

Beautiful wrought iron lantern.

 

Charming door bells.

A door stop.

 

Love the French word “Gratte-pieds” , placed at the front door and used to wipe or scrape your feet.

 

Cast-iron door mat.

 

And I love to find beautiful hardware ! I gives a door just that little bit more! Don’t you agree?

xx

Image source :  here