Merry Christmas!!

And the best wishes for the new year.

I have a question....

Last weekend we finally became the owners of our french house.
In the kitchen is a cabinet and we wonder how old it is.
Does anybody know of what year this cabinet is. I love it!!! I'll try to make it in miniature. The lower draw in the middle is for baguettes :-)



No time for mini's at the moment. My head is filled with the french house LOL

Hugs, Monique

Weekend in Paris

Last weekend I visited Paris with my oldest daughter Laura. We had a weekend magnifique!! We stayed in a hotel 5 minutes from le Tour Eiffel. That was great....we have a lots of picture of the tower :-)
This is one in the mist. This doesn't mean that we had bad weather....I just like this picture ;-)



Of course we also had to visit the shop of lea Frisoni. I bought a few beautiful things there; a little dress and a nightstand. These will go in the brocante house.
The windows are for a future project.
Lea's shop: Dentelles et Ribambelles.




Do you like my new agenda??? I bought it in the louvre.


The cutest little dress!!




Sunday we went to the Louvre and that's so great. I got a lot of inspiration for lots of things. The rooms of Napoleon were the best!!! And now try and make something like this at home ;-) Mmmm for my new project maybe.



Hugs, Monique

Again the elevator

It's ready. Pfff but before it was there was a lot of cursing around here.
When the doors were the way they look in the former post I was satisfied and glued them in the house. BIG MISTAKE!!!
It looked alright but then I wanted to make photo's and put in the doors to the two shops. It's unbelievable that I didn't notice it before but the elevatordoors were way to big. It looked like crap. So I wanted to take them out again but that was some good glue I used. *&^%@*&
Of course that was impossible without ruining everything. I first went to make myself a cup of tea and then worked on a solution.
I made a new border on the top of the doors and then added little borders on the 'windows' so it would look like the doors can open.
The handles had to come off because they were too high. Of course the paint went off aswell.
Ooo well it's like Murpys law isn't it???
I have some great borders I bought on the Arnhem fair last year and that was just the thing to make a bit like I want it to look.
Not bad but not perfect either. Well I didn't want a perfect house but one that shows its years.
There you have it.......a hall with elevator.



Excuses for the crappy pictures. Some days it's just not meant to be.

Hugs, Monique

Elevatordoors

I see that I have to remove a hair but.....
I'm content :-)

Progress

The floor for the hall is finished!! I'll use the same tiles for the hall on the second floor. I'm really happy with the endresult.
Today I finally made some progress on the elevator. I've decided to make the doors of cardboard. We'll see were this leads to....I'm not completely sure yet ;-)



Well, I like the way you can see through the 'window'
I made a little lamp in the elevator for indirect light. This will look great (I hope) when its all finished.

Tiles, tiles and more tiles

I finally found a nice tile for the hall. We found them in Beaune France.
We visited 'Les Hospices des Beaune' and there they were!!! Beautiful coulors and old. That's what I want for my french house. It should look all used.
On the floor tiling are written Nicolas Rolin's monogram and his motto "Seulle" referring to his wife, Guigone de Salins.
Nicolas Rolin and his wife created a hospital and refuge for the poor.
This museum is really worth a visit if you're in Beaune. It's absolutely beautiful.

We've got a french house!!!

For years it's been a dream for us to own a house in France and last week it finally came true!! We found a beautiful place in the Haute-Saone with a view to die for.
We will spend a lot of weekends and vacantions there in the future!! Don't have a lot of photo's to show you yet because we still have to sign all the paperwork. I don't want to put it on the web as ours just yet. But I want to share a photo of the view with you!!!! Aren't we the most lucky people in the world???



On the right is a button for my new blog about the house and France. There's not a lot yet but that won't last long :-)

work of the last week

Last few days I've been busy with some furniture that I already had for a while.
The colours were not right. The chair was dark red and the little desk was dark brown.
Not exactly something that would look nice in a brocante house. So I changed the colour to scandinavian green. Turns out more purple than green but I like the colour.
I also made a curtain ( don't know if this is the right word). This will go very well in one of the two appartments on the second floor :-)

My other house

Absolutely no inspiration at the moment :-( Here are some photo's of my other house.


















This is my first house and a lot of things I made I would do different now. Maybe I'll change it one day.
The kitchen is made by me but the inspiration came from Lea Frisoni.
The bookstore will stay in the house but I'll change the wallpaper. Too dark for my taste now.
At the moment I'm reading books and thinking of my elevator. Still not sure how to make that darned thing!!!
Something like this would be nice ;-)

vintage and roses

Lately I've been busy deciding what wallpaper I should use in the vintage shop.
That always a difficult but important choice. That makes or breaks a beautiful room.
I'll use the soft beige and browns. Not sure yet for the floor so that will have to wait. I'm thinking of a wooden floor or maybe tiles. But I can't find the tiles that I have in my head so that might take a while ;-)
The mirror is aged and looks a lot better now. The little cabinet is something I found in the shop when I was looking for wallpaper. I couldn't resist it.
It's so pretty!!




The window was a pain to put the paint and the wallpaper on. So it still looks a bit messy. Especially the outside needs a windowcleaner!! But first the floor and then the cleaning :-)






The bedspread is made by my mother in law. I love these roses but couldn't embroider so small. So she made 2 of these spreads for me. Isn't that sweet!! I'm lucky to have such a sweet lady as my mother in law :-)
I layed on of them on the double bed in my dutch house. This room is almost finished but I'm planning on changing a few things.
Dollhouses are never really finished are they?? There's allways room for improvement.

An update

It's been a while ago that I posted on my blog. First there was my vacation ( which was super!!) and when I came home it was very busy at work. But last week I had time and inspiration for my vintage-shop :-)



This is just a first try. I'm not happy with the mirror so that's going to chance and I'm not sure about the floor yet. We'll see.



My new tables and all the hats I've collected. I had more then I remembered!! Sometimes I find miniatures in my boxes that I completely forgot ;-) The tables are made by me and the flowers and hatboxes were kits. The rest is bought or a gift.

Just a few pictures

We are having a great time. The only thing I would like different is the weather :-(

1 week on the road

We have been driving through the US for the last week now. What a big country is this!!! I'll never get used to the space and emptiness here. We have seen Walnut Grove and DeSmet. The homes of the Ingallsfamily. It's been great to walk around in the same towns where laura used to live. Lot has changed but with a bit of imagination you can see how it must have looked like in those days.
The weather is not so good but that is not stopping us from having a great time here!!!

This are some of Laurs's things



The fireplace that was used in the series 'little house on the prairie'



The prairie how it looks like today



The graves of the family Ingalls in DeSmet



That's it for now. The internet is terribly slow!!!

USA here we come!!!

Tomorrow we'll be on our way to America for a vacation!!! We'll be visiting the north and will see a lot of beautiful places :-)
We'll absolutely visit Walnut Grove and De Smet because of the family Ingalls and Laura especially!!! I've always enjoyed her stories in books and on the tv and now I have the chance to see it for myself. Can't wait ;-).
We will also see the badlands and Yellow Stone. So I'l be in the big world for a while instead of the mini-world LOL.
When there's a chance I'll put some photo's on my blog.
For now here's a little roombox I made as a souvenir of our last vacation in the midwest. The mini's are bought somewhere along the route and the photo's are made in Arches NP. The rest is made by me. This roombox always takes me back to that vacation.

Sweets from Japan

A while ago a friend of my oldest daughter went to Japan. When she came back home she brought me a mini-gift. Isn't that sweet!?!
The little cookies and pie-pieces fit perfect on the bowls that Jollie has sent me.
This will be a nice treat for the customers of the vintageshop.

A present from Jollie

Today I received these beautiful mini's from Jollie. I'm really spoiled!! Thank you Jollie :-)




Last week I've been busy with a flowerkit of Pascal Garnier. These make the most beautiful daffodils!!! Just look at them.....I love them. A lot of work but so worth it.

From one thing comes another

Yes!!! they have arrived :-)
The most beautiful hats I have ever seen. They were beautiful on the photo but in real life they're absolutely gorgeous!!!!
These hats will be the centrepiece of my vintageshop.
And from buying them comes the other thing LOL. Now I'm in need of a fitting table. And some hatstands ( is that how they call them??).
As an extra surprise Janine included a cushion with hatpins an two!! boxes wich were filled with the sweetest pair of gloves and a fan.
Thanks again Janine!!! I love it :-)
If you like hats you should check out her blog. They are all so beautiful. Hard to choose ;-)

New floor

My brocanteshop has a new floor. I like this one much better :-) It was a lot of work but it's worth it.



So for now I'm done with this shop. Up to the neighbours!!
At the moment I'm busy with the hall between the two shops. At the end you can see the beginning of the elevator. I want an oldfashion one so this is taking up a lot of my time. After lots of surfing the internet and thinking I came up with a sort of plan. Now I have to find the right stuff to make what I want. That can be a difficult thing!!! I already found really beautiful strips at the Arnhem fair. And yesterday I saw some candleholders. I see mini in the most peculiar things LOL.
I think I can use them to make the doors for the elevator!!
This will be continued.....for now the elevator as it is at the moment.




The next shop will be a vintage shop. I have put some things together that I will use in this shop. Just to get an idea how it will look like.
I bought two gorgeous hats from Janine Crocker. These will be the centrepiece in the shop!!! Can't wait till they arrive ;-)