Time for things I like today

Did I tell you it's still a bit wet over here?

Between the basement make over, my in-laws arrival and my son's 5th grade trip departure for Washington I managed to squeeze in a few moments of  quiet contemplation.
Which looks like this: Me sneaking up early into my bedroom, tea on one side, magazines on the other and stick on's nearby to mark things I like to show you...
Well, of course I found things I would not mind surrounding myself with!
Come and see!
From the pages of the current House Beautiful, Country Living and Better Homes and Gardens.

And these from the sweet Canadian blog CeCe & Co.

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

On a more private note: My husband and I will be traveling to Berlin, Germany on Friday to see the boys, catching up on their lives. We are so excited about our departure, this being a rare trip just for the two of us!
I promise I'll bring back fresh impressions from the city and of course also some cool new design ideas!


See you all in about two weeks! Be good and keep in touch!


XX
Victoria




All images via shelter magazines and the indicated blog.

Bold Paint Colors for your Walls

Kick it up a notch with bold paint color! Add a splash of pink, blue and yellow to your walls to make a statement.

Related: Decorating Ideas - Paint Colors

More Beautiful Living and More ways to follow BB&B

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photos: apartment therapy

Beautiful Living: Chandeliers

... another inspirational photo to add to my chandelier and mirror collection.

More BB&B mirror posts:

Bright Ideas: Using Mirrors, Decorating with Mirrors

Bright Ideas: Using Mirrors, Bright Ideas: Using Mirrors

photo: pinterest

Mo

re ways to follow BB&B

shop * facebook * twitter * bloglovin * bamboopink * youtube

How divine

This is some divine seating if you ask me. By Designers Guild! In good company with Finn - Juhl's beautiful settee...Poeten!

Introducing the Julep sofa!


And browsing todays Wall Street Journal, there I found an extensive and fabulous article about 'The Rise Of The Personal'! Just how I always felt about decorating...
What has been analyzed for months in the blog world has reached now mainstream: UN- DECORATING is the new black! 
It looks pretty to me.


xx
Victoria





Image via designers guild.com

Old and yet so now

What seems already so long ago - our winter break was spent in Woodstock, VT.
There is a wonderful place nearby: Billings Farm. It is a working museum farm, with livestock, gardens and a wonderful farmhouse museum, built for the farm manager and his family around the 1890's.
What was so interesting about the place is the fact that it was designed very forward thinking for the time, with central heating, with running warm and cold water, a airy basement and many of the luxuries of the time.

Walking through the rooms I felt they would easily satisfy residents today, give or take a few things. I was delighted to find beautiful wallpapers.

Just look at this place! It's wallpapers are absolutely now!

The bathroom, with a hand painted sink, very fancy!

Build-in china closet in the dining room.

 I love the pantry! Why don't they build houses today like this anymore?

Look at the incredible coffee storage and grinder!

I loved these rooms, the light and the thoughtful layout.
This is the dairy, they had the first mechanical butter maker in the country!

And transportation....

Enough land to go on a sleigh ride!

More then 120 years ago doesn't seem so old-fashioned at all! I was reminded of images I have seen only recently...

A happy weekend to you my friends!
xx
Victoria



Images above by V.Zlotkowski, Country Home magazine, Zoffany wallpaper and Tribal Home.

before and afters in our guest cottage

You may remember that a while back I asked your opinion on window treatment for the eaves bedroom in our guest cottage.  I thought you might like to see progress so far.

I worked out a simple method of fixing a crown for draped curtains behind the bed head.  I have been experimenting with linen drapes, lined with antique embroidered voile.  This is a good start, but at 28" each,  the drapes are nowhere near wide enough.  I'll be needing at least twice that width to give a proper fullness.

Here is the before shot!

There has been good progress redecorating the kitchen as well, calming down colours and freshening up.  It doesn't always need a total makeover to make a room feel welcoming.

and the before shot, not sure how I stuck with these colours for so long!

There'll be more to come, next stop will be the sitting room.
  I'm currently upholstering this baby!

watch this space ...

Of chairs and boxes and this and that

Good morning! The weather god must have had such a change of heart! Yesterday's sun beckoned us out. We cleaned up the yard, did lots of cuttings and removed dried grasses. We got large sweeps of ready to pop forsythia and today we are having fresh snow...Oh well!

Winter goes reluctantly!

On Saturday we visited one of the small lovely river towns along Hudson and I happened to come upon a moving sale of one of my favorite stores there: The Saffron Trading Company! Oh, I love when this happens....

A small gem of a shop, with mostly Asian furniture, ceramics, baskets, linens and much more.

Due to their move across the street into a larger facility they have an amazing 25 - 50% sale going on. I found a few lovely things, among them these two beauties....

Originally for $260 a piece I scored them two for the price of one! I simply could not pass this chance. They are lovely done, with small carvings in the frame and legs, upholstered in a simple linen. They will be adding useful seating around the dining table, one will serve me at my small writing desk!

I've got this basket and a pretty wooden box, painted in a light blue. $11 and $14 respectively!

The box will hold letters and sits now under a small table next to my work desk!

While cleaning the garage and garden I came upon this little basket, which sat almost forgotten in one of the shelves, so in it came and after a good scrub I lined it with a French linen towel and it holds our daily cutlery. Easy to pick and the kids love to set the table with it.

And talking of table setting, looking through my files I found this site, which I had marked, because I saw so many great ideas popping into my head after finding all these lovely decorative items. Vases, lights, candle holders, party inspirations.

Go check it out here!

That's it for today!

Wishing you a true beginning of spring!

XX

Victoria