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Friday, September 30, 2011

{Our Dining Room}

After having shown you our kitchen it is now time to show you our dining room. It is adjacent to the kitchen and also to the hall way with a window that looks out onto the street. All of our solid French oak furniture, lights from Italy and other belongings, we did bring over from The Netherlands. So all you see in our dining room is from the old world, except for one tall book case that was custom build in Vermont by Woodruff Custom Furniture. The walls are painted with Benjamin Moore Latex Eggshell Enamel C286 Bone White 03. Let's start the tour...

The door to the hallway and here is the solid oak Woodruff book case, custom build, from Vermont. Window with window sills. That's a unique European feature that we've build into our entire home. In the kitchen and veranda we do have wide Corian windowsills, custom made. Lots of books we have in every room of the house...
French Limoges plates and Dachshund and cat miniatures.
The windows do have solid oak indoor shutters.
Through the windows you can see the Victorian Vintage Woodworks ginger bread in our front porch.
Our floor is Bruce Liberty Plains 5" natural white oak planks.
More books on the shelves...
The photograph from the famous oak, called 't Struukske, from my hometown in Limburg, is done by my brother Martin. That photo was also part of a calendar that was published for which my other brother Piet wrote the text.
Mom & Dad had their first meeting at the bench below the huge oak tree, as they both were in servitude nearby.
The antique oak crucifix belonged to Pieter's Mom & Dad.
The door to the kitchen.
Lamp from Italy from the area where we lived from a local 'Lampedari'. All our ceiling and wall lamps are made in Italy, as well as the outdoor lamps.
The top shelf holds some Colombian items from our extended family.
The bottom shelf shows Schwarovski pieces to the left and other crystals to the right from the Czech Republic.
A hand turned wooden lamp, made by the Father of a dear friend.
The cross stitch rose embroidered bell pull is hand made by me... 
It was part of my dowry.
The wooden tray has been hand carved by Pieter's Father and it does have a glass insert.
You also see one of my gilded magnolia leaves on it...
Silk rug from Srinagar Jammu & Kashmir State, India
Sea shells from the Island of Saint Martin in the Caribbean.
A real batik from Bali on the wall. Some antique botanical prints framed and my oak Dutch Zaanse clock.
China is: English Rose by Royal Doulton ←click it.
English Rose by Royal Doulton
Antique oak tea cart, we removed its wheels...

Related articles:
{More of Our Kitchen} | previous post by me
{Our Kitchen Improvements} | previous post by me
{Our 'GREEN' Bedroom} |previous post by me
{Our Home of almost 20 years} |previous post by me
{French Floral Pillow Set and our Gazebo} | previous post by me

Thursday, September 29, 2011

{Edible Agaricus Campestris or Meadow Mushroom}

On August 3, Pieter did make these great pictures of some edible Agaricus campestris in our garden. They are also called field or meadow mushroom. They are closely related to the cultivated white button mushrooms or Agaricus bisporus. You CAN eat them, no problem whatsoever. They eventually will open up as they grow older, just as the white button mushrooms will do. Or any brown variety of course.

Related article:
Modern Mushroom Growing by P.J.C. Vedder (my husband Pieter...)

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

{Naughty Feline}

Our youngest feline girl, Spicy III, is a naughty one. It took us a while before figuring out that she was very active at night, unloading the shelves of our built-in closets. I already pondered about the fact why suddenly a pile of sweaters was on the floor... Did someone leave the bi-fold doors open? Pieter and I always closed them. So one night, I woke up because I did hear a noise... When I went after the noise, I found this little 'Devilette' on her side, poking with one paw under the bi-fold door until it would actually fold up and she could get in and start her night shift job! WOW... what to do now?! Below you will see the solution as to what we came up with in order to prevent her from repeating her plan again. That is, we did alter five bi-fold doors of all closets, so she no longer can get in. I still woke up hearing her trying to jam the doors open but her muscle power could no longer do it...
She looks like an angel but she is a real 'Devilette'...
This used to be her night time job area...
She worked very hard at unloading those shelves...
Handyman Pieter did make this kind of lock on the inside but that worked only for half of the bi-fold. There was no way to get into the closet for reaching the second one. So he put his thinking-cap on and came up with this...
Drilling holes into the bi-fold doors and adding a simple hook like this...
Problem solved!


Related articles

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

{Miele Catwalk Fever}

In my previous post you have read about our Miele US  kitchen appliance such as the oven, plate & cup warming drawer, dishwasher, ceran cook top and built-in hood. Will write later about our food warming drawer from Miele and our washer and dryer from Miele. Oh, yes we got a Miele vacuum cleaner as well...
BUT the 2010 Miele Magazine shows you whether it's haute couture, business dress or casual wear, when it comes to fashion, Miele's connection is clear to see. This is demonstrated by events in the USA, Belgium and Great Britain, which deal with the topic of fashion in quite different ways, but all with the same result: their customers are inspired. This did result in a first place winning look at Product Runway in Seatle, Washington. The following images are taken from the above hyperlink (2010 Miele Magazine) and you can find the matching page right there. Hope you will enjoy this fascinating catwalk made from Miele appliances. The dress below is made from the anti-slip warming drawer mats! Guess you will need more than one warming drawer so I will not be able to convert mine into a très chic ensemble... Enjoy!

Monday, September 26, 2011

{More of Our Kitchen}

On August 30 in my post {Our Kitchen Improvements} I did promise to show you more of our kitchen, so here it is... When we bought our property we were looking for a lot with sun in the back of the house, south side for the afternoon. That also meant that our bay window area would have morning sun as it is facing east. We never did regret this—as it is the most joyful start of the day for having breakfast in the sun! 
Husband Pieter did make the design of our home and we had it custom build by a local contractor.
Seen here also are our IKEA Nordmyra chairs.
You have seen my hand crocheted curtains before in my post about {Our White Ceramic Chandeliers from Italy} also in this post about {Giovanni Raspini Silver Christmas Balls} and in this post {French Floral Pillow Set and our Gazebo}. Oh and also here: {My Old-Time Spun Glass Halloween Ornaments}...
Detail of handcrocheted rose curtains.
Door to our veranda.
Miele US  Plate & Cup Warming Drawer above Dishwasher.
Miele Oven above Plate & Cup Warming Drawer.
Great feature is the TOP SOLO
Well deserved recognition! It is so true. Miele is available at Miele USA.
See how those two Gardena scissors are hung from three chrome knobs.

Gardena Garden Scissor for removing thorns from roses.
These chrome knobs are available at Home Depot in sets of two, see info below.
Our Amana refrigerator with pull out freezer drawer.
Energy Star rated.
Wide shelves are great for large platters.
Door to living room and hall-way.
Door to dining room.
Buffet with tea chest and tray.
Feline resident Tiggy-Tiger girl...