{Our Guest Bathroom}

One more project to show you about; and after all, you had not seen Our Guest Bathroom before... Here she comes:

This is the same vanity from Italy as we have in our Master Bathroom. You can find the link below.

We did bring this home with us from Italy in a container, after not building our home there but returning to the U.S.A.

In the mirror you can see the bi-fold closet doors. As said before, this house has numerous build in closets and we love it!

That is the door to the hallway. Behind the high gloss white vanity cabinet from Italy, you see a Swedish IKEA GODMORGON high gloss white cabinet, as it did match perfectly. I keep my Lampe Berger Collection inside for my Zen Cart powered on line Boutique: Mariette's Back to Basics.

On the other wall is also an IKEA GODMORGON high gloss white.

We do have three of these brass with porcelain door knobs.

Two in the master bathroom on each side of the door. Great for hanging your robe and such.

These came from Restoration Hardware in the 1990s and they no longer carry them.

From Home Depot came these Snow White tiles, which Pieter used to create a tile baseboard instead of the wooden one. After we had our master bathroom done; Pieter worked on the guest bathroom and did it himself.

Nice shiny and easy to clean.

At Complete Tile Collection NYC New York they do have a 5-½" high Normandy Baseboard by Vermeere Ceramic Tile Molding. That might have worked too. Their Skirting Baseboard is almost 1" too short for replacing our wooden baseboards. We were restricted to size. 

The wall paper is washable too and we don't need to replace that any time soon.

Standing near the hallway door now and looking towards the window.

This bathroom is rather long.

The cotton mats are from Italy.

The vanity has halogen lights; never hot and provide a perfect view with the large beveled mirror.

Now you can see the bi–fold closet doors and the sliding tub doors behind. That's the exact same bathtub that we replaced in our master bathroom with a shower. This works fine; still one tub left in the home!

In front of the tub doors you see a pull chain; that is for the heat lamp above.

To the left you see the double IKEA GODMORGON high gloss white cabinet.

Danish Damixa faucet in white. We used to have the very same in our master bathroom but had to replace it with a chrome Damixa.

Dolomiti is written in the vanity sink... made in Northern Italy.

Here you can see the air-conditioning ceiling register to the left and the exhaust fan with two heating lamps in front of the tub. We have those in all bathrooms and that is such a luxury. You just pull them on and pamper yourself when toweling dry. Not in the summer of course!

We picked up this idea when visiting friends in Australia and had them installed in our home.

Our German 'son' even has them installed in their master bathroom.

If you lived with them, you never want to do without!

To the right you see the other IKEA GODMORGON high gloss white cabinet. 

My French Linen Angels you can find below post in link.

Another Danish Damixa faucet in white. The shower head we no longer have in white...

This is the exact same as we used to have in the master bathroom.

Hard to catch on camera and with the flash you get all kind of shine...

A convenient chrome caddy from Tuesday Morning...

Almost impossible to capture my hand made filet lace embroidered angels by daylight...

The same hand crocheted edging around the filet lace embroidered work as in the master bathroom... See link below post.

There you go; photo taken at dark... Angels & Roses!

The same solid oak, painted white indoor shutters as in all rooms except kitchen and veranda.

Tiny brass nails that got painted white and will never tarnish the hand embroidered lace.

You can read more about it from my previous post below...

This toilet with Eco friendly dual flush, we did bring home from Costco in Miami... 

The two toilet tissue holders we picked up as an idea at the Grand Hyatt in Atlanta; see previous post about it below.

The toilet tissue stand is from Tuesday Morning.

Ending with this sculptured watercolor by Patsy Gullett... see post about it below.

So what do you think; is this guest bathroom looking okay to you?

Related links:
{Our New Shower with Dreamline Frameless Sliding Shower Door} | previous post by me
{Our Bathroom Renovation from Tub to Shower while Caring for the Environment} | previous post by me
{Our Rose Suite Bedroom} | previous post by me showing our other, integrated bathroom, with shower
{French Country Style at Mariette's Back to Basics} | previous post by me showing the IKEA GODMORGON high gloss white cabinets
{OUR EXCEPTIONAL VOSSEN INTERNATIONAL TERRY TOWELS} | previous post by me about our 30+ year old towels
{2 Ideas picked up at the Grand Hyatt, Atlanta} | previous post by me
{My Private Lampes Berger Collection + Boutique Items} | previous post by me showing the IKEA GODMORGON cabinets.
{My Hand Made Filet Lace Embroidered Angels} | previous post by me showing bathroom window
{Sculptured Watercolors by Patsy Gullett since 1981} | previous post by me
{My French Linen Angels + INFO for Toile de Jouy Fabrics} | previous post by me

{BIRTHDAY}

April 29 is dear husband Pieter's Birthday! We both are grateful for yet another year together after all our health problems. Pieter is going strong and has worked so hard the past couple of months. It seems like an endless mega task when owning a home! 

Pieter did put a multiplex board floor on our attic and he compacted the viscose insulation to work it in an even layer underneath those boards–more eco friendly.

Installing a railing on the pull-out stairs and also installing lights with a hotel switch so it will turn itself off automatically, IF we would forget... Proud of my handy-man and let's hope that God will grant him many more years in good health.

Related link:
{Royal Wedding invitation + PIETER's Birthday!} | previous post by me

{Horst my Birth Place, Used to be an Old Linen Weavers Town}

• Most of you probably do know, how linen is produced; from Flax into Linen. 
• Flax is the world's oldest fiber plant with a lovely flower that varies from white to intense blue. Below this post you find several Flax and Linen informative links. Also you can find out more about the top linen fiber producing countries in the world today.
• Well, Horst in the province of Limburg, my Birth Place, was such an important Flax producing town and we used to have lots of home weavers and also several Flax Fens. One was only half a mile away from my Parents' home; called 't Rotven (Rotting Fen).

• On October 17, of 2005 we did make this photo of a work of art  called: ' Linen yarn drying '. The bronze work refers to the many home weaving mills that Horst once knew. The yarn was placed into water to get the tannins out. Then the yarn got dried on sticks. Hans Stoffels and Mia Daenen created this bronze piece of art work.

• With our friends Johnny and Hannah from Dublin, Georgia, we did travel in The Netherlands and we made this photo.
• Too bad that the art work has been moved away from this spot. No longer is there water around it... a pity as it did signify exactly what it was all about.
• In 1950, the last of the hundreds of home weavers quit his job. But in the 1700s it was a thriving home industry.

• Love for Linen
• Below this post you find a link that reads: Top Ten Wedding Gifts, where Quality Sheets ranks 3rd and Fine Table Linens ranks 6th. So there still is a LOVE FOR LINEN! 

This is from the Dutch magazine, NOUVEAU AUGUST 2010

• New developments and those trusted wrinkles make the age old linen the ultimate material for making it cool and elegant through summer.

• Soft, smooth, chic and flowing: linen is wonderful material that feels great on our skin...

Napkins for the King...

• Do you love linen as much as I do?
• Nowadays there is so much linen being used in interior design, such as linen jute or burlap as we know it. Even on my Zen Cart powered on line boutique Mariette's Back to Basics, I offer lots of French made jute linen gifts. 
• It makes me very happy to see a comeback of this noble fiber with the longest history on this earth of any fibers.

• Linen makes an impressive comeback. Isabella Rossellini was one of the first that discovered linen as a graceful taste maker in the 80s. 'Now you are an eco-fashionista when wearing it, but I simply found it comfortable' she said.
• What is damask? Linen is the material, damask is the pattern weave that is only visible when the light falls upon it.
• Smoothly starched or slubby? 
• Linen fiber is twelve times stronger than cotton and absorbs very strongly; It can soak up 20-25% of its own weight in moisture before feeling moist itself.
• Because it is a lose weave, the moisture dries up again fast, thus feeling cool to the touch in warm weather and warm when it gets cooler.
• Linen does not pill, has just like silk a natural shine and can be worn by almost anyone: pure linen does possess anti-allergic qualities. 
• For the cultivation of flax there is a significantly less need for pesticides and fertilizers than for other crops. The fibers can be recycled and are biodegradable in nature. (Making it Eco friendly!)
• Italian linen does have a more silky finish than for instance Irish linen, which is more 'slubby: that means that it is more irregular, with little imperfections that makes the fabric more alive. The most slubby linen currently comes from Poland and Russia.
• Nowadays linen often is being blended in with rayon or cotton: Armani and Calvin Klein love to use these blends, because they wrinkle less.

Royal table linen

One of the prettiest and most famous linen pieces is the wedding gift that Queen Wilhelmina from The Netherlands in 1947 gave to then princess Elizabeth of England. It was a complete table set of three linen damask tablecloths with 96 napkins, designed by referral of the Queen by Miss Kitty van der Mijl Dekker. The set is still being used.

In search of lovely linen... Sanny de Zoete is specialized in custom woven damask tablecloth of 100% linen after designs of Dutch artists. She does sell linens, gives mangle and laundry tips, does programs and wrote books. She has a FB Page: Sanny de Zoete Damast. World's Prettiest Antique and Designer Linen Damask.

Hoping you enjoyed reading about this favorite fiber!

Related link:
Top Ten Wedding Gifts | Quality Sheets ranks 3rd and Fine Table Linens ranks 6th
{Clothing around 1850 - Museum de Kantfabriek} | previous post by me
{Michelle Obama & Print Unlimited from Horst} | previous post by me
{Museum Lace Factory - Antique Lace Toer or Poffer} | previous post by me
HISTORY OF LINEN | also quite informative
Top Flax Growing Countries Of The World | Linen Fiber Production
Museum de Kantfabriek Horst aan de Maas | video on Youtube

{Our 5 Spun Glass Halloween Ornaments}

Halloween is not something I love... but this is the very modest way in which we celebrate it. With some German made Spun Glass Halloween Ornaments hung in our kitchen bay window. That's IT! Nothing else, no contribution of trash from our part. These small ornaments are Eco friendly and they are for keeps. They would be way too expensive for tossing out.  D. Blümchen & Company in New Jersey makes those vintage Dresden, Germany style ornaments. Click the hyperlink to see more. 

That's my view from the breakfast table, looking towards the road (barely visible).

That's it; five ornaments! You see our evergreen Southern Magnolia tree and it actually is sitting on the lawn with its branches.

Wishing you all a Happy Halloween!

Related link:
{My Old-Time Spun Glass Halloween Ornaments} my previous post

{My Towels with Knitted Lace}

For embellishing a simple cotton terry towel, you can quite easily add a hand knitted lace edging as I've done with mine. Have a look at {My Towels with Knitted Lace} here below. The magazine from which I made them will be shown mid-way. Those heavenly soaps I found at T.J. Maxx stores, one of my favorites to shop for such items. Are you also checking them frequently?

And of course using our fragrant flowers, our Gardenias...

Using cotton bouclé yarns created this result.

Both cotton yarns are in an off white or cream.

You also could use bamboo yarn.

Gardenias make a perfect and romantic addition.

Gardenia Floral Luxury Soap.

Such fragrant soaps I always keep in my linen armoire.

Eco friendly use, as they don't produce empty plastic bottles for the landfill!

A very fragrant duo, Gardenia soap with real Gardenias...

From the Dutch Ariadne magazine...

Laces as edgings.

Detail of the bouclé cotton yarn.

Gardenia scented candle by Crabtree & Evelyn

Gardenia Florals Luxury Soaps that I also found at T.J. Maxx...

The two different yarns in detail.

{ROSES}

Just a short post with some photos taken by Pieter on October 25 with our Canary Island Date Palm. All of you know for sure that I LOVE roses and angels... So these photos are part of that love. Usually I don't like to wear anything red but the ROSES did change my mind in a hurry.

Escada silk blouse with Escada wool stretch skirt. Charles Jourdan "1921" shoes. Wolford Individual 10 soft control top panty.  Always do I call in: Wolford  @ Woodbury Commons Premium Outlet, Central Valley, NY  1-845-928-5818 for a great discount!

When we used to work as consultants in Connecticut we would drive to the Woodbury Commons Premium Outlet and shop there. 

There now also is a Wolford Outlet at Sawgrass Mills Outlets - 1700 Sawgrass Mills Circle -  33323 Sunrise, FL 

They also do have an Escada Company Store in Central Valley, NY and at Sawgrass Mills!

Learn from Mariette about YOUR CLOTHES, ONLY BETTER!

Here you also see the Eco Friendly Tree Ring around our Canary Island Date Palm.

Our verbena is still blooming here!

Escada wool cardigan with roses and the same, but larger, buttons than the blouse has.

Color, style, fit and more! Sure I can help you restyle your existing wardrobe to create a fresh, new

look that's right for you. For that, I will peruse your existing wardrobe and suggest ways to alter

selected garments for a better, more flattering fit. It will also provide personal shopping advice, giving

tips on shopping with thrift and quality in mind.

Wool starts feeling good again...

Do you have a favorite flower too?

Related articles:
{Our Canary Island Date Palm + Eco Friendly Tree Ring} | previous post by me
Wolford Fashion | FB Page link

{Our Living Room}

In previous posts I have shown you several other rooms already, so today I take you inside our Living Room. For links to the other rooms, you can check below this post.

You come inside the living room from the entrance hall and there is another door into the kitchen on the right side (for the viewer).

Like our bedrooms and dining room we do have here also solid red oak Liberty Plains natural 5" planks.

We have many things from exotic places where we worked and/or lived.

The wooden chess set and the two wall plaques are from Bali, Indonesia.

Later I will show you certain things again with more detail.

The furniture is all solid French oak and we did bring it over from The Netherlands, it crossed the Atlantic Ocean three times.

You see the door to our veranda here.

The arched window is looking out onto the garden, backside of the house with our huge live oak tree.

The arched window also has solid oak (painted white) indoor shutters for saving energy and being Eco friendly.

A collection of Baccarat crystal.

Stepping back it looks like this. A large solid oak rectangular coffee table and a 3-seat leather sofa; a love seat; a chair and an ottoman.

Tomorrow I will show you the Italian and German wood carved angels - cherubs - putties on the mantle shelf and chimney wall.

A double window looking out onto the balcony.

Full view of the double window, with the solid oak indoor shutters. Very hard to capture against the light.

The Energy Star ceiling fan has been hung by Pieter earlier this year, see link below. What a perfect timing for this record hot summer!

The 42-color 19th century Danish cross stitch embroidered roses on the wall I've shown before in a post, you can find the link also below this post.

We have lots of books in our home... This is the secretaire and its leather chair.

Stepping back a little bit to see the love seat and the rest.

That completes our circle, almost back at the hallway door...

That's it!

A classic interior, as we don't change much.

We've been now 63 times to The Netherlands to see mainly my Parents and Pieter's elder brother, he lost the middle brother and his sisters-in-law already. When we lived in Italy, Pieter's Mom died, so we actually drove to her funeral in about 12 hours time.

Visiting family and dear friends has more value to us than replacing furniture...

Peace of mind is important for being able to grow old gracefully with a smile on your face instead of bitterness.

There will always be new furniture, but one's life can be lived ONLY once.

Loved ones and the TRUE LOVE of your life are worth much more for investing in...

Tomorrow you will meet the Angels - Cherubs - Putti!

Related links:
{BOOKS in Our Living Room} | previous post by me
{Our 'GREEN' Bedroom} | previous post by me
{Our Kitchen Improvements} | previous post by me
{Our White Ceramic Chandeliers from Italy} | previous post by me
{More of Our Kitchen} | previous post by me
{Our Dining Room} | previous post by me
{My Embroidered Roses in 19th Century Danish Pattern} | previous post by me
{Our Energy Star ceiling fans from Wayfair + Superior CustomerService} | previous post by me