{Welcome to Our Rose Suite - Entrance}

As promised earlier, now you will get to see the finished Rose Suite, after showing you the Construction Part I and II. Thus: Welcome to Our Rose Suite - Entrance...

This is the concrete path from the driveway leading up to the Rose Suite Entrance with its private patio.

Yes, for our guests, we always hang out the banner with the Welcome Rose!

Photos are from yesterday after lots of rain... Acorns are all over the patio tiles.

The white vinyl fence and wall has been added by husband Pieter after his middle brother told him it looked sloppy with the view of those air-conditioning units... Our garden and everything looked too neat he found, for leaving it like that. Indeed, this looks great now!

There is a garden hose coiled up in a rack for cleaning the patio tiles.

This CAT door bell is a gift from dear friends.

Come on in!

Mind your steps...

A nice cotton rug from Tuesday Morning is on the Spanish tiles.

Photo taken from the bedroom, looking into the entrance hall and you see the hallway going to the right. Boiler room in the back and in the front (r) you look at the mini walk in closet where guests can hang their clothes.

Here you see the door to the boiler room.

On the left is the open door to the bedroom...

Some of my on line boutique items are hanging on the wall here.

Mariette's Back to Basics is only by appointment or on line 24/7 for world wide delivery.

Again, some of the French Country Style Toile de Jouy Totes and Door-Knob-Pillow Sachets.

Sorry, the bedroom door is closed again... I will show you another time!

See that little Corian shelf above the pillar that husband Pieter had to wack off in order to make them nice and square? This is what we made of it. 

An IKEA White Godmorgon cabinet is hanging above.

Just a look around the corner into the long hall way...

Above the big pillar is another cupboard that husband Pieter used in front of the narrow pillar.

Closing with the solid oak window-shutters that we had in our bedroom before changing to the French sliding doors onto the balcony. Genial idea from Pieter. I keep all the bed linens in there for the Rose Suite bedroom.

Antique French oak coat rack with shelf.

Found on eBay and I had it shipped.

From Fashion Fabrics Club in St. Louis, Missouri I got this tapestry gobelin fabric with roses. I created this myself.

Back in The Netherlands I had a beautiful oak coat rack from my maternal Grandmother but I did not want to take it across the Ocean, being it a family heirloom.

Now it no longer is in the family... a pity as I  would have loved to still have it!

The Delft Polychrome Toeback jar was a gift from my dear Mother in law.

The oak coat hangers are from Germany.

Okay, please do hang your coat and stay for a tea!

Will show you the rest too but meanwhile I have to post some boutique items in-between.

Thanks for your visit!

Tell me if you liked this entrance and if you had thought it would turn out like this?

The two links below show the videos with the construction part, if you want to go back...

Related links:
{The Construction of Our Rose Suite - Part II} | previous post by me
{The Construction of Our Rose Suite - Part I} | previous post by me

{The Construction of Our Rose Suite - Part II}

Yesterday I did show you the beginning of The Construction of Our Rose Suite and now I like to show you Part II. We started in March of 2003 with the rough work. The digging out of those 60 metric tons of dirt got finished by the 4th of July, 2004. From then on till the end of April, 2004 husband Pieter worked hard to finish the rest. He himself did all the plumbing, moving the old sewage pipes and hiding them either inside the concrete floor and through his work shop. All the electric wiring and duct work for the air-conditioning he also did by himself. Only with the erection of the galvanized steel walls he did get some help. The tiles also were put in by a professional. We went in February of 2004 to The Netherlands for my parents' 55th wedding anniversary. Our Damixa faucets from Denmark, we did bring back in our suitcases. Like the rest of our home, they are all Danish. Pieter's middle brother and his partner were not going to come over for the special birthday Pieter was having on April 29th. So there was no rush we thought for finishing our Rose Suite in a hurry. It was my task to find the furniture for the rooms. We found the bed in the neighboring city and all other furniture and smaller things I found mainly on eBay. You will get to see them soon...

This is how the construction looked by February 2004. Entrance door not yet painted...

Enjoy the 2:06 minute video below.

Photo from July 19, 2008 with entrance door. After all this, you will get to see the finished inside! Thanks for watching. Have any of you build your own home or part of it? Would love to hear about that.
Related link:
{The Construction of Our Rose Suite - Part I} | previous post by me

Related links:{Our Rose Suite Work Shop & Mariette's Back to Basics Shipping Center} | post by me{Our Rose Suite Pantry & TRINITY EcoStorage™ NSF 6-Tier Wire Shelving Racks} | post by me
{Our Rose Suite's Little Room} | post by me
{Our Rose Suit Hallway} | post by me
{Welcome to Our Rose Suite - Entrance} | post by me
{Our Rose Suite Kitchenette} | post by me

{Our Rose Suite Living Room} | post by me
{Our Rose Suite Bedroom} | post by me
{The Construction of Our Rose Suite - Part II} | post by me

{The Construction of Our Rose Suite - Part I}

Living in another continent, creates of course an opening for family members and friends to visit you. For more than 50 times we have had guests in our home. Several of them staying for 2-6 weeks at a time. For that purpose we started with 'The Construction of Our Rose Suite - Part I. This in order that both, our guests and we ourselves, would have complete privacy. A second home so to speak with a private entrance. Our best friend's Dad had dug out his basement in the Chattanooga, Tennessee area where he encountered rocks. My husband Pieter said: 'Why don't we also do this?' We don't have rocks so that will be a lot easier... Thus the idea became reality in March of 2003, when we had the door opening cut out of the concrete blocks.

Next to the chimney is the new entrance door to our Rose Suite!

You will get to see the entire Rose Suite after the two initial Construction Videos.

Otherwise you will not understand how this all came about...

Yes, a grueling task of Digging Out 60 Metric Tons of Dirt!

So glad my dear husband Pieter was able to pull this off.

Scary, knowing that five years later he had his quadruple bypass open heart surgery and a stent in his neck.

We feel blessed for many things!

Enjoy this 2.31 minute video.

Related links: {Our Rose Suite Work Shop & Mariette's Back to Basics Shipping Center} | post by me {Our Rose Suite Pantry & TRINITY EcoStorage™ NSF 6-Tier Wire Shelving Racks} | post by me
{Our Rose Suite's Little Room} | post by me
{Our Rose Suit Hallway} | post by me
{Welcome to Our Rose Suite - Entrance} | post by me
{Our Rose Suite Kitchenette} | post by me

{Our Rose Suite Living Room} | post by me
{Our Rose Suite Bedroom} | post by me
{The Construction of Our Rose Suite - Part II} | post by me

{GNOMES and Rose Stepping Stones}

As promised in my previous blog, I will tell you more about our GNOMES! Also about our Rose Stepping Stones... Glad to know now, that I am not alone having to deal with difficult to reach windows for cleaning. As read in all the comments. Well, this is a chore that is not done very often but once in a while we have to tackle it. And thanks for the well wishes about my sciatica. It did go away after a couple of days. A hot tub and staying inside, that means, staying 'dry' did cure it. 

But now about our GNOMES... As I wrote already about them, they are LAZY as hell! Really, they don't care at all. You have met them in a previous post about: HEAR - SEE - SPEAK NO EVIL. Well, that is great but if they are needed for pitching in and doing some 'little' chores, they DO NOT HEAR! So what do I do? The link to the previous posts you will find below the last photo.

It gets even worse than NOT wanting to HEAR. We received one more GNOME from our German 'son and daughter-in-law' (yes, we have more adopted children...) and grandchildren. This fellow looks cute but have a look at him:

He lies on this wall and is too lazy to even climb down! 

He could, if he is careful but no: he lifts his legs and 'FARTS' at us when asked to help with little chores...

What do you say, how would you handle that?

The other three stand there and dance; YES they bounce around on that wall, they are wobbly DWARFS or WACKELZWERGEN. 

I did not HEAR you; I did not SEE you... I don't SAY anything about the big one farting at you!

Is this common for this time or is it only here that they show such behavior?

PLEASE let me know what you are encountering with your GNOMES.

I just cannot stand anything THAT LAZY...! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Maybe our boot scraper dachshund will get them!

This is our Patio with the private entrance door to our Rose Suite...

Okay, let's forget about them!

Do you see those weathered bronze Rose Stepping Stones to the right of the patio?

They are made of cast stone and we got them from Home Depot.

First we had them in a single row, shown here (before that last GNOME arrived in the mail...) Grrrrrrrrrrr

This photo is from May.

In a previous post I've shown already the Rose Stepping Stones, see link below...

Our cat-man Spooky is not LAZY and you see him here inspecting Pieter's painting job in the weathered bronze color. 

A clear coating sprayed on, makes them really shine.

Now we can reach the gazebo as well as the planters with jasmines without soiling our shoes.

Under the huge live oak tree the grass is not growing due to the shade and to the lack of nutrients and water, that the tree takes away.

Related links:
{Cleaning Windows} | previous post by me
{HEAR - SEE - SPEAK NO EVIL} | previous post by me
{ROSE STEPPING STONES} | previous post by me

{Gardenias in November!}

This was such a lovely gift on our 28th wedding anniversary... a vase full of gardenias from our garden! While Pieter was working on a plastic addition to our greenhouse, I did make a round through the wood garden, taking some photos from all the maple trees in their best yellow coat. Just near the bridge I spotted several gardenia blossoms. I had to be quite acrobatic for getting them off, at that height, but I managed to pull the branches towards me by stepping inside the bush. It is huge. Amazing that when the leaves are falling, this fragrant gardenia is still blooming! But look at the presentation that I made with those flowers. Come, have a peak at it...

What do you say? Such a beauty of a Gardenia on November 10 and the Sugar Maple in the back ground, all yellow...

Not a pretty sight actually. Dead branches from the azalea shrub in the foreground and big fallen leaves hanging all over the gardenia shrub. But I did spot its gorgeous and highly fragrant blooms. I can easily make them look better...

Here is the newly enlarged and tiled patio. Pieter just finished it this week! He built the wall higher and let it gradually taper down. It is impossible to keep it free from leaves now as it is right under the huge live oak tree. But that adds only to the fall feeling.

The Folding Bistro Set in black all-weather woven resin wicker comes from Costco.

Photo taken from the entrance to the Rose Suite. Very nice view of the garden and the pond.

I am so proud of my husband Pieter for being able to do all this again after his open heart surgery last year in September!

God has truly blessed us.

Fig cake that I had saved in the freezer, from my bake in August before we went to Europe, just read {Enjoy some Fig Cake with Tea Jelly!}. Served on the Gardenia by Royal Albert China on a solid silver tray that we had made for us in Indonesia. Are those Gardenias not a dream?!

I put them in the milk jug and used the square pastry plates with the demitasse cups and saucers for some hot chocolate. The flatware is my Dutch Gero Zilmeta Menuet 528.

Below this post there are links that give more info about the china.

Even if some Gardenias already are turning yellowish, I found it so special for having them on November 10...

It had rained the day before and that is also bruising those petals...

A view across the lawn into the wood garden. You just can see our bridge across the creek, to the right of the top Gardenia leaf.

Our maple trees in their best color setting, in the back ground...

Glorious GARDENIA...

Related links:

{Gardenia by Royal Albert and our Garden Gardenias} | previous post by me

{Heavenly Gardenia Jasminoides 'Aimee Yoshioka'} | previous post by me

{May 22 Gardenia by Royal Albert and blooming Gardenias in Baccarat vase} | previous post by me

{Our Rose Suite with Angels + a REQUEST}

Exactly on our anniversary day, I read Rose Marie's My Romantic Treasures blog and was in for a surprise!

Although she lives in Puerto Rico, she got my 'TWIN' Angels on the wall...

The above angel plaque is from Rose M Rodriguez 's My Romantic Treasures White Decorations blog post, just click on it.

This is the bedroom in our Rose Suite, the special living quarters for our guests.

Rose linen is from the Yves Delorme Outlet Yves Delorme 

Angel lamp with rose shade above.
♥
These angels hang on the side wall, found them at TJ Maxx and they're lovely.

 Don't turn the lights off yet... at the bottom is my request!

The Rose Suite bedroom even has porcelain light switches with roses...

But now back to Rose M Rodriguez 

♥

For almost a year I do know Rose Marie and she had a lovely blog with lots of followers. But her blog got hacked and she lost it ALL. Very sad. She's started a new one, but it never got off to the level where she used to be.

Please, scroll down onto her other blog: El arte de Rosiña and to the right you find her Follow button. Let's surprise her and lift her up as a special Christmas Gift. Rose Marie has been very sick, almost at the time that I was very sick... She suffers from Fibromyalgia.

She also has a sister-in-law in New York, named Zulma, who suffers from cancer... All she can do is PRAY because it is too far for her to visit. There are lots of this kind of stories in the world, only if you look around and listen with your heart. Knowing that it means so much to her, for getting her followers back, I dare to ask for your support.

So far, I have been fortunate in my life for having learned how to listen - from the DEAF I learned that... No kidding! They use all their senses for observing another human being. So we owe it to the rest of us for at least using our ears, eyes and above all; our HEART.

Thanks a lot for helping out with this! If we can just make ONE person happy; that is more than words can ever describe.  

In all languages a heartfelt:

THANK YOU; GRACIAS; GRAZIE; DANKE; DANK JE WEL; MERCI BEAUCOUP; BANYAK TERIMA KASIH

♥♥