emilies interiors

If you are visiting Holland, you could take the train from Amsterdam to Groningen, a nice provincial city, located  up north.  When you ‘ll leave its impressive train station and cross the street, you will encounter the result of cooperation between several architects and designers. (Amongst them are big names like Philippe Starck and Alessandro Mendini.) Together they created the Groninger Museum at an island in the city canal. Within a ten minutes walk you will reach the centre with its lovely shops, well kept historic buildings and intriguing alleys. When you are into old silver cutlery, table linens, china from the early twentieth century and/or tiles from the late nineteen century; this shop will become your favourite shopping tip. The name is Cosas and the address is Haddingestraat 27.
PS If you are in search of an expert in the restoration of antiques tiles; ask for Chantalle Hornesch. She is a skilled restaurateur and if you are lucky she is helping out in the shop.

This is the second blog post about Guesthouse Rikkerda. Another remarkable feature of the interiors of Rikkerda are the floor boards, cut entirely from one tree. The Larix floorboards have been laid in the length of the barn, with the largest board in the middle and the narrow ones aside in a descending pattern. The owners of the Guesthouse have oiled the floor boards in order to prevent them from colouring to the orginal reddish tone of Larix. The impact of this descending flooring pattern enhances the dramatic impact of the high and vaulted ceiling and will result in an optical delight for each new guest of Rikkerda State.

Recently we’ve enjoyed the hospitality of the owners of Rikkerda State, a beautiful renovated old farmhouse, located up north in the Netherlands. The last word of the name of this farmhouse, State, refers to its historic function and is to regard as the Dutch word for the landowners residence. During our overnight stay we’ve learned some new things that we are happy to share with you. Let us start with the choice of dark grey painted woodwork and frames. As supporters of white painted doors, frames and other woodwork in the much applied RAL 9010, we’ve released  our preference for the reason that is to explain best with the photos. The one above is taken from the living of the guesthouse. This high vaulted barn has been plastered white and has been provided with skylights in order to lighten up the living of this outbuilding, set in a garden full of old and voluminous trees. For someone, that enters the living, his/her view will have to adjust to the relatively darkness of the room and the lightness of outside. The dark grey painted frames will guide the eye of the trespasser to the sunny outside. If the frames were painted in white, the view of the person, that enters a room, would be troubled, caused by the absence of a visual mediator.

The photo below is shot of a guestroom, which woodwork and frames have been painted in the same grey tone that results in a balanced colour palette. The contrast created by the paneling in dark grey has been subdued by the white impact of the vaulted ceiling and the vertical focus of the rustic beams. Click here for the website of Guesthouse Rikkerda and here for more photo’s at mydeco.com

In the latest edition of the Australian Vogue Living New Yorker Diane Bergeron presents her renovated warehouse in Melbourne. Here skills in combining patterns and colours are amazing. Like you can see in this visual; she dared to combine an Indian kelim pattern in mauve with a foliage ‘print’  in green tones. Due to the industrial atmosphere of her home the classic choice in furniture and its upholstering converges smoothly with the features  of her spacious warehouse. We love it for the reason that this fresh style enables you to mix antiques with new as well as retro design without the misconception for being boring or old fashioned. The last but not the least reason is the sense of humour that is to observe in Burgeron interiors. For us this is very important feature of a home; is will be complete if the inhabitants can relax and take life not too serious. Like the French say about their wardrobes: ‘La vie est trop courte de ‘s habiller triste!’

Kasteel Altembrouck is a Belgian estate, 12 kilometers south of Maastricht. During their trips to Russia the former owners were inspired by the architecture and woodwork of Dacha’s. Back home in Gravenmoeren they created their own dacha in a beautiful sloping domain with farms, an extreme large pond and a park with rare two toned birches. Now a days, more than hundred years later, the outbuildings of Kasteel Altembrouck have been converted to a private guesthouse with possibilities to experience the pure cuisine of chef cook Robert Level. We were invited to stay over and enjoy the interior decoration of suite 23. This suite is situated in the former farmhouse and contains some remarkable features, like the vaulted ceiling and the round window. In order to create a relaxed atmosphere in a modern country style the owner of this estate has chosen for a few striking furniture in a small number of tones in  brown and grey. This colour palette has a double function; it strengthens the dramatic impact of this spacious room and will be pleasant for any guest, that will enjoy his overnight stay at this special and luxurious estate. Click here for the website of Kasteel Altembrouck and here for more photo’s.

Their long cherished wish to start their own Chambre d’hôte recently came out when the two Belgian Interior Architects were offered a deteriorated and old mansion from the eighteen century in Gent. After a thorough restoration Marc Vergauwe and Jan Rosseel opened the doors of their Hôtel Verhaegen in 2005. The reason we write this blog post about this beautiful decorated guesthouse is the colour palette. Although we do not know them, we could see from the photos of their website that those men have guts when it comes to colouring. For example; take this picture above, where they combined tones in red, cobalt and mauve. Those tones are difficult to match and Eric and Jan succeeded in this combination in a carefree manner. Let us take you to their website, so you can experience their skills in interior decoration, architecture and hospitality. Enjoy…

Check the blog post about emilies favourite colour at Mydeco.com

Click here for more about this new colour by Farrow & Ball at Mydeco.com

Click here for the blog post about this grayish tone at Mydeco.com.

This yellowish green from Farrow & Ball*has been applied by Valentino (Italian house of fashion) in his winter/fall 09/10 collection. It operates like a chamelion. You can combine Churlish Green with vivid/ bright tones as well as with sober tones. The grey component of Churlish Green causes this multi-matching ability with other colourtones. Image this tone applied in a high ceiled and white marbled hallway with a staircase, painted in darkgrey. The products are from Mydeco. * The online colours differ from the reality.