emilies interiors

Today I’m shooting the interiors of an XL apartment with a new lens and I’m very happy with it.  I must confess that I’m a bit late in purchasing this basic instrument for a photographer. The results are much brighter than before but I’m not sure that this observation is the result of a psychological excuse for this  big investment.  Anyway instead of 3 pairs of high heels I’ve elevated my professional status with this new aquisition. Tomorrow more about the results.

I’m a regular visitor of the Zara Home store in the Amsterdam Kalverstraat. The basic line in white bath linen (Egyptian cotton) of this Spanish brand is great and well to apply in my photography of valuable homes. Each time I visit the store I’m happily confused by the soft smell of white jasmine. After a careful investigation I’ve learned that this line in oils, soaps, candles and fragrance sticks is a bestseller since Zara home store management put the oil in the air co dispenser.

My experiences of this lovely and relaxing smell, combined with Zara’s sales trick make me the more aware that the sense of smell is  indispensable in the home staging process. It’s like the smell of fresh baked bread in the Dean  & Deluca or that of coffee in the Starbucks. Why not apply this sales promotion in your home?

This is a shot of a part of a triptych with the name Tropical Garden. Although the quality of the photo is not good, the hand of Ian van Wieringen is still to recognize. And if you look carefully you can see more than trees, twigs, birds and bees. Please do try and take the work of Freud in the back of your mind and the results are there….. Probably the title ‘Garden of Eden’ would be better.

- Posted using MobyPicture.com

Ian van Wieringen is a Dutch | Australian artist living on Bali and successful with his work in the US and Australia. He is a very productive man with tons of ideas and a strong need to deliver. Today I was a guest of Ian’s Dutch agent, Jonkheer Willem A. De Jonge, whom showed me in a quick pace some beautiful flower works, a triptych of a tropical garden and some edgy drawings in black & white. Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me and I had to shoot some pics with my Nokia. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I do promise I’ll come back with some real stuff.

If you are interested; you can contact Willemde Jonge via his e-mail address; that is willemadriaandejonge@gmail.com

guinea fowl print

snake print

This morning I was inspired by the UK’s Mail online photo’s of Shakira’s outfit during the 2010 Fifa World Cup openings that took place yesterday evening. Her outfit was in a typical tribal style with a raffia skirt in silk with a double banded bodice. I think nobody can wear this outfit better than this Columbian singer.

Sharika during the openings of the 2010 Fifa Worldcup in SA

The funny thing about her outfit is that the prints of her top and skirt are very classy and elegant.  Her stylist combined some patterns that fit and would be great to apply in a home. It’s about the match between the print of a guinea fowl feather with that of a snake’s skin and an ikat pattern. For this blog posts I’ve chosen for a blue ikat pattern in order to counterpart the black and white schemes of the animal’s prints. If you prefer a less classic color scheme you could replace the blue for a yellow or an orange toned ikat.

Classy combination

Today's mix & match

' Mexican Tiles' by Leah Duncan

This is a design by Leah Duncan and her graphic creations are great! Leah is originally from South-Carolina and lives with her husband and 2 cats in Austin. She is a busy woman, running her company in stationary and creating the most delicate prints, to apply on paper or textile. My favorite pattern is ‘ Mexican Tiles’ and I would love to use this fabric for the covers of French bed rolls or the upholstery of an old Danish chair from the fifties.I’ve got this great tip from the blog roll by Mariah Wins from Cape Town.  The name of her roll is ’size too small’  and I would like to advice you to rss her posts. They are engaging!

Albert van Iperen is a furniture maker and a skilled restaurateur of antique furniture. His atelier is in an old monumental building that the municipality of The Hague assigned to promising artists. The Windsor Thonet chair, the one I applied in the last home staging project, came from his collections. When I visited his atelier I was thrilled by his assembly of cabinets, drawers and mirrors from the nineteen century.  Albert has a passion for antiques and in his enthusiasm he is willing to give you a small lecture about the heritage of each piece of his collections. I was rewarded for my interest in a mirror and learned the following interesting thing about mirrors from the second half of the nineteen century.

The glass they used in those days is much thicker than that of recent copies. Therefore the wooden frames needed to be solid in order to house the heavy mirrors properly. The frames were provided with a mixture of plaster and glue and this fundamental layer was an excellent basis for the gilding. The mirrors photographed by Albert have been gilded with silver instead of gold. On the two black frames you can see the difference in the aging process of the gilding. The frame without the mirror almost did lose its silver layer. The white frame is bare and shows the basis with the mixture of plaster and glue. Probably this info will help you in your search for old mirrors at local flea markets.

Good luck and send me a pic of your new mirrored purchase!

Entrepotdok, Amsterdam

I’m preparing for a new project and shot some pics last week of this architectural marvel that is located on a canal and across the Amsterdam zoo. While shooting the site I enjoyed the settings full of trees, flower pots, the humming noise of passing pleasure yachts and the cries of cheerful sea lions. Click  for a visual impression on my Flickr account.

A Belgian cabinet

For a home staging project I ordered this old cabinet. It’s from the end of the nineteen century or from the beginnings of the next.  The antiques dealer bought this piece of brocante (the French word for flea) at a Belgium flea market. For the last 5 years or so, a mix between the American Cape Cod- & the French country style has been a much appreciated style for the Dutch market. My antiques dealer told me that his clientele is mad about his white chalked drawers, cupboards, cabinets and kitchen tables. The rougher the condition of its furniture, the better and his customers are willing to pay for it.

I’m not a fan of this mix in country styles but I do like the use of furniture from the late eighteen or early nineteen century for the simple reason that in that period the cabinet makers delivered quality work and ingenious constructions in demountable furniture.