China cabinet

In one of my last posts I promised to show you the second hand china cabinet I found on Marktplaats (sort of an auction site like Ebay) recently. Well, here it is! It fits into our dining room perfectly and looks as if it has always been there. One of the advantages of having a big cabinet is, that you can stack heaps of china inside :-)! Today a 'blue selection'. From Staffordshire chintz ware, vintage glass, Moroccan earthenware to porcelain from St Petersburg in Russia.

Our old cabinet went to the garden house. This means that the cabinet I had in the garden house, has to go. If you are interested, please let me know. You can see a photo in this post.

I also promised to show you the apron I finished recently. It looks bright, cheerful and a perhaps a bit too much, but I like it!

Have a lovely evening!

Lieve groet, Madelief x

Sweet for my sweet, sugar for my honey

Not long ago we had a wedding in Amsterdam. As the wedding took place in the evening, we had the whole day to ourselves. We decided to see the exhibit 'Inwards and Onwards' in FOAM, by the Dutch photographer and film director Anton Corbijn.

The photo's at the exhibit are mostly of artists, like Kate Moss, Iggy Pop and Mick Jagger. They are all quite large, in black and white and have black frames. Which really makes them stand out.

I thought I wasn't that much of a Corbijn fan, but he proved me wrong. I enjoyed looking at his work. Some photo's are arty, others humorous. I especially liked the one he made of Johnny Cash, which you can see on my blog today. I stood in front of his portrait for a long time. Looking at his eyes, the lines in his face, thinking of the life he has led.

If you haven't planned anything for this weekend or the next one yet, I can recommend the exhibition to you. You can find Foam on the Keizergracht. You have to be quick, because the exhibition ends on the 1st of September.

We visited some more museums afterwards, of which I will show you some photo's soon, and walked the streets of Amsterdam. One of my favourite streets is the Spiegelstraat, which is full of galleries and antique stores.

We ended our citywalk in 'Het Vlaamsch Broodhuys', where we had a delicious tea. They have the cuttest sugar bags, which I simply had to show you!

Wish you all a  happy weekend! We are off to see family in Limburg.

Lieve groet, Madelief x

Photo's 4 & 5 by Anton Corbijn

Flowers and vegetables

Hi everyone,

After some lovely sunny day's, it's raining heavily in Rotterdam. I don't really mind. It's evening now and the garden can use some water. The garden looks beautiful at the moment. I probably said this two weeks ago too, but to me it just is! It's full of pinks, oranges, purple's and yellow's. The Dahlia's, Zinnia's and Cosmea are in full bloom and so are the sweet pea's. I picked a little bunch of flowers today, to take home with me. A thing that always makes me very happy.

We found a huge orange pumpkin hiding in the herbal patch. What is it about pumpkins? They seem to be wandering around the garden. Sometimes we think we have lost them, to find them back one or sometimes even two metres further away. Do you have the same experience?  I also put a cucumber and a courgette in my basket to take home with me. They taste so delicious :-)! To me there's nothing nicer than harvesting and cooking home grown produce.

I am sorry for not leaving comments with you all, but we are changing things around the house. I bought a new (second hand) dresser this week, which meant I had to empty the old one and fill the new one. It was more work than I anticipated. As we live in a second floor apartment, and the dresser is huge, we had to hire a lift. With the help of a friendly neighbour, we finally managed to get the dresser inside.....pfff! It looks absolutely great though! I will show you some photo's soon. Now I am off to the couch to put my legs up!

Wish you all a Happy Weekend!

Lieve groet van Madelief x

Let them eat cake

It is said that the words in my title were spoken by Marie Antoinette, when a famine affected France during the reign of her husband Louis XVI in the 18th century. If the words were really hers, she must have been a funny lady.........

Have you seen Sophia Coppola's film about part of her life? The girls and I did. Although it probably doesn't have much of a plot, we loved the setting, the colours, the amazing costumes and the 1980s punk music in the background! The amazing shots of the Palace of Versailles and it's gardens, inspired us to go there and see it for ourselves.

We admired her bedroom in the palace, where the walls are covered in the most beautiful floral fabric. Couldn't believe the beauty of all the wall decorations, the marble floors, the statues, the mirrors and chandeliers. We walked through Le Petit Triatnon, the house she received as a present from her husband, and crossed the great park to see the Le Hameau de la reine .

The Queens Hamlet is like a fairy tale, with farm buildings, a vineyard, a dairy, a dove cote, surrounded by beautiful fields full of wild-flowers. It was a real working farm, of which the products were used in the palace kitchens. Marie Antoinette loved to visit the place. Well, enough about Marie now, let me show you around!

Oh, before I forget. I would love to welcome my new followers and thank you all for participating in my giveaway. I had not expected such a huge response................. I wish I could thank you all in person, but with a job and three girls at home for the holiday's, I simply cannot find the time. I hope you will forgive me.

Wish you all a lovely Wednesday!

Lieve groet, Madelief x