decorating ...

 

{a 'before' image of our new home ... soon I will show you some 'after' images of the living room}
It has been an exhausting, but fun week last week for me and my family ... moving house with 2,5 month old baby and a three year old in temperatures of 30 degrees and higher does make it more difficlt then just simply move house with the two of us. But we are also happy, relieved and content with the decorating results so far and of course having our doors open to a garden with a swimming pool in it makes all the difference and gives us a tremendous luxurious feel ... wow life can be good!

Because we are renting I have to accept some aspects of the house which I never and I say NEVER would choose for my own house ... here we go::
*2 horrible huge mirrors from top to bottom in the living room ... anybody any suggestions what to do with these
*teinted glass in the windows everywhere ... must be honest to say that it keeps the house cooler
*shiny tiles on te floor, oh I wish I could paint the floor off-white, my furniture would look so much better...

{Image form ByGraziela read more about it right here...}
I will keep you updated in the next few months of my decorating results and today I posted a great Open House Tour on B:Kids showing you how good decorating really works!

Comments

[vol25]

looks like you are coming right along with the new house! :) I dont imagine it was easy at all with little ones about.

I have a suggestion for the mirrors, it is probably a bad idea, but thought I would throw it out there anyhow: :)

what about using some vinyl decals to tone the mirrors down some? It may draw more attention to them, so I'm not sure if it would be better or not. :)

[Claudia]

Hallo Irene! Your living room already looks pretty cool to me. I can't wait to see your final styling of the place. Regarding your mirrors: here in Leiderdorp there is a furniture store called Isassi and they have huge mirrors in their showroom. To soften the effect, they have put a simple panel of white see-through curtains in front of them. The effect makes it less cold and somewhat surreal, like a window into another world. Enjoy your new house. Groetjes, Claudia

[Lily]

You're soooooo lucky to live in a house with a garden and a swimming pool and the sun!! In Paris it's very rare or luxury!! Congratulation and enjoy with your family :)

[Sophie]

I was going to suggest the curtains in front of the mirrors too. I think it could give the impression that there was a wall of windows there instead.

I love the space - very light and airy looking. A few white rugs might soften the grey?

Congratulations on your new home!

[Bri]

well it seems that everyone already got to the curtain ideas, so I would also say that you could use those adhesive hooks and just cover the mirrors with different sizes of framed artwork, leaving just a little bit of space in between. A wall of art! Or you could just paint a mural over it and scrape it off after (latex paint is amazingly easy to get off of glass).

[la casita de wendy]

It looks amazing!! the living room is full of beautiful light;)

[Laura]

I also think that curtains in front of the mirrors could be nice. You could also consider putting some kind of lighting behind the curtain, in front of the mirrors. It could be a neat effect for evenings.

[Chef C]

where did you get all those mid-century styled furniture? love the two chairs in particular..

[Irene @ Bloesem]

Thanks for all the lovely suggestions, tips and ideas, will work on it soon, and as for your question Chef C, we have collected them over the last coupls of years and the 2 chairs in the from are actually from a shop here in Kuala Lumpur called Fiske ::http://fiske.com.my/

[Chef C]

Thanks Irene! i had an inkling that you could have sourced some of your scandivanian and mid-century pieces locally from Fiske. I live in Singapore, and is a fan of mid-century furniture. I find that fiske's prices are not necessarily competitive. There's a shop here in Singapore, Lorgans, that has a large collection of both vintage and good quality knock-offs. The owner, Lorgan, is an avid mid-century furniture collector himself, and he sources from all over Europe for vintage pieces. You can check out his cool website www.lorgans.com

I look forward to be inspired by your house. Please post the pictures soon!

[Minnie]

Your house is beautiful and so is your furniture. Mirrors somehow covered or not, I'm sure your house will look dazzling.

[Raquel Raney]

so wonderful. we are very happy for you!

[allie]

we use special wax crayons on the windows and mirror in our classroom - you can draw some lovely designs and then change it up when you get sick of them!

[red monkey jeans]

I love Lotta's work, it's so simple and yet very unique, typical Scandinavian cool yes

[Romana]

I agree, sheer curtains over the mirrors would tone things down a bit. Also, what about making a feature of just an area of the mirror by hanging an empty frame/s over the large mirror? Other ideas - hiding mirrors behind shutters or screens (antique/modern etc etc).

[Lisette]

Hmmm... the floor IS rather shiny, isn't it?! It does go well with your gorgeous furniture and decorations though, and no doubt is delightfully cool in the hot + humid KL climate... who knows, it may grow on you in time?

If you intend to stay in this house for an extended period of time, it may be worthwhile to invest in (dare I mention it?) laminate flooring, or better still tatami or similar matting.

Good luck with the rest of the decorating and of course the gardening! And in any case congratulations on your beautiful new home.

[rachel]

Some good ideas for mirror-hiding already given. I think I would either paper over them with lining paper and paint it the same colour as the walls - when it's time to reveal them again, the wallpaper could be peeled or scraped off and the paste would wash off with hot water - or do the same with lovely fabric instead.

But the sad truth is, we do get used to horror items in our homes rather quickly!

[Katie]

What a great space! One other suggestion for the mirrors (although it would require a bit more work) is to create a "window frame" of sorts that would frame the mirrors so they look more like the windows on either side of them. You could even add some curtains. Have fun!