Dried wildflowers and plants

We just got back from our family vacation in the Netherlands and it was such a pleasure to be able to stay at our own little pied-a-terre in Amsterdam. Last year my husband and I decided not to rent out our Amsterdam apartment any longer but keep it as our own ‘retreat’ to enjoy some down-time with the boys and just to feel at home – like literally, on the couch! When you have lived abroad as long as we have, you sometimes start to feel ‘dislocated or out of place’ and having one spot on this planet that you really can call home brings back that so much needed balance in your life. So we go there as often as we can (and work allows…)..added benefit is of course that  it is very liberating not having to impose all the time on family or friends to stay in their homes for a couple of weeks (I am sure they feel the same way…). 

Both of us have a strong love for vintage contemporary furniture, so instead of giving each other Christmas presents we bought some collector items online. But more on this in a different post coming soon. Today I would like to share some images of the dried plants we keep in our place. As it it impossible to water plants remotely… I believe these dried flowers and plants are the perfect alternative. You simply dust them off upon your return… and they are great for decorating I think… 

What do you think? You like the dried giant hogwood? Or the grapes? The grapes are slightly unusual (and big…) perhaps but I really thought they looked kind of cool… 

   

  

Found some more dramatic dried plants online ... in the third and fifth picture: Studio Oink used dried flowers for a styling assigment for Stattman-moebel. And Mikael Axelsson beautifully photographed these dried Carduus at the organic and biodynamic flower shop: Landet Järna.

The Images 1, 2 and 4 are by Irene Hoofs @ Bloesem in the Amsterdam apartment. xoxo Irene

 

Here’s to new collaborations!

Looking back at 2014, Bloesem has so much to be thankful for. Importantly, for the first time in Bloesem’s history we now have a fully dedicated team with super talented and inspiring women, Zara and Mei, who have been shouldering an ever-growing number of Bloesem activities. Excellent work Ladies! And a special thank you to Anouk with whom we have been working closely on many exciting projects.

Yes, we have been very busy building the Bloesem businesses and brand – our concept store in Tiong Bahru has really taken off, the Studio is attracting very interesting freelance work and the Class is steadily growing its student numbers.  Our next quarterly Gazette will be out early January and something to look forward to we promise you. We remain very active on all social media platforms and, of course, we stay true to our roots: Bloesem blogs, where it all began almost a decade ago.

But most of all, we owe a big thank you to all of you! Dear loyal Bloesem readers at B:Living and B:Kids who make it possible that Bloesem continues to grow. It is absolutely wonderful to see that so many readers worldwide believe in Bloesem (and me...), enjoying our taste for style, design and crafts.

And somehow it feels like we're just getting started… in 2015 and beyond Bloesem will continue to evolve into a full-grown creative studio. Committed to the success of our clients and fostering deep relationships with their businesses. Lookbook Styling, Sponsored Content, Travel Reports, Facebook and Pinterest Campaigns, Instagram Opportunities and In Store Promotions. We believe in The Art of Visual Storytelling.

Here’s to new collaborations!

Happy New Year ... may all your dreams come true! xoxo Irene 

Picture in Top image is by Karin Nussbaumer. 

The different products in all images are from the bloesem shop collection which you can find here at our online shop. 

Carbon series

By now you probably know my family and I spent the summer in Amsterdam… we were fortunate enough to stay two weeks in our own apartment as the tenant had moved out early... I have never been so happy to see a tenant move out as this was a great opportunity to do (yes, you have guessed it right…) just a bit of interior decorating… every year we try to add something new to our place and slowly but surely we are creating our own amazing little nest, trial and error, but ultimately exactly the way we like it.

Last year we had a big makeover done by our friends XandL, perhaps you remember that post? And this year we bought a new much smaller couch at Loods5, I think it fits perfectly in our living room and the best part is that you can use it as a super comfortable sofa bed too. 

Very happy I am with our new design piece ... the carbon sideboard 'Fien' (funny coincidence, Fien is my favorite girl name…if we were to have a girl that is, no plans at present…:)) by Dutch designer Frank Winburst. We also bought the bookshelf ‘Stan’ but haven’t had time yet to put it up ... next time when we are there! Christmas maybe…?

The Carbon series is a range of products constructed with carbon threads. The system is made by hand spinning a black carbon tread around MDF shelves and fixate them with epoxy resin, creating a lightweight but strong and stable construction.

The felt pillows are by Tas-ka and now also available in the Bloesem shop in Singapore.

More pictures after the break.

.. Frank Winburst

Before & After: renovations in our apartment

Welcome to our 8 Rodyk apartment in Singapore.... not that we are actually living there ... no we bought the place a long time ago but it became too small to live with a family of four so we are renting it out at the moment. I thought you might like to see what we have done with the space a couple of years ago to make the space look more modern and functional ...  a little face lift today!

Rik and I wanted to open up the space so we could get more use out of the apartment. The apartment is about 98 square meters, which might sound big ( don't get me wrong i agree), but a big part of it is used for the balcony which is perfect for a warm weather country. Perfect apartment for a young couple with small kids! (Click here to see the kids room in the apartment and how I used vintage pieces to make the kids room feel more cosy)

 This way  to see perhaps the ugliest picture ever posted on Bloesem ..

The first thing we saw when we walked in was floor to ceiling glass panels that closed up the kitchen which is more suitable for hard core cooking which is very common in the Asian culture. The glass panels help keep the smoke and smells of cooking within the kitchen. Since neither Rik nor myself are hard core cooks, we decided there was no need for the glass panels. Removing the panels immediately opened up the flow from the door into the kitchen and then into the rest of the living room.

And this what the open kitchen looks like after our make-over. By putting plywood on the little wall below the window we created a small sitting area. Simply adding some pillows and ta-da ... 

There also used to be a little outside patio which also acted as a laundry room to house the washing machine and dryer. Instead we decided to build plywood cabinets to house all the items we thought were slightly unattractive but still necessary. The plywood cabinets are a recurring feature in the apartment, we used it for storage as well as display in the kitchen and the living room too.

 

 (probably the ugliest pic I have shared on Bloesem ever!) 

And this is what you see now ... the garbage shoot and laundry machine hidden in this plywood cabinet ... don't you agree that looking at vintage ceramics make much more sense! A very tiny detail which you perhaps can't see very clearly but we used copper rings for the little holes in the doors, this gives it a quirky and nicer effect. 

The kitchen being side by side with the living room makes the apartment a great place for hosting dinners and having guests over. You can still talk and interact while guests sit in the living room.

In the master bedroom, we took out a glass wall that looked directly into the bathroom ... built in a shelf that made the space feel much bigger with the light flowing through the bathroom and into the bedroom. The shelf also gave us extra space for decoration and display. Here I placed some vintage ceramics from the Netherlands. 

Another detail i like is giving the walls a banner from the bottom up to half meter a off white color throughout the enitre house also the bedrooms ... it connects the rooms and gives a good flow!

I hope you liked our little tour today! Over at BloesemKids I'm sharing the boys bedroom from this apartment! Irene xoxo

If you have any questions about the interior styling or decoration just send me an email!

Image credit : Marjon Hoogervorst aka Vorstin

Turn the page ...

I have waited for this special day ... to announce a big step in my working life ...

Bloesem is going to open a studio in Tiong Bahru. The coolest area in town. I’m going to use the studio to work on the blogs, organize workshops — Bloesem Class -- and organize pop-up shops. 

Why you ask is today 7 november so special ... well, exactly one year ago I said goodbye to my father for the last time. It was on this day last year that I spoke in church how much I loved him and how I would try to carry his energy with me, and listen to all that he had taught me and I believe I have done a good job.

His sudden death has made me stronger, has made me appreciate life even more than I already did. And it was his going away that made it so clear to me that you only have THIS life to live. 

Although we gave him to that special energy that surrounds us and it is no longer possible for me to talk to him, or see or hear him (and believe me that hurts... deep inside, more than I could have ever imagined) I do feel he is with me ... at least his spirit is and that gives me so much strength. 

I know he would have been happy, he would have asked me many wise questions and, for sure, he would have challenged me, but above all he would have been proud that I achieved my main goal, giving Bloesem a brick and mortar place and turning Bloesem Studio into a bridge between East and West. 

My father loved the 'Far East’ as we used to call it. I remember when I was young he went to Asia for many weeks, several times during the year, to build his shoe trading business. Asia truly energized and inspired him. So it is probably in my genes ... but what I like the most about my own business is ‘connecting’ ... making the world smaller, perhaps that is why I love the internet so much! 

I sincerely hope that via the soon to open 'Bloesem Space' many creative people in the world will be able to meet each other, work together, learn together or just have a good time together. 

Of course I will keep you posted about this new adventure ... 

ps. there is one person that I need to thank ... Rik, he has been the most supportive person in the entire world and I love him more than he will ever understand.  The wrapping paper is by Nala design.

When we are in Amsterdam

... this is where we stay ... the first 'home' my husband and I bought ... last year our  friends XandL renovated our 100sqm and we are thrilled with the result ... although the place is not done completely, as we still should decorate it a bit better I feel...but already we find it is quite nice 'as is'...I really wanted to share the images I took with one of my favourite blogs ... because XandL deserve the attention!

I have been a long and with that I mean a very long time fan of Remodilista. I truly appreciate how the founding ladies of this blog or should I say online interior design resource still give so much personality to each and every post they share with their huge amount of readers. So when I sent over some pics of our Amsterdam apartment to Sarah Lonsdale I was thrilled she was interested in sharing them at remodilista ... so if you would like to go for a short tour ... head over to Remodilistaand read a bit more about our special place in the Jordaan. 

All images by me, Irene Hoofs

.. Amsterdam apartment over at Remodilista
.. X and L