a S u c c u l e n t Story for Urban Jungle Bloggers

... this last Wednesday of February 2014

is finding me on board Urban Jungle Bloggers movement,

meeting some great participants & blogger friends,

initiated by Igor & Judith.

I joined in just a few days ago & wanted to make it to submitting my entry

for this month, well... before it ends ;)

So, promised  B i s c o t t i  recipe coming as a next post this week!

Honestly I could not be absent, being myself such an avid, little, urban gardener...

Plants have always been part of life in my homes.

I can say with certainty that the best

option I have to share so far

is the little, happy, ever growing, green family*

* remember our  w i n t e r  g a r d e n   just about 2 years ago?

living in our current home,

often referred to as the  P e a r l   B i r c h e s   H o u s e.

U r b a n   J u n g l e   B l o g g e r s challenge this month

was to present "one plant in three stylings"

I decided to adjust the theme a little to my needs,

so that I could also at the same time take the chance

to share with you a corner of the bedroom,

which organically evolved after the decision for seeing it with

fresh, new eyes

Any recollection of  the Hello new wall!  post?

that wall has been hosting our Malm chests of drawers,

while providing sufficient horizontal space {2,40 x 0,50 cm } for displaying favorite objects,

or just having useful free space at our disposal.

This is how it currently looks

and this is from where I took things

building around the theme for the 3 different stylings.

Protagonist is the little succulent seen above,

brought from a trip to Fuert Ventura this past December,

growing roots in a grey, stoneware mug,

which otherwise serves favorite cups of tea or coffee.

Rather than creating totally differentiated stylings,

I chose to demonstrate the  e f f e c t   s h a p e s  of plants

have as a decorative element.

Instead of totally changing the materials / objects

surrounding the plant,

{ something that has been so wonderfully demonstrated by many participants ! }

I kept on adding plants.

Below you see our growing succulent fellow

in the company of a round, green leaved friend, as a 2nd version.

... and in the 3rd version, the addition of a madly growing

aloe vera plant { flash back h e r e  }

which totally turned the whole vignette

into a family of plants,

all distinguished for their rather "architectural" character.

Which version do you like the most?

And what about you? Are you growing currently any plants at home?

If yes, what kind of? Where?

  

saying goodbye with a little "bonus" picture

of a glimpse into an idea

you might want to try out yourselves:

wrap a   p r e t t y   s t r i n g  around the

relatively, grown & strong trunk of one of your 

tall house plants { mind you, not too tight! }

Here is our Seflera plant,

begun barely a few centimeters tall with only but three little leaves,

now all grown up,

wrapped in a cotton white string with golden accents.

It gives an air of surprise

while turning the plant

into an even more decorative element, don't you think?

P r o d u c t s  in this post:

1. "Golden ratio"  p o s t c a r d s : S n u g

2. large & small  f r a m e s : RIBBA /  Ikea

3. star  c a n d l e   h o l d e r  & "Calm"  c a n d l e  in a silver glass: h&m Home

4. metal grey  c a n d l e   h o l d e r s : from a local shop, saw exactly the same in white

while visiting the House Doctor stand in Ambiente a couple of days ago.

5. simple, grey  c a n d l e s: Ikea

6. light brown ceramic pot: MANDEL / Ikea

7. D a l a   h o r s e : Swedish souvenir present from a friend,

spray painted in silver grey

8. grey stoneware  m u g  { here holding the little succulent }: John Lewis

9. green leaved plant in a concrete  p o t : from the flower section of our local super market 

10. decorative woolen & beaded hearts : from local stores

H e l l o N e w W a l l !

... we might as well be mad

that's why a day was spent prepping for sanding this wall,

which, till today, hadn't ever seen straighter days before.

The man of the house bought & used with supreme care & elegance

a professional machine, which of course is getting sold

after all our renovation works are done,

any time soon hopefully.

It's not too much to ask after 2 years { ! } of having bought & moved into this

house, right?

{ Since you might be wanting to take a glimpse into this room,

as it was until some time ago,

please click here }

With a favorite wallpaper bought but never applied till today,

cause of the rather dreadful job* of applying layers of paste, 

sanding & sanding again

and especially the work

of organizing the temporary new placements of the furniture,

so that the room can also be of use during its renovation,

the day that it will be applied in all its glory {as I have imagined}

seems like a tiny victory which has taken the very long road...

how welcome it is!

For the record, this room measures 17 sm² and is on the 2nd floor of our maisonette,

which is also the last floor of the house,

meaning that there are sliding ceilings on the one side,

while the other side  - the wall we are working on - has a generous height of  3,15 meters.

My man & I both quite much liked how the room got a totally new

vibe as the bed got removed from the wall,

the white, Malm chest of drawers being directly 

behind it, its six drawers facing the wall,

with a comfortable corridor for passing,

and of course opening & using the drawers.

The "arrangement" on the surface of the chest of drawers

consists of :

1. my ever favorite "Antifoni" reading lamp 

bought about 10 years ago, while I was renting my own apartment,

which I now "stole" from our working room in the same floor.

2. one of our favorite stone mugs in grey purchased this Spring, 

paired with a natural wooden plate

{ see 3rd pic in this post }

3. a book my man is reading

&

4. one of my very few perfumes,

which mostly acts as a ring catcher.

I think I fell in love with the look as soon

as I saw this picture taken with my i Phone this morning,

on what is a cold, mostly cloudy day

with tones of bright light { that I adore! } though.

Before I wish you all a wonderful 

Sunday afternoon,

I'm renewing our "appointment" here for sometime

soon this week again,

sharing more pictures of our current

make over !

picture credit: Iro - Ivy Nassopoulos for Domestic stories with Ivy 2013 taken with her i Phone.

f o n t choices: top hers & bottom his

p.s

yesterday among the wall repairs and  h o u r s  {painful ones, yes!}

of cleaning,

we enjoyed consuming the sweets I begun preparing on Friday evening:

homemade chocolates, like these below

and my "well known" soufle au chocolat

which served as breakfast,

topped with raspberry jam.

{ certainly not the healthiest version of a breakfast,

a delicious one though ; ) }

*  wishing everyone a nice closure to the weekend !  *

S ü ß e s * Z u h a u s e *

S ü ß e s   Z u h a u s e

 "Home sweet Home"

 or as anyone wishes to call it,

 it's really nice to wish you all a  h a p p y ,  n e w   w e e k  ahead,

from my most favorite place in the world...

I hope your weekend was a happy one, similarly to mine

I'll be sharing details of our current make over in a different post

{do give me a shout out if you are with me, reading this! ; ) }

.... for now & from me another  " h e l l o " 

with progress going on in the bookcase behind me ; )

promising to share a better self portrait!

_______________________________________________________

     _______________________________________________________

Contact me for rates & availability offering my  i n t e r i o r   &   l i f e   c o n s u l t a n c y  services.

so that we build together  y o u r  beautiful space, where your personality can unfold,

reaching  y o u r   f u l l e s t  potential.

Our living environments are but  e x t e n s i o n s  of ourselves.

By working on them, we inevitably work on ourselves,

allowing us to reach outcomes that once might have only been

dreams & wishes.

O u i !

* H a p p y W e e k e n d *

wishing you all a  h a p p y  w e e k e n d ! 

here is a {new} glimpse in the living room

of the Pearl Birches House 

aka as our home :)

________

more soon

Interiors / Styling  / Photography by Iro - Ivy Nassopoulos

M o n d a y ' s S t y l i n g T i p : navy blue & powder pink

  2nd Monday of the 2nd half of the year 2013...

and it couldn't be a better time to 

officially  e s t a b l i s h  a new column

here:

W E L C O M E 

everyone to M o n d a y' s  S t y l i n g  T i p s

by yours truly 

{ insert big smile here }

A little about the  c o l u m n :

I hope to inspire you while sharing these posts here with you,

not only to  d r e s s  stylishly

but most of all to get to  k n o w  yourselves,

a c c e p t  &  l o v e  them

for all the  w o n d e r f u l people that you are

S t y l e  cannot be imposed,

neither bought.

However a  s t y l i s t can be assigned & hired to work for others.

Personally I have noticed that my love for styling has been evolving parallel

to  d i s c o v e r i n g  myself,

parallel to allowing the best of me to unfold,

while having face to face talks with those nasty sides of me.

No matter what kind of outfit,

I like to feel that the clothes are at the same time 

a means to express myself and current mood,

while being  p r o p e r l y  dressed for any occasion.

T o d a y ' s   o u f i t  is about attending an appointment with clients,

while providing my services as

their interior design consultant.

I needed  to be comfortable as driving 100 km back and forth was involved.

At the same time,

I wished to be looking simple, still taken care off.

The meeting was about seeing   e x h i b i t i o n   h o u s e s 

at Bien Zenker, a company I'm so glad to have had the chance to be familiar with.

Here's some  i n f o  about the outfit,

in case you need to note down:

Have fun  e x p l o r i n g!

-> all cotton jeans Mango,  found here 

{mine were bought during this winter sales, when more "real" sizes were available.

I paid €15 for my pair. Reduced from €39.95, I was & still am pretty happy}

->  white, all cotton T-shirt, Zara {from our latest trip this April in South Portugal, Algavre }

-> dark blue mini cardigan with pretty buttons & a cute, tiny bow detail

Mango { currently not available }

-> glossy belt with a bow from Promod { here is something similar currently available}

-> My shoes were these wild leather ballerinas in powder pink from h&m

{ one of the presents I gave myself for my birthday in March  :)}

-> my bag can be seen below {please note I'm wearing a different blouse in that shot}

& a similar can be found here

{ another purchase while in South Portugal in April}

N O T E 

This post is  n o t sponsored by any of the shops mentioned.

I currently share, post & write about all I l o v e.

However, I' m in fact glad, to be involved in some kind of cooperation,

 should they be interested.

Since it has been proven that currently bloggers & blogs

 drive lovely people like you { and potential customers for them }

in their businesses,

I find it fair & wonderful to profit from it, too.

O u i ? Mais bien sur oui!