Place - de Hofbogen Rotterdam

 before

 after

Here there is right next to where I live the longest building of the Netherlands - de Hofbogen (1,9 km). It is an old viaduct carrying a railway across the city of Rotterdam. I put info under the post if you would like to read more about it. When I moved to the north part of the city 3 years ago, the train was still operating. It felt a bit New Yorkish ;) Now is the silence and big plans to rebuild the upper, free part. You can see on few pictures, that one part of the viaduct is already new, and there is an intention to transform the whole structure into a great part of the city. Under the arches there is a lot of space, used in many different ways, for creative, commercial purposes, furniture makers, architect's offices, studios etc…..and guess what, I always dreamed that maybe one day, there will be place here for me too!  It's still hard to believe, but we work on it, to make this really, really happen…but pssst, just please keep your fingers crossed for us! 

hofbogen   mini-mall   bergpolder-krachtwijk   hofpleinlviaduct_hofbogen_rotterdam

Black color in children's room

Black can be very cozy and give safe feeling to a room. It might also be very practical color to use! You can use it behind working space or around the bed, or you can just paint one wall which than child can paint on. My son is 6 and he is already saying he would not mind to have a dark wall, which he thinks is very cool and strong. I personally do not like pure black, but always go for very dark gray or graphite. I  like the first photo with the the dark wall together with the dark cupboards . If you think its too much you can always bring some colorful accessories to make add brightness to a room. What about neons ?  They look so great on a dark wall. I wouldn't mind to have it in my sleeping room too….;)

photo's via : 1? / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

Children room in Finland

Today I got the book " Finland Children's Rooms " from Paumes, and I'm totally blown away ;) The finish simplicity and love for design is so close to my heart. Many people say the finish interiors are so somber and with not much color, well this book shows just how great the finish can use color in kids room interiors!  This house belong to Marjut and Jussi Rahkola, and their 6 kids - Juhana, Anton Olivier, Aava, Aarni and Kuura. The yellow bed is just adorable. The whole house is so simply organized with many design classic furniture and courage to use strong colors. 

In Netherlands you can get this book here : vanmarieke

Gerrit van Bakel toys and furniture for children

water table 

 play house

Last night I discovered the world of the dutch artist/ designer/ scalpture Gerrit van Bakel ( 1943 -1984) and I just have to show it! His work is divided into three periods: an early period paintings and works on paper, the "multiplex period" furniture, children's toys and objects made of plywood and the "machine" period with kinetic art, machine-like objects made of steel (metal) and operating on natural forces such as sunlight, cold, rain and wind. It's just amazing. The small car on wheels remainds me so much of the shape of our R toddler bed! 

car for child 

Muuto Oto and Rock'n Roll shelf system

This two shelf systems are looking almost the same. They are coming from Scandinavia but from 2 different companies and designers. The first one, is made of heavy-duty paper rolls, stuck to each other with velcro - that's Rock'n roll shelf from ReturnDesign from Sweden. Evadible in a beautiful shop Serendipity where I took this photo from. The second one is from Pil Bredahl designed for the Finnish brand Mutto, and made of fibre glass in white and black.  I really like the concept, it's looking fun and functional. It's a great way to expose nice objects - if we also happen to have a lot of space! ;)

love the last one via : studio8940

NOBODY chair for children

Nobody chair is also for kids! Danish design duo Komplot created first this char for adults for the brand Hay.  It is an industrially produced chair made entirely of textile and the production process requires no plastic, screws, glue or other reinforcements. The Nobody Chair is molded in one piece and in one single process resulting in a simple, light weight, stackable design object.  So great! On the one photo there is this strange animal - looking like the nobody chair - but I don't know what it is. If you do - please let me know! 

photo's via:  designshop  frenchbydesign  husohem.se

Photo-shoot reality

Do you sometimes realize how much work costs to make such a nice children room picture? I think many of them, doesn't have much to do with real life but they can inspire us to do something nice in our interiors. For me it is pretty easy to recognize a real room from a only a styled room for a magazine article, and for you ? 

Today I'm showing you a sneak peak from a photo-shoot made for 101woonideeen. I was pretty surprised to see the real photos and thought its something interesting to share.

I wish you a good weekend. I will be doing some new photos for our Rafa-kids bedding collection ;-)

more soon…

before and after

need so much...

Andel's hotel in Lodz Poland

If you ever go to visit Lodz in Poland and you want to treat yourself with luxury, then I will send you to Andel's hotel. After 1200 km of driving from Holland I was happy to leave kids with their grandmother in Wroclaw and choose to stay at this place in Lodz. It is an old factory adapted to a hotel with a nice swimming pool and spa at the rooftop. I don't remember last time staying alone with my man at the hotel ;-) I admit we enjoyed it so much. Especially the long breakfast and the feeling that we really didn't have to do anything…