Kamis, 02 April 2009

Studio tour!

Hello everybody, Hoi allemaal!

I hope you are all enjoying spring, we are having some marvelous days over here. If you are inside your house already you probably want to join me on a little studio tour.

This is where the spring cleaning has been done already. I forgot to take 'before photos', which isn't too bad, as I still had my 'before' photos of last year.
Come on let's start:

Iedereen klaar voor een kleine rondleiding na de voorjaarsschoonmaak in mijn kleine atelier?



Het begon zo, voordat ik aan een uitdaging meedeed ergens in mei 2008, bleef het gewoon nooit opgeruimd.

This is my little studio BEFORE anything happened. The problem was that how hard I tried it was never tidy. Main problem; too much stuff , secondary problem I couldn't find anything because things just didn't have a place of their own. So I joined a challenge. Reorganizing your study in a couple of weeks, last year.


Ik wilde opruimen maar:
geen plastic kratten in het zicht

Apart from reorganizing, I had my own goals:

* I didn't want to use any plastic containers (visible).
* I didn't want to buy anything new.
As there were more than enough high potentials living in the basement, waiting for a second life.

*This room is small but rather high, so I wanted to use that space:

en ook wilde ik niets nieuws kopen en
van de hoogte gebruik gaan maken.



The cupboard above the desk is a former mail divider from the post office in Vlaardingen, bought just before the challenge, with the intention to hang it up here.



desktop before...I only need a couple of square inches to work...



The sewing machine is next to the desk now, in front of the ladder, which I thought I was going to need in this room because of its height.



After a year the ladder has evolved into a display. I'm standing on my desk to reach the top shelf.
De ladder was eigenlijk bedoeld om ook bij de hoge planken te kunnen komen, maar na een jaar blijkt hij meer dienst te doen als bijzet tafel en ga ik gewoon op mijn bureau staan als ik de hoogte in moet.

ladder voordat...
I originally had only a couple of weeks to reorganize, so I decided not to paint everything, though some items couldn't escape a make over.



Like this too.






I wanted little knick knacks that inspire me in sight and not in boxes or cupboards.



Of course little LiLi M. the dress form doubles as a mood board.



Another of my main goals was to be able to find everything back again.
So I did quite a lot of labeling.
Omdat ik nooit wist waar ik nou precies iets gelaten had heb ik heel veel gelabeld.
Dan hoef je niet iedere keer al die koffers uit te pakken.



Now we are turning to the left. Here the 'before' left!



This corner was already a project done some months earlier, so tidying up would do over here.
But the gathering of buttons just goes on;



I am having much more filled jars than last June.



Now we are turning to the other side BEFORE.
The same mess over here.



I did a lot of labeling over here too. Hubby spray painted the office document cupboard white.


Deze dozen beplakte ik in 1985-1986 met behangpapier van de Hema. Grappig dat ze nu met vintage behang beplakt zijn!
I made these boxes around 1985-86, and used wallpaper bought at the Hema back then in the good old days, when they used to sell a lot of knitting wool and patterns over there too. I still like them a lot! Of course I had to change the labels.



Naturally I had to use the height at this side too. The rack above the cupboard started its life as a shelf, but I put all different kind of hooks on it, to hang things, but to be honest it is still too high to change often. The poodle was made by my daughter and me for a contest of the 'Bijenkorf', our most prestigious department store.



The shelf before, without the hooks.


Het enige dat ik vond waarvan ik niet meer wist dat ik het had!
Oude kinderbehangborders uit Duitsland.

One of the questions in the challenge was: did you find anything again?
Well, the problem with me is not that I don't know exactly what I have, the problem is where to find it. But I completely forgot these; 1920 children's wallpaper borders from Germany, still in the envelope, so I knew that I bought them on Ebay in 2004.



I have a revamped letter tray on this side. When the challenge ended officially (but the host wasn't ready and everything was postponed, postponed again and somehow I never heard from her again) this letter tray was still standing as I needed hubby to assist me to hang it to the wall.
Almost a year later, I filled the tray, but it is still standing. Without a challenge I don't feel any pressure.



As this one, still standing on the cupboard.



The corner when I just finished the room summer 2008.



The same corner after spring cleaning 2009.

My fabrics are kept in the basement in plastic containers, as well as the paints and the brushes.
This room has the potential of staying tidy, but I would need a little more space to keep projects that I am working on. We have a very large basement but I'd rather work here next to the television and computer room. Even when it is way smaller, it's more convenient to me to stay close with my family. Popping in and out of the family room while I'm working, I just love that.

Are you still there? I do hope you did enjoy this little tour. You thought it was to distract you from the Pip room, that probably isn't finished yet? Yes of course you are right!
Talk to you later!

xoxo LiLi M.

Ben je er nog? Wat dacht je: dit is zeker om ons af te leiden van die Pipkamer?
Ja natuurlijk! hahaha, tot de volgende keer, kus LiLi M.


Studio tour!

Hello everybody, Hoi allemaal!

I hope you are all enjoying spring, we are having some marvelous days over here. If you are inside your house already you probably want to join me on a little studio tour.

This is where the spring cleaning has been done already. I forgot to take 'before photos', which isn't too bad, as I still had my 'before' photos of last year.
Come on let's start:

Iedereen klaar voor een kleine rondleiding na de voorjaarsschoonmaak in mijn kleine atelier?



Het begon zo, voordat ik aan een uitdaging meedeed ergens in mei 2008, bleef het gewoon nooit opgeruimd.

This is my little studio BEFORE anything happened. The problem was that how hard I tried it was never tidy. Main problem; too much stuff , secondary problem I couldn't find anything because things just didn't have a place of their own. So I joined a challenge. Reorganizing your study in a couple of weeks, last year.


Ik wilde opruimen maar:
geen plastic kratten in het zicht

Apart from reorganizing, I had my own goals:

* I didn't want to use any plastic containers (visible).
* I didn't want to buy anything new.
As there were more than enough high potentials living in the basement, waiting for a second life.

*This room is small but rather high, so I wanted to use that space:

en ook wilde ik niets nieuws kopen en
van de hoogte gebruik gaan maken.



The cupboard above the desk is a former mail divider from the post office in Vlaardingen, bought just before the challenge, with the intention to hang it up here.



desktop before...I only need a couple of square inches to work...



The sewing machine is next to the desk now, in front of the ladder, which I thought I was going to need in this room because of its height.



After a year the ladder has evolved into a display. I'm standing on my desk to reach the top shelf.
De ladder was eigenlijk bedoeld om ook bij de hoge planken te kunnen komen, maar na een jaar blijkt hij meer dienst te doen als bijzet tafel en ga ik gewoon op mijn bureau staan als ik de hoogte in moet.

ladder voordat...
I originally had only a couple of weeks to reorganize, so I decided not to paint everything, though some items couldn't escape a make over.



Like this too.






I wanted little knick knacks that inspire me in sight and not in boxes or cupboards.



Of course little LiLi M. the dress form doubles as a mood board.



Another of my main goals was to be able to find everything back again.
So I did quite a lot of labeling.
Omdat ik nooit wist waar ik nou precies iets gelaten had heb ik heel veel gelabeld.
Dan hoef je niet iedere keer al die koffers uit te pakken.



Now we are turning to the left. Here the 'before' left!



This corner was already a project done some months earlier, so tidying up would do over here.
But the gathering of buttons just goes on;



I am having much more filled jars than last June.



Now we are turning to the other side BEFORE.
The same mess over here.



I did a lot of labeling over here too. Hubby spray painted the office document cupboard white.


Deze dozen beplakte ik in 1985-1986 met behangpapier van de Hema. Grappig dat ze nu met vintage behang beplakt zijn!
I made these boxes around 1985-86, and used wallpaper bought at the Hema back then in the good old days, when they used to sell a lot of knitting wool and patterns over there too. I still like them a lot! Of course I had to change the labels.



Naturally I had to use the height at this side too. The rack above the cupboard started its life as a shelf, but I put all different kind of hooks on it, to hang things, but to be honest it is still too high to change often. The poodle was made by my daughter and me for a contest of the 'Bijenkorf', our most prestigious department store.



The shelf before, without the hooks.


Het enige dat ik vond waarvan ik niet meer wist dat ik het had!
Oude kinderbehangborders uit Duitsland.

One of the questions in the challenge was: did you find anything again?
Well, the problem with me is not that I don't know exactly what I have, the problem is where to find it. But I completely forgot these; 1920 children's wallpaper borders from Germany, still in the envelope, so I knew that I bought them on Ebay in 2004.



I have a revamped letter tray on this side. When the challenge ended officially (but the host wasn't ready and everything was postponed, postponed again and somehow I never heard from her again) this letter tray was still standing as I needed hubby to assist me to hang it to the wall.
Almost a year later, I filled the tray, but it is still standing. Without a challenge I don't feel any pressure.



As this one, still standing on the cupboard.



The corner when I just finished the room summer 2008.



The same corner after spring cleaning 2009.

My fabrics are kept in the basement in plastic containers, as well as the paints and the brushes.
This room has the potential of staying tidy, but I would need a little more space to keep projects that I am working on. We have a very large basement but I'd rather work here next to the television and computer room. Even when it is way smaller, it's more convenient to me to stay close with my family. Popping in and out of the family room while I'm working, I just love that.

Are you still there? I do hope you did enjoy this little tour. You thought it was to distract you from the Pip room, that probably isn't finished yet? Yes of course you are right!
Talk to you later!

xoxo LiLi M.

Ben je er nog? Wat dacht je: dit is zeker om ons af te leiden van die Pipkamer?
Ja natuurlijk! hahaha, tot de volgende keer, kus LiLi M.


Kamis, 26 Maret 2009

Focus!

Hello!

Thanks to all visitors for their lovely comments on (part) of my collection of cardboard boxes. Now you probably expect me to continue with a spring cleaning story, but no, first things first.
I received this work of art from Karen Harvey Cox;


Mijn favoriete quote; amor vincit omnia= liefde overwint alles, tekening en gecalligrafeerd door Karen Harvey Cox.

I have to tell you that in real life this is even much more beautiful, the metallic highlights don't show this way. And it has been raining cats and dogs for days over here, so we had very bad light to take a photo.

The reason for Karen's generosity was this (I copied the quote from her blog):
Growing up I always remember when my mother would have a really bad day she would say, "Well, now I have to give someone a gift." Over the years I have learned that when we have reached a really hard spot in life, if we give someone a gift somehow it takes the sting of our pain away.

Now isn't that something we all should do? Thanks Karen not only for making this piece of calligraphic art, but for your wise words too. This scripture Amor vincit omnia means love conquers all.

I had a bad day too back then and Karen inspired me too:



I send this self made art journal to a fellow blogger, who could use a little extra attention. I filled it with ephemera. I hope that I remember Karen's wise words on my next 'bad day'. It's good to guide negative energy in a positive direction. Thanks for inspiration Karen!

Now for something completely different:

Wanda has tagged me: I had to take the 6th photo of the 6ht folder of my photo library.
Well, here it is:


Op 'Memphis' geïnspireerde kast ontworpen door ondergetekende.

Mmm this blurry photo might need some explanation.

This photo was taken in about 1986, before the digital era, it's a digital photo of a photo.

In the early 80ties Ettore Sottsass founded 'Memphis' an post modernistic design group. I fell in love with the Memphis designs immediately. But of course I couldn't afford a single cup and saucer being a poor student. So inspired by Memphis I designed a room. This cupboard, (a former plain white cupboard which was given by the parents of my SIL) was changed into the masterpiece of that room. (Before I had a scanner I tried to take photos of photos, this is one of them.)

Now I need to tag 6 bloggers too, in alphabetical order of first name:

Antoinette of Twaatjes' diary
Jeany of Jeany's Brunnen
Manuela of Manuala & Co
Marianne van A songbird is nesting
Marloes of Tante Tee
Nicky of Poppedijne

Play along ladies, if you feel like it.

Do you remember that with the start of 2009 some bloggers choose a word for 2009? To me the word 'focus' would have been very appropriate! What about the Pip room? Not finished yet! Spring cleaning? Just be patient with me, please!


Porceleinen deksel van 19de eeuwse tandpasta pot met Koningin Victoria

I'm ending with a little part of my spring cleaning; this lid. Yeah, yeah I know I should have been polishing the floor in stead of cleaning this piece of history. This pot lid was a gift from my brother, thanks Big Al! This lid has been dug out of the ground near Amsterdam. It's 19th century, the Queen is Victoria who reigned the United Kingdom from 1837 till 1901.
19th century cherry tooth paste...who would believe that?

Now you are pleased that I cleaned the lid, a photo of my polished floor would have been so dull!
Thanks for visiting me, see you next time, for...
I think it's better just to wait until next time!
xoxo LiLi M.

Van Karen Harvey Cox mocht ik dit mooie kunstwerk met gecalligrafeerde tekst ontvangen. Karen heeft van haar moeder geleerd dat wanneer je iets rots meemaakt en daardoor een slechte dag hebt, dat je wat weg moet geven. Zo kom ik dus aan dit kunstwerkje. Ik vind het prachtig en ik vind ook de gedachte erachter heel mooi, omdat je op die manier negatieve gevoelens positief kunt kanaliseren.
Ik had toen ook een beetje een off day en ik heb bovenstaand art journal gemaakt voor een blogger die moeilijke tijden doormaakt.

Iets heel anders; ik ben weer getagged, dit keer door Wanda.
Het is de bedoeling dat je de 6de foto van je 6de folder publiceert.
Bij deze! De foto van de door Memphis geïnspireerde kast is rond 1986 gemaakt toen ik helemaal weg was van Memphis design. Van een gekregen kast heb ik toen deze gemaakt, nou ja, de aanwijzigingen gegeven.
Als ik hem weer zie roept de kast zoveel leuke herinneringen bij me op.
Ik heb 6 medebloggers getagged :

Antoinette van Twaatjes' diary
Jeany van Jeany's Brunnen
Manuela van Manuala & Co
Marianne of A songbird is nesting
Marloes van Tante Tee
Nicky van Poppedijne

Als jullie zin hebben Antoinette tot en met Nicky kunnen jullie jezelf ook als getagged beschouwen. En wie nog meer graag getagged wil worden natuurlijk ook. Ik ben niet zo moeilijk.

Ik weet het... ik zou allang aandacht besteden aan de Pip kamer (bij lange na nog niet klaar), aan de grote schoonmaak, maar focussen is niet mijn sterkste punt. Een klein tipje dan van de grote schoonmaak. Ik heb het porceleinen deksel met koningin Victoria erop schoongemaakt. Jawel!
Het is een bodemvondst, uit Noord Holland en een cadeautje van mijn broer.
Prachtig hè, dat verpakkingsmateriaal uit de tijd van Koningin Victoria (ze regeerde van 1837 tot 1901). Wie van jullie had gedacht dat er toen al tandpasta met kersen smaak was?
Ik zeg maar niet wat ik de volgende keer laat zien, dat lijkt me wel zo veilig, tot snel weer,

xoxo LiLi M.