Mies with a model of his masterpiece, the Crown Hall on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Architecture in Chicago, USA
udwig Mies van der Rohe, “Mies” as he was commonly referred to, would have been 128 years old today. He was born as Ludwig Mies in Aachen, Germany in 1886 but moved to the USA in 1937. He was one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture, along with Le Corbusier, Alvar Aalto and Frank Lloyd Wright.
I would like to share with you one of my favourite things that in my opinion adds a lot of character to any space: vintage leather. And with this I do not mean those shiny, black and chrome “yuppie-style” pieces that one would easily find in many bachelor pads (absolutely not my cup of tea), or even worse, those brown leather sofa’s sold by the thousands at the furniture chainstores.
he color of the month pink is it! And this is my advise to all the macho men out there: don’t be scared of pink! I know, I know, the first thing one tends to think of with pink is Barbie and My Little Pony…. but pink can actually be a very sophisticated and warm color. Combined with other pastels it will be soft and feminine, combined with dark grey it will be quite classy.
was never such a fan of wallpaper. The first thing that springs to mind when I think of wallpaper are walls covered in over-the-top old-school flower patterns, granny-style. But these days there are so many amazing wallpapers available, be it designer-style or DIY-projects. I see walls covered with old newspapers, roadmaps, sheet-music and vintage bookpages, very original.
on’t you just love the elegance of steel windows? Once upon a time only found in old industrial buildings, they have been moving into our homes more and more. The strong steel makes it possible to make the mullions so much more smaller, creating larger areas for the (sun)light to shine through. Steel windows are beautiful in both modern and traditional architecture, as you can see in the images below.
f you are, like me, longing for summer to begin, here’s a little Color of the Month: ORANGE inspiration. Just to get you in the mood… Colors such as blue, lilac and fresh apple green are probably more suited to this time of year but I just couldn’t resist the warm glow of the orange-themed images I found on the net. Since my post on Wonderful Wicker, I am definitely in the mood for those long summerdays.
stumbled upon this über bling bling house, whilst browsing the net. It is so unusual, I have never seen anything like it before. I love the aluminum shiny material used for the exterior, love the design with the large windows and definitely love the location.
lthough wonderful wicker actually reminds me of the sunfilled summer days during my years in South Africa, I just couldn’t resist posting these images now (even if it’s a looooong way to summer). I really like wicker, because of its warm color, its earthy, natural vibe and because wicker is so versatile. It is not only used for baskets and hats, but for furniture as well.
am seeing so many green glass vases on all the blogs these days, it must have something to do with spring. I just love these oversized glass bottles and vases, the sunlight shining through, reflecting the light and cheerful mood of this time of year. The styling trick is to have a collection of these vases and bottles in mixed sizes and group them together.
s I am writing this post about Contemporary Architecture, I realize that most of the houses that I feature here, are actually situated close to the sea. I guess that this building style works best when implemented with free-standing structures in natural surroundings, preferably with water close by. Why would that be? Well, these houses tend to have those super large floor to ceiling windows.
