Oops! Murphy returns.....

That's right...Murphy (from Murphy's law)has come back to visit our house. Not a welcome guest though! Jos wanted to hang my stitched and framed 4 seasons in the stairwell. He had an accident with the ladder as he was putting it on the stairs. No he was not on it at the time thankfully! But look at the violence with which it fell down the stairs...
Ja, hoor...Murphy *van de wet van Murphy* is terug. Niet een welkome gast moet ik toevoegen! Terwijl Jos mijn borduurwerken wou ophangen in de trap heeft hij een ongeluk gehad. Hij stond gelukkig niet op de ladder toen deze naar beneden viel maar kijk toch eens naar de schade...

Yes, that is a gaping hole you see in our door! Now you see it...now you don't.

Dat is inderdaad een groot gat in de deur! Maar kijk nogmaals...het is al weg...

We checked right away but these doors which were used for new builds in the 1990s are no longer available. It is a problem that 4 doors open into our tiny entrance hall so it would mean having to replace 3 or 4 of them if we have to buy a different door.

Deze deuren zijn niet meer te koop. Als we die ene vervangen zouden we er nog 3 moeten doen. Er zijn 4 deuren die naast elkaar in onze piepkleine hal openen. Een "vreemde" is niet mooi. Dat wordt erg kostbaar.

So we purchased this wooden rack which used to contain 3 iron hangers on it. Jos removed the hangers and sawed off the hooks.

We hebben bij de Action een houten rek met haakjes gekocht. Jos heeft de haakjes er af gehaald en de haakjes afgezaagd.

We replaced the middle hook with a WC porcelain sign. I had been planning on hanging this on the door anyway but now had to make it part of a creative solution to an otherwise extremely costly problem.

De decoratieve top van de haakjes weer er op gezet en de 3e haak is vervangen door een WC bordje. Ik had dit porceleinen bord al om op de deur te hangen dus moest een beetje creatief zijn om het te gebruiken en ons probleem op te lossen.

This was the first room to be completely finished but then again...it is the smallest room in the house. *grins*

De WC was de eerste kamer die af was in het nieuwe huis maar het is ook weleens de kleinste kamer toch...hihi.

I do not like the modern feeling in the bathroom but set out to use things to create a more nostalgic look since we did not want to spend the extra money for renovating this room during the move. I do not like the tiles being all the way to the ceiling but my mirror of old wood helps soften the hard look of the tiling.

Ik hou niet van de moderne sfeer die witte tegels geven als ze tot het plafond lopen. Ik wou een nostalgische look creëren. We hebben de WC niet in ons renovatie budget opgenomen.

When we first saw the room again after getting the keys, we worried that our wall cupboard would not fit in the extremely small toilet room. It was a perfect fit though and added the touches we love in our home...

We waren bezorgd toen we deze kamer weer terug zagen want het leek ons zo klein. Zou onze mooie kast wel passen? Maar het past perfect en geeft de uitstraling die wij zo gezellig vinden in huis...

Thanks for stopping by to peek inside our home!

Ik hoop dat je het leuk vindt om een kijkje te nemen in ons huis!

Advent and Sinterklaas merge...

Advent begins. It is Sunday evening and the first candle is lit.

Advent is begonnen. Het is Zondag avond en de eerste kaars is aangestoken.

Each year, I try to add a new tint to my advent plate of candles. I decorated my iron garden plate with creamy white candles this year and added berries and pinecones. This week is the candle of hope.

Elk jaar bedenk ik iets nieuws voor mijn advent kaarsen. Ik heb een ijzeren bord gebruikt met roomwitte kaarsen, bessen en denneappels. Eenvoud is mooi! De eerste advent kaars is een symbool van hoop.

A few decorations are now adorning my sitting area of the living room for the feast of Sinterklaas which is on December 5th. This little quilt is one I made last December of scraps of fabric around little motifs I cross stitched. It was a fun little project and my quilt group created them too this year for our Christmas in July project.

Samen met mijn advent kaarsen heb ik ook een paar dingen voor de Sinterklaas sfeer in huis. Ik heb dit quiltje vorig jaar december gemaakt. Mijn quiltgroep vond het zo leuk dat het meteen ons "Christmas in July" project voor 2010 was geworden.

These are reproduction vintage postcards of Sinterklaas which sit by our woodstove with a pair of old and worn children's wooden shoes.

Oude ingelijste ansichtkaarten van De Sint samen met een paar zeer oude verweerde kinder klompen bij de houtkachel geef een leuke sfeer.

Saturday, we ran into a couple of Zwarte Piets (Black Peter's) while shopping in the village of Putten. They kindly posed for a photo with my mother.

Bij een bezoek in Putten ging mijn moeder op de foto met twee Zwarte Pieten. Zij is vaker in het land geweest rond deze tijd en vind het een leuke traditie.

And Sinterklaas would not be complete without Mandarin oranges so we stopped for some at the supermarket. They are a healthy and sweet treat at this time of year.

Deze tijd is niet compleet zonder mandarijntjes. Een gezonde en zoete traktatie.

Have a very happy Sunday!

Een fijne zondag toegewenst!

Time to dine!

We moved amidst the gray skies of an autumn day at the beginning of the month. It did not rain though thankfully but was a very blustery day.


The move went so quickly and perfect. We were very impressed with the company we choose. It was high time that Murphy left our house. *wink*

Sorry it has been so long since I posted an entry before now but not a single room in our house is finished. Well, one room is but that is the WC (toilet or water closet as we call it in Holland). Sad but true...we are not near being finished yet. Our handyman has to come back yet for a small job and Jos has been really busy again with work so time and energy to hang things is short. I have a number of curtains to hem. There is a great deal to sort through also. This house is much bigger than our previous house but not practical. It means much will be sold as we do not have space for things. More about this as I post more about the house...

Our living room is one large open space with the kitchen off the the front of the house. We use this area as the dining space. I removed the leaf in our antique table when we were moving and really liked it as a square shape when you first walk into the room. I think for now it will stay like this.

My walls look gray in the photo but they are a taupe color.

I still have not gotten my autumn decorations out. I have placed my autumn quilts that I made around the living room. Since it is almost time for me to start decorating for Christmas, I will not get out the autumn decorations this year. This move has made both Jos and I feel like we missed the autumn season which is our favorite. It makes me sad but I will celebrate it in earnest next year.

I debated on what I wanted to use in this house but decided that I did really want to hang my fox hunt prints once again. They give a cozy 'Gentleman's room' feeling. I love using warm colors and dark woods in our home. While trying to describe the look we want to achieve to the man who did our wood floors, I told him it was the style of a old Dutch eetcafe which is almost a pub look. He came by to do some repair work on the floor (yes, it burst open yet again) and said that all the was missing was the beer taps.

I love a feeling of warmth in a room given by placing lamps on small tables here and there throughout the room. This table table stands near my autumn shades quilts I made over the years which I keep displayed on a quilt ladder.

Dagi adapted to the new house immediately. We were pleasantly surprised that he did not seem to need to adjust at all when he realized we were all three together. My little mouse Boudewijn (pronounced Bow dah wine) has made himself at home on my dining room table with some acorns. He normally sits at my sewing machine in my studio. You never know where he might pop up next. *grins*

The last stretch.....

Tomorrow is moving day so we are on the last stretch. The movers will arrive very early to start loading our larger pieces of furniture in the van. We have pretty much moved all the smaller stuff over to the new house.


We have been taking car loads over each day and this sweet little man in my life keeps wondering why he is not going along yet. He seems to think if he just sits on the boxes, we will take him along. *grins*

Not yet Dagi...but soon...

Chocolates from my dear friend Enny helped us through the waiting to hear about finding a new floor in time. Well, when do a good box of chocolates not help actually? *wink*

After calling 17 floor companies, the man doing our floors found this 20cm wide solid oak flooring in stock. It was delivered on Wednesday morning that week and finished by Friday afternoon. Unfortunately, the laminate floor in my studio was scratched when some oak planks were slid over it. The man who laid the studio floor said he would come replace the scratched area but it would be very costly. It will stay as it is for the time being. Why is it that the first scratches and dents are the most painful?

We had to wait a week for the carpenter to come and put the baseboards in the living room, hall and bedroom. We still have the flat trim to go around the doors yet to be installed which the man who laid the floors will do hopefully next week.

We choose an antique dark oak hard wax finish...

...and this is the result.

But last Sunday, I had a sleepless night after we discovered the floor was bowing up by the windows and garden door. We sent a text message to the man to let him know thinking he would call us on Monday but he called right away on Sunday. He came the next morning to fix it. The old floor was not solid beech as we had been told by the previous owners but a thin layer of beech laid over MDF panels. It was a cheap floor that could not have even been repaired when the boards started coming up from having been damp. This section was not attached to the cement under floor so he had to glue it down and re-nail the oak floor to it. But then we came back the next day to find this...

The trim around the floor heater is bent up and he will be coming back to repair it as soon as he can. It has been a journey to get the floor straightened out but here is what the old floor looked like. The wood was so damaged that something had to be done. Now looking back, we are glad we had to choose the new floor as we both love oak floors and this floor even stained and varnished would never had come up as nice as what we have now. We just won't even talk about our budget..... *wink*

Things are slowly starting to come together. Sonja helped me to put my bookshelves together. I thought I would feel like it was my home once I saw my books in the room but I need time to adjust from all the mess and problems we encountered. I am however really looking forward to having the rest of my furniture moved over tomorrow.

Time to see what last minute packing needs to be done here in the old house. Fingers crossed that our internet connection goes smoothly when it is set up on Friday. It will be nice to have life get back to normal again. I will be visiting you all again very soon to catch up on your lives when it does. Thank you for all the encouraging comments and emails!