Orangery redo – Final version

 

I am pleased to share with you today the pictures of the finishing part of our orangery-redo. The pictures are taken by me with a cybershot Sony camera, so forgive me for my unprofessional photographie.

Enjoy!

 

 

Coffee table executed by our company Lefèvre Interiors.

 

The existing sofa is slipcovered with the identical linen as the upholstery of the new large sofa opposite.

BeforePhoto credit : Fotografie Claude Smekens

The color of the lime paint is much warmer than the flat cool grey painted walls before.

Before Photo credit : Fotografie Claude Smekens

 

At the upper part of the chimney mantelpiece we hung a group of antlers.

 

To obtain a more straight and clean look, I have chosen for a fixed upholstered large sofa.

 

 

 

This will be my new reading corner!

BeforePhoto credit : Efi De Grande

I just love the color of my antique vase I placed on the chimney piece.

 

 

 

 

The orangery is much warmer, lighter, much airier and more peaceful than before. Aren’t you agree?

For my readers who have missed the orangery-redo in progress and who are interested in reading about it, click here, here and here.

 

Custom made furniture;  seating & decoration : Lefèvre Interiors

Linen fabrics : Libeco

Painting : Dankers Decor

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I am curious about your thoughts!

xx

Orangery redo – Part III & Gardening Belgian Style at Providence Ltd.

 

 

First of all a huge thank to my friend Mona of the beautiful blog PROVIDENCE LTD. for posting an interview with me about the Belgian style of gardening! Mona has put a lot of work in this post! Thank you so much Mona for asking me to talk about this subject! I really feel honoured!

If you are interested in this interview, please click on the Providence Ltd. logo. 

Our garden (picture of last year).

___

 

ORANGERY REDO - PART III

Today a quick post about the process of our orangery redo. For those who haven’t read Part I & II and want to know more about it, please click here (Part I) and here (Part II).

Part II ended with the plaster coat.

The painters started to paint the plaster coat a first time, as you can see here.

 

And the day after it looked as this.

After our painter R. had made us some samples to be able to choose the right finishing patina…

 

…he moved on with the finishing and of course the most important part!!

The application of the final and definitive patina!!!

 

Our lovely painter, B. was giving the lightswitches and plates the suitable paint color.

 

A final check up with the chosen upholstery fabrics.

 

And here you can see the result! Jan and me are really excited about it!

We are really happy with the patina that matches, in an excellent way, the stone of our chimney piece.

 

 

A huge thank to the painters R. and B. for their incredible effort to finish our orangery room according our wishes! 

Thank you guys, you are the best! You can be very proud of your job!

 

The orangery is awaiting to be furnished!

TO BE CONTINUED…

xx

It is all about craftsmanship

 

One of our clients contacted us with a rather unusual question. A few years ago he had bought a beautiful 19th century gothic styled architectural element for its beauty and the craftsmanship this piece radiated.

So this client asked my company LEFEVRE INTERIORS not only to restore this damaged wooden element but even to design a bookcase in which this element could be integrated! Not that simple!

First of all we had to restore the damaged woodcarving of the existing element and second we had to find the suitable gothic design details in order to start the design of the bookcase. I browsed into all the books I could possibly find about gothic ornaments and here is what we made of it.

Finally our client was most pleased with the result!

 

This is the bookcase brought in at our client’s home.

(picture by me)

 

It all started with this existing gothic element we used as the upper part of the bookcase.

(picture by me)

This is the new gothic paneling of the lower part of the bookcase.

(picture by me)

I can’t find a before picture of the existing element anymore, but you should notice that the wood was mostly uncolored. Our client wanted to have a ‘tobacco’ finish of the wood.

The bookcase now is ready to be filled with books!

(picture by me)

I do love working with antique elements and thinking about a way to integrate them in an interior design project.

As this French walnut 18th century double door I bought in France some years ago. I couldn’t resist its beauty!

The door is awaiting its final destination into a client’s home, or maybe brought in at my own home one day!

Can you imagine this door used in a design project as in these French styled paneled rooms :

(picture by me)

image source : The Neo Lifestyle

image source : www.miresparis.com

image source : Gypsy Purple

source : unknown

source : unknown

 

Isn’t the detailling of the hand woodcarving stunning?

image source : Lefèvre Interiors

One of our craftsmen at work.

image source : Lefèvre Interiors

LEFEVRE INTERIORS

 

Whether you like these shown antique elements or not, it is all about the craftmanship, don’t you agree?!

xx

IMPORTANT MESSAGE

 To the anonymous winner of my Beta-Plus book give away : please send me your name and address!!! If  I have not received it by Friday, March,4th, I will choose another winner.

Beta-Plus publications : the inspirational resource to all your architectural and interior design and…a book give away!

Dear readers, I am aware that a lot amongst you do know yet the wonderful publications of our Belgian publisher Beta-Plus.

Although today I wanted to write a special post about these publications to introduce my new readers to this resource, which is of an inestimable value, for all your architectural and interior design.

As my followers do know, in a lot of my earlier posts, I used several images of these publications and linked back to Beta-Plus (my apologies to Beta-Plus for any forgotten mentions or links, which I didn’t mean to omit on any purpose) in order to introduce the world to the characteristics of the Belgian architectural and interior design.

A few days ago, I received an email of the owner of Beta-Plus publishing, mentioning to me that I used too much of the Beta-Plus pictures on my blog. Although I always tried to mention the source of a picture, it seemed that I took a lot of pictures of websites which include the Beta-Plus publications’ pictures!

I really want to apologize to Beta-Plus publishing for this!! It was never my purpose to cause problems of any kind.

So in huge respect for Wim Pauwels, the owner of BETA-PLUS publishing, and for the amazing research he has done in all these passed years, it is my duty to write a special post dedicated to his inspirational books.

With an enormous respect for our Belgian ancestors, Wim Pauwels has performed a lot of research to publish about our today’s craftsmen and their projects, so that all of the publications became reference books of our cultural history and tradition. I am sure that in future they will be of a huge importance to our children and grand-children in order to go on in that same way and tradition of our ancestors.

I share with you today some of my favorite publications, which were a very important source, writing my earlier blogposts.

ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUES

This publication emphasizes the traditional craftsmanship in our modern, high-tech society, and shows us realisations with construction materials and pieces from the past, being reclaimed, restored and reintegrated into properties.

BUILDING WITH RECLAIMED MATERIALS

&

COMPENDIUM ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUES

Wonderful sources of reclaimed materials.

Image source Beta Plus publication Compendium Architectural Antiques

COUNTRY LIVING

Restored country houses as new-built projects, integrated into the country landscape.

All aspects of country living are given a chance in this publication : from the restoration of the house and the selection of materials to the interior design and the landscaping of the garden.

Image source Beta Plus publication Country Living

Image source Beta Plus publication Country Living

LIVING WITH WOOD

This book features inspiring examples of using wood in architectural projects and interiors. Homes constructed out of wood and also traditional brick buildings where wood occupies a prominent position inside the house.

Image source Beta Plus publication Living With Wood

COMPENDIUM CLASSIC LIVING

Classic living in all its aspects : from a farm house to a stately home, from a country estate to an apartment.

Image source Beta Plus publication Classic Living

Image source Beta Plus publication Classic Living

KITCHENS

&

COMPENDIUM KITCHENS

The kitchen has become one of the most important places in the home, it is not only the cooking area, but it is also used for many other activities as eating, working, receiving guests,…

In these 2 (and even in other publications about kitchens – see Beta-Plus website), you will find plenty of inspiration for your dream kitchen.

Image source Beta Plus publication Compendium Kitchens

Image source Beta Plus publication Compendium Kitchens

HANDMADE, A PASSION FOR CRAFTSMANSHIP

This book presents 20 selected craftspeople. They all argue for a recovery of our traditional cultural heritage of crafts.

Image source Beta Plus publication Handmade, A passion for craftsmanship

Image source Beta Plus publication Handmade, A passion for craftsmanship

CONTEMPORARY LIVING WITH ANTIQUES

This book presents recently constructed or restored homes where interior designers or antiques dealers show an eclectic whole of old and new.

Image source Beta Plus publication Contemporary Living With Antiques

This is a picture of my living room published in Contemporary Living With Antiques.

Image source Beta Plus publication Contemporary Living With Antiques

I am very proud to mention that my home is featured in this publication.

Discover the entire publication of my home HERE.

Besides of the thematic series, Beta-Plus publishing offers a wide range of other publications as the yearbooks about Architecture and Interiors, as this one here :

TIMELESS ARCHITECTURE AND INTERIORS – YEARBOOK 2011

These yearbooks include beautiful realisations shown by renowned architects and interior designers.

Image source Beta Plus publication Timeless architecture and interiors – Yearbook 2011

Image source Beta Plus publication Timeless architecture and interiors – Yearbook 2011

To discover more about the wide range of BETA-PLUS publications, or to see some book previews, please visit the BETA-PLUS publishing website : www.betaplus.com.

To order your favorite publications, click HERE.

MY BOOK GIVE-AWAY

Grab your chance and go over to the BETA-PLUS website HERE.

All you have to do is : take a look at the preview of ONE OF THE 4 NEWEST PUBLICATIONS

- BEST OF 500 CONTEMPORARY INTERIORS

-BEST OF 500 TIMELESS INTERIORS

-CONTEMPORARY APARTMENTS

-KITCHENS

And let me know, by commenting this post of BETA PLUS, which of these 4 books is your favorite.

You can leave your comment until Friday 25th of February, midnight central european time.

The random chosen winner will be announced on Saturday the 26th of February.

Good luck to you all!

xx

All images of this post are of the Beta-Plus website www.betaplus.com and posted with the permission of Beta-Plus publishing.