Converted mirror factory

There is an Alice in Wonderland quality to it when you can say that you live in a former mirror factory, isn't there? Today this charming house is a Bed & Breakfast in Brussels, Belgium.

I am smitten by the large collection of earthware and glasses. It is never too late to get started I suppose. What do you like about this house?

The address:

Chambre en ville, 19, rue de Londres, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium

All photos: Marie Claire Maison

The remains of the day

Photo: House to Home

I can see Emma Thompson or Anthony Hopkins opening the door any time! The Merchant Ivory film 'The Remains of the Day' (1993) is great. If you haven't watched it yet rent it as soon as you can.

For me this beautiful front garden with trellis is sooo quintessential English countryside.

A château in Provence

I have not been this excited about a European Chic blog post in a long while! Seriously, labelling this château a 'house tour' is the understatement of the year. May I present Château de Moissac in Moissac - Bellevue (Provence): It was built at the beginning of the XVIIème century and renovated in 2008. The staircases and fireplaces alone already make me weak in the knees. I quite fancy celebrating here with you, dear readers.

All photos: Château de Moissac/ photographs by Henri Del Olmo; Bernard Touillon and Patrick Van Robaeys

La rentrée

Photo: VTWonen Netherlands

I saw very similar baskets in the South of France this summer. I like how they were dipped in colour.

Paris is filling up again. It is so nice to be back and seeing everybody after the holidays again. It is called La rentrée!

The cat kindergarten

I think I found the coolest kindergarten ever! The cat-shaped kindergarten is located in Baden-Wuerttemberg and designed by Tomi Ungerer.

The cat reminds me of the egyptian sphinx. I give extra points for the fact that the cat's tail is a slide (3rd image). How can I get myself into this kindergarten? Wouldn't it be cool to play in the paws or peek out the eye?

All photos: Milk France

German Impressions VIII

Welcome to what is probably the longest Impressions... post ever! The overall theme was meant to be water, however, I did sneak in a couplephotos of interior shops I discovered.

First, a couple photos of the Hamburg port, the 2nd largest port in Europe. We took a boat trip and I saw the former 'retirement' homes of captains along the Elbe and the city beach.

Below one of the cool new buildings that form part of the new Hafen City. I like the organic shape of the building.

Here are a couple interior design stores I checked out.

 

The next two photos below show a shop that is straight out of a fairy tale. The former factory is crammed with the most beautiful props. Apparently, their clientel are mainly prop stylists.

Does anybody happen to know the name óf this shop?

Nice contrast between the elegant building and the run down theatre. Everybody bikes in Germany.

One of the many beautiful city parks with an observatory and a lake where you can swim. They were filming at the lake when we went there.

This is random but I found this 'skeleton house' interesting.

And then we went to the beach (45 min from Hamburg). We were lucky because they were pretty empty. We rented one of these cute things below - a Strandkorb. Do I now want to have my own Strandkorb, too? Yes, I do.

The dunes protect from the floods.

All photos: European Chic

So, I hope you enjoyed this trip!