Fantastic Decor

A Renovated Farmhouse in Belgium

Outside of the busy city of Antwerp, Belgian antiques dealer and designer, Henri Charles Hermans and his wife Natasha Hermans, also a designer, decided to relocate their business and their home to this wonderful 19th century Farm. Henri Charles Hermans, who once worked and studied under the famous Axel Vervoordt, found this property to be the perfect canvas to showcase the couples wonderful minimalist Belgian design style.

Formerly a fruit farm in the Belgian countryside, it took several years to restore the home. Above the outdoor pool is filtered naturally by aquatic plants.

The living room has wonderful bleached, then waxed herringbone floors. I love the mix of the hand plastered walls, and antique floors and doors, with the straight lines of the furniture by Jules Wabbes, and contemporary art over the fireplace by Jacques Denef.

The kitchen also continues this look by combining a thick oak antique farm table and waxed bluestone floors with contemporary light fixtures. The back wall of the kitchen is painted ebony to highlight the couples antique stoneware collection.

The main hall showcases a wonderful limed oak cabinet which houses collections of glassware and Khmer vases.

This is a lovely perspective of entry, kitchen, and living room from the main hall. The French doors bring wonderful light into the space.

The stark simplicity of the stairway is just beautiful. Notice the first step and is carved stone and the rusted iron railing. The furnishings echo the simplicity of the space.

An attic bedroom is the epitome of minimalism, with a Belgian twist. The antique bench at the foot of bed is covered in antique linen.

The bathroom with all white walls is the perfect backdrop for the gorgeous, antique zinc bath tub.

Here is a close up the of the Empire style zinc bathtub- notice the spectacular patina set off by the rustic milking stool.

In another hallway is a wonderful compilation of antique wood: oak table holds a walnut bowl filled with burl wood balls.

Hanging in the family room above the antique mantel is an artwork piece of ink writings from an ancient Hindu prayer book. The art work hides the television. Low trestle coffee table and linen slip covered sofas round out the Belgian style.

Antique marble topped bistro table and linen covered sofa look lovely. Waxed concrete floors and french doors open to the the outdoor terrace.

The beautiful facade of the house with pruned boxwood in planters and traditional boxwood hedge.

A pair of limestone dodecahedron (12 sided) pediments are believed to ward off bad luck.

What a lovely garden terrace. Fabulous antique table and twig style chairs make for perfect outdoor dining.

I think the Hermans' minimalist Belgian style is just beautiful- what do you think?

Hampton Designer Showhouse: Living Room by Robert Stilin

I think it's important to remember that Showhouses aren't always reality. Sometimes the rooms are a little over the top or just might not appeal to everyone. As I've mentioned before, I think it's important to keep an open mind. There is usually some aspect of a room that you can take away or be inspired by even if you don't like the entire room. Just because it's not your style, doesn't make it wrong.

The Living Room is the Hampton Designer Showhouse was designed by Robert Stilin who also designed the House Beautiful Kitchen of the Year with Ina Garten. My friends and I really liked this room in person. The walls are a pale lavender which sets of the modern and contemporary art. It also has a small kitchenette attached so to me it had the look of a very chic city apartment for an art collector and was also very soothing and relaxing. I also didn't even notice until I looked at the photos that they hung the art over the paneling. I know this might not appeal to everyone but I have to say that it worked in person. It was a bit of a masculine room but it could be reworked for a woman by lightening up the upholstery fabrics. It's also important to keep in mind that many people live in the Hamptons year round so they might not want a beachy feeling home but one that reflects how they also live in the city and that's how this room feels to me. To each his own.

Photos by Heather Clawson

Display your art under the shelf

Sarah tips me on her friend, Lee Meredith's shelving hack, which was featured on Threadbanger. It's about using the space under a shelf as a art display area. Pretty neat. I mean, who says you can only put stuff on a shelf? All you need are Spontan magnetic racks the length of your self and and some magnets to turn your plain old shelf to an art display.

See more of Meredith's undershelf art display.

DIY window boxes!

Before I show you how I made our new window boxes, I must introduce you all to my LOVAH...

That would be my compound miter saw. Say hello Squeezies. You want him, I know you do. Don't be sceered, he's very gentle. I. love. him.

These window boxes were so easy, I swear it was ridiculous. Crazy. Nuts. Wacky easy. Here are the steps...

I used the leftover fence posts from my DIY shutters, measured the width of my windows and cut three pieces of wood to the length I needed:

Then I cut two end pieces the width of the wood -- five inches long. I ended up with the sides, bottom and end pieces:

To put them together I used my super duper glue:

I put a bead on the edges that were going together and then nailed them together with my ~~beloved~~, er, nail gun:

And yes, I get a little nail happy. I put in, oh, about 20 nails per side, just for good measure. The nail gun is like the best thing ever in the history of man. Really, it's that fantastic. Really.

I put a little dab of glue along the end pieces, just a smooch. Then fit them on the ends:

When you get nail happy, inevitably the nails will not always go where they are supposed to. Sometimes you need some pliers and muscle to pry them out:

Voila! A window box:

Ummmkay peeps, if you have a miter saw and a nail gun, ~~your husband,~~ ~~your brother,~~ ~~the guy down the street~~ you can knock these puppies out in no time. Serious -- each one took maybe 30 minutes total to cut and build. Not lyin'.

If you don't have a saw and nail gun, try the miter box or the cutting guy at Lowe's. You can rent a nail gun or just try hammering in finishing nails. This will just make the assembly a lot longer.

The result? GORG!:

Helllllloooooooooo I LOVE THEM! With a little paint to match the trim and shutters from the deck redo they were complete:

I had extra wood and the Bub was still napping, so I went ahead and made a couple more for our bay window windows:

I didn't hang them though -- kind of because they are so low anyway, mostly because drilling into the siding was starting to give me hives. So they will just sit on the deck. Whew.

They are NOT perfect. They are not polished. But that's how I wanted them. I let go and love them not perfect. Not sure they'll even stay in the side of the house. I didn't want to drill huge toggle bolts into the siding so I did my best to hit studs. Little afraid they are going to crash down sometime soon. Crikey. Serenity now...

Does it kill anyone else to spend so much on flowers? It does me. Up till this year I had two front window boxes and maybe three or four containers with annuals every year. Why I keep creating spots for them, I'm not sure -- we'll have to spend a boatload on flowers next year.

Ah, who am I kidding.

Lurve. Best part -- each one was less than four bucks to make. :)

Art Smart: August Ugallery Picks

I am always amazed by the talent of the emerging artists available from Ugallery. This month, I have decided to highlight more great summer and travel inspired art. Enjoy!