Wood And Plastic

October 1, 2015 • Collab • Design • Interior

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earlier this year i was contacted by french company DESIGNERBOX, a subscription service that delivers wooden boxes filled with unique and surprising design objects. asked whether i’d like to see one of their boxes up close, i told them i fell in love with the cute little wooden animals created by outofstock for DESIGNERBOX #4.

they’re cute, of course, but they’re also functional – i mostly keep them ON MY DESK, where they hold pencils, business cards and whatnot. but occasionally they’ll move around the house with me. i swear if i ever want a career change, i’ll take up visual merchandising. my husband rolls his eyes whenever i start redecorating a part of our house, and he doesn’t get why i have so much ‘stuff’ without any obvious functional use. ah, men.

in any case i enjoy creating these little tableaux, and recently i finally found a good spot for the pretty plastic tri boxes gifted to me by lovely aurelie of BLISS CONCEPT STORE. she launched her online business almost a year ago, and in the meantime has organized quite a few pop-up shops in belgium that always attract the loveliest crowd that is into minimal and scandinavian design. she has an amazing selection of homewares, cool stuff for kids and pretty things for mamas.

i admit at first i neglected the tri boxes by mint rhapsody a little bit, because i was at a loss where to hang them against the wall. such a finite decision right? to drill holes and to commit to that one place? in the end i just started doing what i do with most of our homewares – i started moving them around and found out i loved displaying pretty little plants or knick knacks in them. full disclosure – that cute little touch-me-not plant lived for approximately 48 hours. if anyone anywhere ever had a black thumb, that’d be me.

some good news to end with though – because bliss concept is letting me give away one set of tri boxes over on instagram! you just need to follow 70PERCENTSTEPH and BLISS.CONCEPT on there and post a photo of the spot in your home where you’d hang or place the tri boxes, accompanied by the hashtag #70percentbliss. easy, right? i’m so curious to see all of your lovely nooks and corners on ig! you can participate until wednesday october 7 midnight, and a winner will be picked and announced on thursday october 8. good luck y’all!

wooden animal figures designed by outofstock for DESIGNERBOX // tri boxes from mint rhapsody from BLISS CONCEPT // m poster from PLAYTYPE // cups spelling j u l i e t by TYPE HYPE // lamp from SERAX // photos by stephanie duval

Indian Summer With Ikea

September 27, 2015 • Collab • Interior

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we’ve been experiencing a wonderful end of summer here in switzerland, with sunny mornings and balmy afternoons. which is always nice of course, but especially if your home has an outside area to enjoy those last beautiful days of the season. when we originally moved to geneva, we were incredibly lucky to find an apartment with a gorgeous balcony, so when we moved last year (almost a year ago – time really does fly!) we were really hoping to find a similar place in our new hometown. we hit the jackpot when we found our current apartment, which has a supernice terrace. it is partly walled off, as if it were more like an outdoor room than a terrace, and i really liked the idea of decorating the place like it was an actual extension of our open plan living room.

after our fun collaboration for JULIET’S NURSERY, i decided to team up with IKEA again for this project. ever since seeing the patio make-over on A HOUSE ON THE HILLS using those gorgeous ikea loungers, i couldn’t get them out of my mind. so obviously, they were first to end up on my shopping list. i love how they add a kind of mid-century vibe, but are still quite minimal pieces that don’t overpower their surroundings.

next was a dining table and chairs, and that is where i messed up a little bit. we decided to order our furniture online and have it delivered to our home, so as not to have to load up our car ourselves – which is a bit difficult with a baby car seat in the back. i originally ordered a huge table of 2 by 1m, because we both love having friends over for dinner and imagined enormous feasts taking place on our terrace. when the furniture was delivered however, i realized i had been a tad optimistic taking our terrace’s measurements. the table took up the entirety of the space, and the chairs could barely fit around it. #epicfail much?

thankfully ikea has a really good return policy – they take back products that are in pristine condition and their original packaging. so we loaded up our car after all, and went to exchange the table and chairs. we looked around for something a bit smaller, and finally noticed our ikea location still had some of the very cool ps 2014 picnic tables and benches in stock. they were the very last pieces, and i scolded myself for not thinking of them earlier. so easy to pack up, easier still to assemble and so pretty – it now is my favorite place for sunny lunches and some quiet alone time with coffee and a magazine. i love the minimal look of the benches instead of chairs, too. if i want to make them a bit cozier, i just put some pillows or a nice throw on them.

to really make the terrace feel like a living area, i spruced up the lounge corner with some greens and an outdoor carpet. simple details perhaps, but they really tied everything together. add to that the SERAX planters from our wedding and the string lights we had put up last year for the holidays (and i had refused to take down), and it really has become such a cozy and warm place to spend quality time with friends and family. we inaugurated the terrace when belgian photographer (and blogosphere friend) KELLY STEENLANDT came over to take some family pictures. obviously we had to celebrate with some veuve clicquot bubbles and a summery lunch of parma ham and melon parts. it was a beautiful weekend i hope to share more about very soon.

greens, carpet, table, benches, lounge chairs and cushions from IKEA // grey tableware by VIPP // cement plant pots on the table by SERAX // morrocan throw bought on ibiza // juliet is wearing an EMOI EMOI romper and HAPPY LEONIE headband // i’m wearing a striped G-STAR top // photos by stephanie duval