Pretty Old Cars!

 

 I took my daughter to the auto museum here in Brussels the other day. She was really excited at the entrance and lost interest when she was told she could not sit in the exhibited cars. Me? I just wanted the Alfa Romeo.  Do you know that sound you make when you see a really well-made handbag that's stylish, classic and just with the right shade of "all you" but the price says "move along pleb" ? It's a kind of surprise moan-shout-groan. That's the sound I made when I saw the Alfa Romeo.

Is it the case that everything made before 1990 was made better? Cars look so plastic today. And, how cute are those Cinquecentos?

So just how old were the cars at the Auto Museum? Well, the carriage, immediately below, was used on the occasion of the wedding of Napoleon III to Eugenie de Motije  in 1893.

Cute huh? Some days I really appreciate Brussels. It gets so cutesy in certain spaces. And then at other times it's just a giant old confusing mess covered in graffiti. Bless them though. They do try.

Gentleman's Quarters

It's not someone's home. It's an ad. campaign. Wesley Hall. Once again I'm drawn to green and that 70s-looking damask on the side chairs works too. Makes for a nice inspiration for a gentleman's quarters.

A Room Full of Books

Do you know what? I love my Samsung tablet but I am not ready for Google, Amazon, Apple and the others to erase hardcovers and paperbacks from my world.  How about you?

There is something so comforting about a room lined with books. And, it feels really great turning the crispy pages and it makes for far less awkward reading positions too.

The Things You Love

I am a bag lady? Are you a bag lady? You're a bag lady if you can't leave a Brocante shop with fewer than five tchotchkes. And that's why I love Deborah Buck. I love Deborah Buck of Buckhouse because she has a really good eye for putting tchotchkes to pretty use. I love that her vignettes inspire you to live with the things you love--the things you've acquired over time. This kind of home décor is great because nothing looks too contrived; and by using personally collected objects your home doesn't look like you copied it from a catalogue.

 

Buck seems to like arranging her vignettes with certain common threads: grouping similarly coloured objects together or objects of similar material; linking and creating themed imagery by grouping objects from the same culture/country/religion; mixing new or modern with older or shabbier objects; adding glamour to antique sculptures with the use of modern jewellery; giving her vignettes life with the use of flowers; and creating a background /setting using paintings or framed art.

 

I think I love her work because a single vignette can look like a cohesive work of art on its own--actually they each look like still life paintings. To take random objects and create cohesive still life/vignettes is quite inspiring. Very talented indeed.

Fashion Gods Have Mercy

This suit though. The accessories though. Chanel have Mercy!

Nothing but the Light

I am here today just for the light fixture hanging from the ceiling in this Tunisian home. It belongs in my as yet (and probably never) to be owned chattel house to be situated on a hill top somewhere in the Caribbean.

And the fabric on that vintage chair aint bad either. I like the vibe going on in this little holiday space. I like it a lot.

How is Tunisia after the revolution? Should I be traveling there?

Such a light, calm, smart and judiciously decorated space. It's a perfect example of a vacation and beach house.

Meh

The fashion designers of the world got together and decided to serve up a bunch of meh! at London Fashion Week. Guess they heard that another recession wave was about to hit and dispensed with the effort.