white smile: Vosges Paris

Hello Everyone!

I hope you are all having a great week.

I wanted to share someone special today with all of you.

Her name is Desiree.

She is the girl behind the

After Lori, from White Flower Farmhouse (more on Lori in the near future, she is the one who introduced me to blogging ), so kindly featured my home on her blog, Frugal Farmhouse Design, Desiree was one of the first people to email me and tell me she liked my home.

I couldn't believe I was getting an email from someone in the Netherlands.

Then after I started my own blog,

Desiree was then so kind to put a picture of my home on the side of her blog, Vosges Paris, and introduced my blog to her readers. I was so overwhelmed with gratitude that someone who didn't even know me would do this for me.

This is something Desiree does for new bloggers.

I think this is so generous of her to do.

Desiree has been such an inspiration to me.

Desiree also sent me this very nice package in the mail.

When Desiree was featured in this magazine at Home she sent me a copy of the magazine.

I had left a comment congratulating her for being featured in the magazine, so she offered to send me a copy, since we don't get this magazine here in the states.

I wish we got At Home here, as it is filled with so much inspiration.

Congratulations Desiree on your magazine feature!

Desiree sent me these cute wooden letters that spells out the word Reve, which means dream in French.

She also sent me this french document as well.

I love it.

Thank you Desiree!

Desiree, as you know, I love everything you sent me.

I asked Desiree if she would let me do a little interview with her and she kindly agreed to answer a few questions.

All of the pictures below are property of Vosges Paris.

Where are you from?

I am born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and still live here and to be honest I could not think of living anywhere else ... I absolutely love my town! I live in the old Harbour of the city surrounded by water and lots of history... You might see something of my neighbourhood when in August this year Sail 2010 is taking place just around the corner from where I live. I feel like having the best of two worlds, The tranquillity of the harbour, doing my daily shopping in a former warehouse of the KHL (Royal Holland Lloyd - Founded in 1899 to carry cattle andcargo between Amsterdam and South America) where coffee and tea was being stored and being really close to the city centre with its canals and narrow streets.

What inspired you to start a blog?

I have always been interested in interior design and photography. Fifteen years ago I bought myself a new camera and started to take lots of concert pictures I sold on eBay and by advertising in magazines. Some of them ended up in Music biography's and it was a great way to finance one of my greatest passions I have next to interior design .. 'music'.

Long before I started a blog of my own I made pictures of my DIY projects and Flee market finds that I shared in Picasa albums with a group of women. We 'met' at an interior forum that I still visit daily. A great group of people with the same passion for interior, flee markets and DIY. From time to time we also meet up at some place, have workshops, shopping trips. Some great friendships have been started there.

Later on I started to read blogs. I was really impressed by the French weblogs (there is a whole list at my blog for those of you who want to discover them). There were so many beautiful 'Mis en scenes' (still life's) as the French call them to admire. I started to make more and more pictures and decided to publish them on a blog as it would give me the change to write some more about them.

What is the story behind the name of your Blog?

The name of my blog comes from a silly nick name I once made as Mr.Google was rejecting all kind of names I wanted to choose. It comes from 'Place des Vosges' in Paris, It is the oldest square in Paris. It was the easiest way to just keep that name.

How would you describe your style?

To be honest I find it very difficult to describe my style.. there are so many things and styles I like. I truly love industrial things as metal cupboards, tolix chairs and tables with big wheels. But my heart also beats faster when seeing a shabby cupboard painted in white. French medici vases, zinc baskets or a garden table with rusty legs and a wooden top. I just love to combine the things I love.

On my blog I get reactions on my posts as: 'this is so you' and many times about the contrast in my home and pictures. So I guess, my style is combine things with a bit of contrast. Such as a modern white vase with an old crate painted with chalk paint to show my collection of strange iron finds. I definitely like to surround me with things you can't find in every shop.

So I often switch things around in my house. The concrete wall with zink ornaments has now been replaced by a white wall with an old table from the antique shop. But there can easily something else coming up in my mind that asks for another changing if decor.

Do you have a favorite room in your home?

I think changing and decorating your house is all about the inspiration you have at that moment and the picture you have in mind with that certain room. And like a painter who likes his last painting best I like my latest projects best. I love the serene atmosphere of my bedroom with the old white shutters and the touch of violet and I love the wall with the Industrial table in my working space. At the moment I am chanching things in my living room and added some bright white IKEA furniture and added a grey and white kelim.

Interiors grow by living in them , so who knows what will be next.

Who is your favorite designer?

That will be Frederic Tabary, I discovered his Picasa photo albums a few years ago, he now also has a weblog.

He is an interior designer and architect. He renovates and builds houses, shop interiors and all kind of unusual places

You can recognise his work by the amazing industrial and smart gadgets.

He uses all the material I love such as concrete Iron and wood.

Once you know his work you will regonice it in the magazines such as Cote Maison.

I can think of many more designs I like and I can pretend to know all the Dutch designers but the thruth it I don't.... I do know very well what I like though.. looking at beautiful things and happily enough Amsterdam is full of cool places with 'hot' design.

What is your favorite design book?

I donít really have a favorite book but I like the books from my favorite interior magazine. The Dutch magazine called ëVT Wonenë.

Do you have a favorite place to shop?

Yes I have a few places I like to shop, I mentioned a few on my weblog already like ëDe Weldaadí and ëSissy Boy homelandí But I also like to wander around at the Noordermarkt, the weekly antiques and curiosa Market. For all the basic stuff most Dutch shop at the HEMA and IKEA.

How has blogging impacted your life?

It has made my world bigger I find it absolutely great to see how other people live. I think if it wasn't for blogging I would never have get in touch with people like you and could have a look at how you live and decorate your home. I have met so many great people over the last years.