attic hallway

Strawhat collection & vintage L O N D O N map in the attic hallway.

Have a great weekend!

oodles of palms

Oodles of palms.

When it comes to collecting, I'm sure I'm guilty of it.

Lately I noticed that there are pretty much palm trees in the house, yet unobtrusive many palm trees. At least that's my opinion.

What is too much?

To me it feels organically grown over time, through travel, special souvenirs, handmade items, clothing and gifts from friends that know your 'palmtree passion'.

I arranged my ‘palm objects’ in a tiny palmtree photo report. And I have to admit I couldn't find so quickly photos of the metal moroccan palmtree hanger in the bedroom and the palmtree frisbee in the living and...

open doors

Daily routine.

Unpacking the dishwasher.
Open the kitchen cupboard doors and put everything back in place.
Nothing special, a daily recurring activity.
Yet I can see the 'fun' of this daily routine.
All the personal things, the mix of colors, the collections...

and when everything is back in place, close the doors again, because I'm allergic to open doors.

crafted coaster collection

The current crafted coaster collection.

Collected over the years, found on Place des Epices and in the souks of the Medina in Marrakech.
All handmade from grass, wrapped with yarn cleverly.
The simple patterns and beautiful colors, some even sun-bleached on the spice square.
Not that i ever put so many hot pans on the table at the same time, but I think they look so attractive.
Normally they are pilled up on the kitchen bench, this time together on the family group photo.

It's nothing but visual pleasure...

peacock mirror

house of plants

More green.

The [house of plants] is the newest book in our 'green books' collection.
It's a gift from my niece Afra from London. We share our passion for plants :-)

One of the other books, [evergreen] was send to me by Eimear from Ireland. She's one of the Cool Crochet participants in April last year and will join us again on the Green Gardens workshop in Marrakech in May.

Merci beaucoup Afra & Eimear!

We might already have as many plant books as plants nowadays...

marrakech herbarium

Friday afternoon herbarium inspiration for the upcoming Green Gardens workshops in Marrakech.

During the workshops the participants can collect seeds, leaves and make drawings or paintings in their notebooks of the daily green impressions at the gardens we will visit.
Actually I planned to work on the workshop program, but after a while I was 'playing around' with the notebooks and started to make some drawings...
I've got lots of inspiration from the Herbarium book and a box with a collection of 100 cards with stylish illustrations from the book Herbarium featuring herb facts.

My kitchen table was covered with books, maps, notebooks, pencils, postcards and illustration books.
I hardly can't wait until it's May and I can get started with my Marrakech herbarium notebook.

SPRING GREEN GARDENS WORKSHOP arrival: Thursday 11th of May - leaving: Tuesday 16th of May
AUTUMN GREEN GARDENS WORKSHOP arrival: Thursday 12th of October - leaving: Tuesday 17th of October
If you would like to join one of the workshops, please send an e-mail info@woodwoolstool.com for an application form.

You can find more information about the Green Gardens workshops in Marrakech H E R E

a r a b e

A R A B E

This week I've been playing with the vintage letters on the kitchen bench and a new word appeared, showing my passion for Arabic food and style.

happy ★ holidays

Slowly getting into the Christmas mood...

Happy Holidays to you all!

typography

We are collectors of vintage letters. In and around the house we have metal letters from all over Europe, in all colors, sizes and fonts.

By putting letters together, it looks even cooler I think. A type bench instead of type case.
Last month my husband walked past an old bank building in Madrid, where at that time they were hitting letters with brute force from the wall. The M and upside U were already on the ground and the workers did not understand why Henk would want to take them, but go ahead they said... He had to place for only two letters in his hand luggage.
Now they are part of the collection and along with the other letters we tried to make a word with an anagram maker, but it did not work. So no word, just letters.

The Moroccan bread basket serves as business card storage basket, with cards of nice places all over the world, we took during our trips.

ropes in a jar

The colored ropes and floating corks are beachfinds from our roadtrip in Portugal.

What started with some pieces of rope we found on the first day on the beach in Portugal, finally has grown into a collection and meanwhile we cleaned up the beach a bit.
Once home we washed the beachfinds in the bathtub and let them dry.

The collection ended up in a large glass jar and got a nice spot on our attic.

apple & pear

Curiosities on the tiny table:

The pear jar is a gift from my sweetheart.
He bought the pear for me last Saturday at Lammie's Saturday shop in Dordrecht. (he knows what i like)
The vintage apple mirror is from Marseille.
The tile is a souvenir from Sevilla, we bought it in a antique shop years ago.
Old german book about trees from Berlin.

cool wool locker

the Whites

the Pinks

the Yellows

the Greys

the Blues

the Greens

the Neons

the Reds

All the yarn moved from a tiny white cabinet to the middle section of the locker.

New year, new round, new storage!
Yesterday evening I suddenly felt like reorganizing my wool stock.
Starting with the Whites on top - felt a strong Instagram need by then - I was already over the moon.

I am absolutely satisfied with the result!
The two outer sections of the locker are packed with books, maps, postcards, records, stuff and things. Potential storage for 'attic' wool & moroccan yarn strands...
...and yet always hungry for more yarn.

Fortunately it's a harmless addiction.

about hares

The utterly cute hare family comes to visit during holidays traditionally! (I cherish them all)

Today we've framed the original drawing made by Dorine de Vos.
The past week the Villa Augustus hares were taped to the wall too, but once framed, the illustration looks even better I think. We're very pleased with this masterpiece.
In real the colors are even more beautiful of course, but hey it's dark in December.

You can still visit gallery H E R F S T to see (and buy) her original drawings at Villa Augustus. Dorine herself is also present the coming weekends and during Christmas.

all stars

My good old Converse sneakers are still one of my favorites.

All stars never get out of fashion.
Although I have to admit I don't wear my All stars that often anymore, eversince I have other sneakers, they feel kind of flat...

last friday in february