Monthly Archives: January 2009

This Paris apartment, located in an old bell-tower, has the most gorgeous view on the Eiffel tower. But it gets even better: the apartment has a 360 degree view on Paris.

Les Invalides, the Panthéon, the Notre-Dame, Montmartre, the Grand Palais and the Arc de Triomphe, all these landmarks can be seen from this beautiful home belonging to architect Monica Donati.

The cosy apartment is not very large (only 80m2) but it has every thing you need.

In the image below you can see that the place used to be a bell-tower. The mechanism of the old clock is still there and can be viewed from the 9m2 living room.

(images from Marie Claire Maison)

I hope you all have had a great weekend! Here in The Netherlands it has been very cold and this weekend people were able to ice-skate as most lakes were frozen (this has not happened in 12 years!). It is estimated that 1 million people were skating this weekend. This is a lot if you consider that there are 16 million people living in The Netherlands!

Today’s post features images from an 18th century house located in the French Basque country.

The timber framed construction has been restored and turned into a high-end guesthouse with 5 rooms.

Modernity and tradition go hand in hand; in the architecture, the interior and the cuisine.

You will love this house! Ceramic artist Karin Widnas lives in a artist village south west from Helsinki, Finland. Her gorgeous house / atelier is built and decorated in a modern Finnish style.

The simple forms are similar to the Japanese style of architecture and decorating. The ceramic wall (image above), separating living room and dining room, is created by Karin herself.

Chair “Diamond” from Harry Bertoia (Knoll), a design icon from the 50′s, serves as a bedside table in the (serene) bedroom.

Every object in the bathroom is simply beautiful.

Also in the kitchen beautiful ceramic tiles (here in black) cover the wall.

Despite the cold weather, there is a large outdoor living area. Isn’t that wooden table gorgeous?!

(images from Marie Claire Maison)

The Style Files is back in the air! My apologies to all that could not reach The Style Files. Around a week ago Dreamhost decided to shut down this blog as the traffic was getting too high and it was taking too much memory on their server. I felt so frustrated and irritated that I almost decided to stop with The Style Files. But after some deliberation I decided to give it another try.. I am now on a private server so hopefully all the problems belong to the past! Now my absence has been explained I want to wish you all a very happy 2009!

I start the new year with these gorgeous images from the portfolio of Jannicke Krakvik and Alessandro D’Orazio. The two stylists are from Oslo, Norway and have worked for various magazines such as ELLE Interior Norway.

Jannicke and Alessandro combine Scandinavian design with ethnic elements. I just love their style, it is very similar to mine.

(images from krakvikdorazio)