Autumn leaves in Japan...

I always look for new design tools and found yesterday an online room planner!
"Homstyler" is a community planner for everyone who loves to design spaces! It's quite easy to use and it's very cool from the render!
I decided to try to design the living room of my dream and this was much more difficult as expected! I love pretty every kind of Design if the whole concept make sense: the type of room (old, new, city, flat, house...) and the interior!
But what would I really choose if I had to design "my" house! I start first with my (at the moment!) crush color scheme: blue and yellow! I choose a dark blue pattern wallpaper and two mustard armchairs! The result, a more Parisian interior was quite pretty and looks comfy and chic, everything that I love! But I realize that it wasn't really me!
If I should describe my style, it would be a mix of Japanese, French, Art Nouveau and Art Deco love! I redesign the room and don't take care if it would be like by other person! Because I realize that I very often now choose stuff that would be love by everyone! I could call it "The everyone's social media darling syndrome"!!!
But I decided to stop now this bad attitude and voilà: this is my room!
If you like it and inspire you than it makes me really happy and if not than it's alright too ;)

This picture describe me perfectly: a little bit romantic, serious, calm and endless flowers lover...

As you know I often take inspiration from places I was lucky to visit! One of my favorite trip in Japan was during autumn in Takayama! So beautiful...

Hope you enjoy the trip and if you want to see more from autumn leaves pictures in Japan go of "Japan Guide"! My favorite one :)

See You...

Modern Japanese inspired interior

Probably my last project before summer break :)
I couldn't be more happy to work on a "Japanese" inspired home project as it was sooo warm during the last weeks and sooo difficult to find some energy! But when it's come to Japan I always have a lot of inspiration ;)

The project:

⇢ A small living dining space.
⇢ The room is unfortunately not very wide!
⇢ But the big window brings a lot of light as well as a nice view to the garden..

The wish list:

⇢ A "big" living room and dining place because the house is always full of people: kids and their playmate, family, friends... ;)
⇢ A warm and cosy place with a natural Japanese/Scandinavian touch!

And here is my proposal ;)

"HK Living" Lamp - "Foscarini" Lamp - "Serge Mouille" Lamp - "Ikea" Sofa - "Hay" Chair - "Made"  Table - "HK Living" cushions - "Pols Potten" Stool - "Serax" Stool - “Farrow Ball“ paint - Wallpaper 

See you ;)

No Blah Blah Post: Natural Japanese Style Room

Just a short post because it's summer and the heat waves from the past days really put my work efficiency on level 0 ;)

About the project:

⇨ Guest, TV and kids playroom
⇨ Create a light and friendly space in a natural and warm color scheme which allow to integrate the Japanese ceramic pieces and black and white pictures from the owners!

The wish list :

⇨ The owners wanted to keep an old Japanese dark wood drawer, a big Chinese carved wood panel (over the sofa) and their red sofa! Not easy for a natural look ;)
⇨ they also wanted to have most of the walls white.

The most difficult point was to integrate a red sofa into a natural color scheme. To reduce the contrast in the room between the sofa and the white walls I go for beige slide curtains and a color gradient wallpaper in Wabi Sabi style! I could then create more easily a color scheme with the color red, white, gray, beige and salmon.

"Juniqe" print - "By Malene Birger" Print

"Menu" vase - "House Doctor" Vase - "Maison du monde" Sofa - "Sandberg" Wallpaper - "Westwing" Lamp - "And Tradition" coffe table - "Le Monde Sauvage" Cushions - "Vitra" Bank - "Zara Home" Rug - "Zara Home" Grey coffe table - "Westwing" Lamp - "Ikea" slide curtain - 

And if you desperately need some refreshing like me just add a twist of midnight blue and sky blue!
See at the beach! (Oh I wish I could :)

Wabi Sabi home style meets summer vibes...

Perfect way to end the week and start the weekend! 

My last home project is a small sneak peak of summer time and relaxing moment at the beach!  

Can wait to spend more time outside and get back to Lake Garda in Italie ...

On the owners wish list: 

⇨ less furnitures

⇨ but still a big closet

⇨ a cosy bed

⇨ less decoration

⇨ a natural / blue color scheme 

And there is the result! Specially in love with the built in closet which doors are covered with an amazing wall picture in wabi sabi style... So chic :)

"Sence" Lamp Westwing - "Battered Wall" Wallpaper Rebel Walls - "Ballerinas" Chanel - "Panos" Bank "Made" - "Portofino" Print, "A Sabbatical" Print Juniqe - "Ruché" Bed Ligne Roset - "Bamboo" Lamp Forestier 

City break and green mood...

Tokyo is a great city if you like visual diversity and cultural mix. It's never boring to have a walk in the different areas of the city. But there comes a moment when a stroll in one of Tokyo's gardens is no longer enough for "take a breath". It's than the sign that you need a break and more green space :)
One of my favorite destination in this case is the city of Hakone at the lake Ashinoko. It's not fare away from Tokyo and you can enjoy if the weather conditions are good, a great view of the mount Fuji.
Need a little breath taking, than follow me...

Lake Ashinoko and the great view of the Mount Fuji 

Back in town...

Hello, here I am again...
I know, it's been a long time since I wrote my last post, and I can't believe that we are still end of January!

Well, thinks have happened (sure) since November, but not really a lot of "wow, cool" one! I've had a lot of good moments at home with the kids and I really tried to relax, to don't think about the stress of living in a big city: drinking a lot of tea and coffee (bad habits still continue in 2015 ;), reading books and magazines... But after having looked for a while at all this great outfits inspirations, bars and coffees pictures, I felt that I have to "go on the road" again. So let's go and follow me to this small town call "Tokyo"...

Relaxing moments in Kawasaki...

Ready for a new trip? :) 

Today I take you to the Heiken-ji also call Kawasaki Daishi Temple. My favorite place when I need a break from the Tokyo urban jungle... 

On the road in Ginza...

Fall seems to be the perfect moment to enjoy some sightseeing trip in Japan. It's so difficult to resist the nice sunny weather in Tokyo! The reason why I've spent the passt two weeks a lot of time "on the road". Let's start with the most popular area for shopping and luxury brands. Ginza of course... 

Main road of Ginza 

Japanese Cooking Lesson: Amberjack Teriyaki...

Once a month I'm taking part in a Japanese cooking class.  My teacher, a Japanese Grandma, gives the lesson at home and we enjoy our prepared meal in a traditional "Tatami room". I really love this experience. I have the impression during this 3 hours to be very close to the Japanese way of life.
Most of the time I appreciate the taste of the different dishes but I'm even so shocked about the amount of sugar they contain. I even thought that Japanese's food is very healthy?!
Anyway, if I should give you the name of the dish I really enjoyed it would be the "Japanese Amberjack (Yellowtail) Teriyaki". The one in the middle of the plate...

Parlez-vous français ?!

After a big regenerating Europe summer break, I'm now back in Japan... Well I'm of course a little bit  sad to leave my friends and family again but I'm also happy to be back in this incredible and never boring city: Tokyo!

After a few days on the "road" in Tokyo and Yokohama, I realized (again) how much Japanese people love the" French Touch". You can find so many boulangeries, cafés, restaurants... But I was surprise to see how much they like to wear accessories and clothes with french printings, not understanding what's written on?! Not really a problem so long as the sentences are funny or sweet, but I found some shirts and bags with very strange french inscriptions or often with a lot of spelling errors. Not so cool but nor really dramatic. I'm not a master of spelling as well and I use so many different languages during the day (german, englisch, french, japanese...) that I'm sometimes not even be able to speak perfectly my native language, french. Damned!!!!  

But "tout de même" I decided that, for the future, I would better "never buy something with a text printed on if I can't translate it". Just to be sure that I don't wear a shirt with the Japanese sentence "I love my dog" written on... without having a dog! ;-)

Tokyo "Shinbashi"

Colorful River

Such a nice weather during spring in Tokyo. If you have the opportunity to travel to Japan, you really have to come in may! We had so many great sunny weekend. Perfect for some sightseeing...

The only problem is that it's not very easy to make a city trip with small children. They often get bored quickly... 

So I (mostly) try to find some compromises. One of the best way to discover a new town and enjoy the kids as well is a river boat trip (if the city offer this opportunity of course!) In Tokyo you have enough rivers to give you this posibilty (love this city ;) 

The most popular is a cruise down the Sumida River. So off to the Water Bus Station in Asakusa. 

We started our trip with a wonderful view of the Skytree, the Sumida City Hall and the Asahi Super Dry Hall & Life Buildings...

Asakusa Area Tokyo

Vintage Blush

May, lovely may...
Definitely my favorite month. Not only because I was born in may ;)
I get the feeling that everything seems to be more brighter, beautiful then. The nature, the weather and the people... Yes I even have the impression that we feel freer when we don't need to wear a coat, that we are more enthusiastic, even sometimes more friendly... I'm definitely in a better mood in may.

It's also the month where I feel the necessity to make a big "nettoyage de printemps" spring cleaning! Not only in my house but mostly in my wardrobe and my jewelry collection. I love to wear bracelets and necklaces during spring and summer. I love the way you can play with them, give your outfit a very special look: elegant, feminine, young, crazy, etc... In my case it give me the possibility to play with color. I love color but I'm not enough brave to wear very colorful clothes. I'm more the basic type: Jeans, white shirt or blouse...
This year I don't really need to make a spring cleaning in my wardrobe. I decided before moving to japan in january to make a very meticulous selection of clothes. It was definitely at the time to start something new, in every sense of the word ;)
I found this wonderful glass boxe in Tokyo and so I preferred to use my time to arrange a new place for my accessories...  

Happy sunny blue mood...

Yes!!! It's spring time. 

After a very (for Yokohama) snowy and cold winter, spring is finally here.

And now that I finished to arrange my "Home sweet Home" I really want to enjoy this great season in Japan...

Chinese factory style...

Incredible how fast the time has passed the last four weeks.
We've received our moving boxes from Germany and so I was finally able to arrange our "Home sweet Home"... I feel it yet at my home and I hope that I will from now on more enjoy the time Japan and the Tokyo Area. There's so many things to discover...

Snowy days in Tokyo...

At the question: does it snow in Tokyo? I get the answer: not really. It could happen but the last heavy snowfall was 50 Years ago... Yes, of course?!

Chinatown...

The Chinese New Year gave us a good opportunity to discover the Chinatown area in Yokohama.
Just in love with the very special asiatic atmosphere...

And the street color scheme was (like usual) a good source of inspiration...

Scarf "Even & Ood" - Shirt "Esprit" - Coat "Maison Scotch" - Jeans "Pepe Jeans" - Bag "Project Oona"

Unexpected views...

Fact is: it's never boring to walk in the streets of Yokohama...
There is a striking contrast between the big megalopoles and the love that Japanese people have for "old and tradition". So it's not unusual to see a wonderful woman with a Kimono in a modern shopping center...

Or in the subway, but in this case because of the "Coming of Age Day" (Seijin no Hi), a Japanese festive celebration held in order to congratulate and encourage all those who have reached the age of majority.

This is what I really love in Yokohama: being surprised by all the unexpected views in the city... Like for example this old sailing ship in the middle of skyscrapers!

Sailing Training Ship "Nippon Maru" - Yokohama Port Museum

Or this big Ferry Wheel...

Or also this old carrousel...

My favorite "unexpected thing" is this 80 Years old cruise liner. 

Love the atmosphere of this old-timer! The Hikawa Maru, a cruise ship built in 1929, is now a museum. It was describe as the "Queen of the pacific" and sailed between Japan & Seattle. During the war it hit mines 3 times, but kept on going. In fact, a true "Queen"...

Hikawa Maru NYK Lines

I couldn't imagine a better place to live for the coming 4 years. There is so many areas waiting to be discovered!

This city has everything I love: it's big, modern, unexpected, old, traditional, maritim and of course Japanese...
Really want to reflect this in my new Home, and already have some inspiration for my living room...

Armchair "Ikea" - Sideboard "Maison du monde" - Cushions "Zara Home" - Lamp "Flos"