Category Archives: Belgian-Dutch Style

European Élan in Dallas

This is the story of a decades-long love affair and fascination with the Far East, and with the tradition of fine European antiques and objects. Long before the Belgian-Dutch look was en vogue in the states Betty Gertz, owner of antiques emporium East & Orient Company in Dallas, Texas, discovered its Old World allure while traveling […]

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Winter Gardens

L’esprit du jardin d’hiver is in the air, a quest for a life-affirming sanctuary in colder climes. Russian royalty dedicated palaces to Winter, as with the sixteen-hundred room Winter Palace of the Romanov’s in St. Petersberg. Emperor Nikolai I decreed that Russian artist Eduard Gau create watercolor renderings of the Winter Palace’s interior, the Russian Empire’s […]

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Axel Vervoordt: The Art of the Room, Part II

Art is as natural to an Axel Vervoordt interior as the horizon is to a landscape. In my last post, Axel Vervoordt: The Art of the Room, Part I, photographs of vignettes taken within the designer’s Belgian castel focuses on his sensitive and exacting curatorial prowess at creating tableau that stirs the mind, soul and […]

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Axel Vervoordt: The Art of the Room, Part I

Since winter I have had a copy of the British Elle Decoration annual publication “Country” setting handily nearby with the intention of sharing a feature on the residence of May and Axel Vervoordt outside Antwerp, Belgium. However, soon it was buried beneath a pile of other intriguing publications, many of which are still on “the […]

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Past Meets Present

There is something about the holiday season that fills me up. And every year I look forward to it … to the merriment and good will; to the holiday treats and yuletide libations; to the mantels and banisters dressed with boughs of greenery; to the twinkling lights; to the spirit of Christmas and all it […]

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Fit For Dutch Masters

Posted September 22, 2014. Filed in Belgian-Dutch Style, Uncategorized

I don’t usually post articles on current features in American shelter magazines because, for one, almost every other interiors blogger does and, two, the information is readily available both in print and on-line. Yet, this charming and romantic Cape Dutch-style house sited on a lake amidst a grove of oak trees elicited pause. Perhaps I’m […]

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Golden Age Ambiance

Posted May 19, 2014. Filed in Belgian-Dutch Style, Old World Style

Dominique Desimpel is not a name you hear every day, but should. Desimple is a rather private and reclusive tile dealer and collector who lives in Damme, Belgium –  a short distance from the realized fairytale that is Bruges. “Just one look”, as Linda Ronstadt crooned many moons ago, had me hook, line and sinker.  Deep […]

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