My Dutch heritage is an inspiration in the way I raise my children and live in my home.  Children are very much welcome and appreciated everywhere in the Netherlands and I feel that way too.  I want my home to be beautiful, but enjoyed and really used.  If something is not used, if it is just there for show, then to me, it is not beautiful.

I love what I call knocked down color . . . Color that looks as if it were vibrant at one time but has just been around too long to keep up.  I love a small bit of vibrancy in the room to set off the muted tones, but I use a lot of restrain when it comes to that accent color.  It might just be the bow on the dress of a figure in an oil painting.  I like the tension that creates.

I involve my family in my business.  My daughter is pretty creative and I think exposing her to all aspects of the business I am in will open up her mind to opportunities to use what she loves in the way of a career in the future.  My boys have also grown up trailing along with me on buying trips, helping sweep up in the warehouse and all kinds of things.  I like to think of my business as a sort of parenting tool.  I want to instill a work ethic in my children.  I also want them to feel like they have a vested interest in our family.  Small businesses take up a considerable amount of time and I think making things a family project is really important.

The most meaningful piece in my home would have to be the kitchen fireplace surround.  My husband surprised me during the renovation of our kitchen with 18th and 19th century Delft tiles depicting two little boys playing games and one tile depicts two little boys pushing a little girl in a sled.  Our boys were 4 and 6 when we did the kitchen and our daughter was 2.  To have something that says so much about our family be a permanent part of our home is pretty meaningful to me.

I love the Isle de Re in France, that is certainly one of my favorite places on the planet!

My favorite city to shop for clothing is Paris (small boutiques during the twice annual sales).  You can find gorgeous special things for what it would cost for a sweater from the Gap . . .if I am near Paris for work during the sale times,  I will most certainly hop a train to check things out.  Little country town antique malls in the states me pretty happy too!

I am a little controversial when it comes to “my” top three!  I do not think fake flowers should ever be used in a home.  I love represented flowers (paintings, china patterns, fabrics) but I don’t think such things should be faked.  I think this mind set comes from my Oma (my Dutch grandmother).  Flowers and gardens are very important to Dutch people and I grew up learning to appreciate the miracle they are.  I think life should be authentic, live in your home, use your things, experience the excitement of a beautiful perfect flower and the knowledge that the beauty is fleeting.  To me, that is part of the beauty.  I am constantly running outside and cutting the most mundane little sprigs of things and bringing them in.  Once they are used inside in a different way, it makes it more interesting.  (I like to use a little sprig of boxwood and tiny sticks as a last minute arrangement at each place setting for last minute dinner parties).

I also don’t care for valances by themselves.  If something is hanging there without a purpose, I don’t find it beautiful.  I would rather have a the window clean and bare than a little strip of fabric that serves no purpose.

My third “no no” would have to be following the crowd.  There is always an opportunity to make a space your own.  I am always thrilled when I come into a space that feels like the person I know and not just a still life of what they think a space should look like.

I would like to answer this question in a different way.  I think it is important to REMOVE anything you don’t like from a home and start with a clean slate, don’t “do one room” then move to the next.  I would rather live sparsely in a home and have the whole thing come together slowly than have the jarring feeling of one style against the old.  In my own home I spent about a year “undecorating,” pulling up carpeting, removing wall paper and about 15 ceiling fans.  It was important to me to get down to the essence of the architecture of the house, to start clean.  It is almost 11 years later and I am constantly adding bits and pieces, but I don’t concentrate on one room at at time.  Opportunity also plays a big roll.  If I find a drop dead gorgeous piece for the living room for a good price,  I will buy it.  I wouldn’t look at it and think, “Well, I am looking for a dining table right now.”  The dining table would be plywood covered in fabric until the right one came along.  If the opportunity is there, grab it!

I am ALWAYS looking for gorgeous chandeliers.  I love empire and I love beading.  I also adore landscape oils and my heart beats a fast when I see a good one!

I just finished MARLEY AND ME, a gift from my father.  We both love dogs.

I would tell them to keep an open mind.  You can find knowledge and beauty in unexpected places.

Gather your color choices and work from there . . . if you gather things in the colors you are working with simple, free things can become beautiful set in the scheme of things.  In a neutral creamy room a few glass bowls with rice, birch bark and lentils is instant art…mix that with a bit of silver for juxtaposition and it becomes interesting in a different way.  Mixing high and low as well as old and modern are also favorites of mine.  Stay true to what moves you, what YOU find to be beautiful and you can never go wrong!  EVEN if that means something on MY “no no” list!  If you find it makes your heart beat a little faster, than you are on the right track!