Amsterdam Street Eye Candy & a Home Makeover

You guys, sorry for the lack of posting! It's been a crazy week. I think I'm still getting used to our new overly-scheduled life with school back in session and soccer schedules for both boys, and golf lessons for Cooper. (I know all you parents out there are shaking your heads.) The house has been a bit upside-down this week as well because the painters came (yay!)! They *just* finished and we officially have a very WHITE house. Yes.

And I *finally* have my white kitchen! (tears!) We now need to paint our vintage hutch that sits in the kichen (I can't decide if I'm going with peach or mustard), paint the tile backsplash and I need to design some decals for the tiles. I have ideas for those and I'm dying to get those designed & ordered. 

We've always done our own painting (minus the bathrooms that we had renovated) but we decided that painting the kitchen cabinets, two rooms and a hallway merited hiring someone. Boy, I'm glad we did. I feel spoiled! They did a fantastic job. (phew. You just never know when you hire someone.) I did have to get all annoying and ask them to do three coats (they thought 2 was enough.) We've always done 3 coats! What about you? 

After living in this house for so long, our walls have probably been painted 3 times over to go along with my ever fickle tastes. I never thought I'd be into white walls, but after seeing so many beautiful homes over the past few years on design blogs and elsewhere with white walls - and now that most of our walls are white, I'm definitely seeing why those spaces work so well. The rooms have such a calm feel to them. I now understand why Scandinavians love white so much. 

Not to mention, we needed white so badly if only to brighten up our cave-like home.

I've been Craigslisting a lot of decor, donating some, taking some to a consignment store in my attempt to edit, edit, edit what we have. I want to carefully decorate a space that isn't full of clutter while still displaying our vintage collections in a way that is aesthetically pleasing (and doesn't just make me look like a hoarder!) I LOVE the white mostly because I can be more daring with color in our decor. 

Mostly, I'm looking forward to eliminating as much BLUE as I can in this house. I naturally gravitate towards vintage blues (not to mention vintage blue florals!) - aqua, turquoise, minty blues, etc. I feel like I've relied too heavily on those in the past. They've kind of been a crutch. My goal now is to really streamline our color palette throughout the house, leaning more towards warm tones, like peach, coral, yellows, tangerine orange, chartreuse and vintage greens.

So that is where I am.

And that officially has NOTHING to do with the photos in this post! Believe it or not, my Amsterdam posts are coming to a close! I have one more Amsterdam post and one or two Belgium posts and that's it. :*( Sad face. I miss Europe so much when I do these posts, but at the same time, I'm glad I can revel in the memories.

These photos were taken on random street corners all over Amsterdam. It's such a beautiful, beautiful city. My favs: Miffy chocolates, a vintage wooden candle holder (?) collection in someone's window, kitschy wooden tulip and windmill souvenirs and beautiful flowers everywhere.

Now, I must get back to Campbell who has our first case of pink eye for the school year. Fun times. (Although, I have to admit, I look forward to sick days solely for the kiddo snuggles. : )

Comments

[Misako Mimoko]

ooh! love this collection of knitting dolls!!!
yeah! white is really calming and makes every color work better.
Hope you finally get a wonderful color combination in your decoration, can't wait to see your vintage collecion!!!

[thompson family]

ah! KNITTING dolls! that makes more sense! : ) Thanks Misako!

[sylvie]

all your pictures are so beautiful,
have a nice day
Sylvie

[Michelle]

Ahhh, the Miffy chocolates! I would be so excited for one of those. <3

Sounds like you have been making some exciting home progress! I'm jealous. My space definitely needs some organization and TLC :/

[Laura]

Love the Miffy chocolates! Can't wait to see pictures of your house!

[kat cameron]

great pics Danielle! ahh i need a trip away to somewhere like this!

[Robbie]

I want to mve immediately. Legit thinking of quitting college. The photos are too magical.

[Faye]

I would love to have a look in that vintage bookshop! I've been buying a lot more pieces in warm colours for my flat too, it's amazing how they can brighten up a small space. :)
Faye x

[Mandi]

I've learned I'm very drawn to white as well. When we moved into this house, I thought I would paint the walls a medium warm grey, and when the painting was done, I didn't like it. But I thought maybe it's just because I wasn't used to it. Well, I still don't like it. And our home is very dark, as well. We have lots of very mature trees around, and our windows aren't big or plentiful. Sooo... I am going to wait a year to paint everything white. But that s the plan! The worst is feeling bad about the fact that my dad, Phil, and my mother-in-law did ALL the work for the grey paint (lots of wall space!), so I will feel bad undoing all that work. Ohhhh well. :)

[Rachael // The Paraders]

You always have the best photos! Cleverly framed. This makes me want to visit!

xo
Rachael
THE PARADERS VINTAGE

[PB]

Miffy chocolates! I want to dive into your pictures and live there for a little while.

[Chelle Chapman]

Hello Adoreable Mama!!!! I am comin' in for a landing from The Daily Digi& have SO enjoyed this trip! Where are you exactly? (In the World, I mean) I am drooling over those Amsterdam photos!!! Thanks for sharing! I also want to Thank You for the freebie over at the Daily Digi, the huge collection of flowers!! WOW!! Are you ever talented!!!! I am going to follow you because now, I don't wanna miss the Belgium photos you promised. ;) I have a daughter in the USAF, stationed in Germany right now & we so want to go see her before she leaves. She has been ALL over & JUST loves it there!!! So glad she had this opportunity! Well, I'll letcha go, just wanted to stop in & Thank You for sharing your talents. Have a Blessed day & we DO hope this Pink Eye episode only lasts as long as the "snuggles" do!!!! Signing out from Rio Rancho, New Mexico, USA

[Becky]

Adorable pics.

I hear ya on getting settled into the back to school routine. Oy vey.

We once paid someone to paint a few rooms of our house - it felt like a luxury and yet it was great to have it over and done with way quicker than we would have done it. Worth every penny.

I love my white kitchen too.

[Equity tips]

How is this a live blog, lovely blog.