Belgian Pearls

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

A beautiful story !

Dear readers,

I want to thank you for the nice comments on my previous blogpost about the kitchen our company manufactured!

I so appreciate your thoughts about our work and projects of Lefèvre Interiors.

As I was in the UK the previous days, I found a wonderful article in the daily newspaper The Times ! I absolutely had to share this with you today!!

Scanned from The Times Tuesday May 21 2013

Isn’t that marvellous?!!!

Greet

Sunday, May 19, 2013

A kitchen designed for a Belgian castle

I would love to share with you today some pictures (they are not professional taken!) of a kitchen we recently installed in a Belgian castle.

Peculiar to castles are the tall ceilings. This room has a ceiling height of about 4 meters (13 feet).

This kitchen is completely custom made, according to time-honored techniques and traditions.

The kitchen is executed in light stained oak. For the countertops, kitchen cooker wall and floor is chosen for a carrara marble.

All kitchen appliances are built in.

Cooking area with concealed extract hood and the gorgeous La Cornue Château cooker.

Detail of the the technical plan of the kitchen.

A few pictures of the kitchen progress in the workshop of LEFEVRE INTERIORS.

Oak panel to conceal the kitchen extractor fan

Console brackets

My husband and one of our employees, inspecting the glazed cupboard doors

The famous La Cornue Château cooker

Making of the kitchen cabinet doors

Kitchen isle installed

Kitchen isle in progress

Kitchen isle corner supports

Kitchen faucets by Volevatch

Montage of the kitchen in the workshop of LEFEVRE INTERIORS

Ready to leave our workshop

Montage of the kitchen in our client’s home

Finished kitchen

A special thank you goes to our clients Mr and Mrs D. for their confidence in our company and their appreciation for the Belgian craftsmanship.

I wish you all a great start of this new week!

Greet

If you would like us to help designing and manufacturing your kitchen, feel free to contact us at info@lefevre.be

For more Lefèvre Interiors realisations visit our website at www.lefevre.be

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Cabinets of curiosities

Since ancient times wealthy people are collecting the most diverse objects in cabinets of curiosities.

The term ‘cabinet’ originally described a room rather than a piece of furniture, a room filled with books, art and objects of study. Curiosity rooms emerged in the 16th century although we do know that more rudimentary collections existed yet earlier.

Cabinets of curiosities or Cabinets of Wonder, Kunstkammern, Wunderkammern (German) or Cabinets de curiosités (French), originated in European Renaissance and their collections consisted of types of objects whose categorial boundaries were yet to be defined. They displayed a wide assortment of rare and unusual objects.

Today all these objects would be categorized as belonging to natural history, geology, religion, works of arts and antiquities.

Obviously, cabinets of curiosities were limited to those who could afford to create them. They are regarded as the precedents of the public museums and galleries.

Painting by Frans Francken (II) - Antwerp, A Collector’s Cabinet,1625 Source

Since the 17th century case furniture started to function as cabinets of curiosities.

Andrea Domenico Remps - Italy, A Cabinet of Curiosity, c.1690 Source

The cabinet became very popular in 18th century. As this Cabinet Bonnier de la Mosson created by Joseph Bonnier de la Mosson (1702 - 1744). He was a French aristocrat who loved science and began collecting weird stuff, like exotic insects, snakes, shells and birds. His collection can be found in the library of the Natural History Museum in Paris.

Cabinet Bonnier de La Mosson - Bibliothèque centrale du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris. Source

Cabinet Bonnier de La Mosson Source

The Cabinet Lafaille at the Museum of La Rochelle, France is a very rococo styled,19th century curiosity cabinet stuffed with coral, reptiles and birds.

Cabinet de curiosités Clément Lafaille, après 1766. Style néoclassique. Muséum d'histoire naturelle de La Rochelle. Source

An early 18th-century German Schrank with a traditional display of corals (Naturkundenmuseum Berlin). Source

The cabinet of curiosities of today does not have to be traditonal, or contain valuable items. Just stuff it with your personal favorite objects or those you brought along from several journeys.

Make it your private collection!

Decorator and antiques dealer Franck Delmarcelle

Interior designer Natalie Haegeman

Source

Antiques dealer Herwig Simons

Source

Tell me! Do you feel tempted to create your own private cabinet of curiosities ?

Greet

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Happy Mother’s Day !

I wish all moms a Happy Mother’s Day !

Greet

Friday, May 10, 2013

Where to find your dining table and chairs in Belgium ?

This week I filed some images of dining tables and chairs to propose to a client. In the meantime I was looking for addresses in Belgium where to find the tables and chairs I wanted to suggest. I thought that maybe you could be interested in these adresses.

Image 1Source Richard Keith Langham via Veranda September-October 2012

Where to find table and chairs ? - Look-alike dining table at Viktor & Sander

- Look-alike chairs at Natalie Haegeman Interiors

Image 2Source Satinwood Ltd, Interior design

Where to find table and chairs ? - Look-alike dining table at Malvini Furniture Factory

- Look-alike chairs at Flamant

Image 3Source Carol Glasser Interiors

Where to find table and chairs ? - Look-alike dining table at Viktor & Sander

- Folding chair at Axel Vervoordt

Image 4Source House to Home

Where to find table and chairs ? - Look-alike dining table at Antiek Amber

- Chairs at ‘t Casteelken

Image 5Source Daskal – Laperre Photo credit Jan Verlinde

Where to find table and chairs ? - Look-alike dining table at Mastermeubel

- Look-alike chairs at Viktor & Sander

Image 6Source unknown

Where to find table and chairs ? - Antique tables at Antiek Amber

- Look-alike French Louis XVI chair at Massant

Image 7Source Joli

The chic and timeless Elyps dining table and Monet armchairs of the Belgian company JOLI caught my eye!

Joli collection Elyps dining table with table top in Matilux glass or Xeramica. To discover more about this table, click here.

Joli collection Monet armchair upholstered in leather. To discover more of these chairs, click here.

What are your favorite dining table and chairs? I would love to hear !

Greet

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

French oak library

About a year ago I posted about a custom made library (HERE) that was designed by Natalie Haegeman of Natalie Haegeman Interiors and realized by our company Lefèvre Interiors.

Although the library is installed since more than half a year, we hadn’t yet found the time to take some photographs of this project.

The library is recently photographed to appear in a Belgian interior design magazine. Although these pictures here today aren’t the ones of the magazine’s professional photographer, they already give you a sneak peek into the library room.

Library in French non-treated oak

One of the built in bureau-desks

Detail and view towards the living room

All pictures by Natalie Haegeman

I am pleased and honored to tell you that this library project will be seen in one of the next issues of the leading Belgian interior design magazine ‘TIJDLOOS’.

I definitely will let you know when the issue is out !

Cover of the current issue of TIJDLOOS (N° 27 - april 2013)