Thanks for all the awesome comments about my new home, I feel like I’ve had you all over for a big housewarming party!

Here are the rest of the photos that I took for Design*Sponge along with captions. And now that I have let you in on my secret, I will be posting more photos of the boat from now on – as you can imagine, the stylist in me can’t help but change, rearrange and add things. And since I only moved in a few months ago, this is really just the bare basics of the space. I will be experimenting with new style ideas and I have a few great things to share with you in the months to come. The (blog)house and the houseboat have now fused.

Enjoy the rest of your visit my dear friends – I have the kettle on for you, and my choc & cranberry cookies are baking in the oven right now, awaiting your arrival…mind your step on the bridge…

Kitchen:

The kitchen is my favourite space in the boat – it has a great oven and stove top (hard to find in apartments here in Amsterdam), and the water reflections dance on the ceiling all day. It is very inspiring for when I am recipe testing and food styling. There are 7 windows in the kitchen and it is on a little mezzanine level as you enter the front door, then you step down into the main living space…

Can you see that it is all the same furniture that I had in the Paris apartment? See the wallpaper in the kitchen is the same, and you see the pallet bed?

My addiction is books. Mostly old books. and mostly about interiors, photographers, children’s books, and French literature. and French Boy is a comic fan – I also read his French comics as it is a really good way to learn and practice French I have discovered! You will notice some of my favourite books are listed in the library.

The bedroom is behind the screen that you can see in the loungeroom. It has a large storage space that is in the very front of the boat for clothes, and there are also lots of shelves. i will show you more of this space soon, it is quite interesting. It is very quiet, in the mornings we wake up to singing birds and ducks playing. This is me making the bed so that you see I do ocassionally make it. But that is the thing about being a stylist, you do get a bit lazy when it comes to doing your own ironing and tidying…

And the grand finale, the teeny weeny bathroom:

Yep, that’s the bathroom! Very tiny, possibly the smallest bathroom I have ever had, and I thought the Paris apartment bathroom was small! It was the only concern I had about living on the boat. But I have since fallen in love with it as the most beautiful light comes through the porthole and streams across the shower.

Here is the garden, and one of our neighbours below seeing “dag!” (“bye” in Dutch)…

PS did any of my regular readers guess already that I lived on a houseboat?

PPS the My Heart Wanders countdown will begin in the next post! So this is it, no more procrastinating, get your submissions in!!

It’s been killing me, but I was waiting for the tulips to bloom and the sun to shine before I showed you my home, and finally that moment has arrived.

I will post heaps more photos in the next post but for now, this is the little sneak peek on Grace’s site, and this is what I get up to , all exposed in Erin’s Dailies. …hmm, I am feeling rather naked at this moment.

(PS are you wondering why I didn’t make the bed for Design*Sponge? I’m wondering that too, what was I thinking?!)

Our next guest has finally arrived, and as you can see, it hasn’t taken him long to get comfy…

Yep, this friend of mine is über stylish. Contrary to what the above image suggests, my new guest is tall, blonde and handsome, and he knows how to play “eye spy with my little eye” better than the rest of us.

Haven’t got a clue what I’m talking about? Let’s see if some visuals can give us a helping hand…

Before my guest got his hands on this beautiful Tommy Hilfiger image, it looked like this:

And after he waved his magic wand, it turned to this:

before his golden touch, and after…

and again…

Isn’t this fun? It’s called image manipulation, and it is this incredible expertise that my friend is, well, an expert at. Okay, okay, I won’t leave you in suspense any longer. Welcome to the (blog)house my dear friend, Marcus Thyer.

Marcus runs a company called Cave, and although he is based in Sydney he has been coming to Holland every 6 months or so to work on the Tommy Hillfiger campaigns, and of course, to come play with me! He is the one who ‘sold’ amsterdam to me – when I first arrived to check it out he showed me around, doubling me on my bike and taking me to all the best vintage clothes shops, bars and restaurants. He was also here for Queen’s Day, and he and I were busy snapping shots in between sipping rosé by the Prinsengracht and watching people fall into the canal. When with Marcus, I can’t help but have a fabulous time and his playful personality is evident in his work.

I have heaps more to share with you about Marcus, but all in good time, all in good time. We will also take a look at retouching, and image manipulation in television and print media while Marcus is with us. But for now, please welcome him to the guest quarters – go and sip a martini and watch the sunset or rise, depending on where you are in the world. Meanwhile Marcus, you sit back & relax, enjoy the view and the pampering. Would you like some more olives with that? Shall I top you up? I’ll just put the air con on, let me know if it gets a little too chilly in here…

All images courtesy of Cave.

but wait there’s more!

and then i saw the sign to wagga…

… and I realised I’d been tricked – for all aussies know that wagga wagga is nooooooowhere near the ocean. What wonderful witchery was this? It’s a place called zaandvoort and is one of The Netherlands beaches, complete with beachside cafes bearing Australian flags. French Boy and I took the half hour train ride and hung out here all afternoon, lapping up the sunshine + sea breeze, and sipping wine. It was just what the doctor in me ordered (yes I’m known to self-diagnose and self-medicate on a regular basis). The pipelette in me ran riot, telling sydney seaside stories, and creating crocodile dundee-style legends.

Needless to say a few friends back home got a few late night text messages from me. I’m (sort of) sorry if I woke you guys.

I also spotted this little photo shoot, which I thought was rather magical…

Yep, I am happy now everyone – I know exactly where I can go to get a dose of home. I just won’t look at that strange fomey stuff that wobbles on the shore, and I’ll imagine the water is blue and not brown, and that the waves roll high and that the sand is golden and nice to the touch. Yep, nearly there. Thanks Holland, for creating a little home away from home just for me…

…building sand castles. sweet dreams everyone.

photograph by sarah heinrich.