In Brussels you can still find typical 1900s houses (the so called maisons bruxelloises) that have the luck of having been untouched for the previous six or seven decades. I love the charm of old houses so I consider this to be a lucky situation because although it implies doing a lot of work, all [...]

Sometimes it seems like people did their best to make things look ugly. I know that taste is something personal but look at the picture below… it’s hard to believe that someone can like some pink and green doors! The good news is that doors like these can be repainted and/or brought back to the [...]

A lot of houses that were built around 1900 have wooden boards floors. These are usually 10-12 cm wide pinewood boards that were originally painted with a darker brown (lead based!) paint. Here it’s how they usually look before being sanded and after being freed of the carpet/lino/etc that often covers them. Although they are [...]

I recently went to the Netherlands and was impressed by the way Dutch people care for their houses (and public spaces as well, but that’s another story). I was particularly fascinated by front doors. In old houses, they have different shapes and ornaments. But it’s the way they are painted that made me go “wow” [...]