Big Bogie Is Watching you

Have you ever noticed how most closets and wardrobes meant for the bedroom are just kind of ugly? We spent ages trying to find one that we liked. Whenever we did find one we wouldn't really mind having in our bedroom it wouldn't fit in that awkward little spot between the balcony and former chimney. So we went the DIY route. Beats Ikea any time. Look at Bogie's bedroom eyes! He's a hot piece of man. So many awesome and classic quotes in this movie. I just noticed it looks like we hardly have any clothes but it's laundry day. 

Against a monster proceeds an intentional unfortunate.

Now take a look at these cute cups! We picked these up today! They're by Pols Potten, a dutch pottery that's pretty cool. 

Handmade! 'Small' quantities! Perfect for a steaming cup of coffee early in the morning.

We're back!!

After a prolonged vacation we're back! While we were gone we picked up this awesome coffee table that has four legs and these crazy weird looking tiles so you never need coasters anymore. Which is great because we have way ugly coasters. If anybody can show us the way to some awesome coasters that would be greatly appreciated. As you can see Betsie is still very much part of this blog and doing really well. She actually took her first swim today! Go Betsie! But I was talking about the table. It also has this little wicker net thingy that you can use to put magazines and stuff on. Which led us to the current situation where we have magazines in this thing and under the new coffee table.

Without Mythologies

Check out this sick mermaid! I was planning on writing, in this post, an essay about improving the acceptance and integration of social minorities in ancient mythology and culture but then I changed my mind and now I'm just gonna let the mermaid do the talking. Originally meant as a door draft stopper but we've promoted her to a work of Art for our mantelpiece (the robot had to go, sorry bro). The title of this topic is in reference to the sold out Weakerthans show at Rotown that we missed. Can't win 'm all. Hit Google's new +1 below if you're into her as much as we are.

Where did we get it?

Mermaid: Chrisje Maaskant's booth at the Bazar Bizar market (we also got an awesome print featuring a duck but we'll post about that later)

Whiskey Bent

So we wanted to make a post about this cabinet for a long, long time but we never really found the right item to hang above it. We tried a Mick Jagger poster, a Cassablanca poster, we tried having just an empty wall but that also kinda weird. But then last week we stumbled upon this highschool that was moving into a new building and were throwing out all these awesome old maps and we were just in time to get our hands on this old map of Rotterdam and it turns out it looks pretty great in this spot. So now we can have a drink and kick back after a long day of hard work and find what was the fastest route from our home to work 50 years ago. 

Where did we get it?
Cabinet: gift from our friend Meem - Whiskey glasses: Kookpunt - Whipper Snapper: gift from our friend Andy - Map: found

Mr. Postman #3

Time flies when you're having fun! It only feels like yesterday since we started up Mr. Postman! In this weekly/ monthly/ yearly column (depending on, hence the title, the cooperation of our friend Mr. Postman) we will address (get it? we're terrible) awesome stuff that came in the mail that gets us all excited! Woohoo!  Today is really all sorts of special but we here at the Jivin Sister will always remember this because of the arrival of this little gem. A print from one of our favourites, Femke Hiemstra, sent to us by the awesome initiative Prints & The Revolution. 

Easter Monday!

Happy Easter everybody. We both had a super busy weekend so when were slouched on the couch earlier today we decided to say goodbye to the alphabet and a life of finding our favorite books fast and easy. Here's our celebration of spring and the return of color! 

Where did we get it?
Books: eveywhere - Bookcase: Ikea

Mr. Postman #2

Folks, you are not going to believe this. Your favourite bloggers of Sis Fan are on fire! Within two days after starting our first regular but irregular column we already bring you #2! That's how irregular we are. In this weekly/ monthly/ yearly column (depending on, hence the title, the cooperation of our friend Mr. Postman) we will address (get it? we're terrible) awesome stuff that came in the mail that gets us all excited! Woohoo! This one goes out to our friend Tony who held on to this box for a couple days because it got sent to the wrong address (long story!). What's up Tony!

Ofcourse we knew what awesomeness was waiting inside this former laundry detergent box so not a single second was waisted. Check out these bad boys:

Where Did We Get It?
Socks (who doesn't love argyle?): C&A - Shoes: Blimer (vivavintage)

Mr. Postman #1

Hi and welcome to the first edition of our irregular but regular first repeating column MR. POSTMAN! In this weekly/ monthly/ yearly column (depending on, hence the title, the cooperation of our friend Mr. Postman) we will address (get it? we're terrible) awesome stuff that came in the mail that gets us all excited! Woohoo!  And what better day to kick this off than today? Why today I hear you ask. Well, today we got home to this special looking package:

Doesn't that look fun? Offcourse we couldn't wait to open it up. We had a feeling about what might be in it and Betsie could hardly hold her horses and almost shredded the envelope, oh no! But no worries, Betsie would never do that. She is a real ladydog (although she does have terrible dog breath but don't say that to her face). But let's not get sidetracked, let's have a look:

It's an original, only 29 made, When It Rains... by our dearest Ingrid De Lugt! This print will be sure to find a perfect spot somewhere on one of our walls! And when it does you'll be the first to know! 

Well folks, that about wraps it up. Thank you very much and until next edition of our irregular but regular first repeating column MR. POSTMAN! 

Where did we get it?

Pink sweater: Primark - Ring: Gift from Mom - Wallpaper: FunkyWalls - When It Rains....: Bearded Birdie

Scarpet

My collection of scarves! Betsie loves them! Seeing them laid out like that (I was organizing) inspires me to get into quilts. Might get one for the bed before winter rolls around. By the way this pictures gives a nice look of the new floor. 

Where did we get it?

Lamp: marktplaats (www.marktplaats.com) Scarves: everywhere, but four special ones though: by Nina Ricci (www.Ninaricci.com), Cacharel (www.Cacharel.com) and Marc Jacobs (www.Marc Jacobs.com), bought at the Louis Tielkes boutique and the one Harm brought me all the way from Istanbul, Turkey - Wallpaper: behangwereld (www.behangwereld.nl) - Dreamcatcher: Stolen from my sisters bedroom

Books are not made for furniture....

....but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house. Well, that and guitars. And records. We have decided not to get shelves for the records and just leave them on the floor. They are lined up against that wall on the left all the way to this desk. It's a bummer the bookscase has gotten too small but it's a small price to pay for educating ourselves. We feel bad having a couple boxes of books stored in the attic so we promised them we'd get an add-on soon. But first we have to get a bigger house. The bookcase is bigger in reality but things always look smaller from a distance. The wall is actually a kind of minty-blue, same as the chimney! Oh look! The robot has found himself a new hang out spot! He's very comfortable around souvenirs. 

Where did we get it? 

Books: everywhere - Bookcase: Ikea (www.ikea.com) - Left Guitar: self build - Right Guitar - cousin Dax (www.noturningback.nl) - Pendant Lamp: Marktplaats (www.marktplaats.nl), Lamp: Ikea (www.ikea.com) - Century Books: christmas present - Bongo: birthday present - Snowglobe: Istanbul, Turkey - Robot: Childhood toy - Weird Woodwork: Kenia, Africa - Seventies Vase: gift from Dax and Lianne - Baseball: found in the bushes - Records: everywhere

A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world.

Our apparment is ridiculously small, but we still managed to find a small unused corner to turn into a study. It's right next to the heater (Linked for reference. It's where those books used to be!)  I'm sure will compliment ourselves on that decision come winter. So everybody please welcome our two newest additions to the family, desk and chair!

Where did we get it?

Desk & Chair: Marktplaats (www.marktplaats.nl) - Vans: Daily Rush (www.dailyrush.nl) - Woodstock: Artful Posters (www.artfulpostersnyc.com) -Wallstickers: Coop (www.coop-living.com) - Vase: Ikea (www.ikea.nl) - Orchids:Multi Flora (www.multiflorarotterdam.nl) - Camera: inherited - Other Camera: The Powerhouse Arena (www.powerhousearena.com) Frame: Marskramer (www.marskramer.nl) Records: Everywhere - Curtains: Gift from Mom - Moleskine journal: Moleskine (www.moleskine.com) 

The Renovation Will Not Be Televised

It's a shame nobody talks about The Replacements anymore. They were a kinda big band in their day but they seem to be forgotten. At least in Europe. I remember when Dave Helmer turned me onto them. For those of you that aren't familiar with them, their video for Bastards Of Young (for some reason the person that posted this on youtube won't let us embed) was at the time the ultimate middlefinger to MTV, as someone pointed out perfectly in the comments to this video. The video inspired us to just do away with our tv and stereo units and just stack it all up on the floor. Not that there's a lot to stack up (the record player is in the attic, the amplifier is in the mail) but you get the idea. The wallpaper was originally meant for the bedroom but we discovered it works better here.

Oh by the way, there's the new floor that we just put in! So now that's done we'll soon be moving on to building floor to ceiling kitchen shelves.

Where did we get it?

Wallpaper: Funky Walls (www.funkywalls.be) - Lamp: Ikea (www.ikea.com) - Vase: Hema (www.hema.nl) - Nomad: Silas (silas-art.blogspot.com) - TV: Gift from Uncle Frans - Carpet: Some bazar at the Zwart Janstraat. 

Ps: We updated Get Smart! 

OG Roffa

Living in Rotterdam you kinda take all the awesomeness for granted sometimes.It can be easy to forget the awesomeness has a really sad reason (the bombings offcourse) but you have be thankful that people in those times decided to turn what once looked like any old Dutch city into a beacon of moderness and enlightment. This dude on the country's third biggest market sells old photographs of landmarks in Rotterdam that don't excist anymore. While we were trying to decide which one we were gonna take home we met this old guy that works on the tram who introduced himself as an amature Rotterdam historian and who talked us through most of the pictures. It was really cool and really nice but the dude talked super slow. It made us want to finish his sentences but we didn't because that would just be rude.

We settled on the one above because it shows The White House, which is an awesome building and today's area looks nothing like it did in those days. We hung it right next to the dead bugs! One of these days we'll put up some more of the prints we have hanging up on this wall. 

Some shinfo from wiki:

The Witte Huis or White House is a skyscraper in Rotterdam, Netherlands, inspired by American office buildings and built in 1898 in the Art Nouveau style. The building is 43 m (141 ft) tall, with 10 floors, and was the tallest in Europe at the time it was built.

Initiate phase II

Originally we thought our plan was gonna have only three phases (ceiling - floor - kitchenshelves) but while doing the ceiling we got inspired and on a whim decided we are just going to redo the entire kitchen. So our three phase plan, it grew by one. So there.... there were four phases in the plan. At first there were three phases in the plan and the kitchen joined in later. And two days ago, when Anne was carrying these floorboards up our three flights of stairs she got an awesome idea for our bathroom and I thought "wait a second, could it be?" And now I know for sure, we've just added one more phase to our three phase plan.

The Beetles

So this antique's store around the corner (they have the worst website but we'll link it anyway) sells these awesome dead insects in a box. The lady that works had enormous hair and gave us about 45 minutes worth of shinfo about these little buggers (sorry) but it was in one ear out the other. We picked this one up the other day and put up on that wall we started a couple months ago (click here but don't make fun of our clothes, that's just how people dressed in 2010). We got some wild ideas for that wall by the way but we'll get to that in another couple months when there's more to tell. Oh now that we've got your attention, don't forget we're updating get awesome almost daily!

Twin Peaks Night!

Yesterday I found out Anne had never seen Twin Peaks. So we sat down and watched to pilot and she got hooked on it immediately. And thus it was decided that tonight was gonna be Twin Peaks night and we had to watch the show dressed up as our favourite characters. Huffing paint can do strange things to a person (don't look at us like that, we're renovating! I know what you were thinking!). As you could probably tell right away I showed up dressed as Bobby with his signature leather jacket. Anne turned out to be a real trooper as she showed up dressed (read: wrapped in plastic) as Laura Palmer. The living room's completely empty besides this couch, carpet and a TV, which gives this picture a surreal look really fitting to the show we're watching. Hopefully it won't turn up in that Caption This contest!

Where did we get it?
No where did we get it this time since we want to move on watching Twin Peaks already!

End Of Week One

After a week of tearing down stuff with our bare hands, dripping blood all over the place, dressing up like Dexter and taking promoshots, hiring a guy to fix up the mess we made, our ceiling is almost done. Living in a dusty half empty appartment got us all inspired. We decided to go straight into getting a new window bank, kitchen cabinet and floor. We'll see how far we will get. So the next couple posts on here will probably be about us renovating stuff and less about us buying stuff. But bear with us, we'll get around to that soon enough.

Where did we get it?

Lamp: Marktplaats (www.marktplaats.nl), all the other stuff: that's the handyman's stuff

Harm & Anne

Look Up

So a couple days ago (remember when the heater broke?) we casually mentioned we were planning on eventually redoing the ceiling but then kinda figured why not do it right away. We have a hardware store just down the street and they have these sick white overalls for just 4 euro's but I never had an excuse to get them. Until today. Wearing these while tearing out my ceiling I felt like the Mad Max of redoing-your-ceiling. Around five minutes in I decided these are gonna be the stage outfit for my alter ego DJ Thuisdealer so we made some promo shots to kickstart my career. I might post those on here too sometime this week.

Where did we get it?

White overalls and mouthcap: formido (www.formido.nl) - Sunglasses: found these on the floor after a show at the Willem Een (willemeen.nl) - 13 thumb tattoo: Erik when he was still at Inkstitution (www.inkstitution.com)

Duck Tea - We Couldn't Resist

"Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."

Where did we get it?

Teacup: Albert Heijn (www.albertheijn.nl) - Teaspoon: we don't know how or where we got it - Teaduck: Kookpunt (www.kookpunt.nl) - Loose Leaf Tea: Yasmin from Dille en Kamille (www.dillekamille.nl)

Heater

Basically we think of  Rotterdam as the center of the civilized world. The only thing they kinda overlooked while being awesome was gas heaters. Lots of older appartments still have gas heaters and those things break down and fall apart. That's what ours did last week. But the upside of our as heater breaking was getting to replace that old ugly gothic cast-iron beast with model more befitting our appartment. While we were at we decided to paint the chimney in a minty-greenish-meditteranean-type blue, just because we could. And yes, we need to buy new flowers. And that floor and ceiling are gonna go soon!

Where did we get it?
Vase 1: Hema (www.hema.nl), Vase 2: Ikea (www.ikea.nl), Books: at various bookstores, Robot: childhood toy, Heater: Peters (www.petersbv.com), Lamp: Marktplaats (www.marktplaats.nl), Paint: Histor Refrein (www.formido.nl)

Say Hi To Betsie!

Meet Betsie! Betsie is a 9 months old Jack Russell pup that came to live with us last week. Her former boss couldn't take care of her anymore so we took her in. So far she seems to be having a great time, all she wants to do is cuddle. She is awesome, except for her dog breath. And she's also not really helping out doing stuff around the house but you can't really blame someone who doesn't have opposable thumbs. She makes up for it by taking us on long walks by the river. And just look at that smile:

Where did we get it?

Betsie: through a friend, Carpet: some bazar on the Zwart Janstraat, Rope: Jumper (www.jumper.nl) 

Harm

Dutch Design

We bought this pillow from two Dutch designers and we love it. Here it is (it's the green one):

Check out the rest of their stuff, it's awesome: Tas-ka

Where did we get it?
Green/white pillow: Tas-ka (www.taska.nl), sofa: Ikea (www.ikea.com), yellow/grey/white pillows: Ikea (www.ikea.nl)

Anne

Happy New Year!

Look what we found in our mailbox the day before yesterday:

A newspaper holder thingie! 

Where did we get it?

Marktplaats (www.marktplaats.nl)

Anne 

First Post!

Hi folks! Welcome to our blog. My name is Harm and my girlfriend and co-blogger is Anne. She's standing behind me while I type this and says hi!
So today we were sitting around and decided to start doing a bunch of improvements in and around our apparment. To document it all we started this blog because blogs seem like fun and everybody likes fun.
So here goes!

PROJECT 1: EMPTY WALL

We have this huge empty wall and had a bunch of stuff in frames laying around that we finally decided to put up. Anne is secretly a great photographer so she took on photography duties while I was risking my life putting the stuff up. I am scared of heights.

This is what it looked like before:

You see? That wall's empty!

Here I am on top of that purple cabinet. That ceiling is gonna be one of the first projects in the new year, it's gotta go.

And here's the finished project for today! The purple cabinet won't stay purple much longer but you'll read about that on here soon. We'll get more stuff to hang up along the way and keep you updated on that as well.
Some details:

Where did we get it?
Bouncing Souls poster: Screenprint by Michiel Walrave (www.michielwalrave.com) - Clock: Co-op Living in Antwerp (www.coop-living.com) - Farmer boy print: Anne's brother ca. 1987 - Sugar pot: Blond Amsterdam (www.blond-amsterdam.com) - Folklore prints: Ridgewood library (www.ridgewoodlibrary.org) - Embroiding of ship: Anne's grandpa ca. 1990 - Rosary: Vatican (www.vatican.va) - School picture: Anne's grandma, ca. 1935 - Candle holder: Bijenkorf  (www.bijenkorf.nl) - Lamp: Ikea (www.ikea.com) - Cabinet: Anne's great grandma ca. 1900 - Coin cup: none of us remembers where this came from - Guitar: Harm got this when he was 12, doesn't know where it came from - Pants and vest: H&M (www.hm.com) - Shirt: Mary Prankster (www.merchdirect.com)

Harm

Something Old, Something New

In 2011 we started a blog about our home. And things we like. And things we bought. About nearly everything, actually. Our last year was pretty hectic. We worked, played music, did photography shoots and... I got pregnant. So blogging became kind of a second (or third, fourth, fifth, sixth) place thing. But not anymore. Because of our new inhabitant who's coming soon, we had to do lots of home improvements and we're proud to show you around our house. July is all about our old posts so you'll get an idea of our pre baby life. August is gonna be fresh, crisp, unspoiled and all new. Enjoy our blog!