Hello lovely people I wish you all a happy 2025, I’ve got a feeling that this is going to be a very exciting year. There are two major things that will have my focus in 2025 and those are:

House For Sale

We are going to sell our beloved home at the end of this month and it feels so difficult and very sad as we love this home. This is the first house that I really call ‘home’ the other houses we lived in I called properties and money pits. But we want to relocate for our future and we can’t keep postponing it as we are not getting younger and by that said fitter. So we only have the life strength left to renovate another house so this is the year to do it!

Blogging to Vlogging

I’ve been blogging since 2008 and although I had a few breaks in-between I can’t seem to give it up as I love it so much. I love sharing, I love archiving and I love inspiring but I see that times have changed and that there’s less time to read or to sit down and allow oneself to read. I personally watch a lot of vlogs as I can do that whilst I do something else. I can iron, cook, sew, garden and so on and watch something on the side. The next right move for myself would be a vlog but I find it a bit daunting as I’m quite enjoying the privacy of being a blogger, I guess I will lose that privacy when I become a vlogger. But how fun will it be to be following us along our journey to a new home and a whole new country. So yes as soon as we sell our house in Belgium I will start a vlog about our move to Denmark.

And that’s it really, I have no big resolutions I’m not going to stick to. I always want to lose weight, stretch, walk and swim more but realistically I’m not going to do it so why torture myself? Life is all about priorities and my priorities are the top two ones.

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Movie to Watch

Wicked

I am in LOVE with this movie. I was already in love with the musical, I saw in London in 2019, but the movie exceeded all my wildest OZ dreams. When can I move? The production and costume design blew me away so much that I had to ground when I walked out of the movie theatre and was so shocked about how ugly ‘our world’ is. Why don’t we have yellow brick roads? I love the diversity of the cast, Ariana her head swings, Jonathan’s sexy moves and I had to cry (and I loudly gasped) by a very unexpected surprise appearance.

Podcast to Listen

Sentimental Garbage - Wicked

Well for obvious reasons this is a must listen. They share all the same feelings. I can also highly recommend The Sound of Music.

Book(s) to read

Winter: An Anthology for the Changing Seasons by Melissa Harrison

I own all four books since 2020 but they have been standing in my bedroom bookcase untouched until the beginning of December when I started to read in ‘Winter’ and now I regret that I haven’t started earlier.

In prose and poetry both old and new, the Seasons series evokes the beauty of our changing year. Each book features extracts from classic works of great naturalists, specially commissioned texts and writing from household names, including Robert Macfarlane, Helen Macdonald, Ted Hughes, Nan Shepherd, H. E. Bates and many more.

You can purchase all four at my favourite book place on the web - Slightly Foxed

Thanks for reading. Much love, Yvonne

In a previous post I told you to listen to The Chromologist Podcast by Farrow & Ball hosted by Patrick O'Donnell and how I’d love to tell you about the colours that shaped my life, well here we go … I’ll try to keep it short as who reads these days?

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Merry Christmas darlings, I hope yours was lovely. We are still in the midst of all the celebrations as we have another day of Christmas tomorrow with one of my brothers.

Yesterday, Christmas Day, we hosted a lunch for Bo’s family. A bread lunch comes with a lot of different sort of sandwiches and toppings so I came up with a raised grazing board.

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Not much Christmas cheer from me this year as we have been so focused on finishing the cabin so that we can put the house on the market in the new year. But nonetheless the house is super festive inside and we are all ready for celebrating Christmas with our families tomorrow and on boxing day.

I have some cute stuff to share realtime as I’ve made a graze board which I will use laying the table for lunch tomorrow. So I’m not going to go and switch off during Christmas but will be sharing things here and on instagram.

Happy Christmas Eve darlings.

Love, Yvonne

Bo is wild about tiramisu (literally translated as ‘pick me up’), he orders it whenever it’s on the menu but he thinks the one I make is the best - now that’s love of course. My recipe is just really simple and I guess often simple is good enough.

The Ladyfingers

Traditionally tiramisu is made with two layers of biscuits and I always keep that in my servings, whether I serve it in individual glasses or in one large bowl. I don’t use the supermarket lady fingers but I use Savioardi, it honestly makes the difference as they are not so sugary and much wider.

The Booze

Another thing is the wine, I never use marsala wine as there are so many better options like Amaretto Di Saronno mixed with a liqueur. Sometimes I use a cinnamon liqueur or a walnut one. When I came back from a trip to Zeeland (a province in The Netherlands) I used a Bolus liqueur and that’s to this day my ultimate favourite.

This recipe is good for 4 humongous servings or 6 polite ones.

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Because our home was featured on Dutch television last Friday we had to start decorating on the 5th of November as recordings were on the 7th of November. Everything green by now has dried out so I have to start decorating all over again.

The trees are by now all fake (read about the how and why here) so they are still fresh looking but the mantle and the wreath on the front door all looked like if they were there from last year.

Here’s how to decorate a fireplace with lots of greenery.

1. Roll up chicken wire for the base.

2. Keep pricking Norman branches into the chicken wire until there’s no chicken wire in plain sight. Add some dried hydrangeas.

3. I’ve attached two fabric bows to the chicken wire.

4. Now that the base is ready you can start adding whatever you fancy. I’ve used eucalyptus, dried orange slices, viburnum and red berries that were left over from birthday flowers.

If you want to watch our Christmas house tour you can follow this link. There are only Dutch subtitles available so you have to imagine what we are saying, if you are not Dutch that is.

Lots of love, Yvonne

It’s December already? It sounds so cliche but I totally lost time. How is it December already? How did I turn 50? I did turn 50 years old on the 6th of December and as I don’t do in new year resolutions I always make a resolution for myself on my birthday instead. This birthday I want to be more outdoorsy, although I’m in the garden quite a lot I never seem to go out for a walk anymore. Walks need to be fun, well basically everything I undertake needs be fun otherwise I get bored, so why not take a picnic into the woods?

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I like Christmas decorations and decorating for Christmas but I don’t want the decorations to clash with my all year round decor and I don’t want it to be messy or kitch or completely over the top. Using wallpaper scraps for Christmas crackers are a way of using materials that return in my decor.

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Just a last hearty dish for you before I plunge into Christmas. This recipe serves about 4-6 people.

Ingredients

• 150 g flour

• 80g unsalted butter (room temperature)

• pinch of salt

• 50 ml semi-skimmed milk

• 800 g pumpkin (cut into pieces)

• 100 ml crème fraîche

• 30 g sour cream

• 4 eggs

• 300 g feta cheese

• ½ tsp salt

• ¼ tsp black pepper

• ½ tsp ground nutmeg

• Dried and fresh thyme

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine the butter, flour, salt and milk. Knead into a firm ball of dough with your hands. Flatten, place in a sandwich bag and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

2. Cook the pumpkin pieces with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a pinch of salt in a pan with a lid on low heat for about 15 minutes.

3. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

4. Grease a baking tray with butter. I use a shallow quiche tray.

5. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and dust a smooth surface with flour. Roll out the dough so that it fits in the baking tray. Place the dough on the baking tray and gently press the dough against the bottom and sides. Prik air holes in the dough with a fork. Divide the pumpkin pieces over the dough.

6. Mix the sour cream, crème fraîche and eggs in a bowl. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg. Pour it over the pumpkin pieces. Crumble the feta into coarse pieces over the ingredients and sprinkle the dried thyme over the feta. You can also spread some extra sprigs of fresh thyme over the pie. Place in the oven and bake for 40-50 minutes.

TIP: If the pie gets dark, cover it up with a piece of silver foil.

Lots of love, Yvonne

We are entering table dressing season and as I host quite a few dinners during December I like to play around with china, crackers, tablecloths and napkins.

I own a massive amount of white cotton napkins left over for my days when I used to create content for Dille en Kamille. You can easily, and quite quickly, zhuzh up a plain napkin with block print.

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The most asked question I get is; “what is that colour?”. So here it is my ultimate colour guide with all the colours in my home, tips, guides and links.

Before You Start

A little introduction to painting

Always start with a colour palette before starting to pick out paints. What I often do, for myself and for clients, is working from a fabric or a wallpaper swatch that I love. I initially worked with the discontinued Cath Kidston Birds & Roses wallpaper for my own home. I pick about 4 colours to work with; white, pink, blue and green and I add-on with colour variations. I also never shop outside my colour palette, that way everything will compliment each other and I’ll not end up with unwanted items in the attic or overspending on unwanted items.

Paint

My go to paint is Sigma Tigron Aqua Satin and the Sigma Tigron Aqua Primer. I use this paint for all woodwork and indoorsurfaces such as furniture. It’s a beautiful eggshell paint and has a great flexibility to work with. For walls I use Histor Perfect Finish matte, this is actually a quite modestly priced latex paint and does the trick. If you want to get the best quality and splurge on wall paint I can highly recommend Farrow & Ball. For floors I use Sigmafloor.

Mixing Colours

I so do love all the Farrow & Ball colours but I’m not really fond of their paint as it’s too chalky to my liking. You can use their colour numbers instead and let your local paint shop mix them using the paint of your choice. For example when you want Farrow & Ball All White to be mixed using a different paint use the code FAR 2005 - FAR is the Farrow & Ball Library and 2005 is the colour number for All White. Vert de Terre would be FAR 234 and so on.

Tips & Tricks

• Work with primers mixed in the top coat colour that way you can see if the colour works for you, if not you can go for another top coat colour but you can keep using the primer. Also primers mixed in the top coat colour will make life so much easier as you need to apply fewer coats and your top coat colour will be much deeper and richer.

• Use water-based paints for everything besides floors and stairs. Water-based paints dry much faster so you’ll be able to apply more coats in a shorter timeperiod. Water-based paints are also better for the environment and for your health.

• Don’t use masking tape on windows but use a glass scraper instead. It’s faster this way and water-based paint is easier to remove as glue remains.

• If you paint walls and floors, put a roller on a broomstick as it will go so much faster and you can work in evenly strokes up and down.

Ordering Wallpaper and Fabric

I can highly recommend Jane Clayton for wallpaper and fabric. They ship fast in the UK, the EU and the rest of the world. Tax and duty are included in the shipping cost so there will be no surprises afterwards.

Linen fabric is best purchased on Etsy in Lithuania, where the heart of linen fabric lies. My favourite seller is Linengraphy, although not all of their fabrics are always in stock and shipping is quite expensive, their linen is magnificent. Another favourite is Merchant & Mills in Rye England. You can easily order online or plan a shop visit when you’re planning to travel to the UK.

My Favourite Paint List

• ZINSSER^® B-I-N - Difficult surfaces like laminated IKEA furniture

• Sigmafloor Aqua Satin - I use this for wooden floors. It contains a primer and a top coat. Normally I do two layers and it will last about 5-7 years.

• Sigma Tigron Aqua Satin - paint for professionals, so you can only buy this in a paint pro shop. I use it for all woodwork indoors. The satin is like an eggshell finish. It’s water based so you can do a few layers on the same day. Use the same primer (Sigma Tigron Primer)

• Sigma Torno Aqua Semi-Gloss - Same as above for outdoors. The semi gloss gives a light sheen and is really durable for outdoor woodwork. Use the same primer (Sigma Torno Primer)

• Painting The Past Outdoor - Perfect for outdoor furniture like metal and wood. I use this paint without a primer.

• Farrow & Ball Modern Eggshell - I use this paint for radiators, it just works the best.

• SPS FAÇADE MAT - acrylic wall paint. We use this for walls and ceilings.

• Farrow & Ball Modern Emulsion - acrylic wall paint. We use this for walls and ceilings. We also use this to lime wash if you mix two colours, but that’s a whole other post.

Swenglish

I often get this question and my answer is “Swenglish” a combination of Swedish and English country. I love all the white, clean lines and minimalism that comes with the Swedish countryside. I’m really fond of Swedish antiques as they are practical yet pretty without a lot of fuss.I love nineteen century cottage antiques used in England and obviously all the stripes, checks and florals.

Colours Room by Room ( paid subscribers only)

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We are building a tiny house in a former building construction unit next to our house. We wanted to fit all the comforts of a home into 20 m² without losing the Dutch 1932 farm-style that reflects our own home.

The living space contains a bed, a kitchen and a place to sit in the form of a small dining table situation. There’s a closed off bathroom that we still need to complete.

For the bed we chose a built in bed with panelling and a beamed ceiling. In Dutch we call an alcove bed a bedstee. A bedstee is a sleeping place incorporated in the wall panelling in the form of a cupboard and closed off with doors or curtains. Bedstedes were widely used in The Netherlands until the beginning of the 20th century, especially in the countryside on farms.

One of the advantages of a bedstee is that it can be built into the living room, while it is still invisible during the day because of the closed doors. A separate bedroom is therefore unnecessary. Another advantage is that a bedstee can easily be warmed up in the winter by the body heat of the sleepers, because it is a relatively small space (the cupboard is no larger than the bed itself).

I’ve designed the bedstee using IKEA PLASTA units. There are five cubbies with shelves and basket drawers and there’s one large hanging closet space. I chose drenched garden wood for panelling as it kind of gives off that barn-style vibe. When Bo had it all joined together I painted all the wood in Vert de Terre by Farrow & Ball and the walls, ceiling and windows in Wimborne White also by Farrow & Ball.

The mattress size will be 140 x 200 cm so just large enough for two people to sleep on. It’s going to be so awfully cosy.

The wallpaper is Claudia’s Friend by Laura Ashley. It’s quite cheap wallpaper but I was looking for a ditsy floral print and I didn’t want to break the bank.

There will be a TV on this wall so it will also double as a sofa bed. When we are done building (and making lots of dust) we’ll add two LURÖY slatted bed bases on top of this construction and on top of that a mattress. I can’t wait to curl up with Christmas and watch Christmas movies in the bedstee. It’s like having a wee holiday in my own garden.

Lots of Love, Yvonne

I haven’t been shopping much lately as we are so busy working on the cabin. I did however ordered some prints and cards from Wildflower Illustration & Co. to hang on the walls of the cabin. It’s going to be such a cute little space in the garden so I choose all garden themed illustrations.

Movies to Watch

Tales Of Beatrix Potter (1971)

Many thanks to a follower on Instagram who sent me the link to this movie. It’s older than I but it’s still gorgeous. The performances by the Royal Ballet, the costumes and the choreography by Frederick Ashton are just lovely.

You Hurt My Feelings

I’m always glad when people write and direct these sorts of movies with a good story, good actors and no nonsense. A must see!

Podcast

The Chromologist by Farrow & Ball with Patrick O’Donnell

I’ve included the link to the whole show as it’s so inspiring and you must listen to them all. I would love to do a post on my life with colours so that’s one to remember.

Must Do in October

1. You can support your local farmers and buy pumpkins for decorating, fresh produce, meat and all sorts of other harvest because now is the time.

2. Plant bulbs for spring flowers. Mow wildflower beds and do some extra sowing for early flowers in April and May.

The idea of moving to Denmark started about two years ago, the initial plan was to move to Sweden but as we were always driving through Denmark to get to Sweden the country started to grow on us. I was born and raised in the Dutch countryside, during my late teens and twenties I’ve lived in Massachusetts (US), the Cotswolds (UK) and for the last 14 years in a Belgian border city. I find that Denmark is a combination of the UK (vikings, Tudor), The Netherlands (harbours, bikes, architectural) and typical Scandinavian colours like yellow, blue and red. It’s just the perfect mashup for me. I also like the people, the culture and all the “hygge”1

Two years ago we were not ready yet and our house wasn’t ready yet to be sold. I love our home, I love the square meters we live on but I do not like to live in Belgium, and although I’ve lived here for almost 15 years it still feels like I’m driving to my holiday home rather than driving home. There’s a whole post I can dedicate to Belgium but that wouldn’t be fair because it would be mostly negative and I don’t live for that. So it’s time to move and leave our beloved home.

It’s quite a lot of organisation to move from one European country to another but the good thing is that because we are all members of the European Union we can live and work where we want but each country still carriers their own rules and regulations. The Danish are a bit more complicated with their regulations and that’s why I like them so much I guess. In Denmark we are not allowed to buy a first time home if we still have our home address in Belgium so we need to sell first, pack everything up, move to Denmark, possibly rent a house, register there and find a home to buy.

Our first step is finishing the tiny house (cabin) in our garden as it will value up our home. It will be another two months of decorating so we can put the house for sale in January 2025. And after that we have to wait and see how fast we sell. Legally we’ll have 4 months to sign and move out after we’ve sold, so hopefully we can move to Denmark in summer 2025.

I will keep you in the loop over here. We are super excited and can’t wait to start our new adventure.

Love, Yvonne x

This recipe is for a traditional Dutch apple pie. Originally people also add raisins but we like them without.

For a Dutch apple pie you need a ⌀ 24 cm springform pan, baking paper and butter. I grease the pan with the butter and stick the baking paper to the bottom and sides of the pan.

Ingredients

• 8 (or more) sweet apples (Jonagold or Elstar)

• 1 tbsp white caster sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla essence

• 1 tbsp cinnamon

• 200 gr unsalted butter

• 200 gr light brown caster sugar

• 400 gr self-raising flour

• Pinch of salt

• 1 egg (cut in half, one half for the dough and the other half for glazing)

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven on 175°C

2. Peel, core and slice the apples. Mix the white caster sugar, vanilla essence and cinnamon in a bowl. Add the apples and mix it all up. Set aside.

3. Beat the egg loosely into two parts. Use one half for the dough and the other half for the glazing of the dough.

4. kneed the butter (preferably with ones hands), light brown caster sugar, self-rising flour, half of the egg and a pinch of salt into a firm dough. Divide the dough into 3 parts.

5. Use one piece of dough to cover the bottom of the pan. Use the second piece of dough for the sides. You can roll the dough out (about 5 mm thick), or you can press the pieces of dough against each other in the springform pan.

6. Place the apple mixture in the pan and cover up with strips of the remaining dough. The strips should be about 1 cm wide, you can add as many as you like.

7. Brush the dough strips with half of the egg.

8. Place the pie in the middle of the oven. Bake for 60 minutes until golden brown.

9. Allow the pie to cool in the pan before removing the ring of the springform pan. Once cooled and removed, peel off the baking paper.

The Dutch eat it warm and preferable with whipped cream but I love it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Love, Yvonne x

This is a gentle reminder that if you are enjoying ‘The Yvestown Blog’ as a free subscriber, you might also enjoy the additional content that is available to paying subscribers. You not only have access to ALL the posts, but you can ask me questions, leave comments and have access to the entire archive. There are video tutorials, paint colour numbers and lots of recipes in the archives for you to enjoy. And most of all receive additional content every month into your inbox. Paid subscriptions help me write and create valuable content, and focus my time on sharing what you need. But whatever way you choose to be here, and read ‘The Yvestown Blog’, I truly appreciate you being around. Thank you so so much and lots of love, Yvonne x

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Today was the first day that I wasn’t uncomfortably hot so I decided to clean and tidy the potting shed so that everything is ready for winter. I sow cornflowers, sweet peas, nigellas and delphiniums in October in the potting shed so that I have early spring seedlings. You can’t do this with all seeds as not all seeds are winter hardy.

The tables are empty and everything is dust, sand and cobweb free. I also painted the cupboard in Farrow & Ball Vert de Terre to match all the outdoor doors. And when I had the paint out I even painted all the silly little drawers of that IKEA chest that I’ve been having for like ever.

And while it’s all so tidy and clean right now I prepared a little Elho tray with microgreens. I love using micorgreens on sandwiches and in salads. They are super easy to grow and are very healthy.

I use the seeds from Buzzy, It’s just adding a layer of potting soil with seeds on top and I cover it with vermiculite … vermi-what? Vermiculite is a naturally occurring mineral. Vermiculite can absorb three or four times its weight in water and also attracts various plant nutrients such as potassium, magnesium and calcium. These qualities make it useful for propagation and for potting up plants that do best in moist compost. Make sure to water from under the seeds, so you need a tray and you need to make sure that there’s water in that tray all of the time.

In a week you will have microgreens, there’s absolutely nothing to it. I will report back on Insta stories once mine start to grow.

Lots of love, Yvonne x

A super simple and quick preserve and my all-time favourite piccalilli. Eat it with hard cheeses like Gouda and cheddar. We often eat it with chilli or rice and vegetables dishes. It’s also makes a lovely gift if you make a bit of an effort on the presentation.

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Do you remember how I was planning a bedroom makeover last March? If you need to be refreshed you can jump to the article below.

The plan didn’t really change much only that I swapped rooms. We have a street south facing room and a garden north facing room, I’m now sleeping in the north facing room as it’s cooler, quieter and I love the view when I open the curtains in the morning. There’s something to say about the first thing you see in the morning but that’s another blogpost.

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Life has been quite busy. We’ve added four male Khaki Campbell ducks to our flock, my 85 year old mother moved in with us and we decided, on very short notice, to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary by throwing a garden party for our friends and family. To all the people who say that you need a year to plan a party, it’s not true! I did it in 3 months with a live artist and a food truck and everything. And we’ve had the best of times.

We’ve kept things really simple. As it was a garden party the garden itself provided us with decorations. The tables and chairs were rented, I used my collection of white linen table cloths and filled bud vases with flowers from the garden. We randomly placed tables where there was space and we used our own terrace table and garden chairs.

We turned my studio into an open bar as there’s a fridge and a sink in the room and the doors can completely fold open. The room also provided people with shelter as it rained a bit on the day. I printed out a list of our favourite cocktails so that people could mix their own drinks. It was a success and people loved it.

The food was catered by La Cookaracha in a pink VW van and it was a delicious mix of Azian street food. Monique, the owner, parked the van on our drive and people could walk up and down to get the food they liked. So yet again, I didn't have to do anything but dance on the dance floor we’ve made in the garden on the bit of grass that’s still left. I think I’ve danced all evening as I had so much fun and I was completely stress-free.

As Bo and I both love the music from my mother’s home country, Suriname, I found Moksi Live on Google. He even happened to live just around the corner. He came equipped with a saxophone, keyboard and a sound system and had everyone on the dance floor in no time, even the people that normally don’t dance where dancing.

The dress code was pastel and light colours and I so appreciate that almost everyone stuck to it. It all looked so friendly and so us.

Even my bestie Daan, who always wears dark colours, looked so lovely in her Cos suit. My dress is by Stella Nova and Bo’s sister looked lovely in pastel blue.

Oh my I’m reliving all the love and all the laughter.

Love, Yvonne