The manor of the Fritzen family was built in 1801 by the German noble family Freiherren of Hammerstein

Who does not dream of it? Living in a beautiful country house, with lots of space for the family, surrounded by endless nature and a large garden with old trees. This dream came true for Austrian interior designer Simone Fritzen and her husband. Since 2003, the couple, with their four children and dog Amy, live in a 200-year-old mansion in Schleswig-Holstein, a one hour car ride north of Hamburg. Previously, the Fritzens had their home in the Hansestadt. How do established urban people become convinced landlords? MyStylery visits the north!

Simone Fritzen: “My guiding principle is to meet my customers, their wishes and the object, taking into account the budget.”

MyStylery: Many dream of living in the countryside. You took the step. Was it planned for a long time?
Simone Fritzen: My husband is a hunter and always had the vision of country life. Then we found this oasis of calm through an auction house. When I first entered the house being pregnant, I knew immediately: This is it. Not visible and still located in the middle of the village. My husband lured me with the argument to be able to make a beautiful house even more beautiful. He has plenty of room for tinkering and – most importantly – a plug for his lawn mower. And for children, there is nothing better than to grow up in the countryside and in the midst of nature.

What a wonderful view from the living room into the garden!

MS: Was there any major redevelopment effort or were you be able to move in right away?
SF: We’ve made some spatial changes. Where before was a bird aviary, today is the kitchen. The floors were sanded, walls were trowelled and dyed. And then all this ravaged wallpaper. It had to go away. (laughs)
MS: From my own experience, I know that rural life requires a different organization and logistics than life in the city.
SF (laughs): Oh, yes. As a mother you will be the chauffeur of your children whose school is 45 minutes away from here. Almost everything is done by car. You have to compromise. As a passionate chef, I also follow my passions here, cooking jam, puzzling around in the garden. That fits.

In the beginning of the 19th century the Freiherren of Hammerstein commissioned the Danish architect C.F. Hansen with the design of the mansion

MS: You used to accompany international projects as an interior designer. Do you miss this?
SF: I’ve been working from my home-office for years and am still on the road. Right now I am planning for a real estate broker. At first she was interested in my furniture design. Now I organize the entire object for her. The most beautiful thing about my job is that I see many interesting houses and always adjust myself to the customer and the object again and again.
MS: You’re dealing with a demanding clientele. Does it follow your opinion or does it want to make its own decisions?
SF: This is always different and requires a lot of fingertip feeling and empathy. I remain true to my principles. Firstly, a Tuscan country house does not fit into the metropolis. And secondly, never do everything new. Things that are special to the costumers always get their place.

View into the dining room

MS: Sounds simple, but it is not. What should be considered?
SF: In principle, you should pay attention to where you step. And this in the truest sense of the word: I would otherwise have stepped on a painting of Chagall lying on the floor in a London apartment of a customer. (Laughs) Another customer first commissioned a swimming pool, had an excavation pit excavated, which then was subsequently reprocessed. Instead he now wanted a billiard room. As an architect, you always live with the spontaneous decisions of your customers.
MS: What is important to you in your own four walls?
SF: I love colors, a passion that was shaped in my time in England, where I studied color theory. The furnishing is a certain casualness. I do not like it when everything is so sterile and stereotyped. Furnishings is linked to a story that tells something about its inhabitants. It is authentic. Like our home.  BvH

“I love colors, a passion that was shaped in my time in England”, Simone Fritzen says

Soon it will be Easter, as evidenced by Simone Fritzen’s decorations

About Simone Fritzen:

Grown up near Kitzbühel, Simone Fritzen studied interior architecture in Rosenheim. After a year in England, where she worked with color theory at Coloroll, the Austrian went to Hamburg. She knows how to pad chairs and distress furniture. S.F. worked for well-known architects and realized hotel and boarding house projects, among other things such as the “Madison” in Hamburg and Berlin, as well as the “Elbflorenz” in Dresden for the interior installer Holger Stewen. As an independent interior designer, Simone Fritzen looks for an international clientele. She designs furniture and specializes in high-end fabrics such as Rubelli, Pierre Frey, Osborne & Little, Nobilis and Nina Campell.

Beautiful porcelain painting by Simone Fritzen:

Since for years multi-talented Simone Fritzen has also been a porcelain painter

The Danish architect C.F. Hansen, a well-known architect of his time, built whole streets in Hamburg and various mansions with classical facades in Schleswig-Holstein according to the Italian model of the Palladio villas

The wardrobe is guarded by hunting trophies

The corridor with zebra skin on antique tiles

The large kitchen was designed by Simone Fritzen in collaboration with kitchen builder Hecker. Eye-catchers are the red Panton chairs

Next to the kitchen the playroom of the children, where Simone also supervises the homework of the kids

The gray lacquered wooden kitchen table lit by Tobias Grau lights

Doggy Amy, a Parson Russell Terrier

Simone Fritzen mixes the old and new: The antique secretary is Viennese Biedermeier and was a wedding gift from Simone’s father

The fireplace corner with a black and white fashion photography by Philipp von Hessen

Classically elegant with modern elements is the furnishing in the house of Simone Fritzen

Soon it will be Easter, as evidenced by Simone Fritzen’s decorations

Large wing doors frame the magnificent viewing angle

Simone Fritzen discovered the golden wall-holder at Holger Stewen, beside it a zebra photograph from a Hamburg gallery, the side-lamp with the orange-colored glass base is made of Murano glass

Beautiful view …

… and love to detail

The studio of the Interior Expert …

… on the wall a black and white photograph of the “Wilde Kaiser” in Kitzbühel, Simone’s Austrian home

From the white-lined corridor on the first floor, which is also used by the Fritzen boys as an area for car racing …

… the children’s and bedrooms are separated

Daughter Emma’s room

The guest’s bathroom

The room of Simone’s youngest son Willem

The neo-classical entrance portal

Magnificent is the rosery, which has accurately cut bushes, from which you have a view to the orangery with its original metal windows

From the city to the countryside: Simone Fritzen and her family fulfilled this dream in Schleswig-Holstein

Contact Simone Fritzen:

simone@fritzen-interior.de

Merken

Merken

The post At home with Interior Designer Simone Fritzen appeared first on My Stylery.

Classical elegance at Eichholtz: I am a fan of the small, velvet green armchairs with fringe bordures

I just came back from Paris, where I went to the trade fair ‘Maison et Objet’, where I researched the newest interior trends, furniture- and accessories-brands for you. Even though I have been to this fair for almost ten years now the impressions still remain amazing: Almost 3.000 exhibitors presented their collections in eight halls on 121.500 (!) square meters. The most known furniture brands like Gervasoni, Ligne Roset, Flamant, Grange, Jonathan Adler and Andrew Martin are represented here as well as the home collections of fashion designers like Ungaro, Ralph Lauren, Cavalli, Missoni or Fendi.

Playful and opulent are the interior accessories, like here at Asiatides, which you can order at my interior shop

I always head to my personal favorites like Asiatides or Versmissen first, because they offer unique, antique items, which are quickly sold out. Moreover I also order furniture and extraordinary interior-accessories for my interior projects. I love to discover new brands. In goose-step and after an exact ‘pattern’ I run through the eight halls and each time I think what the odometer would say after the day.

Available in all variants: Retro light bulbs and illuminants

Especially in hall I, which always intrigues me with its ethnic-eclectic chic I have found a lot of special and individual newcomers. This season’s motto is called ‘wild’: amidst a more and more technological defined world we start to reflect increasingly back to the beginning and nature.

One of the most innovative brands is Sempre from Belgium; they exclusively make their products from natural or recycled materials. Here a wooden bench with linen upholstery

Of course, the rather minimalistic, Scandinavian design is also an essential representative of the motto and therefore takes an important influence on our homestyle. Many companies like Bleu Nature and Sempre almost exclusively work only with natural materials: Wood, fur, stone and wool. Still very current is also the so-called ‘industrial look’: industrial design paired with shabby chic.

Sempre also has a very inspiring fair stand: dive in, submerge and getting new ideas. Wonderful!

My impression though was that the political turmoils and new social unfoldings influence our way of living and the words safe haven and cocooning gain a whole new importance. I have seen incredibly much opulence. A comeback of the baroque forms with lots of splendor, gold and glitter. Maybe a demonstration for the wish for something familiar. A longing for warmth in the big, cold world. BvH

See for yourselves:

Quite something: posh chandelier over baroque velvet armchair

Mirror cabinet and I in the middle

Some exhibitors present their almost extravagant elegance and take you on a little time travelling journey

After I have developed a great preference for the minimalistic modern trend, my big weakness for the opulent style, velvet-covered sofas and gold-coated mirrors with baroque details newly awakened. Strange, isn’t it?

I have to have this golden sofa! Gorgeous!

A cool understatement with chrome and suede made by Eichholtz

In love with these pretty pink roses!

Very cool: Ceiling lamps à la Sputnik!

Too much isn’t enough could be the motto at Eichholtz

Trend 1: Retro

Elements of the 50s and 60s experience their revival and find themselves in a lot that I’ve seen on the fair, for example on this table leg …

… here again as a diningtable. And a comeback for the peacock chair!

Beautiful arrangement with retro vases

Floor lamp in the stylish 60s look. I’ll take it!

How about an occult décor-item such as this raven on a skull?

Magnificent: Antique books and little treasures underneath beautiful glass covers

Great idea and amazing effect: light chains in big light bulbs arranged in simple glass vases

Currently super trendy are pendant luminaires in different shapes, but all made out of glass! So chic!

… Here is another variant …

Wowwww! This ceiling lamp! If only I had room for it …

Trend 2: Glass-Shades

… And again as tribute to the 50s! Very elegant isn’t it?

Wallpapers are still very trendy. Elegantly staged at the fair stand of Wall&Déco

Beautiful furniture-design by Munna from Portugal

Natural materials also at Gervasoni’s …

… and again Gervasoni: love the lampshades. They look like Ufo’s

Eyecatcher: Antolini Bath-Design made in Italy

What an lavish arrangement!

Illuminated hat-parade!

I don’t know where to look first …

Trend 3: Opulence

Presenting exceptional interior accessories underneath glass covers is still en vogue

Busts: not marble but wood

Glass antlers and details arranged on a lambskin

A new label from Poland with a “schwungvoll” German name …

… which creates industrial design. Amongst other things these flower boxes in shabby chic-style

Candles in gold rush from Lifestyle Home Collection

New décor idea: tortoise shell – looking deceptively real but made from polyresin

Big like: these lampshades made of rattan from Lifestyle Home Collection

This arrangement is getting me in the mood for summer

Also new is this limited ‘Madagascar’ edition of the high-class candle label Baobab. Inspired by the African island the scented candles are being wrapped with colorful bast. Handmade unique models in nine different scents

Trend 4: Back to nature!

The gorgeous, Moroccan Berber carpets might have been in every interior magazine by now but still can’t be missing on Maison et Objet

Atmospheric light for a cozy summer evening with lanterns from Morocco

…Moroccan interior design by Zenza

… including matching cushions

The concrete tile is a traditional classic, which just celebrates a comeback. This trend inspired the Israeli label Beija Flor to design their deceptively real synthetic adaptions, useable for floors and as wall or table decoration. MyStylery loves patterns!

TIP:

You can obtain many of the displayed articles at my interior shop ‘BIRGIT VON HEINTZE INTERIORS’. For more questions you can contact me at contact@mystylery.com

The post Maison et Objet: The latest Interior Trends from Paris! appeared first on My Stylery.

Typical space-staging by designer Abigail Ahern*

When I recently strolled through my fav interior exhibition ‘Maison et Objet’ in Paris I spotted a booth with an amazing interior collection, which I would love to introduce to you. Abigail Ahern is one of the most influential interior designers and tastemakers. Whether she is pioneering faux flowers or dark, inky color palettes, Abigail is consistently ahead of the design trail. She started her career in interior design in the United States, where she designed residential properties and chic hotels.

Furs and thick carpets make our homes well prepared for the upcoming season*

Beside her retail and product designs the Brit Abigail Ahern is also a best-selling author of interior books and runs an interior-blog and international design masterclasses. Her advice: Be fearless, when decorating. If you ever have the opportunity to visit her shop in London, go – it is worth it!  BvH

The new tablelamps of the fall-winter-collection – cosy!*

The brass ‘Brewer Trolley’ in the 50s look is a must-have*

These mirrors are new items of the latest collection*

Abigail Ahern’s top 10 tips on how to color boost your home

1. Start by picking a color for your biggest room – say your living room or kitchen.
Choose a hue that feels beautiful and inspiring, and true to what you love. Build on this to create a limited palette of colors for your entire home, using different combinations of those colors in each room.
2. Use an existing feature in your pad to inspire the basis of your color scheme.
This could be a view from the window, a work of art or any favourite item you own.
3. Think about what you want from your home to communicate to the outside world.
No one will be talking about your beige-on-beige home, so go a little crazy. Be reckless, I say! The more your confidence grows, the more you’ll feel like experimenting with colour.

At the exhibition ‘Maison et Objet’ in Paris Abigail Ahern presented an ambience in which I would move in immediately

4. Be brave!
To start with, decorating with color can seem like a daunting task.
Color behaves differently according to where you put it. The effect changes again once you add lighting, pattern, texture and greenery into the mix. I think this is why people favour whites over any other color group, as they distort less when other elements are thrown into the mix. However, to me, this is a bit like decorating by numbers. Too easy!
Bold hues, on the other hand, make everything on display feel grander, cooler, more intense, with beautiful undertones subtly changing in the daylight. You’ll never look back!
5. Remember, there are no no-nos. Well almost none.
Pastels are one grouping I never want to work with. But then plop me in Miami and I’m sure I’d be instantly seduced!

The greenery in the background is deceptively authentic. Abigail Ahern loves this retro scenarios with cactus-landscapes

6. Use color in unexpected places
Behind closed doors, inside kitchen cupboards, bedroom wardrobes, the loo – all those tucked away places that surprise the minute you enter.
7. Remember the small stuff
Introduce color through cushions, vases, bowls, fruit, greenery – you name it. There should be splashes everywhere for your eye to alight on!
8. All color schemes are improved by accents:
the final touches of color that add an element of surprise, and bring rooms to life.
There are no fixed rules when it comes to choosing these; just take care with the amount of color you use and where you use it. As fab as that bright orange might look on a pillow, it may not feel quite so amazing on four walls because the impact will be so much stronger.

The ‘Wild Bill Sofa’ is as cozy as it looks!

9. Patterns provide necessary punctuation; don’t neglect them …
… They anchor a space like nothing else I know.
10. Create the illusion of space by blurring the boundaries between walls and ceilings.
Paint them all out the same color and suddenly you’ve made your space a zillion times bigger. Promise!

Please have a seat: The ‘Saloon Barrel Chair’ is MyStylery’s favorite chair

Contact:

Abigail Ahern
137 Upper Street
London N1 1QP
www.abigailahern.com

**Abigail Ahern: Colour – Quadrille publishing house
* Featured pic and pics marked* by Abigail Ahern

The post Interior Designer Abigail Ahern: Be Brave! appeared first on My Stylery.

The home of Elizabeth Chazalon. It grows green with beautiful blossoms – in the middle of Paris

Born in India with Asian roots, grew up in Canada, living in France: The interior designer Elizabeth Hugh Chazalon who actually listens to the poetic name Mei Fong – translates to “the beautiful gesture” – learned early to adapt to new circumstances. It began when her mother – who was influenced by education through Irish nuns in a Catholic boarding school – chose the Western name Elizabeth for the little Mei Fong. But first things first: At the end of the 19th century Elizabeth’s grandparents fled from China to India with their eight children and settled as tanners in Calcutta. Here, Elizabeth’s parents met. Attracted to the “American way of life” the young family – the father engineer, mother secretary – went to Canada in the 1970’s. Elizabeth was six years old, graduated from the school in Toronto and then studied interior design at the prestigious Ryerson University. She now lives with your French husband Bruno and the children Leo, 18, and Camille, 15 in a suburb of Paris.

The Parisian interior architect Elizabeth Hugh Chazalon

MyStylery: How did it happen that your grandparents were kicked out of China?
Elizabeth Hugh Chazalon: They belonged to a minority ethnic group in China called the HAKKA’s, which always was stigmatized as kind of gypsies, nomads, barbarians, outsiders, even Mongolians. Stranger danger. The HAKKA were northern Han Chinese who progressively migrated south, fleeing war, poverty, and were chased out of China because they were not considered pure. Many fled the mainland completely, for Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Others went further still to North and South America, the Caribbean, and India.

“I love to decorate our house with artefacts from my homeland,” says Elizabeth Chazalon

MS: What brought you to Europe then?
EHC: I had no idea, what to do after school. So I decided to discover Europe as a backpacker travelling through England, Germany, Spain and France. My last stop was Paris, were I instantly felt in love with this beautiful city and its people. I adore the European culture and the elegant French language, even though I had no idea about French, but I knew for sure that I love the language and that Paris will be the place I will live.

Elizabeth Hugh Chazalon has developed the renovation of the house with her husband, who also works as an architect

MS: How did you get the idea to be an interior architect?
EHC: While backpacking through Europe I met an architect in St. Tropez, who was one of my greatest inspirations and on my way back to Canada, I was convinced about the idea to work even harder and to get best notes, to be able to go back to Europe and starting a career as an interior architect.

On a Balinese sideboard memories of Elizabeth’s homeland. The Chazalons stainted the formerly bright parquet into a dark new look

MS: MS: But you couldn’t realize this dream immediately…
EHC: That’s true. In1984 – after a two year experience as an interior architect in Canada – I grabbed my portfolio and moved to Paris. But there is no job if you don’t speak the language, right? I was aware of having no connections at all and I have to admit that I struggled at that point of time. Being a struggling artist without any perspective was finally not the idea of my new life over here. So I went to the Alliance Francaise for nine months and learned the language.

The ancient tribal necklace on the counter comes from Indonesia. “It is used for special ceremonies such as weddings.”

MS: Do you still remember in your first job?
EHC: Of course! I worked on the new concept for CARITA, Paris‘s most famous French beauty institute on the Rue Saint Honoré. This was my first project that got the ball rolling and started my career. After a while, I managed to work as a freelance consultant, which enables me to choose and work on interesting projects.

The Chinese characters on the ancient China cabinet means: “When children travel far from home, mothers never stop worrying.”

MS: What was the most exciting project since then?
EHC: Well, I collaborated and worked along with many important interior designers in the 90’s, on various international projects such as Hilton Hotel Bucarest with Alain Marco, office planning with Michael Boyer, the Royal Palaces in Morocco with Gambert, a Chateau and a Clubhouse in France with Yves Taralon, a Boutique conception in France and China with Dragon Rouge and even the Royal Residential Palaces for the Sultan of Brunei, who has an art to spurge and a sensitively to sophisticated, traditional European decor. They sky was the limit, the more it shine and sparkled, the happy he was! Personally, it was too much for my taste, but in the 90’s business was booming (laughs).

View into the bedroom

MS: Let’s talk a little bit about your privacy. How did you meet your husband?
EHC: We met through a party. Bruno is also an architect but we both work on our own projects to keep problems out of our family life. The only exception was our home, a house of the seventies, which has been under terrible conditions, when we had bought. It took us six month to get through it, although we left the frame and the original structure. But we opened the walls inside, we tinted the parquet into a black colour and everything inhere reminds a bit to industrial design, like the fireplace and the staircase. I prefer natural materials such as the French chocolate-coloured lava stone for the kitchen counter top, which we also put into the bathrooms. The most important thing to me is the quality of products.

Elizabeth Chazalon is an enthusiastic cook, of course a gas stove may not be missing

MS: What is your approach today in Interior Design?
EHC: Like the name of my company CAM&LEON, I feel like I am the chameleon that merges design with my Asian part of French culture. I bring to my practise a fusion of design integrating the concepts of Feng Shui elements along with my philosophy of Zen. My recent collaboration with The Anjali Villas projects in Semyniak on Bali, along with my latest work on a new spa and yoga retreat on the island of Flores, Indonesia – a one and a half hour flight from Bali – is a reflection of this. A unique concept that will bring me closer to my Asian origins, though I know very little, yet have so much to discover!  BvH

“My passions are cooking and my children,” says Elizabeth Hugh Chazalon, “I am a typical chinese mom.”

View into the colorful garden

Contact:

elizabeth.chazalon@free.fr
Facebook page: Caméléon
LinkedIn: Elizabeth Hugh Chazalon

The post The extraordinary life circle of Elizabeth Chazalon appeared first on My Stylery.