Blogger Leonie ter Veld, known for the blog 'GEWOON WAT EEN STUDENTJE 'S AVONDS EET' (What a student eats in the evening), is a food blogger by trade, but also has a great sense of interior design. Leonie moved to Haarlem this year and on her blog, she takes her readers along for this creative journey! We subjected her to 10 questions about interior design, her new home and – of course - food! Read along and be inspired!
If you had to describe your living style in five words, which would you choose?
"Colourful, statements, bold, urban and loft style."
This year you moved to Haarlem and on your blog, you take your readers along with you on this exciting journey! One of your blog posts shows that you created mood boards and made boards on Pinterest before the move to come up with a sleek interior plan. Did you follow your instincts when making these mood boards or did you follow the interior trends?
"A little bit of both. My friend and I are very trend-sensitive when it comes to interior design and don't mind if we are bored of our current style in 2 years. As a result, we dare to go along with today's trends. But I also have to say that we do a lot on instinct and coincidentally that instinct is often the same for both of us. We only have to step into an interior design shop, and we would both choose the same thing separately."
Colour is a vital part of your bedroom – we love it! What is your favourite colour and what colour would you never apply to the walls in your bedroom?
"My favourite colour is actually (dark) green. We painted the whole toilet in this colour, that makeover is still to come online. I would like to have a wall of dark green in the house, but for now we are completely in love with Hague blue in the bedroom and in the living room. A colour I would never use on the wall is bright red or purple. These are two colours that I really don't like at all."
In your bedroom you have opted for an exotic jungle wallpaper. Very cool! How do you make sure that the décor in your bedroom matches this fantastic wallpaper?
"Yes, we really wanted to make a statement in the bedroom, and we did that well with the jungle wallpaper. The rest of the décor is adapted by looking at the colours in the wallpaper and opting for natural materials; that you could, so to speak, encounter in the jungle. Such as bamboo (the chair and mirror) and wood (the floor and soon the bed). Now we want to make the bedroom even more chic and we're going to do that by adding brass lighting. A thorn in our side is currently still the wardrobe; it's big and white and doesn't fit with the jungle theme at all. We need to think about that."
What is your biggest challenge in styling your bedroom?
Using as small a budget as possible to make as big a change as possible. For example, the bamboo mirror is recycled and bought for €4. Whereas if you came across something like this in a home store, you'd pay at least €30 for it. We also want a new wardrobe and preferably a new floor; Those are expensive things, but I try to be creative with this. Maybe we'll use the wardrobe but give it a wood look, or we'll paint it dark green.
Where do you get your home inspiration? And do you have your favourite stores where you shop for your interior essentials?
"I get my home inspiration mostly from restaurants, ha ha. I love trendy cafés and I often visit them for my work. Then I look around and I get a lot of inspiration for my own interior. Then I look at Pinterest with an idea in my head and look for pictures that fit with my idea. This really works brilliantly. I then search online at my favourite shops; I always check what they sell at made.com, Karwei (highly recommend), Casa (great on a budget), Shed 5, H&M home (did you know that they also sell beautiful lamps?!), Leenbakker & Kwantum (who sell cheaper variants of very trendy items), Homestock and Sissyboy. But secretly my favourite home store is the thrift shop in Haarlem North. Here I come almost every week to look for cool things for my home."
Do you have a favourite item in your décor?
"There’s so many! But I think my favourite item right now is the giraffe table from Pols Potten. This is a side table where the tabletop is made from glass and the base is a golden giraffe. Really cool! Another favourite is the vase from Jasmin Djerzic. I've wanted this one for a long time, but I thought it was too expensive. My friend finally bought it for me and I'm SO happy about it. It really is a statement piece. Speaking of statements... we had a brick wall built in the house with stone strips and that is really my favourite "item" from the new interior."
What is your secret to creating your 'own' interior in which you really feel at home?
"I think it's important that I have a real connection with the things that are here in the house. The things on the wall come from trips I've made or inspire me or my friend. For example, I am a food blogger by trade and recently bought two works of art on a trip that have broccoli on them. They’ll of course be on the wall. Furthermore, there are a lot of books everywhere, because that makes a house really personal. We don't have that many pictures in our interior, but that will soon change."
This year you moved to Haarlem with your friend. What are your favourite hotspots in Haarlem?
"Haarlem is great! My favourite places are Cleeff and Frisk at the Spaarne. For dinners I prefer to go to Café Colette (this is really great) and for a quick coffee you will find me at De Volkslust of Meneer Frans… Oh and near me is a very cool hippie café: the Kweekcafé!"
Eight years ago, you started your own blog, in which you share supercheap & easy recipes. What recipe from GEWOON WAT EEN STUDENTJE ’S AVONDS EET is your favourite after eight years and should we start making it?
"Oh, there's so many goodies online! I myself am a big fan of pasta pesto (a really a typical student dish) and recently I discovered 'loaded sweet potato'; where you make sweet potato fries and "enhance" with as many goodies as you want. For example, crispy fried chickpeas, a yogurt sauce, some feta, spring onion and parsley. YUM! But an easy and fast dish is my pumpkin from the oven, which you then add spinach, burrata and pesto. So tasty and so simple!"
Do you want to be inspired by Leonie every day?
Follow her on her blog 'GEWOON WAT EEN STUDENTJE 'S AVONDS EET' and check out the most delicious recipes, read cool travel stories and discover her top styling tips!
