Antwerp · Hotel · Travel guide

Rosier 10

Two years ago, interior designer Roxanne Stevens had the opportunity to rebuild a historical townhouse into a bed&breakfast. Roxanne chose to mix modern with vintage, while also adding a lot of personal elements. There are 4 rooms, each representing a moment of day: morning dawn, noon, evening glow and vibrant nighttime. Together with her amazing hosting skills, this Bed&Breakfast turned into a place where you feel at home, even if it’s for only a few days. Roxanne makes a nice continental breakfast for her international guests every morning, presenting a wide variety of cheese, meat, fruit and different bread spreads. She also makes personalized maps of the city, depending on the type of day you want to spend: some shopping, some culture, or maybe a culinary adventure? Roxanne will happily draw you a marker pen-road in all colors of the rainbow and share with you the places she likes visiting herself.

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Rosier 10 is located between the trendy South district, the Antwerp port and the Old City. Rooms are provided with flat-screen TV and free Wi-Fi. Rates are starting at €115,00 a night.

Roxy’s golden citytips for Antwerp:

1. Pay a visit to the pedestrian tunnel & use Europe’s oldest (wooden) escalators
2. Go antique & vintage furniture shopping at Kloosterstraat on Sunday (what else did you expect from an interior designer?)
3. Enjoy some coffee at Vitrin Café (Marnixplaats) or Kloonies (Kloosterstraat)
4. Enjoy the sun at ‘t Eilandje (Antwerp’s marina) and have some starters at Markt
5. Go for dinner in Ferrier, located in Antwerp’s trendy neighborhood ‘t Zuid
6. Or go all out and enjoy a delicious, innovative meal at De Godevaart, located in the Old City centre.
7. Visit the MAS museum right before closing time, go all the way up to the Panorama Deck and enjoy the breathtaking view on Antwerp by sunset/night.

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B&B ROSIER 10
Rosier 102000 Antwerp+32/ (0)489 27 99 99
+32/ (0)3 345 46 36
info@rosier10.be

All pictures by (c) 2013 Sien Josephine

 

Antwerp · Design

Inspiration for the Home

One of the things I can endlessly fill my days with is rearranging the furniture in my apartment. With rearranging I don’t mean moving the plant to the other corner. I’m talking total change. I used to move apartments every 6 months just to have a different kind of room to decorate (yes my “little” hobby is that bad). Eventually, it took about 10 moves all over the city before I found a place worth staying (a little longer) (I haven’t moved for over a year, which is a personal record!). I now limit my passion for interior design to visiting inspiring blogs like The Selby and using the new-found inspiration during my long strolls down vintage design markets. I’m always looking for cheap (not always functional but still cool) furniture or decorative objects.

I recently visited the Antwerp the Dubieus Design Beurs, organised by the Antwerp Winkelhaak Design Center. The Antwerp What organised the What What? The Winkelhaak Design Center is a glass fortress that provides office space for young creatives, such as photographers, graphic designers and product developers. Dubieus Design (literally translated: Questionable Design – which in my opinion doesn’t sound very grateful) is a market filled with curiosities and vintage design from the fifties ’till now. There’s a fine line between design and kitsch. But that’s the way I like my interior! Most pieces are affordable, but there are exceptions, especially when it comes to pieces of known designers. Unfortunately, my tiny budget doesn’t allow investing in real design furniture (yet).

Inspirational Pictures found on The Selby*:

“Who is The Selby? Todd Selby is a portrait, interiors, and fashion photographer and illustrator. His project The Selby offers an insider’s view of creative individuals in their personal spaces with an artist’s eye for detail. The Selby began in June 2008 as a website, www.theselby.com, where Todd posted photo shoots he did of his friends in their homes. Requests quickly began coming in daily from viewers all over the world who wanted their homes to be featured on the site. The Selby’s website became so influential —with up to 95,000 unique visitors daily—that within months, top companies from around the world began asking to collaborate ” (TheSelby.com/about)

Antwerp · Food · Restaurants

Nostalgia in the North

One thing I love about Antwerp, besides Elixir d’Anvers, is the fact that – wherever you find yourself walking – it surprises you with little cosy places like this one. The “Caravan” (translated: the trailer) is a lunch bar in the north of Antwerp, very close to the Park Spoor Noord, which makes it a number one destination in Summer (in high season you can even have a picnic basket to go).

The area, better known by locals as “Den Dam”, is quite isolated from other areas in town and was recently renovated. For example the Park Spoor Noord, which used to be a large terrain that was owned by the Belgian Railroads for repairing and maintenance of trains, is now renovated into a new green lung of the city. It didn’t take long for restaurants and bars to emerge in this part of town, once economically revolved around old abattoirs (or slaughterhouses).

“Caravan” is decorated with secondhand and vintage-furniture, which gives customers the feeling of being at home. Chairs and tables of different styles and sizes, a cupboard that could’ve been owned by my grandmother, an old armchair, even the tableware makes me feel all nostalgic. The menu offers breakfast formulas with a twist, such as the “hangover breakfast”: a strong breakfast with some aspirin on the side. Lunch also looks delicious: from country food to world kitchen. And everything is as fresh as morning’s dew! “Caravan” obviously deserves a place in my top 5 of favorite breakfast & lunch bars. Oh and did I mention they have cheesecake?

“She graduated high school I bought her a trailer
In a little park by the side of the road
I could’ve had the Army
I could’ve had the Navy
But no I had to go for a mobile home”

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Trailer

De Caravan, Damplein 17, 2060 Antwerpen, T: +32 (0)3 297 68 52.

Open every Monday to Sunday between 10pm and 9am, closed on Tuesday.