Apr 29

Project Bathroom

You might be wondering what’s been keeping me busy and away from blogging the last few weeks.
We decided to renovate the bathroom, something we’ve been planning to do for a long time. Because summers were always busy and the winters we passed in Amsterdam. This was going to be our new laundry room. Up until then we tried to look through the horrible green tiles, ignoring the old toilet and sink as much as we could and pretended it didn’t matter that we had to jump into the tub to take a shower while being closed up in a hidious box with decorated glass. Also we had this small extra room with a ‘hole in the floor’ toilet wich we never used (below with pink tiles).

But no more. So we decided to roll up our sleeves and get rid of it all. We got help from Levent, B’s younger brother who manages a villa project for a construction company in the back hills of Alanya. He brought he’s men over and they started to drill and hammer and destroy the room the best they could. It felt sooo good to see those ugly tiles come off the walls and everything being removed within one afternoon.
In that first week we were pretty optimistic. One more week and we would be done, we thought. Meanwhile B was staying at his parents home and I became Elif’s room mate for a while. But then, somehow, everything went backwards and I could swear the project was jinxed. The wrong tiles arrived, one order didn’t come through so we were waiting for nothing, one Usta (constructor) got ill another one didn’t get allowance from his chef to leave the construction site, our neighbours downstairs complained about a leakage caused by the drilling, the bath tub was wrong, etc. Two weeks turned into three and three weeks into four. Meanwhile the house was a complete mess, covered in dust and debris.

Our patience was heavily tested. But we kept cool as much as we could. And serving tea, lots of it. I repeted my mantra whenever I felt we were on the edge of dispair: it’s gonna be worth it! But from time to time B opposed with saying: actually the green was fine too, it wasn’t that bad.

We moved back in a week ago. I spent three days on cleaning and organizing, with some help from sweet Elif. There’s no way I would have gotten through this without B being the calm and cool man that he is and Elif’s support, our crazy laughs and her home cooked dinners at the end of days. Now we really love the results and every time I enter the room in the morning I’m thinking: this was so worth it.

These pictures only show the work in progress. There are still some details we need to take care of so the final result will follow in another post.

Before

Work

After

Before

After (not completely finished yet)

Mar 21

Vogue Vogue Vogue

Congratulations Holland & Turkey on your

This month Holland finally got it’s very own VOGUE! The same month that the Turkish Vogue is celebrating it’s first Birthday, as they launched their own national edition this same month last year. Needless to say; this is HUGE! I am so happy for Turkey that they made it through the first year with a lot of style and great issues -despite a lot of sceptism left and right. They are doing an amazing job, meeting the international high fashion status while at the same time being true and loyal to national design and Istanbul allure. If US Vogue is commercial, the French one ‘haute couture’ and the Italian one artistic, then the Turkish one is definitely glamorous and a touch exotic. I can’t wait to see what the Dutch one is gonna be like and I wish them the best of luck and success in this first year. It’s going to be creative, individual and stunning for sure. Must ask my friends to keep a copy of the first issue for me!

No one said it better than Carrie: ‘When I first moved to New York and I was totally broke, sometimes I bought Vogue instead of dinner. I felt it fed me more’.

First cover Turkey, March 2011 First cover The Netherlands, March 2012

image 1,2: telegraaf.nl

Mar 21

Interview for ‘Emigreer Magazine’

Here is something for my Dutch readers. It’s an interview I did a while ago for Emigreer Magazine, an online magazine on emigration in Holland and Belgium. You can click here and then on the March issue to read the whole article.

Mar 19

Hello again :)

Merhaba to all my dear readers!
Canım Benim is back!!! After a long break and some soul searching it is ready to continue this exciting journey through the blogging universe, full of new energy and new found inspiration.
And CB has it’s own new logo now wich I love. Turns out that I am a big commitment phobe while going through the process.. Surprise surprise for someone who started a relationship at 21 with her holiday sweetheart and ended up moving to Turkey almost 10 years later to live together with him. So no C-word phobia when it comes to Love in my case.. but definitely when it comes to business and to designing a logo. The comforting thought that always joins a decision: “for now it’s good, no wait.. it’s great. And I can always change or add things in the future if I want to”. Creation is a never endless process and I’m glad it is.

The great part of CB’s new look is the beautiful skyline of Istanbul. I had to have that skyline! And in the middle of that mindblowing city there is this amazing bridge.. connecting Europe with Asia. A straight line high above the Bosporus that enables millions of people every day to travel from one side to the other, connecting continents and cultures as if it was the most natural thing on earth.
It is my personal wish that this blog may function as a bridge for me and my readers.. where we go when we want to get to the other side.. when we wonder what it’s like over there.. and what our own skyline will look like from across. And for those of us who already feel home in both parts, I hope this blog will be the connecting bridge that makes it possible for us to meet halfway and to easily travel back and forth, sharing and enjoying life on both sides, feeling happy about here and there and having it all.

Cheers to you, the cool culture traveller one! Because you really do have it all.

I’m much looking forward to hear your thoughts on the new look.
Meanwhile I leave you with some sunny colorful pictures of Alanya in spring time.. tulips and palm trees, so pretty.

Feb 3

CB is under construction

I will be back soon. Thank you for your patience.. xx

Dec 12

5 Comments

Santa Claus discovered Alanya

I’m a December child, born on Christmas eve and all. And thus I love Christmas. But somehow I haven’t gotten into the spirit at all so far.. no snow (not even close), no street decoration and no ‘Last Christmas’ song on the radio anymore this year. Except for a little splash of reds and greens here and there and the seasonal coffee at Starbucks (who would even jingle all the way in the midst of the Arabian Desert), there is not much that reminds you that the holidays are coming.
But yesterday we had a cozy little Christmas Market down at the harbor side. It was the second time this event was taking place and I was looking forward to go and check it out so I gently forced Bülent into going with me. It was a sunny Sunday and it seemed like all of Alanya had come out of their homes to share the Christmas joy. Expats and locals, young and old were happily mingling, tasting each other’s food and presenting their arts and crafts. With products and bakery from all over Europe, Turkish children singing Christmas carols in English and German, Santa Claus’ presence and a huge Tannenbaum in the middle of it all I finally did get into the mood.
I think Alanya just got itself into creating another tradition.. the annual Christmas fair. And no doubt on my mind that these stands will grow better and bigger with every year and that a new generation will grow up with memories of sitting on Santa’s lab. Alanya finally discovered the magic of Santa, though I’d secretly like to think that it was the other way around.
Just like I was celebrating Ramadan Festival in Amsterdam every year, which is a big event mostly celebrated with food and music, I was now celebrating Christmas in Turkey. And now it was the Dutch who offered their specialties from behind their stands and the Turks asking questions and curiously taking a bite from their greesy and powdered oliebollen. It’s such a nice way to make others see what your culture is all about and to share the fun and food together. Some people were completely new to this kind of celebration and were just observing from a distance. But judging from the smiling faces all around me the ice had clearly melted. Afterwards I had to rush home to post my new pictures while making me a nice cup of hot coco, lighting some candles and listening to Chris Rea’s ‘Driving home for Christmas’. I’m so feeling it now. And I can’t wait to fly home for Christmas next week.

Happy Holiday preparations everyone!

Dec 10

5 Comments

Coffee and Lokum for your walls

It’s winter (at least on the calender) and that means renovation season for us, as there is still a lot of things we want to change and redecorate in and around the house. So we picked up the work with having the walls of two of our bedrooms painted. I discovered the ‘Osmanlı Renkleri’ collection from Marshall. A new palette of delicious colors, divided into the four themes Turkish Delight, Berlingot, Sherbet and Coffee, that refer to the magnificent interiors of villas and palaces during the Ottoman empire. I fell immediately for the names of those fruity and spicy colors like Lemon Lokum, Cinnamon Berlingot and Coffee with Musk. I had to have those colors, to create this warm and luxurious feeling, that the Ottomon style is so well known for, within our own four walls. We chose the warm Sesame Berlingot for the guest room and the deep Coffee with Cardamom (Kakuleli Kahve) for our bedroom. Here’s a little preview. More pictures with the final results at some point in the future..

Pick a flavour

Lokum / Turkish Delight: powdery, innocent colors of cream, pistachio green, pastel lemon yellow and soft pink to add romance and a scence of luxury to the room.

Akide / Berlingot: comes in vibrant colors of Sesame, Mint, Orange and Cinnamon, adding the intensity and warmth of oriental spices to the room.

Şerbet / Sherbet: reflecting the colors of nuts, fragrant flowers and ripe fruits like almonds and cranberries on the walls, adding a rich and dreamlike feeling to the space.

Kahve / Coffee! My favorite. Deep shades of Cardamom, Musk and Amber turn your room into a warm and comforting space that makes you want to stay in bed forever.

Those colors look amazing in traditional rooms as well as in contemporary, modern interiors. I also dig those traditional and symbolic patterns and motifs, looks interesting.