(no subject)
we stayed in many hotels on our long trip to england and amsterdam, but my favorite was amsterdam's Hotel Arena. the hotel was a converted orphanage, it was spacious and most rooms had amsterdam's infamous tall 10+ foot windows that opened onto a courtyard you could step onto. i will let the pictures speak for themselves. i didn't take these because i don't know how to take pictures.
hallo maarten baas smoked chairs, original ironwork stairs, moooi lighting!
the requisite dining room picture. not only did they have a formal dining room, but they also had two other courtyards for dining and drinks where we watched "So you think you can dance?" euro edition dancers practicing (it was weird. but mesmerizing.)
all the rooms had black glass encased bathrooms
we stayed in one of these loft bedrooms, but our bed was on the bottom floor instead of on top. i preferred the setup we had.
the 10 foot windows. original to the building. great.
every room had bertjan pot's random light, in fact there were these ball lights in all the corridors in all the available colors. i have never seen so many ball lights in one place other than in dwr backstock. come to think of it, there was a surplus of a lot of things. too many reading lights by the bed. too many TVs, we had two. why?
i don't understand what's up with european hotels and these "half shower walls" that don't work at all and the whole bathroom becomes one big steamy wet room. i could find nothing wrong with the finishes though. even the tile trim was on point. the bathroom was pretty.
i much preferred this hotel (in our price range) to any of the other hotels we ventured into in amsterdam, and we covered a lot of ground. not too often do you get to stay in a moooi museum. we stayed at a couple 5-star hotels in london for twice as much money and they did not even compare to this one. swissotels? overrated. some places have to learn that it takes more than just a Lavazza espresso machine. thankfully most of the places we stayed at had a bed that was just one mattress, not two mattresses put together to form a king size with a zippered line down the middle. i hate that (swissotel). details matter.
now i would have loved to stay in Rough Luxe or the Ilse Crawford designed High Road House but we didn't. so maybe another time. we were lucky enough to eat in the restaurants of some of these boutique hotels, the Zetter and Boundary hotels. all of these hotels are in london:
Rough Luxe
High Road House
The Zetter
The Boundary
The Knighstbridge (top) and Haymarket Hotel (bottom)
These two rooms are generally how boutique hotel rooms are decorated. lots of fabric and coordinating patterns. actually much of england promotes this decoration. it is evident in most of the design magazines. not a surprise since William Morris of England pretty much popularized the matchy matchy pattern collections look during the Arts & Crafts movement. no complaints here. many hotels try to achieve the harmony achieved here, and most fail.
------------------------------
alright it is almost 4 am. i have a bone to pick with my bank tomorrow and a credit union to join. i will post some of my own pictures from amsterdam once i stop being a camera tard.
special shoutout to my boyfriend for the whole trip.
hallo maarten baas smoked chairs, original ironwork stairs, moooi lighting!
the requisite dining room picture. not only did they have a formal dining room, but they also had two other courtyards for dining and drinks where we watched "So you think you can dance?" euro edition dancers practicing (it was weird. but mesmerizing.)
all the rooms had black glass encased bathrooms
we stayed in one of these loft bedrooms, but our bed was on the bottom floor instead of on top. i preferred the setup we had.
the 10 foot windows. original to the building. great.
every room had bertjan pot's random light, in fact there were these ball lights in all the corridors in all the available colors. i have never seen so many ball lights in one place other than in dwr backstock. come to think of it, there was a surplus of a lot of things. too many reading lights by the bed. too many TVs, we had two. why?
i don't understand what's up with european hotels and these "half shower walls" that don't work at all and the whole bathroom becomes one big steamy wet room. i could find nothing wrong with the finishes though. even the tile trim was on point. the bathroom was pretty.
i much preferred this hotel (in our price range) to any of the other hotels we ventured into in amsterdam, and we covered a lot of ground. not too often do you get to stay in a moooi museum. we stayed at a couple 5-star hotels in london for twice as much money and they did not even compare to this one. swissotels? overrated. some places have to learn that it takes more than just a Lavazza espresso machine. thankfully most of the places we stayed at had a bed that was just one mattress, not two mattresses put together to form a king size with a zippered line down the middle. i hate that (swissotel). details matter.
now i would have loved to stay in Rough Luxe or the Ilse Crawford designed High Road House but we didn't. so maybe another time. we were lucky enough to eat in the restaurants of some of these boutique hotels, the Zetter and Boundary hotels. all of these hotels are in london:
Rough Luxe
High Road House
The Zetter
The Boundary
The Knighstbridge (top) and Haymarket Hotel (bottom)
These two rooms are generally how boutique hotel rooms are decorated. lots of fabric and coordinating patterns. actually much of england promotes this decoration. it is evident in most of the design magazines. not a surprise since William Morris of England pretty much popularized the matchy matchy pattern collections look during the Arts & Crafts movement. no complaints here. many hotels try to achieve the harmony achieved here, and most fail.
------------------------------
alright it is almost 4 am. i have a bone to pick with my bank tomorrow and a credit union to join. i will post some of my own pictures from amsterdam once i stop being a camera tard.
special shoutout to my boyfriend for the whole trip.