Amsterdam....how to set the mood in a foreign apartment

[shlo_mo_shun]

So I''m going to propose when I visit my GF in Amsterdam in a couple weeks. The background is that she transfered there for work recently for 6 months, so we are apart until December. Since I''ll only see her this trip and one other trip, and we''ve talked of marriage quite a bit, I know she''s already expecting the proposal (she''s said she''s got 2 manicures scheduled in the next week), but I still want to make it somewhat special.
She is pretty private about these things and has mentioned she doesn''t think a proposal needs to be this ''over-the-top'' sort of deal that it has become. Since it''s a foreign country, it''s not like we have a ''favorite place'' or a first date location or the like. For these reasons, I''m planning a simple propsal in her apartment, and a nice dinner out that night to celebrate.
i''ll have some time while she is at work to make sure the apartment looks ''right'', however, other than flowers and possibly candles and champagne, what are some other ways I could ''re-decorate'' her apartment while she is at work to make it a little more memorable?
Keeping in mind that I won''t know where to go to get anything else I might want to set up the atmosphere. Any suggestions of easy ways to make an apartment look, well, less like an apartment. Or if anyone has any specific knowledge of Amsterdam that could be incorporated into the event, let me know. Thanks all.

 

[JulieN]

flowers, candles are easy.

anything else takes money or skills.

rugs, pillows, vases, fish (?)

 

[Po10472]

There''s this movie called Serendipity which I love and in it the leading lady gets home to her house.......she opens the door and the room is covered in lit candles and flowers on the floor and in the centre of the room there is this huge box which says open me. So she opens it to find another box and so on an so forth. Finally she comes to the ring box and its empty so she starts looking around and her future fiance walks out and says "looking for this?", he gets down on one knee and proposes.

I think its one of the most romantic proposals ever. It doesn''t cost a lot to do, its very private and personal and really exciting for the girl to have to open up all the boxes knowing what will be the end result.

If I was your girl, I would absolutely adore this and you''re in Amsterdam so you could cover the apartment in beautiful tulips of all colours..................

Regardless of what you do, please let us know and of course the obligatory ring and hand shots please.