I love seeing other people's apartments. The furniture they choose, the decorations they choose, ... it tells quite a lot about the person's character. Here's a little tour of the ~530 square feet(50m
2) apartment I share with my roommate, Felix.
The kitchen is the room I invested most in (money as well as time). We don't have a living room, so this is where we hang out when we invite friends over. It's not a very large room, but it works really well for us. My parents tiled the kitchen, the walls were done by a painter and the windows were replaced. Not to talk about the 17 electric outlets we now have...
Most of the cabinets, the dishwasher and the stove were thrifted via the German craigslist. They were really cheap but also really dirty. The fridge was bought at a household clearance sale. All the other furniture is from ikea. The wood counter top is from the local home improvement store. I applied about 8 coats of oil so far. It's quite a lot of work but I just love the look and feel of wood. We had to buy two short counter tops, because the staircase is too narrow and the ceilings aren't high enough to drag a 3m long counter top up two stairs.
My kitchen table is the 'Norden' one from Ikea. I absolutely love it because it has six drawers where I store napkins, candles, etc. and its size is adjustable. Great for a small(ish) student kitchen! :) I got the table cloth in Denmark. The design is by Susanne Schjerning and I love how well it matches the color of the wall. Probably the cutest thing ever are these salt and pepper shakers. I mean, look at them. They're sheep!!! How could any knitter resist them?!?!
I got the shelf several years ago. It's a special edition for Billy's 30th birthday and I got it for a ridiculously low price. It's perfect for the kitchen because it holds all my baking stuff, my cooking/baking books and all kinds of bits and pieces that didn't fit into the other cabinets. Did I mention that I love all kinds of containers and jars? They're cute and useful!
Originally I bought this kitchen island to put the microwave on it. Well, turns out the old microwave I found in the cellar that once belonged to a former renter is broken. My budget didn't allow me to get a new one yet, but turns out the island is perfect for my vintage bread cutter, fruits and vegetables, plants, etc.
I grew up with the wooden ikea 'Moppe' boxes. They're versatile and available in different sizes. I was happy when I saw that ikea brought the Moppe boxes back. The ones I had when I was a kid didn't quite survive my childhood
(aka being painted in a different color every two years. And they might have fallen off my shelf once or twice...). So I got a new one to hide the corner where there's no counter top
(don't ask...). It's perfect to store tea bags, cereal bars, muffin paper cups, etc.
The wall storage rack is also from ikea. It hides the ugly edges of the wall panels and gives me easy access to the most important tools, like scissors, spatulas, spices, etc.
These wall cabinets saved my life. In the beginning, I had hoped I wouldn't need them because I thought that lots of drawers would be enough storage. Drilling holes isn't exactly my favorite pastime... but turns out pots, pans, baking supplies and dishes take up quite a lot of space. The wall cabinets add lots of storage without taking up a lot of space nor do they look massive. And for 10€($13) these were real bargains.
Last but not least, my kitchen aid family. Oh my... I'm not going to go into how much I love them and what great stuff I've made using them because this post is super long already. But I wanted to show you the cute coffee grinder! I got it at a flea market. It wasn't super cheap but it's great - you can never lose it and it works smoothly :)
I'll share my bedroom next week and hopefully the bathroom and hallway will follow soon - there's quite some work that has to be done... like figuring out bathroom storage possibilities and a shoe solution for the hallway.
Pattern: Color Affection by Veera Välimäki
