It’s been awhile! In the meantime, we bought and moved into a house here in Germany. Unpacking and decorating takes a lot of time, which hasn’t left much for anything else. Figured I’d share my successes with you once I’m mostly happy with the state of things.
The first room I’m mostly finished with is our living room. There are still some bare spots that need photos, decorations or art, but mostly it’s done.
Our living room is two-story with a loft and the railing along the loft and parts of the stairs had to first be made child-safe, along with replacing the glass in the living room doorway with safety glass. It was somewhat of a challenge to paint a two-story room. Luckily, we had a friend with a scaffold who helped us out. I did most of the painting from 6ft high and down, he did everything higher.
Living Room: Before
Here you can see that the loft required a third rail. We also inserted plexiglass between the rails so the kids can’t climb up the railing, and again in the little corner of the stairs visible in the bottom center of the photo. We considered replace the railing completely with one with vertical wood slats, but it was a lot more expensive and we weren’t sure it would fit with the style of the house. (By the way, this is all the previous owners’ decor because I forgot to take “before” photos after they moved out and before we started renovating – hadn’t gotten the idea yet to blog about this.)
Living room: After
The ceiling lamps, cowhide rug (both Ikea) and table are new. We are so excited to have room for a huge dinner table and bench. This table is the SG/03 from Ante Neo, which we purchased online from Christian Holzfachhandel.com. The company is located in Bitburg and the salesman called me often to keep me updated on the order, check on the delivery and if we were satisfied.
The table top decoration is also new. On a recent trip, I was lucky enough to be able to stop in Ikarus in Frankfurt and Habitat in Köln. I love both of these shops. They’re great for finding cute, stylish decor.
My aim in decorating this room was to make it warm, welcoming, inviting and comfortable. I think, I’ve accomplished my goal.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s wonderful! Love it!
Beautiful room, Christina! You should see our digs. We’re still staying at my parents and sleeping on the floor (which actually works well with Sagan)
This looks great! What a good feeling, hm? I really love the blue color you chose for the walls.
I have the same tiered tray. I actually use it to organize my jewelry and love it so much I think I’m going to buy a few more for other organizing projects and one for decor, ha!
So exciting about the house!
Congrats on the new home, it is darling. Thank you for sharing where you bought your table! We are looking and so far have had no luck. I can’t wait to see more rooms as you go through the decorating process. (glad you are back to blogging too!)
I love love love the baby play yard in the last picture and wish I could have found something like that here in the US.
congratulations on the house! what a few from the windows. gorgeous shade of blue.
Hey missed your post. Looks great. Are you using the loft like a bedroom or a playroom?
Love the lights! Hope your family will be very happy & blessed in your new home. Kym from Virginia.
@carol: Thanks!
@vicky: The floor is great for cosleeping
@juliette: I love that tray. using it as a jewelry stand is a great idea!
@annie: I sympathize with the table search. It tooks us months to find the right one. Good luck searching!
@annabel: A lot of people have been saying the same thing to me. I think it’s pretty typical for a German playyard
@jonquil: Thanks, I do love our view!
@erika: It’s going to be Rainer’s hang out, but we haven’t done anything with it yet.
@kym: Thanks!
I love what you’ve done with the new place! Congratulations on moving in and settling in. It looks great. I can’t wait to see the next room featured.
Wow, nice work! Wonderful!
Your new home is so beautiful, Christina. It is so open and has so much space for the whole family to enjoy. You have managed to make it feel very cozy as well. I hope you all have many happy years together in this beautiful home.