Flatmate!

The featured authors and Pay It Forward have come to an end, so back to my life, writing, publishing and other odds and ends I plan on throwing in. As some of you know, I moved to Germany and we’re living in a two bedroom flat. Flats in Germany are pretty much gutted, and it’s up to the new renters to wallpaper, paint, put in flooring, kitchen cabinets, etc. There are some flats that might have the floors and walls done from prior owners, but for the most part, you’re on your own to make it pretty. The place was a wreck when we first saw it, but we felt we could make it our home. There’s still plenty of work to be done on it.

I was in Germany for a month in February looking at flats with my Love, and we picked a flat with a balcony. We both wanted a place where we could sit outside and enjoy the good weather when it decides to stick around. Even though the flat we picked needed a lot more work than the others, we chose this one for its location and because it had a balcony.

Here are a few pictures of our flat and its surroundings. In the first picture, our balcony is the second floor middle balcony. The second picture are the flats across from ours. It’s nice because they are a decent distance away. We live on the South Side of Alt Stadt (old town/city). It's only fitting I live on the South Side since I grew up on the South Side of Chicago. 

This picture is of the kitchen sink area. I took this picture when we were looking at flats back in February.

Here’s the AFTER picture. My Love wallpapered and painted the walls white, put in the sink, cabinets and appliances before I got here and I started doing more of the decoration. I painted the tiles and the spice racks hanging on the wall.

This is a picture of the kitchen window; to the right is where the tiles and sink go.

And here is what the kitchen window and sink look like now. I’ve gone the cheaper route when decorating. The leaves that are by the window are real leaves. I collected them from around the area and from one of the forests, and then glued them on the wallpaper. I wasn’t sure if they were going to stick, but so far, I wake up in the morning and they’re still there.

The plant on the windowsill is a rose plant we bought at the Euro store (same concept as the dollar tree) and this plant hasn’t stopped growing. It’s great to see it.

Here are pictures of the living room window and balcony door. These were also taken back in February.

Winter can be gloomy in Germany, so I wanted a bright pick me up color for the living room. We both agreed on ‘mango’. We still have the flooring to do, we’re going with wood floors, so please ignore the 'ugly' carpets. 

The corner cabinet in this picture was a dark wood. I sand papered it and painted it a cream color. The paper ball light is from IKEA. I spray painted it to match the walls. It was hilarious, because when we turned on the light, everything was orange. I felt like I was in the orange light district. Instead of throwing it away, we bought two cheap white lights (one is next to corner cabinet) to offset the orange.

The plant sitting on the corner cabinet is a holly tree. We found one and replanted it. 

That's it so far regarding decorating. I’ll be back to share more.

Decorating and Plants,

Bea