This is a living room and children’s room project in an Altbau house for a young family. In addition to the projects of particular rooms, I also helped with the layout of the furniture in the apartment. The apartment has three rooms: two of them are the same size and one is smaller. The smallest of the living rooms we decided to assign to the child, and the room closest to it to make the parents’ bedroom, so that the zoning of the apartment was more or less intact.
This apartment, like many others in Altbau houses, has a long narrow kitchen where you can’t put a proper dining table (only a small breakfast nook), so the living room should also be a dining room.
The family asked me to make a furniture layout plan so that it would be possible to make two work areas in different rooms (hello, hours of zoom meetings).
I’m only showing the living room here, because we made only a rough sketch for the children’s room, since the child is still very small and won’t be using the room for a while yet. In the meantime, the room will be a workspace for one of the family members.
The future residents immediately mentioned that they definitely wanted a black sofa and light gray walls. We decided to mix these colors with shades of beige and soft blue. I associate this combination of colors with summer, with a light breeze by the sea, with the sound of cicadas in the midday heat and with the curtains, blowing in the light wind. Perhaps the reason for such an association was the approaching summer, but the guys liked the summer idea and we decided to try to recreate this feeling in the interior.
We added an accent wall in sand color and a wicker armchair with a matching wicker floor lantern to it. Unfortunately we can’t add light wind by the sea, but we decided to choose light linen curtains, which will beautifully diffuse the light and lightly flutter in the wind when the windows are open.
We chose a round dining table and placed it by the window so that it would be possible to have breakfast to the sounds of birds, as the apartment overlooks a quiet street with lots of trees. Above the table we placed a Vertigo pendant lamp from Petite Friture, which looks like a sombrero hat and creates a southern mood. To make the atmosphere even more relaxed, we decided to choose a shabby carpet and hang posters resembling drawings of Greek pottery. Perhaps in the future the family will bring back real Greek pottery from their many travels and it will be a very cool addition to the interior. I like to make the interior in a way that it is only a starting point and can evolve with its residents and adjust to their new needs or hobbies.
One of the wishes was to be able to have beautiful and smartly organized book storage. I suggested that we consider installing String modular shelving system that would not only allow us to store books beautifully, but thanks to the large number of additional components, would be able to adjust to new needs. In the future, a removable tabletop could be added to this shelving unit and it would become a full-fledged workspace.
We decided to add closed drawers for things you don’t want to show off, as well as a whole sideboard, which was put by the wall, opposite the sofa. It will be useful for storing small items for the table setting, some toys and other things, and later it will be possible to put a TV set on it, if the residents have such a need.
I added different details in sky blue color to make the interior fresher. So there is a blue side table beside the sofa and a beautiful vase from Muuto. Later, the family will add blue cushions to the couch or plaid themselves.
I really like how this interior’s mudboard looks and can’t wait to see how it turns out in real life and what the residents will add to it over time!
Here is a small selection of furniture and decorations that were used in this project (or their analogues), which will perfectly bring a touch of Southern spirit to your living room or any other room.
1. Vinstra linen curtains (Urbanara)
2. Balu lantern (House Doctor)
3. BUCKBO rattan armchair (Ikea)
4. Silhouette of a vase 11, available in different sizes (The poster club)
5. Kastehelmi Votive tealight candle holder, available in other colors (Iittala)
6. Kink vase (Muuto)
7. Vertigo pendal light, (Petite Friture)
If you like my vision of a cozy and nice-looking interior and want to make your home more pleasant with my help, you can book one of my interior services. I will be happy to help you create the home of your dreams.
