The home of the Future
Jan. 23rd, 2011 07:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alcippeThis morning I got up early and walked over to the largest flea market I've ever seen at Mauer Park, only a few block from where I'm currently staying. I thought I would check it out for future reference, and it was fun to browse through all the random stuff. When I'm in a position to start making my place more than just livable it's going to be a great place to find all sorts of interesting odds and ends. But this weekend wasn't about adding personality to my place, it was about adding the basics.
I got to the new space around 1pm, and at 2 my awesome new refrigerator/freezer comb arrived. The guy literally carried it up the stairs on his back, which looked crazy difficult, but somehow he managed, and it's now resting safely in my kitchen. It stands alone, a solitary resident in a space that will hopefully soon be populated by an entourage of fellow useful kitchen essentials.
I think I'm going to attempt to install a sink myself. It doesn't look too complicated, as long as I can get the pipes to fit correctly. Sink basins at Bauhaus (the "Home Depots" here) weren't priced too outrageously, and I saw a nice one for 34 Euros that I think would be perfect. I've just got to find or build some kind of scaffold to hold it up. That's a hurdle for another day, but it's something I'm going to have to tackle soon. I really don't want to have to go with one of those fake granite counter tops, so I'm going to put on my thinking cap and see if I can come up with something better. The French woman I stayed with used a narrow wooden table with a hole cut out for the sink which looked nice. She hung a red curtain across the front to hide the pipes and garbage can below.
Here is my proud new refrigerator:
Notice the beat up walls? I'm going to need to get some plaster, spackling paste, and mixed concrete to deal with all of the damage to the walls, and I've decided that I am going to paint most of the place after all. There's a horrible "mural" in the living room that absolutely has to go, and I'd like to spruce up the kitchen, hallway and bahtroom. So that's another task for me to put on the list. I'm no stranger to paint, though, so it doesn't pose a problem. I think I may go with a dark graphite for the kitchen walls. There will be so much white in there already with the tile and appliances that I could get away with using a strong, dark color and not have it shrink the space.
Here's the current state of the living room:
You can see part of the "mural", and I have to admit that I hate the blue walls. I'm going to paint them a light cream/sandy/almost white color to give the room a larger, brighter feel. I need this room to feel as big as it possibly can because it's going to be the living room AND bedroom.
And then there's the studio. This room needs a lot of love, too.
Note the crazy paint job on the wall, as well as the punched out panel in the door. I'm going to try to integrate the hole in the door with the rest of the space. Maybe I'll grow a plant with vines that goes up and through the hole, or paint something on the wall behind the door that is perfectly framed by the hole. I see the door-hole as an interesting quirk, rather than something that necessarily needs to be fixed. The paint job is unfortunate, but doesn't bother me as much as the nasty blue walls and mural in the other room.
This is the view of the street from my windows:
Yes sir, I live on a genuine, cobble stoned street! Pretty awesome. Plus there is a Spätekauf directly across the street on the corner there, so I am guaranteed to never run out of beer, Ritter Sport chocolate bars or newspapers. YAY
I got to the new space around 1pm, and at 2 my awesome new refrigerator/freezer comb arrived. The guy literally carried it up the stairs on his back, which looked crazy difficult, but somehow he managed, and it's now resting safely in my kitchen. It stands alone, a solitary resident in a space that will hopefully soon be populated by an entourage of fellow useful kitchen essentials.
I think I'm going to attempt to install a sink myself. It doesn't look too complicated, as long as I can get the pipes to fit correctly. Sink basins at Bauhaus (the "Home Depots" here) weren't priced too outrageously, and I saw a nice one for 34 Euros that I think would be perfect. I've just got to find or build some kind of scaffold to hold it up. That's a hurdle for another day, but it's something I'm going to have to tackle soon. I really don't want to have to go with one of those fake granite counter tops, so I'm going to put on my thinking cap and see if I can come up with something better. The French woman I stayed with used a narrow wooden table with a hole cut out for the sink which looked nice. She hung a red curtain across the front to hide the pipes and garbage can below.
Here is my proud new refrigerator:
Notice the beat up walls? I'm going to need to get some plaster, spackling paste, and mixed concrete to deal with all of the damage to the walls, and I've decided that I am going to paint most of the place after all. There's a horrible "mural" in the living room that absolutely has to go, and I'd like to spruce up the kitchen, hallway and bahtroom. So that's another task for me to put on the list. I'm no stranger to paint, though, so it doesn't pose a problem. I think I may go with a dark graphite for the kitchen walls. There will be so much white in there already with the tile and appliances that I could get away with using a strong, dark color and not have it shrink the space.
Here's the current state of the living room:
You can see part of the "mural", and I have to admit that I hate the blue walls. I'm going to paint them a light cream/sandy/almost white color to give the room a larger, brighter feel. I need this room to feel as big as it possibly can because it's going to be the living room AND bedroom.
And then there's the studio. This room needs a lot of love, too.
Note the crazy paint job on the wall, as well as the punched out panel in the door. I'm going to try to integrate the hole in the door with the rest of the space. Maybe I'll grow a plant with vines that goes up and through the hole, or paint something on the wall behind the door that is perfectly framed by the hole. I see the door-hole as an interesting quirk, rather than something that necessarily needs to be fixed. The paint job is unfortunate, but doesn't bother me as much as the nasty blue walls and mural in the other room.
This is the view of the street from my windows:
Yes sir, I live on a genuine, cobble stoned street! Pretty awesome. Plus there is a Spätekauf directly across the street on the corner there, so I am guaranteed to never run out of beer, Ritter Sport chocolate bars or newspapers. YAY
