As many of you are aware, I recently went to Germany…mostly to visit the Diva (aka my daughter, Jenna) and also to indulge my inner European city girl aspirations. We had a blast on my whirlwind tour which you can read about here, here, here, and here.
But it was not all fun and games (okay it WAS all fun), I was also there to put the finishing decor in the Diva’s apartment.
I had designed her apartment room and the overhaul of the kitchen eating nook remotely.
The Diva’s style can best be described as Victorian-woodland-nymph with a side of vintage hat obsession.
The room came with some limited furnishing including a giant armoire and a twin bed.
We laid the room out with the long side against the wall to function as a daybed, even though it technically has a low headboard on one end of the frame, and added end tables and lamps flanking it. You can read all about the planning process for this petite living space here.
Because she has occasional visiting guests, she wanted a second mattress and while a foam mattress was preferable to an air mattress, but there was the issue of storing it when not in use. She could pile it on her mattress, princess and the pea style, but it’s not exactly the same size and made the bed really too high to function as a sofa. Brilliantly, she tucked it against the wall behind the bed, and voila, the sofa now has a back cushion! She bought a queen sized duvet so she could turn it with the pattern running the right direction for a sofa and it was plenty long to tuck over the back mattress as well. A perfect solution! The Diva is a problem solver. I like to think she gets that from me 🤣.
She had ordered the rest of the ingredients for the room delivered or, in some cases, hauled across town on the transit system, and in most cases had assembled them in true ‘girl power’ fashion.
But what she was waiting for was for me to arrive and finish it off, most specifically the gallery walls and any other little things it might need. Just because it is small and we were designing on a shoestring budget, doesn’t mean it can’t be packed with personality!
I traveled with 2 checked bags in addition to my carryon of my own clothes. The checked bags contained more of the Diva’s wardrobe from home and, more importantly, most of the pieces from her substantial vintage hat collection.
Her hats had been the centerpiece of a mural wall when we overhauled her room at home for the One Room Challenge during the pandemic, and she wanted them with her in Germany to make that room feel like home!
(If you want to see a zillion pictures of the Diva modeling said hats and hat like items, scroll back through my IG feed in the lead up to the spring 2020 One Room Challenge project when we posted a hat a day!)
We poked around markets for inspiration and happened upon some poster sized botanicals one afternoon - I was thinking one or both would be the main pieces for the kitchen gallery wall, but they were also candidates for the bedroom wall.
Our next order of business was to hike through the Bauhaus (the German equivalent of a Home Depot only nicer) to find frames and some hanging devices.
Since the apartment is a rental, we didn’t want to put any more holes in the walls than necessary. Our ingenious hat hanging system involved clothespins stuck to the wall with 3M removable sticky pads, and then curtain clip rings looped over the clothespin hook and clipped to the underside of the hats…miraculously, it worked really well!
Over the weekend we toured several flea markets and scored some darling miniature oval paintings, a collage piece, and a sheaf of botanical book pages.
landscape miniatures, a flea market score!
Planning the wall we decided to also frame a couple of pretty cards.
Our next stop was a Mecca to the Berlin IKEA for more frames…and also some waffles with creme anglaise and cherry compote because, of course we needed to try those! I’m pretty sure our IKEA here does not have those. I definitely would have noticed!
waffles at IKEA Berlin
The walk from the train station to the IKEA passes through a walkway lined with graffiti art- but cleverly, on closer inspection, the graffiti is all of IKEA products!
Here is the Diva posing with her favorite chair - it’s even the same color as hers!
We managed to get out of IKEA without tooooo much more than frames….a few candles, a couple of trays, some bowls, and a couple more pillows.
Back at home we assembled the pictures in frames and laid everything out on the floor until we got an arrangement we liked.
And then we were off to hang everything! For most gallery walls, I recommend starting with roughly the middle and working out from there.
Vintage Diva Glamour Den, Berlin Edition!
Kitchen Eating Area
We had ordered a bench and some throw pillows to maximize the space wedged between the new fridge and the window and create a dining banquette.
And we had ordered a plug-in pendant light for some ambiance over the table. The Diva connected the outlet to a bluetooth wall switch so it can be turned on and off from the doorway!
And here is the gallery wall installed thus far. The wonderful thing about gallery walls is they are expandable as much as space allows, so this one will be an ever changing art wall!
Bedroom/Living Area
Here are the hats in their new home! The majority and all the colorful ones are over the daybed surrounding the pair of large botanical posters.
Daybed and vintage hat gallery
A Diva needs a place to primp! A slim IKEA glass desk is topped with a large gold mirror to create a vanity. The all important dressing table (which doubles as a keyboard and computer stand for teaching online!) is placed between the two windows for the best use of space and the best light!
A pair of chairs and an ottoman make up the very pleasant seating area across from the daybed. And an indoor outdoor hard working trellis patterned rug anchors the seating.
IKEA chairs, lamp, and wicker table
The beauty of gallery walls is that they can easily be expanded over time as long as space allows! The kitchen will eventually have more pieces, and the Diva has already found another miniature painting to add to the bedroom gallery walls! How sweet is this original floral miniature?
Regardless of size or budget constraints, making your home the best it can be should be a priority. Your surroundings have an impact on everything - mood, productivity, creativity, and state of mind. Having a space to live that is personal, comfortable, and brings you joy is SO important to living your best life!
