The Apartment Make-Over

Most of you have very probably reached an age at which you have at least once in your life marveled at your subjective speed of time passing by. You stop, take a breath, and realize that you think you've experienced so many things in such short time that you wonder how much longer you have to live, even if you're still "young".

Now is one of those moments for me.

About a month ago I had told you about my move within in Frankfurt but all this already seems so far away that I don't know how fast I had to run to get here. I have moved -- actually, it's been more than two moves as Robert's move was on the agenda as well, and there is extra effort on top when you deal with bringing together two households.

At the same time, ironically enough, it feels like I have been standing still in the past months, not achieved anything. I am torn between speed and stillness, between wanting to get shit done and now and then thinking that I want nothing more than being able to sleep in.

I think it is safe to say that Robert and I have done a great job with the move. In the two weeks subsequent to it, we got order into stuff, threw out a lot, sorted things for a flea market sale some time in Spring, bought and assembled furniture, etc. etc. And then, just when we had come back from our Asia vacation on 7 January and had packed away our suitcases, immediately continued with the renovation. On Thursday we set up a few things such as my Fritz!Box and the local network including a USB network printer, on Friday we went out and bought paint, accessories and more furniture, and then we spent Saturday and Sunday painting the sh*t out of the bedroom, the hallway and the kitchen. Then the last weekend we painted the living-room on Saturday, and on Sunday we put together a light fixture there that we basically copied from this IKEA hack.

You should see the colors; we think they are amazing. Whatever room I am going to describe, please keep in mind that the ceilings are all still white (even though it's a slightly creamy white called "Umbraweiß"). The hallway will welcome you with a mixture of bright orange and tomato red. I had gotten the idea from a friend of mine from Munich whose orange, I believe, however, was not quite as bright as this. The colors are straight in your face and extremely warm.

The bedroom now comes in two variations of green, a lighter one (still pretty direct though) and a darker and very green tone. In the color palette we were shown they're called Oase 130 and Oase 150. The bedroom now has a wonderfully calm atmosphere, great for sleeping and relaxing.

The kitchen now for the main parts has the same tomato red tone as the hallway, with two walls (with door opening and window in them) is also creamy white. I am thrilled by the thought of painting the kitchen in a color inspired by a grocery as basic as the tomato!

The living-room has the most "unquiet" touch of all, although all tones are "doe-brown" ("Rehbraun"), ivory, and white. Especially in this room we have done an outrageously good job in cutting lines between the different colors, even on the same wall. The room is now unbelievably more cozy than before when it was plain white. What's still missing there, however, is a fitting curtain that we'd like to pull shut especially when it's dark outside and the window casts a big black cold hole into the room.

Oh, and sorry for not posting any pictures of the new apartment. I wasn't able to take any as I am not at home but at a hotel because of a two-day conference. Finally, here, sitting here in my hotel room I find the time to write this entry. Weird and at the same time understandable, isn't it?

And one last thing:

Robert and I are currently wading our way through the approximately 1,200 pictures we took during out 16-day vacation in Hong Kong and Bangkok over the holidays and newyear's. I will write about that as soon as I find the time to.