A young friend was missing her home. She was only in Berlin for a year and wasn’t allowed to paint, knock a nail in the wall or make any apartment changes. She said she was feeling depressed wondering what she could do and it wasn’t a particularly attractive space with a tiny separate kitchen and bathroom and a room for dining, living and sleeping. Always a challenge. I once lived for eight months in a shabby – not chic, small French apartment and understood how our living space impacts on our feelings.

First Steps

We discussed her taste, colours and style. She wanted something in rich blues and bright colours and desperately wanted a sense of light. The furniture consisted of a bed, tiny table and two chairs with no room for a sofa. We needed to be creative. She was also a fan of Feng Shui, within reason, and we quickly used the Bagua Map to establish the areas of the place to activate. The kitchen was in the wealth sector, the bathroom in family and health and the rest of the space was taken up with the major room in an L-shape.

 

The Kitchen

Being on a budget and only there for a year meant some smart thinking. She chose red and navy kitchen accessories that she could easily take home in a suitcase. She had bought a rich navy blue curtain to cover the small kitchen window for privacy and added some Zara Home wooden utensils to make it a fun and chic space against stark white ordinary cupboards. In my temporary French kitchen, there were three different kind of cupboards as if one was added after the other! Having got the landlord’s permission, we stripped and painted them all white. Nothing could be done with the laminate but we put up some wooden shelves and added fun canisters. You don’t have to spend a small fortune, Butlers, Zara Home and Bed, Bath and Beyond offer some cheap decorations that can lighten a drab area.

The Bathroom

This room was more depressing as the tiles were a dingy grey. We brightened the area with rich green towels and a bath mat, replaced the shower curtain with one with a chic cityscape we bought at Butlers. She bought, a little wooden kitchen trolley, second-hand, and made it into a bench space for her cosmetics and hairdryer and placed a lovely orchid there.

In my shabby place, it too was sad with old white tiles. We scraped out as much of the grout as we could and re-grouted to freshen the look, changed the shower curtain to a lovely French one and put up a shelf above the awful sink. I took down the basic mirror and stored it carefully, replacing it with a chic metallic Maison du Monde one and added some chic metal accessories. I also painted the old radiators with only marginal success, but we tried.

The Living Area

This was a challenge as the bed didn’t fold up. The duvet cover chosen from Zara, had a happy rich multi-coloured paisley print and black and white cushions were added to make it a sitting area. The tiny IKEA dining table was a basic wooden one we have all seen. We placed battery operated fairy lights in a big glass jar, added dining chair cushions from Butlers and instantly it looked fresher, happier and lighter in mood.

I was unable to do much with the lounge area for my sad space other than buy a fun chest of drawers to act as a tv cabinet and storage. I added a faux fur throw and cushions to the dowdy sofa and placed a rug on the floor. A friend kindly offered her sister’s watercolours of fruit and the seaside to brighten up the area; on some days that was the most positive thing I looked at!

Final Tips

If you can’t change anything here are some tips:

  • Command strips are amazing to use to put ornaments, shelves, pictures and hooks up without leaving marks
  • IKEA now has blinds in either white or grey that you can stick inside a window
  • Zara Home has great sales most months where you can pick up bed linen, ornaments and other accessories
  • Check out expat forums as people are always moving and looking to sell furniture and other items
  • Ask your landlord if you can paint a wall, sometimes they agree as long as you return it to the original colour

Always interested to hear about other people’s ideas!