WHAT I HAVE BEEN UP TO

We live in a former project home in Amsterdam, in which a group of 5 families converted three neglected apartement buildings into 5 new family homes. My neighbor has spent 4 years to finish her flat, doing (almost) e v e r y t h i n g herself. Next to a full-time job (nothing to do with DIY!!). An intense hobby.

When finished, everything looked white and bright and brilliantly organized, but I was asked to help with decorating. The compliments didn’t work, she felt it was a hospital and it should be a home, a cosy nest, that would attract the right tenant, since her family has grown over the last 4 years, and is now too large to fit this small but ever so clever city flat.

It has 3 floors in total and every one has it’s own function: a living floor, kitchen floor and bed and bath floor. As far as a briefing goes: “make the house a home.” And “include this painting” (more on that in the next post, as it seems one little thingy, but ofcourse wasn’t).

Here’s the kitchen.

AFTER everything has come together, except for one teal colored chair that didn’t arrive, yet…

BEFORE

A white wall doesn’t necessarily make the kitchen look more spacious

THE STUFF

Inspiration: Ray and Charles Eames ‘approved replica’s’ will add the much needed spot of color to the room.

Inspiration: Green glass jar, for storage or flowers? Could be good for kitchen

Inspiration: Home textiles in solid colors combined with graphic patterns will add a contemporary and soft touch to a kitchen space.

Inspiration: The dining table should be a little ‘wonky’, not too straight for a natural look, balancing the glossy white rectangles of the kitchen cabinets. Although the wood look on the floor complicates the use of wood for the table top…

Another replica for near to nothing. But we didn’t go for white.

Inspiration: I love maps, I love city grids, and I imagined that the new neighbor would be a foreigner who would enjoy a map of his new habitat.

THE SPACE

BEFORE: kitchen – window looking south

BEFORE: kitchen – made to measure wall of cabinets. The fronts are from IKEA but inside everything is constructed as the wall is receding.

A white wall doesn’t necessarily make the kitchen look more spacious

BEFORE: kitchen – more cabinets with built in appliances

BEFORE: kitchen – the stairs to the top floor, with bed and bathroom. The living room is one down.

THE RESULTS

The glossy coating for the table top was mixed to match the color of the stairs. The leg construction is made of Kee clamp.

After: The radiators under the windows are boxed in, creating a lovely window seat overlooking the canal. The cutaway front will transfer the warmth of the radiators.

The table top is made from scaffolding timber. The color mixed to match and rock hard.

After: The radiators under the windows are boxed in, creating a lovely spot overlooking the canal

After: With the map of Amsterdam on the wall behind the worktop, the depth of space has increased considerably: now there is a view!

The kitchen as seen from the stairs.

THE BEST PART

After: The wallpaper is a DIY wallpaper from HEMA. Good quality paper, and the details are superb. Easy to compose and order online at hema.nl

How to: The map came as one roll of printed wallpaper. It had to be cut in sheets of 260cm. Exactly made to measure.

How to: There’s no real overlap on the printed wallpaper, but to avoid white lines in between the sheets you want to overlap 1 or 2 mm.

How to: One sheet down, looking good!

How to: Important to take your time, check and re-check which panel goes where.

How to: Most DIY stores provide hand-outs with instructions on how to apply wallpaper. And it is perfectly possible to do it on your own! Just take your time, doing it right.

Inspiration: we looked up many maps and this one we particularly like because of the typography, the black, white and grey in it and the part of town it shows: the Oosterdok and old inner city of Amsterdam.

After: A joy to browse in our local Turkish supermarket for some pretty vegetables

The only thing… I wanted a round table, I love round tables, they bring people together!, but it wasn’t my call. My neighbor – the client 😉 – felt very strong about a rectangular table, so I looked into it. I decided max 4 chairs for this space, in case of a square in the middle of the room, not 6. And a smaller table then suggested.  The table top was made in a timber workshop from scaffolding timber and the legs were constructed in the kitchen, from Keeclamp components. The finish we thought should be a glossy paint to reflect the light, and the color a matching non-color to make a perfect backdrop. It is the color of the carpet on the stairs, but the different materials make it look more like shades of the same color, ton-sûr-ton. Taupe. It’s a tough table to balance the city slickness.