Reader's home - Luisa's flat in Germany
Fri, 21 Nov 2014
I have a darling little flat to share with you today. It is Luisa's recently finished flat in an art nouveau house in the heard of the city of Görlitz (the most eastern city of Germany on the border to Poland). The architecture in this area is breathtaking. I first saw the flat in May this year when I found a new job in Görlitz and I took on the adventure of renovating it on my own. It was in a horrible state when I first saw it but I loved the old floor boards in the living room and the stucco in the kitchen. The feeling of the history in the rooms, the old doors and windows and the spacious rooms are so great. I also love old furniture and collected a lot of it over the years. I knew this would turn out great.
Luisa worked VERY hard transforming her flat. She sent some before photos to show just how hard...
The bathroom was the only thing that was recently renovated by the houseowner. All other rooms had bare ceilings and walls which I washed because no wallpaper would stick to them and linoleum floors which were broken or crumbly. The old floor boards in the living room where sanded (with machines and on my knees) and then painted with a special varnish. The walls were then painted white because it is still a rented flat and one day I will have to give it back... It took me 3 weeks to remove the old paint from the stucco in the kitchen. There where 5 layers of paint and you could barely see any details. The bed was build by my friend Thomas (my birthdays present ;-), also the coffee table/ cable reel in the living room. The mirror in the bedroom is an old window from a farmhouse. The sideboard in the hallway is my great grandmothers, my grandparents had no place for it. Also the brown wardrobe in the living room, where I store my fabric for sewing. The sideboard in the bathroom was built by me - it was the first thing I built alone and that's why it is a little wobbly :-)
The little bench in the kitchen was built by my grandpa just weeks before he died this summer. There is a painting of him above the bench. All the paintings and photographs in the flat are my own. The desk in the kitchen was an attic found at a friends house and the sideboard in the kitchen is a combination of my grandmas commode and a fleamarket find.
Reader Comments (10)
Wow, what a makeover. Amazing transformation!
Altbau with some love almost always looks amazing.
Only thing preventing me to move in such a building is the lack of proper balcony.
Luisa very brave! I would not dare to tackle all this only by myself. Beautiful old doors and windows, linoleum is a real crime.:-(
And the architecture and the view, amazing.
suuuper gemacht, Luisa. Lg
Maria
Going through this post was like reading a beautiful book. Thank you, Luisa and thank you, Kim for posting it. Beautiful work done, with a lot of love and care, it seeps through the monitor, so to speak. :) And kudos to Thomas - what an amazing birthday present! I wish you the best of luck in your wonderful apartment, Luisa and many, many happy, fulfilling moments of joy!
Wunderschöne Altbauwohnung Luisa! Auch wenn du viel Arbeit hattest, es ist schön zu sehen, dass noch so schöne Originalelemente erhalten sind, die jetzt im neuen Glanz erstrahlen! Leider findet man heutzutage viele kaputt renovierte Altbauten (Stuck entfernt, Decken abgehangen, Laminat über Echtholz verlegt...).
This is beautiful! I have a small little apartment in Boston and this is giving me lots of inspiration. I'm always trying to figure out what to do with the weird corners of space here and there, from our small kitchen to living room.
I love it, Luisa! You did such good work...the bench built by your grandpa is so special. Thank you, Franka, for posting this!
I love this post! Incredible job on the flat - those floors are gorgeous. Thank you for posting a rare before/after - please post more of these!
This week, Hollywood is filming parts of "Alone in Berlin" ("Jeder stirbt für sich allein") based on the Novell of Hans Fallada in the city of Görlitz and right here at my street corner!!! Other films already filmed in Görlitz are "The Grand Budapest Hotel", "In 80 days around the world", "Inglorious Basterds" or "The Reader". As you may notice, I am a little proud... ;-)
I am still very proud of the work done by you, Luisa! And I am happy to be able to find this post because I still share it with friends of mine, not only from Germany but also from Poland, Czech Republic, USA etc. New life for old things - amazing.