Das Gemütliche Haus

Das gemütliche Haus means “The Cozy House” in German and let me tell you, after two grey and rainy winters here, I certainly came to appreciate a cozy interior. I wrote about a few things we did right when we moved here but before we received our larger household shipment arrived.

This post is obviously comically overdue considering we are packing up here LITERALLY as I type this but thought it would be fun to share anyways. Let me be clear…I am no interior designer. But, I’m pretty skilled at feeling cozy and given the number of guests who arrive and run straight to curl up on the couch with one of our many fuzzy blankets, I think I’ve accomplished at least that much.

Our home for the first three weeks while we waited for our apartment to be ready. Hotel living did get old but you can’t beat this view overlooking the Bockenheimer Anlage city park and the Frankfurt “Mainhatten” skyline.

Less than three weeks after we moved, I flew back to the states for a wedding. When I returned, I got to see our apartment for the first time and Jeff had set up a little belated third anniversary celebration. We played bananagrams and went out for a nice dinner to celebrate.

Master Bedroom

Simple changes for this room: some furry “lambies” from IKEA, throw pillows, a few pieces of art, including large canvas mural paintings – that’s about all we changed. We use West Elm pintuck duvet covers for both our room and the guest room during the winters because the master in particular gets pretty drafty facing the outside wall and being on the corner of the building.

The master and guest rooms have undergone several iterations. We started like the above – with the twins pushed together with a mattress topper but then realized we missed our queen bed which was in the guest room. So we switched them..again. Here’s how it looks now without the duvet cover.

Guest Bedroom

We combined the two provided twin beds with a banding kit and we bought a Tempur-Pedic mattress topper on sale on Amazon. I’ve always wanted to have a guest room that I’d want to sleep in myself and having slept on this bed a few times when one of us has been sick, I think we’ve accomplished that – the bed is incredibly comfortable and the room cozy.

This is what we ended up with! King bed for the guest room, mural canvas….well until we were in quarantine. Now this room is a home gym for the foreseeable future.

I can’t tell you how many times we’ve used this room to workout and do yoga; glad to have the spare bedroom though we have missed having guests.

Living Room/Dining Area

This area is a huge space and I was overwhelmed when we first got our shipment by how much furniture we had between the provided furniture and the couple pieces we shipped and how to arrange stuff in a way that doesn’t look just dumped to fill up space. I like how the arrangement looks open but also cozy and also highlights the large windows. I could do without a couple items in the room but eh….?

When we first moved in. How about those depressing colors and lighting and furniture!

I bought six strechy chair covers for $35 on Amazon for the dining room chairs. They aren’t great quality but they updated the look of the dining set a bit. I’ve never really decorated much with navy before but it is a welcome shift from the monochromatic grey vibes that are all over social media. While I love grey/white/cream palette, I’m reaching a breaking point with rooms that all look the same.

I’ve noticed that jewel tones, velvet, and gold are making a comeback- kind of a 1920s/30s vibe. I think it would have been fun to add a few jewel-tone pieces here and there – like a navy or emerald accent chair or large ottoman or an accent wall. Next time.

My favorite part of this area is the bay window nook where we have the standing desk and a little chair that no one ever really sat in but looks cute. I really enjoy standing at the desk while getting work done, getting some sun, and watching the birds or red squirrels that scamper all over Frankfurt.

Kitchen

The kitchen has remained very white – which I didn’t really mind but definitely would have liked to break up the color a bit. For future ideas…

Bleucoin tiles – durable but stick on. Maybe these? Or these? Or these…
Window valence or curtains. I took off the drapes so we just had sheers but that could be a good way to add color.

Before. So white! And those curtains…funeral parlor vibes.

I had these cute framed prints hung up and they last about an hour before the adhesive hooks fell off. I gave up but they looked cute at this very particular moment in time. Maybe I’ll try again with a different adhesive otherwise they’re getting passed along.

A House Filled

Because a house without guests, family, friends, and memories is just a house. Here are a few snapshots of many gatherings over the last two years. Cocktail parties…game nights…baby showers…brunches…many dog sitting occasions…family and friend visits.