Our Berlin Dining Room

My friend Kaho of Chuzai Living told me that she loved seeing posts about my home and it made me realise that in the past I’ve neglected this category a lot. Only because when it comes to my home I am shy about posting photos unless I’ve finished decorating it already. That’s why I only posted a photo of my bedroom in Jakarta when we moved here because it was only in the last months of our stay there that I finished decorating it. (Expat life quirk: when you are finally done decorating, it’s time to pack up and move!) So here I am taking Kaho’s advice on posting more about home interiors, even if I feel like it is still a work in progress. It would be fun to see the different transformation and see how my style and taste are changing as the years go by. I hope you enjoy the photos!

DINING ROOM BEFORE PHOTOS

Just before and right after the movers delivered our shipment from Indonesia.

DINING ROOM AFTER PHOTOS

KOI INDUSTRIAL DINING TABLE AND CHAIRS

This is my beloved dining table, which can seat up to 8 people. I got it from KOI Kemang together with the seats. I adore the industrial details like the metal table legs and the steal rod frame of the chairs. I fell in love when I first saw them. Initially I had very dark wood and thick legged dining table and chairs, but when we had an inkling that we were moving to Europe, I decided to get a dining set that had thinner legs to give the illusion of space. Thick wooden legs and dark coloured wood would make our space seem smaller. What do you think? The only drawback of these gorgeous chairs are that the rubber attachment at the bottom that KOI provides sometimes breaks (I know it’s telling me to lose more weight haha!) or gets lose. This wasn’t a problem in Jakarta where we had marble flooring that didn’t scratch easily. Now in Germany we have parquet flooring so before delivery of our furniture, TD and I made sure to get thick, durable and hardwearing like IKEA’s EGEBY sisal carpet that would be able to protect the floor. We got the biggest one (2meters long) and it wasn’t big enough so we got the thin long one too. They only had a 1.8 meter long one which we settled for. I don’t think anyone will really notice hehe. The important thing for me, as a renter, is not to have to pay to fix the flooring after a few years. 😉 I also got the industrial-looking kitchen trolley from KOI Kemang. I wrote about decorating our radiator wall with a photo wall HERE.

PAINTINGS

The blue painting entitled”FLY” and the yellow painting of a mother shielding her child from the rain using a banana leaf were the very first paintings we ever bought. We got them in our favourite art gallery in Yogyakarta. The other painting is one depicting whipped cream was done by my friend K. Cristi and she dedicated it to celebrating the sweet things in life. The painting of the Chinese girl (pictured above) is from an exhibit in KOI Kemang as well. HERE are the details of the art gallery based in BALI. I bet you they also ship orders internationally if you are interested in any of their paintings.

DECORATING THE BUFFET

I am learning how to create vignettes to keep my decor looking neat and organised. I got this tip from Karl Schuneman’s The First Apartment Book.

This is a little bar I set up that is both decorative and practical, containing items that we use more often, like…

• Full Bottle Service – a wine lover’s multitool It’s a corkscrew, foil cutter, pour spout, and rubber stopper in one nifty tool (won a Red Dot Design Award)
• WMF Clever & More All-purpose Opener so versatile! Can open screw caps, champagne corks,can lids, crown caps or beverage cans.
• Auerhahn Candle Snuffer I love the simple, modern and oh-so-luxe design.
• Silver lighter – isn’t this the sleekest lighter ever? I got it in Rossman pharmacy. Normally lighters are sold in bright colours that do not go well with my interiors so I was really happy to find this cheap lighter that looks right at home in my bar. We use it often for lighting candles to brighten up these dark Berlin days. #WinterIsComing
• Vanilla scented candle IKEA

DINING TABLE TOP

I usually have a few things on our dining table at any one time, sometimes a box of chocolates or sometimes a cookie Jar, but I always have a  candle, scented oil and tissue box around. Usually I also place my salt and pepper mill here too (I don’t know where it went haha!). To make it look neat and uncluttered, I place them all in a tray. Trays are useful for creating vignettes or grouping together items that are used for the same purpose or used in the same location in the home.

These items I have were collected painstakingly and one by one during our post in Jakarta and some during our stay here in Berlin. I hope you like how I did my dining room! If you have any comments or suggestions, I would love to hear it. Questions are welcome too!