Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Decorating the Amsterdam Rental Apartment - Dining Room, Kitchen and More

Dining Room - Before
An advantage of renting a furnished apartment is you don't need to spend lots of time shopping for furniture.  But when it comes to decorating, you're stuck with what it comes with.....except for the decorative items.  Thankfully, the first floor of the apartment was a bit of a blank canvas.  Pale grey walls, with black and white photographs (oh yeah, and that bright red kitchen!).  We added artwork, a rug in the coffee nook and some accessories to give it a little interest and color.  Now it seems a bit more homey.

This bright space is perfect for a cup of coffee in the morning, as the sun streams through the giant windows.  












It's a big dining room - I wish the table could be extended, so we could seat more people.  But we only own 7 chairs.....so maybe it's a good thing!!!


The pocket doors between the living and dining room are original.  I love the look, although we rarely close them.  We've noticed that whatever our neighbors are cooking downstairs, we can smell in our apartment.  Thankfully they're great cooks - sometimes their dinner smells better than ours!

Dining Room - Before - blank canvas!
Dining Room - After
This cool pine chest was already in the apartment.  We  added the black cutout lamp (that I found for 20 euro on clearance!), some artwork and an orchid.  Simple, but it adds a bit of color and interest to this corner.  




And I had lots of fun finding inexpensive items for the glass shelves.  These cardboard boxes are fun!
The kitchen got some new lights (it was really dark in there at night!) and some artwork.  We're still getting used to our miniature refrigerator and freezer.  One very nice touch are the countertops.  They're some sort of concrete terrazzo.  They aren't as hard wearing as granite (I learned the hard way that if you cut something, it will leave a mark), but they are speckled with reds, black and grey and provide a nice surface.  
Now we just want to sit back and enjoy for awhile! 

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4 comments:

  1. Is that a print on dining room wall? It looks like plates. I think your apartment looks very homey.

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  2. Tell us about the picture in the dining room. A poster of plates or tiles?

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  3. For those of you that asked about the plate art on the wall in the dining room - it's from a Dutch company called IXXI. This particular pattern is images of plates from the Rijksmuseum collection - but they have lots of others and can even do your own photos. Perfect for apartments, you can assemble the square pictures in the shape you want and it's easy to move!!! Love them! I put a close up photo on Facebook today.

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  4. Love what you have done with the apartment! Looking very cozy and attractive- really enjoying your posts, thank you!!

    ReplyDelete

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