| HOMESTORIES | At home with Anne Peter

Special statement pieces between unrendered brick walls. This is Anne Peter's home. Here, it's all about experimenting and giving free rein to creativity, because she finds it "boring when homes look exactly the same. I'm much happier when I get stuck in a feed because a color or a piece of furniture surprises me. That's why I'm in favor of more courage and creativity in my own home."
We are delighted that she was willing to give us a few insights into her wonderful home for our home story segment. For example, she tells us about the history of her favorite piece of furniture, how her taste in interiors has changed in recent years, why her outdoor space is so important to her and how she integrates sustainability into her home.

1. What makes your home your home? And what qualities must your home have to make you feel comfortable? This is a very difficult question. Even though I love our home very much and probably have visual and spatial requirements for my long-term residence, I think I could live in many different ways. Ultimately, I need Jens by my side first and foremost to feel at home and a few personal items, such as the kitchen table, which is an heirloom from my grandparents, pictures we bought while traveling, a lambswool blanket for coziness and my coffee maker (because coffee makes me feel so incredibly at home right away). I think you can make almost any place beautiful. Found or heirloom pieces that share memories make an apartment my home. The only thing I couldn't do without in terms of the property itself is an outdoor area. A balcony, terrace or garden. Being outside is just so much my nature.
   
   
2. How would you describe your interior design style/your home?
   I like the break between new and old, wood and metal, stone and wool. Natural materials are as important to me as colors. I like it bright, lived-in and not too decorated.
   
   
3. What is your favorite piece of furniture?
   My kitchen table. It tells of its past as my great-grandparents' butcher's table, as my dad's work table, who built loudspeakers on it, as a table in my first shared flat - how many Korn Ahoys were drunk at it. He could tell you something!
   
   
4. What role does sustainability play in interior design for you? What are your hacks for a more sustainable home?
   I generally consume very consciously - including my interior. When we make a new purchase, we think about it for a long time first. It can take several months until we're 100% sure we've found the right piece of furniture, because we want it to stay with us forever. That's why my hack for a sustainable home is: no impulse decisions! Always sleep on it one more night. It's better to wait for the right lamp or save instead of buying an interim solution. Once you've finally decided, it's worth seeing if you can find the interior piece in the classifieds. Second hand is not only more sustainable, it's also easy on the wallet!
   
   
5. The most striking thing about your wonderful home is probably the large areas of unrendered brickwork. How do you manage the balancing act between this raw industrial look and the playful side of your space? Do you have any tips?
   Oh yes, when we visited the apartment, we were sold! We love the raw look of the bricks. In general, we've always liked the industrial look and had lots of old industrial lights in our old apartment, which Jens bought at auction and refurbished. However, when we moved into our current apartment, we realized that some of the lamps with the bricks were a bit too much . That's why we replaced them piece by piece with more delicate lights that go much better with the open bricks. Ultimately, my tip is always: try it out! Of course, you can't just buy new furniture on spec, so I always make a collage beforehand and see which piece of furniture or which color fits. For me, this is relatively easy to do in Indesign, but for others I recommend simply printing out photos and collaging them together. This gives you a direct feel for whether the ideas fit.
   
   
   
   
6. Where does your enthusiasm for interiors Design come from and where do you draw inspiration from?
   In my opinion, being a beautiful person is something holistic and always carries over into all areas of life. Even though I am an art director, I love Design not only printed on paper, but also as objects in my home, as plants in my garden, as the feel of my clothes and arranged as food on my plate. So it's quite natural for me to want to have a nice time in my surroundings. What's more, Jens is just as enthusiastic about Design - it's even more fun to make your home beautiful as a couple! I get most of my inspiration from our travels. Actually (unless a pandemic teaches us that the garden at home can also be a wonderful vacation destination), we love to travel. Whether it's cities in Europe that we discover or far-flung destinations and foreign cultures: expanding your horizons brings the best ideas!
   
   
7. Are there any no-gos? Colors, materials, styles that you stay away from in your home?
   I'm all for diversity - even in the home! I find it boring that so many homes on social media look exactly the same. I'm much happier when I get stuck in my feed because I'm surprised by a color or a piece of furniture.That's why I'm in favor of more courage and creativity in my own home. Just take a chance. And if you don't like the wall color afterwards, you can always repaint it! Anything you like should be allowed.
   
   
8. Do you feel that your interior style has changed a lot over the years? How does this manifest itself in your home?
   When I look at photos of our first apartment together in our early 20s, I have to smile. We had a soft spot for flea markets and lots of mid-century lamps and furniture, which we gradually got tired of. But with the first money we earned, we started investing in furniture that we want to keep for the long term and that I hope will still be in our home when we are old and gray.
   
   
9. What role does the outside of your house play in your personal sense of "home"?
   I'm an outdoors girl. When I wake up and the sun is shining, I have bumblebees up my butt and need to get out into the fresh air. Of course, we have the absolute luxury of outdoor options: our little balcony where we often sit in the evenings in summer, a patio where we like to have a barbecue with friends or relax in the swing with my sister and her husband and the allotment where we spend our weekends. My home wouldn't be complete without an outdoor area.
   
   
10. What convinced you to integrate a WYE piece into your home? Is there a product that you feel is still missing from the WYE collection?
    I got to know WYE at the IMM in Cologne and fell in love with the products straight away. I'm a big fan of small Designcompanies with good ideas! WYE manages to combine great Design with sustainable raw materials. I love the high quality of the furniture and the special color selection. This makes the furniture an absolute eye-catcher in the home. I regularly move the bench and stool around my home because they are so versatile. In summer, the bench will find a place on the balcony again. I'm really excited to see what other products will follow

THANK YOU LOVE ANNE for your detailed and inspiring answers! We love your openness to stylistic diversity and if your kitchen table would tell us, we would actually like to play fly on the wall too!