| HOMESTORIES | At home with Kim

In the home of Kim, content creator from Düsseldorf, neutral colors dominate and flowing shapes complement clear edges. With the skilful combination of hard and soft, warm and cold, round and square, Kim sets contrasts and accents without deviating from her color track.
Your current comfort color - beige - can be found in every corner and is essential for your feeling of home. The only other things that are just as important are her two house cats, Frida and Emil, and always fresh flowers.

In an interview, she revealed her tricks for designing her very own feel-good place. 

1. What makes your home your home? And what characteristics does your home have to have to make you feel comfortable?
   Cozy colors, always fresh flowers and two cats that always look forward to seeing me. A tidy home is at the top of the feel-good list. With us, everything has its place, which makes tidying up extremely easy.
   
   
2. How would you describe your furnishing style/your home?
   Design classics combined with old vintage collector's items. The color beige currently dominates and I rely on natural materials such as wood and stone.

3. What is your favorite piece of furniture?
   First and foremost, of course, our stool from WYE. Very closely followed by our new real stone dining room table. I designed it myself with a local stonemason and I'm always in love when I walk into the room in the morning. 

4. What role does sustainability play in the interior for you? What are your hacks for a more sustainable home?
   Sustainability plays a major role and we try to implement it as far as possible. We buy a lot of used furniture and give it a new home. In addition, we also occasionally sell individual pieces that no longer find a place in a redesign. My hack for a sustainable home? In any case, set eBay classifieds alerts for favorite pieces of furniture or design classics. This way you will be notified when a piece of furniture is offered in the area and can give it a second chance. 

5. Your home creates a lot of aesthetics with neutral colors - how do you like to make statements when designing your apartment? (How do you still manage to bring in splashes of color harmoniously?)
   The large pieces of furniture such as tables, sofa, bed or cupboards and chests of drawers are kept in neutral colors and I try to bring in splashes of color through pictures, decorations such as candles and, above all, fresh and colorful flowers. The sideboards in particular, but also the pictures, are regularly rearranged. It also happens now and then that a vase or a picture is stored in the basement for several weeks until the big performance is due again. 

6. According to which criteria do you buy your furniture?
   For me it's usually love at first sight - but unfortunately far too often and with far too many different styles. I love stone and wood, vintage and new, and always try to keep a mix. Too much vintage very quickly looks like "grandma's second home" and too much design often comes across as cool (to me). In any case, one criterion is the quality of the furniture and, in the case of the right furniture, its timelessness. When it comes to decoration, it can be freaky. 

7. Are there any materials that you particularly like to combine?
   Wood and stone and especially Viennese mesh, but this trend may change again. As already mentioned, our table is made of real stone and the chairs are made of wood. 

8. How often do you redecorate your home?
   If my friend is asked: every day. In fact, almost every day something is crazy, rebuilt, taken to the basement for a few days or redecorated. I also swing the paintbrush almost every six months. Entire room transformations happen about every year. 

9. What do you enjoy most about designing? What is your personal trick for designing your happy place?
   Courage to use unusual materials and lots of inspiration. Instagram and Pinterest are of course the most popular platforms for this and my folder for “remembered home inspos” is infinitely long. It is also exciting that I can also read the change in my taste from my favorites saved on Instagram. In any case, what I enjoy most is that there are endless possibilities and it's particularly great that new companies like WYE are always coming onto the market that you can combine. 

10. What convinced you to integrate a WYE piece into your home? Is there a product that you feel is missing from the WYE collection?
    The aspect of sustainability and the simple but elegant design. The stool is a prime example of versatility. Sometimes it stands at the head of our dining room table and on another day a striking vase with fresh flowers finds its place on it.
    Above all, I'm a huge fan of the fact that I can use my WYE products both indoors and outdoors, so the furniture is constantly changing between the terrace and the apartment. 

THANK YOU DEAR KIM for the insight into the design process that made your special apartment the very personal place it is now. We are curious what will change next and when you next swing the paintbrush. Who knows - maybe in 6 months a completely different color will be very popular!