ajs germany's Profile

I live in the roof space (read slanted ceilings) of a 120 year old building (read no right angles) and have had lots of built-in furniture built, out of necessity (the slanted ceilings). After many years of experience of paying the bills, my rule of thumb is:

A custom made item (difficult because of the room space) costs approx 10 times the cost of something doing the equivalent job from IKEA or somewhere comparable.
I use top-notch carpenters, I will admit.
This means that instead of a 300 euro for a cupboard from IKEA , I will have to pay 3000 for the same storage built in under the eaves. I understand though, as i see the amount of work the carpenters have to put in, the number of visits to check things, I know they have transport costs and workshop costs and material costs. Not to mention the 20 odd years of training and experience.

I once witnessed two master carpenters stand in my kitchen and look at a particularly difficult corner for an hour (image 5 planes coming together all at varying angles), they hardly spoke with each other, deciding how to cut the worktop for the cupboard going into that corner. A millimeter out and the worktop would have been spoilt.

However, anything over 10x the IKEA cost is daylight robbery. I would never pay out thousands for a mass produced piece from Roche Bobois or Ralph Benz or anyother of the expensive furniture brands. If the item is not custom made to fit your space, and they are charging big bucks, then you are paying for the marketing and for the status symbol.
Nothing against people who can do that and want to do that, if one person can spend 3000 euros on a 3-month trip to India and someone else spends the same money on a desk that they will love for ever, then why not.
We all have our weaknesses.

You forgot the most obvious one, thick carpets or rugs, especially located where they are inclined to jump around.
Another not so obvious idea, we hung a swing in the play room from a ceiling joist, Its silent (when oiled) and the kids adore it, spend hours swinging while listening to audio books.

Do you mean romantic partners?
Then I think the householdy stuff will be a minor issue, can be arranged, compromised on, avoided by getting a cleaner in, etc.
I bet we all know a former dog hater who ended up adopting a big stinky hairy messy dog and loving him to bits and accepting the smell, the hair, the mud etc. Same with men for the most part.

I think the same level of honesty is important. If the partner ends up becoming a spouse and children ensue, then that is when it is critical to know that they will instill the same moral principles in the child as you would. Not something I would have said, or maybe even thought of, pre-children, but when you realise that you, the parents, are almost solely responsible for the child's understanding of right and wrong and good and bad, then it suddenly becomes a huge issue.
Money depends on personal circumstances. I earn vastly more than my husband, so it seems petty to demand his money, so I don't. Stupid maybe, but there it is. He works hard too, just gets less for his efforts.

On a lighter note, opposites is good too. I am an obsessive decorator, repaint rooms multiple times in a year and it is good to have a husband who doesn't care and doesn't even notice. I can do what i want when I want. Yeah!!! I have friends who fight for years over what kind of shower curtain to put up.....

Anyone who posts their house/apartment etc on AT must have a sizeable ego if they think their house/apartment whatever is worthy of sharing with the great unwashed (I wish I thought mine was). This ego should correspondingly be able to cope with some negative comments.

An AT with only positive comments would be the greatest bore and it often approaches that when people just gush about the dogs or cats pictured, instead of commenting on the decor.
Long live negative comments!!!
However the rent control stuff I find a bit under the belt. We all get lucky occasionally in life in different ways, whether its through a nice family or friends, or good education opportunities or meeting a nice partner, no need to dump on the poor girl if she got lucky with a nice apartment.
Lovely colours, a bit sterile for my taste though.

I also cannot see the point of this house tour. It is utterly unremarkable.

This apartment feels to me like a cheap/ethnic furniture store where everything is jammed together with no attempt at style. I got halfway through the photos and gave up because it gave me a headache just looking at the clutter. However if it works for the family, that is all that is important. Lovely space though.