Life in Europe's Profile

Hmmmmm.....I find it very unsafe specially for a family with kids or older people.

And I find this post more relevant to my case because I live in a German city and all my neighbors are Germans. I find this idea great 'coz I guess, I can implement this with my neighbors. Unfortunately, we don't have a front yard, the front yard is the parking lot and playing with a toddler is not very safe. We though sometimes walk around there. I will have to see what else I can do to make it more out front. Thanks for the post. :)

This seems like a vintage French Balcony, though the railing is usually outside and is more attractive in the buildings in Paris. I like rkmw's idea of hanging plants/flowers. I would find myself staring at those beautiful hanging pots of flowers that you usually get to see in whole Europe and think that I am in Paris instead of hiding them behind the curtains. This might actually be the most attractive /focal point in your living area. And by hiding them, you would loose a lot of natural light too. I wouldn't put the sofa (or anything that a kid can climb) in front of them though, 'coz that might cause a security risk specially for the kids.

After living in relatively bigger apartments (not houses) in the US, when we relocated to Germany couple of years back, we were quite shocked to see the size of the apartments in Germany. We (two adults and one 3 year old) now live in a 800 something square feet apartment and I always cribbed the lack of storage specially the kitchen. There are no built-in closets like they are in the US and neither do we have a dishwasher or even a freezer!!

Our kitchen is just 5 x 9 feet and very poorly designed. We have an under the counter refrigerator and when keeping food inside or taking food out of the refrigerator, the only space to keep the containers is on the floor. I hated everything about it and complained on and on. Not that I am very happy with the kitchen now and I still wish that I had a bigger kitchen with a better layout and a 2nd Bathroom or a WC.

That said I am quite happy about the apartment as such. It has lots of sunlight, good neighborhood, play areas for children, greenery etc. And I feel very cozy and snug in this smallish 2BR apartment. Also, after living in Europe for about 2 years, I have learnt the secret of clever storage. The more I try to apply this, the more creative I become and the more blessed I feel.