It’s been an absolute whirlwind couple of weeks. We’ve been so busy that my head is still spinning.
We arrived in Berlin at the end of last week and although we’re now firmly here it still all feels a bit surreal. The only time I’d ever visited Berlin (apart from the weekend where we were flat hunting) was on a quick city break with some friends a few years ago (you can read about it here) and even now I feel like a complete tourist. The fact that we now live here definitely hasn’t sunk in yet.
After packing and moving at the beginning of last week we flew out with two suitcases and a laptop and decided to spend the first few days in a hotel until all of our possessions and furniture arrive. If you follow us over on Instagram (I’m loving the new Instagram stories where we’re currently sharing the most updates) you’ll probably already have seen that’s not quite how things turned out. Yes, we spent the first night in a hotel but decided that we’d be better off buying an airbed and sleeping in our empty apartment (yes, the hotel was that bad). So that’s exactly what we did.
The obvious drawback is that we now have no furniture (I’m sat on the floor as I’m typing this), no internet, no kitchenware and it turns out that sleeping on an airbed isn’t amazing either. Hopefully, everything should arrive later this week (and more importantly our internet connection should be up and running then, too) but at least this gives me a chance to share our new and very empty apartment with you.
The apartment is located fairly central in Berlin. After initially viewing it we almost dismissed it as it wasn’t the area we wanted to be in and it was one of the smallest apartments we looked at. It’s also a fairly boring new-build but having said that it was easy. We’re the first people moving in so everything is still completely new, it has a kitchen (which most apartments in Germany don’t have!) and most of all it should be easy to move in to.
This is the view towards the front door. The hallway is really large (a bit of a waste if you ask me) and there will hopefully be enough space for all of our shoes and coats.
We have two bedrooms, one of which we’ll be using as an office/guest bedroom.
The other bedroom is slightly larger and has a small balcony. It’s probably the one we’ll be using as our bedroom. Both bedrooms aren’t huge but we figured that we’d rather have smaller bedrooms and a larger living space (we looked at another apartment in the same block of flats where the living space was much smaller).
The living space is fairly generous with a balcony stretching the width of the apartment. One of the things that I really like is that the same flooring is used throughout all of the rooms (except of course in the bathrooms and kitchen). It definitely helps the rooms flow.
The kitchen is fairly narrow and not exactly huge but as I mentioned before it is new and clean.
I would always prefer something more open plan but at least we have large double doors that we can leave open. I’m already itching to knock down the wall between the kitchen and living room – not sure we’d get our security deposit back then, though!
In addition to the mentioned rooms, we also have two bathrooms and a small utility room where we can fit the washing machine.
As you can see the apartment isn’t overly exciting and we’re probably going to have to get creative with storage solutions as it’s smaller than our house was. It’s definitely going to be a bit of a struggle to work out where things are going to go and what to do with all of our stuff!
Overall the apartment is totally fine for now though and although we both don’t particularly like the area or the apartment it’ll do for now. The plan is still to buy a doer-upper here in Berlin and I’ve already been searching (although we do need to get to know areas first). At the moment everything is so new and it still doesn’t really feel like we’ve arrived. Hopefully, things will feel more normal and more like home when our furniture is delivered.
Have you ever downsized? Do you have any clever storage tips for us? We’re still discovering Berlin, so would love to know if you have any tips for us!
Ed says
I think you made a shrewd move. I’m sure prices in Berlin have gone up since Brexit!
Christine says
I’m not sure that Brexit would make a difference to the house prices in Berlin. The German housing market is very different to the English one. People don’t move in the same way and any planning here is much more long term – if you buy somewhere here, it’s usually forever. That may also have something to do with the extremely fees associated with buying which total around 10%!
Cx
Sandra says
Hi Christine, only just discovered your blog and I’ve already seen loads of posts that I’m planning on reading. It’s such a good site. I was wondering what part of Manchester you bought your house in? We’re currently looking at buying our first house, and spending quite a bit of time getting to know the areas. We’re looking in Sale, Urmston and Monton but curious to see if there might be other areas that we would want to include. Ideally we want a village feel and good transport links to airport and motorways. Good luck with your move. X
Christine says
Thank you, Sandra! We bought our house in The Heatons. In our opinion, it’s the best place to live in and around Manchester. It’s perfectly located for transport and has a great little centre with shops and bars. Loved living there!
Good luck with your house hunting!
Cx
Freya says
I love reading this “moving-to-new-places” posts. This has been my fear eversince. Actually I dream of moving to a new place… a totally new one.. a place I haven’t explored yet.. no relatives within the area, etc. However, being an introvert, I know I’ll find a hard time coping up with that big change.
Anywayyy…
Your apartment looks nice! I’m just quite surprised by what you said – other apartments in Germany don’t have kitchens? Really? How do they cook their meals?
Christine says
Moving to a new place is never easy, in our experience, it’s always been worth it, though.
Yep, almost no apartments in Germany have kitchens. There is, of course, a room for the kitchen you just always have to go out and buy one. Totally weird and expensive if you*re renting but people tend to stay in the same place for much longer.
Cx
Maaike says
Oh, this story reminds me of all the international moves I did… so exhausting! But it feels so good to finally get your stuff and settle in. Storage tip: bed with drawers underneath. The apartment looks bright :) And indeed, a kitchen, lucky you… we didn’t have one when we moved to Germany and had to buy one. Such a weird experience! Like Andrea, I’m curious to see what you’ll do with the place. Good luck!!
Christine says
We’ve now unpacked most things (I definitely underestimated how long it would take) but because we had a lot of built-in furniture in our house have a bit of a storage issue now. I guess I’ll just have to go shopping! ;)
Thanks for the tip. I’ve already squashed a few things under the bed but having a drawer would make things much easier.
Cx
Selin T.W. says
Hi Christine and Jan,
I am so surprise to see that you have just moved to Berlin. I was following you guys from the blog and instagram.
I am also moved to 100km distance to Berlin, just in FFO maybe you will hear about this city later :) My husband and I have bought an old house here and have been renovating it last 2 years. I am sure that you will make good friends and a good life also here in Germany. Berlin is anyway so international and open to everyone. If you come to FFO or want a coffee sometime in Berlin just write us :)
Selin and Christian
Christine says
I always love to hear that other people are doing up their homes, too. Part of the reason we chose to move to Berlin is because of the reasons you mentioned, Selin. We love that it’s so multicultural and so far it seems like a friendly and relaxed place to live in. I’m sure we’ll be doing lots of exploring and will make it over to FFO at some point. I’m also keen on visiting Poland as I’ve never been! Just get in touch if you’re ever in Berlin and we can go for that coffee!
Cx
anna says
Very spacious indeed!
Christine says
Well, we did need somewhere to put all of our junk… you should see the state of the full cellar, though! It’s obviously not designed for people with dozens of powertools. ;)
Cx
Andrea says
Looking forward to seeing what you do with the place! Have loved following your progress on your last home – I selfishly hope you find a new place to renovate soon! Best of luck with the move
Christine says
Thank you, Andrea! We can’t wait to find somewhere to renovate either. We even looked at our first possible apartment a couple of days ago!
Cx
[email protected] says
There is always a bit of excitement when faced with a completely open space. Are you having your furniture shipped from the UK? I cannot wait to see what you guys do with this new place.
Christine says
Yes, we’re having (almost) everything shipped over and it’s due to arrive today! I can’t wait to see what we do either. ;)
Cx