Name: Bram D.
Location: Wageningen, Netherlands
Square Footage: ~650 sqr ft
Years Lived in: 3 yrs
Rent or own: rent
Blog/Website: braadspitt.nl
Describe your style: space age modern
..or call it 'plastic fantastic'. Basically, I try to avoid wood whenever I can. My goal is to get as much plastic in my house as I can get.
Most people would describe my style as 'retro', as a somewhat derogatory term for 'living in the past'. I don't see it that way. Most of the designs in my house are 'modern'; instead of being based on tradition, they look ahead and make full use of new materials and their characteristics. Most of the people that use the word 'retro' often live in houses with furniture and designs that are way more traditional. Even though the 1973 energy disturbed the post-war optimism that led to all these fantastic futuristic designs, I still look at it as a future dream, not as 'a thing from the past'.
So, my motto is: "wood looks beautiful on trees, and ugly on furniture!", "if you like trees, buy plastic!".
What's your favorite free/found item?
The mid-century kitchen cabinet (which is in my living room). They were very popular in the late 50s/ early 60s, and everyone in Holland remembers them from their grandparents' homes. By now they have become pretty rare - I guess most of them were just chucked out at some point, since they were never regarded as high class furniture, and to be honest: they aren't - I was lucky to find one in the attic of a place where I used to live. It didn't seem to belong to anyone so I decided to save it from the dust. I works really well with my dinner table.
What's your favorite purchased item?
If I have to choose one: probably my remake of Cini Boeri's 1969 'Bobo Relax' lounge chair. It's the ultimate comfy reading chair. I am not really a purist: as long it's a well made remake (and affordable) of a classic it is fine with me. It is quite a big chair in a small room; it's very dominant, but it has everything I like in a chair. Everyone wants to try it.
What has been your biggest obstacle in decorating/design?
On one hand I would love to have a really minimalist living space, on the other hand I like to buy (plastic) stuff that I think looks cool. Since my apartment isn't that big those two ideals conflict with eachother. The hardest thing is to find that balance of not cluttering the room and have plenty of nice objects to look at and talk about with guests.
Is your design style organic or planned?
Planned. I pretty much have some ideas what it should look like, and I choose things that fit with the idea. However, ideas change over the years, and sometimes buying something new makes me wanna make changes. So, even though things are planned it doesn't mean things remain the same for eternity.
What is your favorite spot in the house?
Definitely the lounge with the white shelf against the dark green wall. Basically, it is just some cheap Ikea 'LACK' shelves which I rebuilt: I added fake fur, some spots, green neon tubes, made a different, slightly rounded front, and wrapped it in plastic so it looks like it is one piece. I like it so much that I even close the curtains early in the evening, just so I can turn on the lights!
How has your style changed in the past 5 years?
It used to be much more kitsch: a collection of indian, chinese, arabic and mexican shiny glittery stuff, golden curtains and many christmas lights. Nowadays, I try to keep that sort of thing limited to my kitchen. I've got a better eye for appreciating a good and well-made design than I used to have. Also, one of the advantages about buying things that are made by a known designer and/or a factory with a good reputation is that they keep most of their value; or at times even increase in value. When you're tired of looking at something, that makes it a lot easier to get something new for it.
What is your favorite resource or store?
I like fleamarkets, but it gets harder and harder to find nice 60s/70s space age objects at a reasonable price. Most stuff I buy on a dutch version of craigslist, called 'Marktplaats.nl'. With a bit of luck and patience you can find really good deals there.
What is your biggest decorating/design pet peeve?
Plants. I love nature, I like hiking and bird watching. I don't like growing things in my house. I do like plastic flowers a lot, I prefer the ones that look really fake and plasticy. Plastic plants can be arranged in the order you like and stay that way, real plants have a mind of their own. Not in MY home! :)
What has been your favorite design trend?
Definitely the 'space age' era; the rise of new types of plastics that it made completely new designs possible. There is an interesting paradox: it takes artificially made materials and industrial processes to make all these 'organic', 'natural' curved shapes. There is a lot of great contemporary design that I like too, for example, by a Dutch group of designers called Droog (www.droog.com). However, buying modern design generally is considerably more expensive than vintage space age design. My limited resources definitely have got an influence on my style.
What is the biggest influence on your design/decorating style?
Childhood memories, I guess. My parents' house was quite traditional; plastic was considered as 'cheap' and 'fake'. But I always loved all those fantastic plastic objects whenever I was in friends' houses; things like the toot-a-loop radio, the plastic chairs, the orange longhaired carpets, etc. etc. And I still do. Whenever there are kids in my house, they go 'wowww' all the time. All the plastic shapes and explicit colours seem to have an appeal on them. And on me. I'm just a big kid.
What in your home dictates how you design/decorate?
The limited space. It's just a simple 3 room apartment that I live in, so I have very limited choice what I can do with it. There is still some art deco and other first half 20th century objects in my house, but sooner or later they are gonna have to go, they seem to fit in less and less, and there is simply no room anymore to create a special corner for it. I have to make tough choices.
What is the simplest thing you have done that has made the biggest impact?
It took quite some time before things fell into place in the lounge. Things started to look good when I put the round orange carpet in there, and a brown plastic cube shaped side table. Then, a couple of days later I found this small decorative object (my guess is it's from early 60s) on a flea market, which is basically just a plastic cube with 8 plastic balls on some metal wire. I put it on the side table and that was just it: It couldn't have been more perfect. Best spent €5 ever.
all photos courtesy of homeowner