#mydonnawilson: Meet Nicki, aka @siglinchen
10 April 2018
#mydonnawilson is a new interior inspiration series where we ask some of our favourite people to showcase our products in their homes. Not only does this mean we get to peek into some beautiful houses and apartments, but we also get to know a little bit about the owners – and their interior design tips.
So without any further delay, here’s this month’s homeowner, Nicki, aka @siglinchen on Instagram!
I live in Berlin with my husband and our three girls…
By day, I´m a paediatrician, working in a small surgery in Berlin. It can be quite challenging especially during wintertime, but I’m very happy with my job and I really enjoy working with children.
In my spare time I’m trying to learn more about photography. I ‘ve taken a few courses to improve my skills, but I still need a lot of practice with my new camera (Canon EOS 6D)! I like to decorate our home with colours and flowers, and I’m often inspired by my exchanges with other of interior lovers via Instagram.
Home is…
It’s really two homes! An old apartment building in Berlin, and a modern house just outside Stockholm.
Our rental apartment in Berlin is in an old building with high ceilings, stucco ornaments and creaking floorboards. Most of the interiors are inherited from our parents’ homes, and pieces we found in second-hand shops. A lot of the furniture is made from teak wood – I love the 50s – 60s feeling you get with it.
Our home in Sweden is a very modern house with big windows, straight lines and mostly interiors is modern interiors. The house is furnished in a very simple way because I’m afraid of destroying the straight feeling of the house. If I’m honest, I would prefer to have no furniture at all because I really love the pure architecture of the house – but this is not practical of course. Even though our house is tiny, it feels much bigger. The architect did a very good job and has used every single square meter very effectively. The house is surrounded by a big garden. We planted a lot of flowerbeds with mostly perennial flowers. I’m at my happiest when sitting on my knees in the flowerbeds with my hands deep in the soil.
Although right now our family are all living together in Berlin, it changes from year to year. Next year my husband will work in Sweden again, and I’ll stay on in Berlin with the kids until our oldest daughter has finished school. It might sound complicated and not that easy to juggle two homes and three children, but my family is quite used to it. We’ve been living like this since 2004 and it’s working very well for us.
My favourite room is…
Our kitchen in Berlin. It’s the room I spent most of my spare time in right now. In contrast to the open kitchen in our house in Sweden, I can close the door to the kitchen, turn the music up while preparing dinner and enjoy a couple of minutes to myself. I really enjoy this evening ritual. The kitchen is also the room where most of our family activities take place during the day. And in the evening my husband and I sit around the kitchen table drinking our evening coffee, talking about the day and doing some work. We hardly ever use our living room – except on Saturday nights when it’s movie time for the whole family.
I love gardening
I’m interested in all kind of flowers but am particularly fascinated by old-fashioned perennial flowerbeds. I grew up in the plant nursery of my grandma, so I guess that’s why I still enjoy having as many flowers as possible around me.
My most treasured object is…
My teak wooden desk in Berlin. I found it in a second-hand shop in Hudiksvall in the north of Sweden. It was in fantastic shape with no scratches at all and a really good price. I was so happy to have found such a bargain and I made the decision to buy it immediately. It had been snowing outside and the ground was icy. As my friend helped me carry the desk to my car, we slipped and the desk fell on the ground. The entire front of the desk is now covered in scratches, but nevertheless, it has become my absolute favourite piece of furniture in my home.
My interior style is…
It’s a mixture of playful colour on one hand and pure, minimal style on the other hand.
My top tips for vintage finds…
I have to admit that I don’t spend much time and money in hitting and buying interior design objects anymore. We bought most of the furniture for our house in Sweden (the String shelves, the Montana shelves, the HAY table, chairs and sofa) at Valamagasinet in Uppsala.
In Berlin, most of our furniture was found in second-hand shops or has been inherited. I have two favourite stores in Berlin, which I have to mention. One is called ‘La Lampisterie’. It’s located in Prenzlauer Berg. It’s run by a French guy who has a real passion for vintage lamps. He has a fantastic selection which he renovates by himself. We bought most of our lamps there, and I drop by from time to time to see if there is a new lamp waiting for me. The other shop, also in Prenzlauer Berg, is called ‘Chairs’. You can find the best vintage chairs there – it’s where we bought all of our original Eames fibreglass chairs.
My biggest interior crush is…
Garlands! I love to decorate my home with them, and not only if there is a party or something to celebrate.
The item I covet the most is…
An Akari 10A floor lamp, designed by Isamu Noguchi.
At the top of my shopping list is…
More Eames chairs! We want to expand our little collection. Most of all we are looking for odd and rare colours. On a more practical note, we also need a few things like a bigger bed for our youngest daughter and a bunk bed for our middle child.
It’s what’s inside that counts…
It might sound corny, but from my point of view, it’s the people living in the house who make it feel like home.
Shop Nicki’s #mydonnawilson:
All photography by Nicki. You can see more of her beautiful homes on her Instagram account, @siglinchen.
