Homecafe self interior DIY
I love to drink coffee at home, snacking on cookies and treats, enjoying the small pleasures and enjoying a little happiness. I always had a little wish that I could have a ‘Home cafe’ at home. Then I recently moved to a small apartment. And I had to build a partition wall to divide one room into two.
The wall was 30 centimeters thick. I thought it was too much of a waste of space, so I decided to build a thin wall about 10 centimeters thick. And the remaining 20 centimeters, I decided to use the space for my home cafe.
I like a slightly industrial feel to my interior, so I made it in black and white tones. And since labor is so expensive in Germany, I bought all the materials and made almost everything by myself. Luckily, I love coming up with ideas and I love making things with my own hands so much. I was able to finish the project somehow as I planned.
Here’s how it looked before the thin wall was built.
One room was connected like this but I wanted to completely divide the space into two rooms. I’m going to build a thin wall where the red arrow is. Before installing the wall, I started by bringing in the furniture I needed for the inner room. It’s better to get the furniture in before the wall goes up, so it’s less work later.
I also decided to change the wallpaper in the home cafe area to a white brick pattern to give it a slightly industrial feel.
It was my first time removing wallpaper, and it turned out to be more difficult than I expected. So I asked two of my friends for help, and thanks to them, We were able to finish the job a bit earlier. After letting the wall dry for a day, I applied the lining paper first, then put up the white brick-patterned wallpaper.
I’m glad that the brick pattern looks calm and not too noticeable. I took the photo in the evening, so it’s a bit dark and you can’t really see it.
Now that the wallpaper was up and all the big furniture had been moved in, there was one last important task: putting up the walls. I was really stressed about how to do it since I had never done it before, but luckily, my neighbor is a handyman, so he gave me some tips on what I would need and how to install them.
In Germany, there are large stores that specialize in DIY home improvement materials, so it wasn’t difficult to find what I needed.
Some of the major DIY stores in Germany include:
* OBI
* BAUHAUS
And with the help of a friend who owns a large car, I was able to transport five sheets of OSB plywood and some steel bars to the house. I think it was the biggest construction project I’ve ever done in my life. I built the frame using the steel bars and cut the OSB boards to size with a power saw, then attached them to the frame. Since I was working with a dangerous tool like a power saw, I felt nervous every time I used it. It was very loud, and the wood didn’t cut easily, so it was exhausting—and I’m sure I caused some disturbance to the neighbors, too.
Still, it turned out pretty well, didn’t it?
Anyway, luckily everything went smoothly without any major issues.
Actually, the store where I bought the materials offers wood-cutting services, but as I started working on the project, I realized that measurements can vary quite a bit. So I figured it would be more accurate to cut the boards myself as I went along—even if it meant more effort.
And since I wanted the two spaces to be as soundproof as possible, I ordered soundproofing styrofoam and carefully filled the entire partition wall with it.
Then, I covered it again with OSB plywood. After that, I applied a white wallpaper on top of the OSB plywood, and over that, I put up white brick-patterned wallpaper again. As I mentioned earlier, the wall is almost 30 cm thick, so to use the space more efficiently, I built the partition wall about 10 cm thick. The remaining 15 to 20 cm was left as a space for a home café.
For now, the wall is complete. After that, I also installed baseboards to give a neat finish between the floor and the wall.
I also put MDF panels on the entire wall of the home cafe. The panels were white. I painted it with chalkboard paint that allows you to doodle with chalk. I bought a wooden pole designed to finish the edges of the home cafe, sawed it to size, and painted it black.
I placed a cabinet I bought from Amazon under the home café counter. I had always wanted a drawer cabinet with that kind of slatted door design, but most of them seemed to be made for bathrooms. ^^;;
Still, since it depends on how you use it, I installed it for my home café and even added some lighting. On top of the white drawer cabinet, I found kitchen drawer doors sold separately at IKEA. After cutting them to size, I securely fixed them on top of the white cabinet so they wouldn’t wobble or move around.
I had some extra space on the side of the cabinet, so I hinged the doors to a wooden board to create a small storage space that opens and closes.
It hides the messy wires and things I don’t need right away.
I made the word “CAFE” out of small wooden alphabet pieces, painted them black and glue them on the wall. I bought the “Home” for 2 euros.
My home cafe is almost complete, and I personally feel the most cozy and good feeling when I wake up in the early morning and leave the cafe light on for a cup of coffee. Most of the glass jars in my home cafe are from IKEA.
All the machines are plugged into the outlet behind the toaster, and each outlet has a switch so I can control each light and machine separately.
Since I have to turn the power on and off frequently, I made sure to place the outlets where I can easily reach them — but in black!
That’s how my home cafe was born.
I’m really proud of my home cafe and I love it.
Would you like to see my home cafe?
By the way, do you see the fruit basket?
You can put bananas, apples, and other fruits in the basket and hang it up high. I think it’s a good way to keep the air circulating to the bottom.
But what’s a home cafe without the most important thing: a coffee machine? I used to be a capsule coffee drinker.
I’ve been switching to decaf powdered coffee and instant coffee for the last few months, so I put it away for a while.
If you’re a wine or whiskey drinker, the shelves could be spaced wider to accommodate taller bottles. I tried to focus on things I use frequently, like coffee powder, organic roasted beans, homemade cookies, and honey. I don’t drink tea, but if you do, it’s a great idea to display it in a pretty glass jar. I also have some green tea leaves that a friend gave me that I rarely drink, but they look great. I have a small kitchen, so I needed a lot of storage space, but the things that should be in the kitchen have been moved to my home cafe, making my kitchen more simple.
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