Houzz Tour: Fashion and Decor Meet in this German Blogger's Home
Sue Giers has a fine eye for style, as seen in both her outfits and in her apartment
Sue Giers, founder of the fashion and lifestyle “blogzine” SoSue and company manager and buyer for the boutique Linette, is known for her style and taste. She outfitted her home with the same eye for colour, detail and great design finds. We visited her Wilhelmine apartment in the Harvestehude district of Hamburg – only a stone’s throw from the lively Eppendorfer Baum shopping area – to take a look at how she has set up the center of both her private and professional lives.
Like pearls on a necklace, the eight rooms and two bathrooms in this apartment surround a central light well, which is visible only through the stained-glass window in the entryway.
It is the eclectic furnishing style, the many classic design elements, the unique vintage pieces and the focus on detail that make this second-floor apartment so charming. This is complemented by eye-catching architectural touches, including the Art Nouveau window in the entrance area, the high ornamented ceilings, the creaking herringbone parquet in several of the rooms, the oak floorboards in the hallway and kitchen as well as the original (though renovated) coffered doors.
Chair: Vintage
It is the eclectic furnishing style, the many classic design elements, the unique vintage pieces and the focus on detail that make this second-floor apartment so charming. This is complemented by eye-catching architectural touches, including the Art Nouveau window in the entrance area, the high ornamented ceilings, the creaking herringbone parquet in several of the rooms, the oak floorboards in the hallway and kitchen as well as the original (though renovated) coffered doors.
Chair: Vintage
Looking back from the end of the roughly 23-foot-long (7-metre-long) corridor, the office, living room and bedroom are on the left. On the right, opposite the two wall lights from Atelier de Troupe, is the Art Nouveau window that looks out into the lightwell. The door to Giers’ bedroom is straight ahead. Turning right at the end of the hall, you come to the bathroom, the girls’ rooms and the kitchen. From there, you can continue on to her son’s room and a guest room, and then to complete the circle, turn right to reach the main entrance once again.
Giers’ “library,” as she lovingly calls her office, serves as the heart of her blog’s operations. The large oak table is used for both writing and meetings: since her “blogzine” was founded nearly a year ago, she holds an editorial meeting here every Monday with her small team, which includes German actress Julia Malik. On the huge bookshelf stand not only books but also all sorts of accessories, jewelry and decor objects that she sells on her blog.
“The bookshelf is our warehouse,” she says, pointing to a pile of packages stuck in a corner of the room. On the opposite wall stands the clothing rail with samples from Germany-based fashion designer Dawid Tomaszewski and her own first fashion collection, an assemblage of favourites such as cashmere sweaters, cardigans and dresses.
“Our products need to have a story so personal that they become topics of discussion and are bought just for that reason,” says Giers as she walks us through the office, grabbing from the shelf her favourite scented candles in old wine bottles, or her colorful Watch Candy bracelets, created by fashion designer Gabriele Frantzen. Giers is particularly proud of one of her first home decor products: the concrete Ricarda table by the young Kiel furniture maker Julien Budnik.
Pendant light: Max Sauze
Pendant light: Max Sauze
But it is not just the products she sells that tell stories. Her apartment and each of the many design classics and pieces of furniture she has gathered over the years have their very own stories, too. For example, one of her first official acts after separating from her husband two years ago was to change the curtains. She opted for velvet curtains in petroleum blue: “I love colour,” she says.
Couch: Living Divani; pillows: Maison de Vacances; wall light: Serge Mouille; living room table and armchair: vintage; wire chair: Bertoia Diamond Chair, Knoll (rear right in the picture)
Couch: Living Divani; pillows: Maison de Vacances; wall light: Serge Mouille; living room table and armchair: vintage; wire chair: Bertoia Diamond Chair, Knoll (rear right in the picture)
Recently she bought the yellow Oda floor lamp, by Sebastian Herkner for Pulpo (in the right corner of the living room). Her latest acquisition is “an old Persian rug my dad gave me. I simply laid it upside-down – it somehow looks a lot more easy-going that way,” she says.
Side table: Habibi in polished brass, e15
She relies on a certain intuition for matching colours and different styles in her work and in selecting her daily outfits, and that knack is also apparent within her four walls. She mixes powder tones with dark grey and cool metallic, blending design pieces with a vintage feel, expensive custom-made items and more affordable decor.
She relies on a certain intuition for matching colours and different styles in her work and in selecting her daily outfits, and that knack is also apparent within her four walls. She mixes powder tones with dark grey and cool metallic, blending design pieces with a vintage feel, expensive custom-made items and more affordable decor.
The bedroom walls are painted with just a hint of pink. The floor is decorated with a Beni Ourain rug. Sometimes, on Sundays when the kids aren’t there, Giers enjoys the free time in her bed, in the morning sun that shines through the window. The bedroom decor is relatively simple. The cushions and bedspread are linen.
On the bedside table stands another design classic: the AJ table lamp by Arne Jacobsen for Louis Poulsen.
The highlight of the bedroom is an about 8-by-8-foot (2.50-by-2.50-metre) wooden box painted silver, which is accessible from the right and contains a walk-in wardrobe. “The wooden box was custom-made by a carpenter who has always done a lot for Closed,” Giers says, referring to a Hamburg-based jeans label where she worked as a PR manager for many years, ensuring that it would become a brand with a global glam factor. She still advises the company on design questions.
An antique biscuit display stand from France changes the mood set by the cool monolith. Giers uses it to store accessories, nightwear and jewelry. “I found this cute tray last Saturday at H&M Home,” Giers says. “It goes perfectly with the dresser and I use it as a jewelry tray and for my sunglasses.” The black-framed photograph of Dita von Teese and the shimmering violet glass vase also fit perfectly.
The kitchen, with its white tiles and dark anthracite fronts, was custom made. Here, especially on the kitchen shelf, Giers’ hand shows itself again in the mix of old and new, cheap and expensive. “I bought the storage jars from H&M Home,” she says. They serve as containers for muesli and various other cereals.
The kitchen shelves hold classic white crockery and colourful, handmade bowls by Rotter Glass.
The family comes together in the kitchen to talk to each other after a long day. The subtle mud colour of the wall paint, the oak floorboards, the large wooden table by the Danish furniture manufacturer Naver Collection and the Hans J. Wegner chairs lend the kitchen a cozy feel. The Stokke high chair is suitable for older children as well. The television on the wall is turned off during meals, but Giers, who used to work as a television journalist, is a long-standing news junkie and kept it for watching the daily news.
Pendant light: Classicon
Pendant light: Classicon
Her plans for the future? “I would like to have a couch in another colour sooner or later,” she says. But which colour exactly the fashion blogger is not yet sure of. Perhaps her outfits are enough color for the time being.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Sue Giers with her two daughters, Emily, 11, and Josephine, 13, and her son, Rufus, 9
Location: Harvestehude district, Hamburg, Germany
Size: About 2,150 square feet (200 square meters)
Born in Wolfsburg, Giers has been living in this apartment for almost ten years now. Since her newest “baby,” the blog and online shop SoSue, came into the world, she not only lives and sleeps here, but also works here, often well into the night.