Design Icons Worth the Investment: My Honest Reviews After Years of Use
I saved for eleven months to buy the Oluce Atollo. Three years later, I still look at it every single morning and think: worth every cent.
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Personal stories about creating a beautiful home on a real budget. Interior design, hands-on DIY, and the art of seasonal living — from a small apartment in Helsinki.
I saved for eleven months to buy the Oluce Atollo. Three years later, I still look at it every single morning and think: worth every cent.
Read ArticleFresh ideas and honest experiences from my home to yours
Last Christmas, I spent exactly €23 on decorations. The house was featured in Glorian Koti magazine that same month. Here's the secret: nature does most of the work.
I'm not perfect. I still buy things I don't need sometimes. But these twelve small shifts in how I run my home have genuinely reduced our waste — and our bills.
Our kitchen looked straight out of 2003 — in the worst way. I spent €800 total on the makeover, and honestly three of those changes made 90% of the difference.
I painted my bedroom wall five different shades of white before getting it right. Nordic light is beautiful but brutally honest — here's how to work with it.
My grandmother's oak cabinet sits right next to a HAY side table, and honestly? It's the best pairing in my entire apartment.
Living in 15 square meters taught me more about design than any magazine ever could. Here's exactly what worked — and the expensive mistakes I'd skip next time.
Find exactly what inspires you
Hello, I'm Giselda
I started Coffee Table Diary as a place to document my journey of turning a small Helsinki apartment into a home I truly love. No big budgets, no professional help — just curiosity, a lot of paint samples, and the belief that beautiful spaces don't need to cost a fortune.
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