Rental Revamp: Nick Laciok’s DIY Düsseldorf Flat Is a Perpetual Work in Progress

Lori Keong
·2 min read

The photographer and his partner use soothing paint colors, a medley of vintage furniture, and lots of ingenuity to reinvent their early-1900s apartment.

Low-lying furniture and art makes the high-ceilinged living room appear even bigger. Most of the furnishings were sourced secondhand, though the hanging lamp is a DIY Nick made by fusing two paper shades together.
Low-lying furniture and art makes the high-ceilinged living room appear even bigger. Most of the furnishings were sourced secondhand, though the hanging lamp is a DIY Nick made by fusing two paper shades together.

Photographer and set stylist Nick Laciok was about six years old when he had his first creative breakthrough—involving the living room curtains and a pair of scissors. The end result, a shortened set of drapes with bows fashioned from the trimmings, felt like a "groundbreaking" new invention at the time, he recalls.

Several of Nick's vintage acquisitions appear in the dining room, from the vintage Egon Eiermann chairs around the table that he painstakingly restored to the medical supply shelves installed on the walls. His partner Nils found the pendant lamp on the street, while the artwork is by the late German printmaker Helmut Sundhaussen.
Several of Nick's vintage acquisitions appear in the dining room, from the vintage Egon Eiermann chairs around the table that he painstakingly restored to the medical supply shelves installed on the walls. His partner Nils found the pendant lamp on the street, while the artwork is by the late German printmaker Helmut Sundhaussen.

For many parents, the incident would be a punishable moment, but Nick’s mother took it as a sign that he needed an outlet. "My mom saw that she needed to give me the freedom to create things," Nick says, explaining that from then on, he was given free rein to decorate his childhood bedroom however he saw fit.

Nick photographed in his dining room.
Nick photographed in his dining room.

Since he couldn’t spend much money on furnishings and decor, he decided to get inventive with the materials he had on hand—a very early lesson in resourcefulness that has informed his interior fixations ever since. Many, many DIYs later, the act of creating and reimagining furnishings, and the rooms they live in, still feels second nature to Nick—which is evident as he rattles off all the upgrades he’s made to his 958-square foot, pre–World War I apartment in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Nick lounging in the living room. The one-of-a-kind candleholder to his right is one of his favorite secondhand finds. "It has these three mirrors which reflect the light of the candle perfectly, and the wiggly shapes are just amazing," he says.
Nick lounging in the living room. The one-of-a-kind candleholder to his right is one of his favorite secondhand finds. "It has these three mirrors which reflect the light of the candle perfectly, and the wiggly shapes are just amazing," he says.

See the full story on Dwell.com: Rental Revamp: Nick Laciok’s DIY Düsseldorf Flat Is a Perpetual Work in Progress
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