Wohnen · 6 min

Living in Vienna for a While with a Child, What a Family Really Needs

A turquoise lacquered cabinet from the fifties stands against the wall, in front of it a dining table with a light grey top on slim oak legs, four chairs around it, no chair quite like the next. Beside it the sofa, soft, a little rumpled, the way a sofa should be when someone actually sits on it. Anyone looking for a temporary apartment in Vienna with a child sees rooms like these with different eyes. Not whether it looks chic. But whether a child can also eat, draw and play on the floor here without someone watching all the time. That is exactly what we want to talk about, honestly and from observation.

Space that is meant for more than one person

A family does not need a palace. It needs a table where everyone can sit at once, and a floor that can take a little wear. In the first picture you see exactly that. The long table is not made for a dinner for two, but for four places, for homework in the afternoon, for a board game that is allowed to stay out because it carries on tomorrow. That is the difference between an apartment furnished for a business traveller and one where a family arrives.

The oak boards carry warmth. Wood forgives. A knocked over cup, a Lego brick that slips from a hand, a trace of a felt tip pen. None of it is a drama on a floor that already has patina and is allowed to show it. Smooth, cold high gloss surfaces look good in photos and make every day with a child in the house nerve wracking. Material that has aged is more at ease.

And the turquoise cabinet. It is not a decorative piece, it is storage with character. In a piece like this the toys disappear in the evening without the room afterwards looking like a nursery. That matters when adults and children share the same living space, which on a temporary stay is almost always the case.

Quiet, and a room of one's own for the night

The other two pictures show bedrooms, and both tell of the same need. In the second photo a narrow bed of light wood in front of the window, the duvet in muted blue folded back, beside it a large wooden wardrobe with a grain like an old painting. On top a leather travel case. A room that looks like someone who really sleeps here, not just spends the night.

Green curtains down to the floor make the night dark. That sounds trivial, but it is not. Children fall asleep differently when a room belongs to them and when it can be closed off. A room of one's own, even a small one, is on a temporary stay almost more important than at home. The day is full of new things anyway, an unfamiliar city, perhaps a different language, a new way to school. In the evening it takes a place that becomes familiar, quickly.

The third picture is brighter, softer. White bedding, two cushions in a warm dusky rose, a bouclé armchair with wooden legs, a small round bedside table with a globe lamp. On the wall a slim ladder, from the ceiling a few wooden hangers on a string. It is a room for an older child or for the parents, depending. The pieces are not loud, they invite. And that is exactly the spirit in which we put rooms together. By hand, with vintage and with materials you like to touch.

Short distances, because daily life with a child has no patience for detours

With a child a home is not measured in square metres, but in distances. How far is the playground. Is there a baker around the corner, a pharmacy, a supermarket you can reach quickly even in the rain. A family living in Vienna for a while has no settled routine. Every short distance that works on its own takes off some pressure.

With an apartment we always think of the Grätzl alongside. Not the sight, but the ordinary. The park where children call out in the afternoon. The quiet side street where traffic does not rush through. The tram that gets you home even with a tired child. These are the things you see in no photo and that decide everything in daily life.

Quiet belongs to this. A family home may be lively, but it should not sit above a bar or on a busy through road. The child has to be able to sleep at eight while the parents still sit at the dining table. This coming together of waking and sleeping under one roof is the normal case with a child. A floor plan that separates living and sleeping is therefore worth more than a beautiful view.

Furnished means already arrived

Anyone moving with a family for a few weeks or months cannot arrive with a removal van. Furnished for a while means the bed is there, the table is there, the lamp is on. That sounds obvious and it is not. It makes a difference whether an apartment has been functionally crammed full or whether someone has thought about how a family lives here.

The lamps in the pictures are a good example of this. A table lamp with a fabric shade beside the sofa, a small light by the bed, the warm globe on the bedside table. No cold ceiling light from above that flattens everything. With a child you need light that can be dimmed to a mood in which you come to rest. A reading hour does not work under a neon tube.

And then the small things. The framed botanical drawings on the wall, the hangers on the string, the armchair you curl up in at night. These are no coincidences. It is the attempt to make sure a room does not feel empty from the first day, but like something already a little lived in. Children feel that faster than adults. They know at once whether a place welcomes them or merely tolerates them.

We hand over our apartments in person. For us that is part of it, especially with families. You should know where the nearest playground is, which baker is already open in the morning, where you can shop in the rain. This handover is the first short set of directions in a new life for a while. How we think about and furnish rooms you can read with Martina Rogy.

What stays when you leave again

A temporary home is an in between space. It does not have to last forever, but for the time you are there it should be a real home. With a child this is measured by something simple. Does it sleep well. Does it find its place at the table. Does it have a corner that belongs to it.

The three rooms in these pictures tell exactly of this. A shared living space where you eat and play together. A bedroom that makes the night dark. A second, brighter room for the quiet hours. Different rooms, one spirit. Warm, honest, put together by hand. That is how we want a family to live for a while in Vienna.