Life has taken me to a lot of places. I was born in Germany, spent my teenage years growing up in sunny California and finished school in Zell am See, a small village in the Austrian Alps. After graduating high school, I then made the move to Vienna to pursue a bachelor’s degree in communication and PR – which is also the time that my blog Bikinis & Passports came to life in 2010.

Little did I know that one day it would turn into my full-time job as a content creator (@vickyheiler) and even lead me to creating my own swim and resort wear brand (@viktorialouise.official).

2020 was a year of change. As someone who was used to sitting in an airplane on a weekly basis, spending over 100 nights per year in a hotel and constantly being on-the-go, this year has allowed me to be home more than ever before.

I have always been a lover of all things interior, and being away so much has made it even more important to have a place I truly love to come back to. To recharge my batteries.

However, in the past, the lack of time was a major reason why some projects were simply left unfinished - like our entry way that was lined with shoes, carefully sprinkled in every corner but never organized or stored away.

In theory, there is a lot of place, a lot of room for ideas and plenty of opportunity for storage space. But the challenge lies somewhere else: The entry way leads from the front door and guest toilet towards our bedroom. Being the person I am, having an affinity for fashion (and shoes) and constantly running out the door somewhere, the entry was lined with shoes. And finding an aesthetically appealing shoe shelf that also allowed for a place to store bedroom-related things such as linens and fresh towels, made for mission (almost) impossible. Not to mention that a few years ago, we decided to stay away from short-lived trend pieces and focus more on timeless items for our home that would stay with us for a longer time.

That’s where USM Haller came into play.

Thanks to the customizable solutions for any space, the modular storage systems are the perfect fit for our needs. Elegant and timeless, yet very practical and with enough space.

I spent hours on the online configurator, perfecting every last detail of our USM Haller sideboard. The options and possibilities are endless and we were finally able to combine a beautiful-looking shoe shelf with a place to keep fresh bedding and towels on hand close to the bedroom. Since it was very important to me, to separate the two (at least from a psychological stand point), I opted for open spaces between the shoe drawers and the linen shelving. Plus, this feature adds a decorative aspect to the otherwise very sleek white sideboard.

To me, living a beautiful life is all about our personal needs combined with aesthetics. If things simply look good but do not have function or a purpose, it is wasted space. Just like furniture that is only functional does not satisfy my visual cravings.

With our USM Haller sideboard, I know it will always be a part of our home. We may change things up over the years. We may add to it or turn it into two separate items. But we will always have it in our home thanks to the endless possibilities and opportunities the modular furniture by USM Haller creates.