It had been our dream to buy an old apartment and transform it with touches of espanyolet while also preserving its history. It was the perfect opportunity to flex our interior design muscles.
When we purchased this apartment in Berlin in early 2018, it was perfectly livable. It had been a rental, however, and various finishes & surfaces had been added in the 1990s which detracted from its original beauty, grandeur and history.
So the first thing we did was pretty much take it down to the studs to reveal what had been covered up, and to see what we could polish off, bring back and add with a touch of our signature espanyolet colors, textures & style.
Take a look at the ‘before’ photos here and then jump down to the ‘after’ ones a bit further down.
We say: limitations lead to creative design solutions. So when designing the minuscule bedroom, it was important we do three things: bring in the light, keep it simple and make it functional.
This room used to be a very narrow "shotgun" kitchen and at only 2 meters wide, we had to work with its limitations to intelligently transform it into a bedroom. The result is a perfect little sleeping nook with a Japanese-style tatami bed. It was not only functional with drawers underneath for storage, but its height also brought us face-to-face with the lush chestnut tree outside.
We finished it off with quiet + calm decor. Many of you have been so surprised to see us design a bedroom with so little color but this is, of course, by design. Sometimes a quiet + tranquil space in which to sleep is a bit of a retreat from the busy-ness of the day.
FLOORS + WINDOWS • Quite possibly the most breathtaking old details in this historic space, the floors + windows deserved extra attention in this renovation.
When we bought the apartment, the floor was covered with layers of plastic laminate as well as the typical 'ox blood' painted floor boards. We got rid of these immediately to uncover the beautiful original wide pine planks which we knew would reflect the spirit + light we wanted to showcase in our space.
The window arches needed quite a bit of love, and after several coats of fresh new white paint, the double glazed windows also became the perfect passageway for Berlin's morning sun.
And lastly, our flea market finds combined with a few original midcentury modern splurges, and this one corner in the living room definitely filled up with old world Berlin character.
PATINA WALL • When designing spaces, we like to take it slow and get a sense of what colors + light best reflect the spirit of the place. What was clear from day one, was that we'd bring a soft + subdued application of our espanyolet colors into our apartment.
The work we did over a few weeks' time to determine which color was best for our hand-troweled patina wall came out of a lot of consideration for what the apartment already had: its northwest-facing windows and the reflection from the red tile roofs across the courtyard. And of course the lush chestnut tree outside our windows -- how fitting that the name on the dye we chose was called CHESTNUT.
The did a series of tests of different concentrations of the chestnut pigment and noticed how dialed up and dialed down, the color consistently had a warm peachy tone with undercurrents of cooler rose. It ended up being the perfect color to bring a glow to the entire space.
The bathroom had been a labor of love in this renovation, but we like to say that if you're going to splurge on materials, do it in the smallest room in your space.
In the bathroom, the focus was to introduce tactile surfaces so we felt like we were walking on the ground, not on some slick artificial surface.
We’d recently traveled to Morocco where we’d fallen in love with zelij — handmade tiles that beautifully cover nearly every surface of the souks of Marrakech and Fez. We purposely chose original terracotta tiles that evoke the rich sand color of the region. We opted for unglazed tiles, so there is no slick surface, but rather a soft, tactile feel that’s so natural underfoot.
To complete the space, the we opted for factory style shower doors — handmade by craftsman in Poland — giving the master bath a cool, contemporary edge.
When transforming our space, it was important to bring in both 'high' and 'low' elements....meaning, we allocated budgets to spend big when it was necessary, and be a bit more thrifty where we could. We're a big fan of flea markets, so finding objects there and thoughtfully placing them next to higher end pieces was definitely something we sought to do.
Our space had not one closet so we searched for months for the perfectly sized armoire to house all clothes. We found this little Craftsman-style beauty, rehabbed her and found a way for her to sit nicely between the kitchen, dining + living areas.
And of course our plush velvet couch....this was a bit of a splurge, but again, we wanted to bring in the rich warmth of the chestnut wall which stands as the centerpiece of our combined living, dining + kitchen spaces. We're so lucky that it not only looks good, but it's also the perfect place for a siesta.
The essence of home unfolds over time, as do the new rituals + routines that we create in a new space. This light-filled kitchen, for example, is home to our coveted oat milk matcha lattes each morning. As we move slowly through this routine, we take in the warm light coming in through the courtyard and consider what to tackle over the day.
For us, designing our own space is about transforming it over time, slowly and thoughtfully. We wanted to respect the history of the space, but also make room for new traditions and contemporary ways of living. It didn't happen in a day, a week or even a month because gosh, to find some our favorite curios took TIME combing all those flea markets!
To read more about this full interior design project, hop on over to Lonny or Apartment Therapy (click links).