An Ever-evolving Apartment in Berlin

HOUSE TOUR | ROOMS & GARDENS | WORLD OF CABANA

Collector and tastemaker Theodora Melnik walks Cabana through her color-rich apartment in Berlin, a modest space where mood and time shape each renovation—resulting in a home that feels both deeply personal and quietly cinematic.

BY LUCREZIA LUCAS | ROOMS & GARDENS | 26 JULY 2025

When Theodora Melnik first stepped into her Berlin apartment on a sweltering summer day in 2013, it wasn’t love at first sight—it was relief. “It was blazing hot outside, and the flat, with its thick walls and northern orientation, felt like a cool oasis,” she recalls. That physical sensation of the space offering something, set the tone for the years to come.

Theodora approaches home-making with a blend of instinct and emotion. “As a child, I wasn’t allowed to change anything in my bedroom—not even a poster,” she says. “So as soon as I moved into my first flat, it was this incredible release. I could finally build a space that spoke to me.” Her aesthetic, while eclectic, is never random. Each room is an evolving composition, filtered through memory, mood and use.

When Theodora and her partner moved into the apartment, unrenovated and relatively untouched, they were given free reign. “It actually says in the contract that we can do whatever we want,” she says. “So I took that literally.” Her home is a softly layered collection of rooms, each with its own chromatic identity, yet tethered to the others by tone and texture. The bedroom, painted in a rich yellow she describes as “almost chartreuse,” with colors pulled from an antique carpet, was the first she tackled. “I thought, if I don’t like it, I’ll repaint—and I never did. There’s something so joyful and soothing about waking up in yellow light.” 

The green-walled kitchen balances aesthetics with function: a place to live, to host, and to quietly recalibrate. The living room is the most fluid; she describes the room as a collection of favorite pieces rather than a defined concept, although she’s toying with the idea of reinstalling a dramatic five-meter Cadovius wall unit currently in storage. “It would be a bold choice... Maybe by the end of the summer.”

When asked about design regrets or missteps, she smiles: “It’s not about regret. It’s about how you live in a space—and what it tells you over time, what it needs. You live in it and begin to sense how it behaves, how it makes you feel, whether it asks something more of you. And I suppose my needs change over time too.” One example: a favourite vintage Italian sofa, lovingly reupholstered, is now due to be replaced—not for lack of charm, but because it impractically only seats one.

Since 2013, the space has been ever-evolving—“I tend to sit with the idea for a new project for some time before making any final decisions, leaving enough time in between  to encounter things I might find inspiring for that particular project. It’s really a case of curating inspiration over time, I’d say.”

Though her boyfriend prefers white walls and clean lines, Theodora’s home remains a tapestry of compromise. “He’s been very patient. Now I’m repainting our pantry from pink to white. I think he’s had enough of my very colourful side” she laughs.

There’s a youthful yet nostalgic warmth to her interiors—mid-century silhouettes, ambient lighting, natural textures. “Maybe it’s my love for old things,” she says. “Or maybe it’s just that my grandparents had beautiful furniture, and that memory stayed with me.” Her rooms don’t mimic the past; they nod to it, reinterpret it. Having studied history at university, she muses on her fascination with old things—“maybe that’s my way of justifying my degree to myself,” she laughs, though surely, her thriftiness and eye for vintage and quirky pieces justify the degree a little more.

In truth, her design decisions are quietly shaped by her travels and memories — Italian palazzi glimpsed on annual trips, mid-century furniture inherited from grandparents, objects found and re-found in faraway places. And while many of her treasures are sourced from afar, each is chosen with time and purpose. In a city like Berlin, known for its dynamism and friction, Theodora's home feels personal, present, and calm: a lived-in world where nothing's ever really finished, but therein lies the beauty.