This Couple Created Color in Their 635-Square-Foot Berlin Rental Apartment

Name: Talia Taxman and her partner
Location: Berlin, Germany
Type of home: Apartment
Size: 635 square feet
Years lived in: 1 year, renting

Tell us a little (or a lot) about your home and the people who live there: My partner Ron and I left our home in Brooklyn to explore a stint in Berlin. Finding an apartment felt nearly impossible due to the housing shortage in in the city. Six sublets later, we were finally able to unpack our bags in our current apartment. The apartment came furnished with mostly white IKEA basics.

As new-comers, and likely temporary guests in Berlin, we didn’t want to purchase new furniture for our place. Instead, we outfitted the apartment with some additional free furniture from eBay, and tried to add as much color to the space as we could with a few coats of paint, clr shop blankets, pottery, and plants. It was important to us to have a vibrant space in a city that can otherwise be quite gray for half of the year!

I am an artist focused in multiple mediums. For most of my young adult life, my world centered around my musical project “Rodes Rollins.” Design (and design of spaces) has also always been an important creative facet for me. Ron and I ran a creative artist loft in Brooklyn where we lived and recorded music. We opened the space up to others for photoshoots, films, and meetings. We hosted groups like Spotify, Adidas, and Free People in our space among many others! When the pandemic hit, our loft project as well as my touring music career came to a standstill. This is when I decided to open clr shop, selling my woven textile designs online.

My work at clr shop is focused on whimsical and bold designs. All of these artistic pursuits have informed my living spaces both physically and emotionally. Not to mention our home is constantly filled to the brim with clr shop samples and musical instruments, which automatically creates quite a statement and says — Ron and Talia definitely live here!

Describe your home’s style in 5 words or less: Artistic, Colorful, Whimsical, Neat, Calm

What is your favorite room and why? My favorite room is our bedroom. One of the best parts about landing an apartment in Berlin (if you’re lucky enough to find a lease), is the amount of space you can get. Having lived in New York for the past 10 years, I’ve generally made due with shoeboxes for living space. Our room in Berlin is spacious enough to move about freely and breathe. We also have two large windows that look out to an unobstructed view of a large park. We always tell our New York friends — it’s like we landed a spot right on Prospect Park!

What’s the last thing you bought (or found!) for your home? This morning, a bought some beautiful and wintery deep red flowers for our bedroom at the farmers market in our neighborhood. I don’t know what this specific variety are called, but for me, having fresh flowers in the bedroom makes me feel so calm.

Any advice for creating a home you love? Hold on to the stuff that really counts. I am a minimalist at heart, but when we came to Berlin, I made sure to take the art and personal belongings that really meant something to me. Mugs from my grandparents, vases painted with friends, little trinkets for good luck. When we were finally able to unpack our bags, I was so grateful to see all of these little things. It made me feel at home at a time when I felt so homesick! Drinking coffee out of my grandpa’s favorite mug makes me think of him every morning.

This tour’s responses and photos were edited for length/size and clarity.
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