We generally share everything around here. All of the fun DIY projects, plenty of behind the scenes chaos and loads of nitty-gritty details of our home and lives.
We were so lucky to live in such an amazing apartment (you can take the full tour of our Berlin apartment here or take the video tour here) and, whilst we are always open and honest here, there are a few bits of our home that we haven’t shared with you – until now!
Here are 7 areas of our apartment building that you never got to see!
The loft.
This obviously isn’t part of our apartment and it’s ultimately meant to be converted into apartments but at the moment it’s one vast, cold and leaky space. I mean, even if you have absolutely no knowledge of anything even remotely building-related I think it’s safe to say that being able to see daylight through your roof is probably not a good thing!
The loft is actually one of the big reasons we decided to sell the apartment (more on that soon!).
The cellar.
We had a huge cellar compartment that came with the apartment. It was vast (probably around the size of our living room) and we quickly managed to fill it with a ton of junk.
Honestly, I sometimes have no idea where all of the stuff comes from! Here’s a glimpse into the cellar hallway. Not exactly the most inviting of spaces, is it?
One fun thing in the cellar is the doorway at the end of this corridor that takes you straight through to the underground! I have no idea why it’s there and the door doesn’t even have a handle! We assume it leads straight to the underground tracks and I’m guessing that adventuring out there wouldn’t be the best of ideas!
The hallway.
Like most of the building, the hallway definitely needed a lot of TLC. It could be spectacular if restored to its former glory (apparently there used to be a runner and brass rods on the staircase). At the moment, it’s dirty with flaky paint and plenty of areas with water damage from burst pipes and leaky balconies.
Ultimately, the goal is to restore it but with a lot of other more pressing maintenance issues like replacing the central heating, renewing the electrics along with a lot a desperately needed new facade at the rear of the building it was just never a priority in the time we lived there.
The lift.
I love the antique lift. It wasn’t practical, it wasn’t very high, the doors opened inwards and we often ended up carrying things up 89 steps because we couldn’t fit them in the lift. Still, it had so much charm and was such a special original feature.
The inner courtyard.
Our building actually had two courtyards – one large one with a garden and this tiny little lightwell that was tucked away on the other side of the building. I would be surprised if all of the people in our building even knew it existed!
Like the rest of the building, it could to with a little TLC but I love the original tiles on the walls. It just makes me wonder what the rest of the building must have looked like when it was first built.
The servant’s staircase.
Needless to say, this staircase and second entrance to our apartment didn’t exactly get a lot of use but it does make me wonder what it must have been like to live in our building when it was first built. I know it was generally an affluent area with lots of impressive buildings but it’s hard to imagine the kind of lifestyle the people would have had.
The safe.
We didn’t share the safe purely for, well, safety reasons. I guess it’s never a good thing to show people where you keep your valuables, especially when millions of people could view it on the internet (in theory at least).
The safe had been painted over a couple of times, so we couldn’t actually get it open but it’s nothing that a bit of scratching away layers of paint wouldn’t have solved. We’d always planned on using it, but we never really had anything worth putting in it and it was just one of those projects that we never got round to.
Don’t forget that if you’d like the full tour of our apartment, we’ve just started a YouTube channel where you can take the full video tour of our home! And, while you’re there why not give us a like and follow, too! We’ve only just started making videos but there are loads of fun projects we’ll be sharing there soon!
Are there any areas of your home that you never share with anyone? Do you have a secret space that you keep to yourself? Do you have a cellar or loft that looks as inviting as ours?!
Gerry says
HOw much of this actually belonged to you? I assumed you were in an aparentment building and somebody else was responsible for the hall etc?
Christine says
Yes, we were in an apartment building and these are all areas of the building that we’d not shared before. Ultimately, we (and every other person who owned an apartment) were responsible for the maintenance of the whole building. You have to pay your share of any costs which varies depending on how large your apartment is.
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