St. Oak Apartments: Charming vacation apartments in Brandenburg

Laura Muthesius and Nora Eisermann from Berlin combined their passion for photography and food styling and founded “Our Food Stories” together. On their social media channels and blog, they share gluten-free and vegetarian recipes as well as interior inspiration with hundreds of thousands of readers under the name “Designtales”.

In 2023, the two took on a new challenge: the development of vacation apartments in Brandenburg, the St. Oak Apartments. The accommodation combines a minimalist Scandinavian style with a cozy English country house style. The first guests have been welcomed there since this summer. In this interview, the two tell us about the renovation process, the furnishings and reveal their insider tips for the area.

How did you come up with the idea of opening a vacation apartment?

We both love traveling and as Laura has some food intolerances, we always travel via Airbnb. We often lacked some cooking equipment in the kitchens and so at some point we came up with the idea of renovating a vacation apartment ourselves, where at best absolutely nothing is missing and you really feel at home. So far, we have had such great feedback from our guests and are delighted to be able to share this special place with others.

How did the renovation process go and what was your biggest learning from it?

Fortunately, we had already done a few renovation projects before and knew what we were getting into :) Of course, something never goes according to plan, in our case that the entire old concrete floor had to be knocked out and there were layers of tar underneath. This delayed the building site for weeks and turned it into a huge cloud of dust. We were so happy when the new wooden floor was finally in place.

What concept did you follow when furnishing and where do you get your interior inspiration from?

We've been traveling a lot in Denmark and Sweden in recent years and really love the Scandinavian interior design style. We often particularly like the mix of new and old. Traveling always inspires us the most - whether it's a vacation home, a friend's house or apartment or simply an interior store in Copenhagen - you always come back from a trip with lots of inspiration. We also have a soft spot for English kitchens - hence the beautiful deVOL kitchen in the apartment.

The apartment building is located in Kyritz in Brandenburg. What makes the area a great vacation destination for you?

Laura grew up partly in the area and when we met, Nora quickly fell in love with the region too. You are surrounded by beautiful forests, lakes and fields and you can always find a quiet spot by the lake where you can enjoy nature undisturbed. The area is really not overcrowded and we particularly appreciate that. In summer, there's always a wild flower field to discover somewhere and at the “Insl” in Kyritz, you can eat wonderful burgers and tarte flambée or a wild herb salad while looking out over the beautiful lake. Cyclists also get their money's worth here - whether it's a bike tour through the forest or on the dirt road across the fields - there are always beautiful routes to discover!

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St. Oak Apartments: Charming vacation apartments in Brandenburg

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