This 120-Year-Old Villa's Modern Color Palette Works Wonders — "We Let the House Speak to Us, and That’s What Made It Come to Life"

Blue living room with pale blue chaise sofa, black glass side tables and abstract artwork.

Sometimes the secret behind a home’s visual harmony is hidden to the untrained eye. The key to the "just so-ness" of this weekend retreat on the outskirts of Berlin is, according to its designers, Johanna and Friedrich Gräfling, the humble tape measure.

Here, the duo honed in on a "golden number", explains Friedrich: "Let’s say the height of the skirting boards is 21cm." That figure then informed the measurements that run through this modern home: for the bespoke joinery, the floorboards, the trims. "It’s this architectural, mathematical eye that gives balance to the project," adds Johanna.