Hello home, Melanie Porthun

Totally in love with your amazing and colorful home! But first, tell us a little about yourself!
Thank you so much! I feel so honoured by your interest. 
My name is Melanie, I am 38 years old & live with my Husband, 2 kids under 6 and a teenager in an art nouveau building in Hamburg. I worked for many years as a fashion buyer. After the birth of my first child, I wanted to do something new and started studying Art History and Islamic Science. Interior was always a big passion and only because of the pandemic and some changes in my husband’s career I was thinking about starting my own business. For that reason I started an Instagram account in the beginning of 2021. That account eventually led to my dream job as a social media manager for an interior brand. Before I even knew I was suddenly decorating shooting setups and involved in design ideas together with a lovely little team. 

Tell us everything about your home?
We've been living in this flat roughly for 3 years. The first decision we made before we moved in, was to get rid of the woodchip wallpaper in each room and since we had to paint all the walls anyways, we decided to have a bit of color in every room. So, there is literally not a single white wall in any of our rooms. We have a very big flat since we are 5 people, we live on 170 qm.

Where do you find inspiration?
Nowadays I find my inspiration basically everywhere, but Instagram, traveling, art museums and interior books have the biggest impact, I guess. Especially our travels to Pakistan had a big influence, since colors are just used so different from Germany in fashion & interior.

Do you have any tips when decorating with a lot of colors?
I would always recommend starting with the walls, either with some lovely art or painting the walls. In the end if you are not happy with the results those things are easier to change then a colorful couch for example. My hot tip would maybe be to paint the fifth wall, the ceiling, in a nice color. Never forget the ceiling!

Your best places in Hamburg  when it comes to interior finds?
The flats of other people, haha! I love Ebay, a lot of our signature pieces were found there. But when I am looking for some new trends, I recommend Minimarkt in the Sternschanze. 

What’s your next project?
We collected a lot of sea shells in our last holiday on the Maldives and I want to do something nice with it, I am thinking to beautify an old vase with it. 

What do you do on a free Sunday?
Camping, a family bike ride, cooking, playing frisbee or basketball… in any case my Sundays evolve around the family and good food. 

What’s your super power?
Probably being resilient and laughing a lot.

What’s your favorite snack?
Right now, my favorite snack is a rice biscuit mix with wasabi and peanuts.

My favorite song is…
Difficult to choose one but “Two worlds apart” by Little Simz and “On a roll” by Balthasar are up there right now. 

You would never find this in my home…
True chaos. I am never bothered by the chaos of others, but if I am untidy in busy times, I feel like I am losing control over my Life. The only thing I just can’t get to grips with is our laundry.

I would like to travel to...
Afghanistan, Syria and Iran.

My best memory is from…
Always traveling and holidays – it’s like a parallel universe, when you travel and truly try to get to know a country, the culture and the people you come home so much richer.

I love when people…
Stay childish.