Respect for those who do it themselves. So goes the slogan of a chain of German home improvement stores that plays up their customers pride as weekend contractors. Things were different in the Cold War days of the old East Germany (GDR) when a lack of resources meant that people took on home projects out of pure necessity. Do-it-yourself work was in demand then, including at this holiday enclave on the Netzener See, a lake southwest of Potsdam roughly an hour by car from Berlin. The original homeowners built all of the 45 lakeside bungalows in the woods themselves, the last of them in the 1980s.The trendy butter yellow bedroom is part of a palette that adds up to a colorful scene.Berlin residents Julia Carloff-Winkelmann and Jan Winkelmann converted one 300-square-foot cottage in the community into a weekend home for themselves and their teenage daughter. The HR manager and the gallery director wanted to go beyond merely furnishing it to also do a good deal of restoring the cottage themselves. With some help from friends, Jan tore down interior walls and laid the terrazzo flooring. Hes enjoyed puttering around on home tasks since he was a teenager, and the bungalow became a welcome distraction during the pandemic. Its been five years now since the couple bought the little housewhich was first built in 1964and this year they will also reimagine its 4,300-square-foot garden.A weekend escape: 45 mini homes make up this holiday area to the southwest of Potsdam.The exterior of the humble cottage with its shed roof is a plain white. Step inside, however, and colors dance in the light. Walls glow in light blue and yellow, while the kitchen cabinets are pink, the worktop is eggplant, and the bathroom tiles a deep red. The Winkelmanns combined it all with a solid, and fearless, instinct for colors, evoking an atmosphere of endless summerno small feat given Brandenburgs notoriously unpredictable, and often gray, weather. Thanks to a clever reorganizing of the floor plan and the room layouts, the 300-square-foot cottage feels spacious. The entrance leads directly into the living room with a kitchenette, before you continue on to the bedroom with a sleeping alcove and bathroom. The couple used a few tricks to achieve the maximum use of the space they had to work with, including extending a counter under the living room windowsill so that they wouldnt need a separate dining table. An extra-wide window was added in the wall above the kitchen installation, allowing light to flood in as it makes the room appear larger than it actually is.Color pops in the bathroom as red and pink tiles are paired with black grouting and fittings.The couple used a few tricks to achieve the maximum use of the space they had to work with, including extending a counter under the living room windowsill so that they wouldnt need a separate dining table. An extra-wide window was added in the wall above the kitchen installation, allowing light to flood in as it makes the room appear larger than it actually is.Since family life goes on mostly outside, a counter was extended from the windowsill to take the place of a dining table. Its just large enough to function as a place for meals and as an impromptu workspace. The stools are from Tiptoe.An architect friend of the Winkelmanns suggested they put in a new window while a structural engineer they know helped to calculate whether the walls would be able to withstand the renovation. The couple also sought professional help on the electrical system that dated from the 1960s and had to be completely replaced. The solid old metal fuse box on the back wall is a reminder of the bungalows original condition.The new, light gray terrazzo floor connects the living room and bedroom.Jan taught himself the ins and outs of renovation, down to determining the best sequencing for the construction work. An old manualwith the hilariously dry title Permit-Free Building Projectswas also helpful in illustrating which measures can be carried out without a building permit. For everything else you need an architect, and it can then take a while before all the necessary paperwork is issued.The bungalow floor plan was totally redesigned. The bed is now tucked in an alcove next to the bathroom. A work by Berlin artist Gerold Miller hangs on the wall.Jan was actively involved in every phase of the renovation. He worked with mock-ups when designing the interiors and, during construction, he even hung a bucket from the ceiling to check whether a pendant light would be the right choice for the living room. (This exercise led Jan to conclude that the fixture would be too large.) He opted instead for a Tom Dixon-designed Melt ceiling lamp that provides an especially atmospheric light.A newly installed window in the kitchenette, combined with fresh pastels, creates a space with a warm glow.Above the kitchen installation, an Ixa light designed by Foster + Partners for Artemide. The kitchen itself is from IKEA, and a cabinetmaker has added a custom linoleum worktop, while metal cabinet handles are from the Swedish brand Toniton. Jan has long been passionate about contemporary art and a few select works were a must.Smart home: With just more than 300 square feet of space, the bungalow feels surprisingly spacious.