Everything Must Go

"We really love to cook and much of our home life revolves around our kitchen. When we have friends over it’s great to buzz around here; it’s almost like a cooking show. We’re a very equal couple. We wanted the kitchen island to be a single form that we could both use. We can both cook and we can both wash the dishes. The whole thing is really easy to clean as it’s just one main surface that you can wipe down. So the preparation surfaces, the hob [cooktop], and the sink are accessible from both sides. It’s a simple, fun, form-follows-function principle: Store, wash, prepare, cook, eat."

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"We really fell for the building and these fabulous original features—–the elaborate decorative plasterwork ceiling and the tiled floors. Plus we have a big expansive view at the back, which is quite precious in the city—–we overlook a soccer pitch built on former railway tracks."

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The couple took down a wall to create the open kitchen and lounge space where Tham and Hanna play. Wooden panels that aped a Swiss chalet also came down out of the “interior patio,” making the dining room more palatable.

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"It’s typical for Barcelona buildings from this period that the bedrooms are divided with decorative plaster columns and a cornice to create a curtained-off alcove for the bed, separating it from the more public part of the rest of the room. We opened up our bedroom, but we conserved that feature in Hanna’s room, and now every morning she wants to play dress-up."

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"When this building was constructed the toilets would have been outside. In our previous place we had a tiny shower in a tiny bathroom that you could barely stretch your arms out in, so we moved here knowing we wanted to make the bathroom something special. We planned this grand freestanding bathtub-and-sink unit with the same materials as the kitchen - plywood and slate."

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