In high school, Sarolta Hüttl’s step-grandmother, an architectural historian, gifted her a book on the Bauhaus, and those stunning pages propelled an ongoing fascination with the revolutionary school and the 20th-century design movement it sparked. “The mix of fine arts, photography, and theater was interesting for me,” recalls Sarolta, who studied architecture at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics.

Naturally, Bauhaus principles were front and center when Sarolta tackled her most personal design project yet, the airy Budapest apartment she shares with her husband, director Luka Kostil, and their four-year-old son, Misha, in a quiet, leafy neighborhood. “I knew immediately it was Bauhaus,” she says, thinking back to the first time she saw the home and its 968-square-foot floor plan.

Before: Entry

After: Entry

Indeed, it is—the flat is set in a protected 1930s villa-turned-apartment building sporting an alluringly shabby facade that some residents want to insulate and paint white. Others, like Sarolta, revel in its distinctive, dusty-pink tint that evokes Mediterranean buildings. It brings a magical aura to Sarolta’s home, which she considers a contemporary reimagining of the Bauhaus spirit.

Before: Living Area

After: Living Area

Over the course of a year, Sarolta transformed the dark, run-down space into a light-filled, layered sanctuary. She moved the primary bedroom into the old kitchen, adding a closet that blends into the wall, and she expanded the bathroom and updated it with swaths of Hungarian-made cement tiles.

Before: Kitchen

After: Kitchen

After: Primary Bedroom

Sarolta spent a portion of her childhood in San Francisco, and the sun streaming through the windows from the terrace lends the living room an aptly relaxed California vibe. To honor the villa’s roots, she preserved elements like a ceiling light that mingles effortlessly with Marset pendants—the first items she and Luka bought, before a design scheme was even hatched. Luka, points out Sarolta, “thinks about lighting in a filmmaking way.” The new floor is an homage, too—Sarolta replicated the original chevron pattern but slightly rotated it for a fresh twist, bolstered by stone baseboards.

Before: Kid’s Bedroom

After: Kid’s Bedroom

Behind the radiator, the couple installed the same tile they had in a former beloved apartment. The Hay sofa, its deep-blue hue echoing the Bauhaus embrace of primary colors, is also nostalgic, for the couple fell in love with the style while on vacation. Vintage and antique treasures—a kilim rug, a late-19th-century chest of drawers inherited from Sarolta’s grandmother—are buoyed by artworks from Hungarian talents. The Bauhaus flair for the industrial is evident too, exemplified by the metallic bookcases from Sarolta’s stepfather and the storage unit demarcating the kitchen that flows off the living room.

After: Bathroom

Before: Terrace

After: Terrace

In the kitchen, an expanse of neutral-toned tile is juxtaposed with vivid mint-green Valchromat cabinetry and a pocket of mirror-backed shelving that houses selections from Sarolta’s ceramics trove. Her family founded the renowned, now-defunct Hüttl Tivadar porcelain company in the mid-19th century, and Sarolta’s sister Melinda is an artist upholding the ceramics tradition—some of her organic creations are deftly woven into the decor.

“Much of the design,” says Sarolta, “came from our past and different memories.”

After: Exterior

More Before & After stories:

In the Caribbean, a Couple Bring an Old Wooden Prefab Back to Shipshape Condition

In Spain, an Architect Restores an Iconic Home Built by His Grandparents

She Pivoted a “Corporate” Apartment Into a Cozy, Wood-Wrapped Home

Project Credits:

Designer: Studio Sarolta Hüttl / @saroltahuttl

Builder: Ferenc Juhos

Interior Design: Studio Sarolta Hüttl

Cabinetry Design: Péter Beke

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Before & After: Memory Guided the Design of This Bauhaus-Style Budapest Flat