AFFECT

Area: 106 m2
Year: 2020
Designer: Julia Baydyk
Photographer: Andrey Bezuglov
Shooting stylist: Natasha Yegorova
Artists and brands: TASHA ORO, Elena Savelyeva, Sophie Decor, Old Store, DEVO home, Vistosi
Text: Julia Baydyk

We were very lucky with our customers. We created this project together with an unusual young and friendly family. The main inspiration and source of energy for the renovation was a very interesting and effective woman who works in the theatre. From the first meeting, it became clear how much she cares about the comfort and happiness of her beloved family, and we were happy to help them make their dreams come true.

This apartment has a very favorable location – the last floor with a balcony. It offers gorgeous views of lakes, houses, clouds, and incredible sunsets. We tried to think over the layout in such a way as to maximize the panorama of this beautiful view and create a lounge area where it would be pleasant to contemplate the peaceful landscape. This should be the leisure area for relaxing, filling with the morning sun and enjoying a cup of fragrant coffee, and at the end of the day gazing the sunset and watching the smooth flickering of the lights and bustle of the city.

Customers were not giving their consent to the proposed planning solution for a very long time: it seemed to them that it was strange to demolish the walls in the center of the apartment, and they were tormented by vague doubts. To show the correctness of our recommendation, we have designed eight layout options to choose from.

After the first visualizations, the whole family loved our idea and agreed on the experiment. The original organization of the apartment, laid down in the project of the building, was quite cramped, with an incomprehensible corridor for us, which absorbed the entire space. We tore down every possible wall to make room.

We really like the idea of an open joint kitchen, living room, and dining area. We are not adherents of the scenario when the hostess prepares food for everyone in the kitchen alone, while her husband and children rest separately somewhere in another room. By removing all unnecessary walls, we have changed the way of interaction between all the family members. By opening the space for communication, we open a new chapter of the family and fill it with new rituals.

The island kitchen is perfect for a quick light breakfast or snack. At least, we conceived it for this, but our customers have already loved this place so much now that they use it constantly. The dining and living room area, where everyone can sit around one large table, under the stylish Italian chandelier Vistosi spreading its arms wide, is used only when friends or relatives gather to have dinner.

It took us quite a long time to figure out what to do with the sofa, so that all the elements and colours of the interior were fitted correctly and there was no overload of textures. At first, we considered options with a very bright relief fabric, but in the end we came to a calm palette. It turned out to be a very large three-meter long sofa providing enough space for everyone.

The plaster is also made in calm shades. We inserted profiles into it and covered it with a bronze patina of exactly the same color as on the Vistosi lamps above the island. The parquet is painted in a very soft brown shade. We made about nine repaints to get exactly the colour our customers will be satisfied with: not too brown, not too red, and not too green.

The master bedroom of the owners with its own dressing room and bathroom turned out to be very comfortable and calm, which should be a real place of rest. We used pleasant to the touch fabric and wooden wall panels and laconic textiles in it. It is tactile sensations that largely form a sense of comfort, so we took care of high-quality bed linen. Usually, there is a minimum of free space in the bedroom (the bed occupies most of it), and it is better to use it rationally. Therefore, we limited ourselves to just a couple of items and books on the bedside tables, laconic artistic accents, and neat lamps.
Artistic elements bring diversity to the discreet atmosphere.

Once again, we were lucky enough to meet people who love black humor, are ready to experiment and are not afraid of colour. This project is another story about family love, the constant laughter during repairs and the nervous giggles and twitching eye of the customer during the mistakes of builders and various contractors. The most important thing is that this story ended successfully. Although why did it end? It’s just starting to get on with its life without us.

Artists and brands:

Kitchen: upcycle panel (on the left on the wall) and painting - TASHA ORO. 

Living room: carpet and tables - Sophie Decor shop, on the dining table by the window - upcycle sculpture "Infanta" TASHA ORO. 

Bedroom: graphics on the nightstand - Elena Savelyeva.

Bathroom: plaster cast "Foot" and metal console - Old Store.