Designer's apartment

Designer's apartment.
My most complex and longest project for today. And, of course, the most long-expected. My own apartment.
Designers find it difficult to design their houses themselves. Because all day we go around in an endless cycle of objects, finishing materials and all kinds of solutions, where it is sometimes difficult to stop on something specific and give preference to one item out of a million. Whether it is a matter to delegate this occupation to colleagues. But here the other side works: who exactly to choose for the most responsible and secret project. And then, how is it so, I’m a designer myself, I won’t manage, I know myself and my family best. And there is also 100-500 that can go wrong, and how I will sleep peacefully, without delving into everything when it goes wrong there. Plus, where else, if not in your own home, realize all the dreams that customers may not agree to. Therefore, a strong-willed decision was made to do everything from start to finish by myself.
The whole process together with the design project took more than a year. We even have record items that we have been waiting for 10 months.
Why such a long time: the apartment is located in one of the residential complexes in Kiev, where, as luck would have it, there were not enough large single-level apartments, so I had to combine two apartments (three-room and one-room). For example, the area occupied by the kitchen-living room in the current apartment used to be a whole one-room apartment.
Another factor that greatly influenced the timing is the large-scale soundproofing. It is no secret that in most new buildings in Kiev there is a very strong audibility between apartments and floors, therefore this item was our fundamental desire. True, at first it was necessary to demolish absolutely all the walls and even the screed from the builder in order to make a new screed that already meets all the requirements without eating the height of the room (the ceilings are already low there). But with the help of visual techniques, such as high interior doors and the absence of a ceiling plinth, we were able to visually increase the room, and now nothing presses on the head, as many people like to say. And the feeling is like in an expensive hotel, there are no extra sounds from neighbors.
The total area is 125 square meters. Exactly as much as you need for a comfortable life of 4 people and a cat. It contains everything you need: an isolated entrance hall with a wardrobe and a guest bathroom, a children's room and a separate bathroom with a bathtub and a bidet for children, a master bedroom (which resembles a room in a hotel because it has its own wardrobe, a bathroom and a workplace), a guest room, a kitchen-living room and even a small library with a vinyl player and reading place. Initially, it was planned that each child will have their own children's room, but when I sat down to draw a plan and analyzed the days of our lives, I realized that this is impossible in the next 5-7 years. Since the girls have a small age difference (2.5 years), they have a lot of common things, places of storage, interests. We decided not to complicate our lives, not to multiply 2 identical wardrobes, not to think in whose room to put each toy, not to be torn in the evenings in reading fairy tales before going to bed, and so far we have identified both girls in the same children's room. And at the same time we’ve got another separate guest room in which the nanny can live when we are in the business trip. And in the future one of the children will move there.
We love to read, that’s why in each room there are enough shelves for books. And to read even more, there are no televisions in the bedrooms. TV is only in the living room, and it is used as a home cinema. What a roche bobois reclining sofa helps a lot.
About the style of interior, as in all projects of our studio, here is absolute eclecticism (there is no clearly pronounced one style). I wanted to combine the elements of constructivism (the blue and orange colors were taken from the box of children's plasticine from the Soviet era, the furniture uses walnut veneer, one of the armchairs is a 60s model, the picture on the interior doors is also an echo of communal apartments), French (floor windows, pistachio walls, parquet - French tree) and Scandinavian styles (almost all lamps and much of the furniture of Scandinavian manufacturers). I am comfortable to live in such eclectic interiors, they allow you to painlessly add children's crafts, grandmother's rarities, tourist finds. I like to mix obviously seemingly incompatible things: classic kitchen facades, Ukrainian handmade rug, fur chair, brands and mass market. This is a rather complicated work, for which there is not enough academic knowledge, we still need some experience, familiarity and an intimate sense. But after giving all these things the right colors, textures, accessories, ornaments, we get an unexpectedly beautiful picture at the output. I call such interiors very “touching” (both emotionally and tactilely). Especially the sofa in the living room - the heterogeneous color and rough soft surface resemble a grandmother's tweed jacket, it is simply impossible to tear yourself away from him, I want to hug it. I say the same thing about &tradition Little petra chair (it looks like a lamb).
Many will say that all this is very impractical: the shelves will become dusty, the books will need to be wiped endlessly, the cat will lick the chair, the child will vomit the sofa and that’s all. But we live here and now, and the house exists for us, not us for the house. Nothing lasts forever, but beautiful things, yes, require attention, therefore I prefer to enjoy the moment.
A special pride of this project is that it does not have fakes and copies. All items are original.
But this is our principled position in Neevroremont studio - you may have not enough money for the original thing - replace it with something authentic. There are millions of chairs and lamps in the world, do not order an exact copy of what you like, but expensive, buy something cheaper, but original or invent it yourself. After all, a copy will never bring that pleasure to anyone and will not serve even half the term as the original will.

Photo by Andrey Bezuglov
www.facebook.com/and...

List of items and manufacturers by premises

Parquet Listone Giordano
Interior doors Ghizzy&Benatti
Mirror door in the hallway ADIELLE Porte
In all bathrooms and library furniture made by the Ukrainian manufacturer according to the designer's sketches
Radiators Arbonia
Curtains fabric German factory Carlucci
Electrical fittings Jung
Spotlights BPM Lighting

Main Bedroom:
Bed and bench bolzan letti
Bedside tables Novamobili
Wallpapers Arte
Bookshelf, desk and chair BoConcept
Accessories: vitra, 52 Factory
Lighting: Petite Friture, Marset
Painting Alexander Roytburd

Bathroom in the master bedroom:
Tiles Equipe Ceramicas collection Art Nouveau
Toilet bowl and washbasin Cielo
Heated towel rail Cordivari
Glass partition Liberta
Lamp by the mirror Menu Bulb
Painting Jul Tron www.facebook.com/jul...

Children's room:
Furniture Lifetime Kidsrooms
Lighting: Vita Eos, заяц Mooi, Nemo Lighting (wall lamp Mini Lampe de Marseille design LE CORBUSIER)
Armchair &Tradition Fly chair
Carpet brought from Morocco market

Children's bathroom:
Tile Equipe Ceramicas collection Art Nouveau
The print on the wall tile is made and printed to order
Heated towel rail Cordivari
Accessories Seletti Submarino, furniture handles Zara Home

Guest toilet:
Tile Equipe Ceramicas Fragments, on the floor Equipe Ceramicas Woodland Honey
Wallpapers Cole & Son, on the ceiling Eijffinger collection Venue
Lighting Menu Bulb, Nuura Miira
Accessories: Morocco mirrors, furniture handles Zara Home

Guest room:
Furniture and carpet Ikea
Wooden beads and pillow brought from Morocco

Hallway:
Tile on the floor Peronda Cuban BLOCK
Chest BoConcept
Lighting: Nuura, Nemo Lighting
Accessories: masks brought from Kenya, painting by Maria Primachenko customer property, lamb stool brought from Estonia, wall composition from hooks Muuto Dots, Normann Copenhagen, Hay, poster by Olga Fradina www.facebook.com/olj...

Kitchen:
Kitchen Nobilia
Dinner table Norr 11
Chairs Hay
Lighting Menu
Accessories: brass tray pols potten, vases villeroy&boch, cat bowls Alessi, a table clock Newgate London, drawing on the wall based on Matisse Dance performed by a local artist

Living room:
Sofa and green armchair Roche Bobois
Shaggy chair &Tradition Little Petra
Coffee table Menu September
Dresser and bookshelves BoConcept
Carpet Zv'yazani
Lighting Verpan, DCW Lampe Gras
Armchair in the library BoConcept
The lamp and the table in the library Verpan
Decor: Tom Dixon, Fornasetti, Rosenthal