Renovating apartments on the secondary market often involves completely dismantling the interior walls and creating a new layout. This two-room apartment was no exception. After the renovation, it now has a large kitchen for a housewife who loves to cook, a walk-through living room for entertaining guests and a private bedroom. There was also enough space for storage systems and a convenient bathroom.
The clients, a married couple, quickly found a common language with the architect Alena Chmeleva. The couple bought an apartment in a Stalinist building on Frunzenskaya Embankment and were ready for major renovations and radical redevelopment. And she was really needed to make all the wishes come true.
First, all existing non-load-bearing partitions were dismantled, and some of the utility lines were redone. Two bathrooms were combined into one and the passage was moved towards the kitchen. They relied on a U-shaped set with a sink and a work surface near the window: the customer loves to cook, so they used the entire space. The gas stove was overcooked and moved closer to the wall. And the counters were hidden behind wall cabinets.
Marble was used as flooring in the front area and kitchen – the customer really loves it. Solid stained oak boards were installed in the living rooms. The walls were mostly painted, plus in the bedroom the interior was decorated with English handmade silk wallpaper from De Gournay. The perimeter of all ceilings was decorated with plaster rods.
The walls in the bathroom were lined with Spanish Adex tiles with decor. On the floor there are Metlakh tiles “carpet”. This tile has a matte texture and is very durable. In the kitchen, they created an apron from hand-painted tiles, the pattern on which completely repeated the pattern on the curtains.
The main volume of clothes is in the dressing room , plus in the hallway there is a built-in closet 80 cm deep, where, in addition to outerwear, a washing vacuum cleaner was hidden. In the bedroom, at the request of the hostess, the architect provided a comfortable workspace opposite the window with shelves for books, office equipment, and perfumes. Printing equipment was hidden in the lower cabinets, and file folders were hidden in the upper cabinets behind the doors.
“The customers wanted a warm interior with bright accents. One of the wishes was to fit the paintings into the interior, so we took some of the shades from the canvases,” says Alena Chmeleva.
The furniture is mainly American and English. Some items were made to order: for example, a turquoise sideboard 2.4 meters high made of solid wood with hand carvings was made according to the architect’s sketches. All wishes were taken into account: the lower shelves were made of 25 mm thick MDF to accommodate heavy dishes, and the upper shelves were made of glass to make the buffet look less bulky. The color was chosen to match the fabric with which the sofa is upholstered.
Photo of the apartment before renovation
