ELLE DECORATION continues a series of video tours of the homes of famous designers, architects and decorators. Today we will visit the Riga apartment of designer Sergey Ogurtsov. Stay tuned!

Watch the full video tour of designer Sergey Ogurtsov’s apartment on our official Instagram page (an extremist organization banned in Russia) at the link, and Sergey gave a small blitz interview specifically for our website.

How did you choose this apartment?

I was in search of an apartment and was returning to the friends I was staying with — just after another unsuccessful “viewing”. The road lay through a quiet, beautiful street, and suddenly I saw somewhere above a sticker “FOR SALE” with a phone number. It was already in the evening, at dusk I could not make out the number written in small print. “Well,” I thought, “that’s it: old age, chicken blindness, I can’t see in low light.” A boy was passing by, and I asked him to give me a phone number. At that moment I felt like a grandmother who asks to read the label in the store. But the boy replied that he also could not see what was written there. I relaxed about chicken blindness and came back the next day when it was light. I wrote down the number, phoned and eventually bought this apartment.

What did you have to redo?

The apartment was in a “dead” condition, no one had done repairs there since Soviet times, the walls were made of shingles. Therefore, in principle, everything was done from scratch. Initially, it was a three-room apartment, even a 4—room apartment — since there was also an entrance from the kitchen to the maid’s room – a micro-room for servants. The apartment even had two entrances — one for the owners, the second through the kitchen — a back entrance for the servants.

Before we could redo something, we had to call a historical commission. In search of finishing details to be protected, they looked into every corner, erased the paint from the tile (because the previous owners decided to simply paint it). One of the requirements was a complete reconstruction of the historical entrance door. And, of course, the new front windows had to exactly repeat the historical appearance.

I was lucky, and all the wooden floors were in excellent condition. Also, new sewerage and electrical wiring has already been carried out in the house. My neighbors and I have only completely replaced the water supply pipe. I moved the kitchen from the technical wing to the living room area. For such a transfer in Latvia, it is required to obtain only the written permission of the neighbor from below, so it was not too difficult to do it.

What was the main idea of interior design?

One of the ideas with which I started the project was to try all those solutions that customers are usually not ready for. For example, a gray glossy ceiling in the hallway, brown mirrored tiles in the kitchen or dark walls in the bedroom. But in the process of creating, I realized that I still want to stick to my philosophy — to create calm, neutral, well-balanced interiors.

What did you particularly succeed in the interior, and what would you redo?

I am especially pleased with the bathroom with two windows. For her sake, I decided not to make an office-a guest bedroom and did not regret it for a day. Calculations were carried out for a very long time on how to make the curtains on the windows in the bathroom not in front of the window, but as if in a niche between the window and the walls. But it was this technique that I wanted to try to implement.

It was also difficult to create a dining room unlike all the others, but at the same time comfortable. Thanks to the vintage chairs designed by Adrian Piersal, I quite succeeded.

What is your favorite place in the house?

The interior is so well balanced that it is quite difficult to single out any particular place. The spaces seem to flow from one to another, and I like each of them in its own way.

What are your favorite interior items?

Italian vintage chandelier that hangs in the bedroom. I bought it in America, and it came in very bad condition. The base was dented, the brass from the patina became almost black. I removed the old varnish from the brass parts with my own hands and polished them, and the base was restored and strengthened in the workshop. All the balls consist of hemispheres, but each ball is unique, so the halves had to look for her soulmate. I immediately put small numbers on them with a pencil so that I wouldn’t confuse them later.

Is your perfect day at home?

An ideal day is when there is no need to rush anywhere, when in the morning you can safely go for salted salmon and sweet and sour bread, then meet friends at the airport and have a long breakfast together. And in the evening, walk around old Riga from bar to bar and try signature cocktails.

Dorozhkin Alexey

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