Like a country house: a cozy apartment that the architect designed for herself and her two sons | ivd.ru Design 21.11.2022 The style of a classic country house with lots of natural materials, natural colors is the basis of the apartment interior. Authentic decor from different eras from Spain, Tunisia, Morocco brings variety, charm and a bit of oriental mood. The apartment in the low-rise building of the residential complex “New Veshki” just two kilometers from the MKAD belongs to the architect, the author of the project, and her two sons 6 and 9 years old. The decisive factor in the purchase of housing was the developed infrastructure and the obvious advantages of country life: silence, clean air, picturesque landscape. From the fifth floor there is a panoramic view of the cottage village of the same name and a mixed forest. It was he who influenced the choice of style, finishing materials and the intention to “make friends” the interior with the exterior. Redevelopment In an apartment with two windows, it was necessary to organize a comfortable and functional kitchen, a separate living room for cozy meetings with family and friends, a mother’s bedroom, a children’s room. They decided to give the large loggia to the full possession of the growing sons. The window of the bedroom adjacent to the summer room became internal. Light penetrates through it moderately, but due to the impressive area of the external panoramic glazing, it is enough for comfortable rest at night and during the day. At the same time, children have a separate space for sleeping, playing and studying. For the rational storage of outerwear and casual clothes of all family members, a spacious dressing room was allocated. Repair Initially, the developer proposed a conditionally free layout of the apartment. The wall with the window to the loggia was left. All the partitions necessary for the project were built from concrete blocks. The floor base was leveled with a concrete screed. The floor heating system was placed in rooms where ceramic tiles were supposed to be laid (hallway, bathroom, dressing room), as well as on the floor of the former loggia. Here, the ceiling was additionally insulated with thin slabs of stone wool, and the windows from the developer were replaced with five-chamber metal-plastic ones. They operate in the range from -50 to +50 S, maintain favorable indoor conditions in cold and heat, effectively isolate external noise. The ceiling height in the rest of the apartment was left unchanged. The ceilings were plastered, plastered and painted white. Finishing The main criterion for choosing finishing materials was their naturalness and the amount of manual labor spent on manufacturing and processing. On the floor in the living room there is solid oak parquet soaked in oil, in the bedroom and the nursery there is an oak parquet board. The floors of the kitchen, dressing room, hallway and bathroom are lined with ceramic tiles, created in the likeness of the Metlakh. In the boys’ room, the ceiling is finished with painted wooden boards with contrasting solid oak beams. The bathroom decoration uses a popular technique of combining ornamental ceramic panels with a neutral background of the walls. The decorative pattern on the tile is made by craftsmen from Tunisia. Design The palette of the apartment is a mix of cold and warm shades. Cold colors are more familiar to people living in the middle lane, but the house is a place where you want to get warm. The author of the project managed to find many successful color compromises. The character and mobility of the boys are expressed in kinetic graphics on the facades of a two-story bed. The composition is balanced by a restrained palette of colors. The bedroom contains shades of cool greenery of herbs, moss, deep-colored needles and young shoots breaking through. The ceiling is separated from the walls by a laconic cornice, followed by a frieze 40 cm high. This technique is borrowed from the architects who used the warrant on the facades of buildings. The walls of the living room with a shade of rainy sky are compensated by a wall with a window decorated with a mosaic of travertine. The black-and-white graphics of the carpet enter into a dialogue with the view of the roofs of the village houses. For a small bathroom, a rational layout is important. In addition to plumbing, the necessary set of items usually includes a mirror, open shelves for essentials and closed ones. With the same size, the latter are able to accommodate more things. Glass shelves in the niche do not overload the space, and most importantly do not collapse from water. The sink-console on legs partially removes the load from the wall, which is important when installing on drywall. The optimal distance from the mirror to the sink is 35-45 cm. However, this parameter can be changed depending on the growth of family members. In the hallway, the overall stylistic solution of the interior is supported by boiserie decorative panels, a third of the wall high with a base of painted larch boards. Frosted glass models have been selected for the doors leading to the kitchen-living room and bedroom from the hallway. They maintain the privacy of the rooms and at the same time let light into the room farthest from the windows. Lighting In support of the created atmosphere, well-organized lighting. The architect paid special attention to the non-bright local light. Many decorative lamps serve not just as a light source, but also as a decorative element: when turned on, they fill the space with the play of shadows. The copper lamp made of fine openwork chasing over the dining table in the living room and three suspensions over the bar counter are handmade by craftsmen from Morocco. In the bedroom, in addition to the main lighting of the ceiling chandelier and additional on the chest of drawers and bedside table, there is an accent. It is directed at the picture opposite the bed. Antique lamp in the nursery made of Venetian glass Barovier & Toso was blown by Ercole Barovier in the 40s of the last century. In addition to wood of different breeds, ceramics, metal products, the apartment has a lot of textiles made of wool, silk, linen. All this brings a feeling of natural warmth and fresh air into the house. Architect Ekaterina Vorotnikova, author of the project: In my work, I like to use wood, giving preference to the roughness and warmth of its texture. For example, the walls in the nursery are decorated with larch. The boards are laid with a French Christmas tree, primed and painted in the color of the beds. For the walls in the kitchen, I used ordinary clapboard, emphasizing the patina of the uniqueness of the wood pattern. The color of the walls exactly matches the shade of the kitchen facades. Open shelves and the absence of the usual hanging of cabinets from floor to ceiling made it possible to create an individual image of the kitchen, fill it with ease. My favorite sculptures and vases “live” here. Ceramics also found a place on the kitchen apron. Each tile was painted by me manually with a special glaze, after which it was fired to fix the ornament. A wormwood-colored grout is matched to the color of it. Living room Living room Living room Living room Kitchen Fragment of the dining room Childish Bedroom Bedroom Bedroom Bedroom Bedroom The editorial board warns that in accordance with the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, coordination of ongoing alterations and alterations is required. Original content from the site