Modern apartment of 56 m2 in a former apartment building

Architect Maria Katarian designed a stylish and functional interior, preserving the spirit of the old Moscow apartment

Living room. Sofa, Softline. Carpet and pillows, H&M Home. Doors, Union. Parquet, Barlinek. Stucco, Orac Decor. Paint, Dyrup.

Photo: Sergey Ananyev

The project’s customers, journalists Inna and Carlos, have long dreamed of an apartment in the historical part of the city near the Boulevard Ring. It was important to them that the spirit of old Moscow was felt in the interior, but at the same time the space had to correspond to the lifestyle of a young couple. “Inna and Carlos love to receive guests, arrange movie nights and dinner parties. Therefore, it was necessary to find a place for a large dining table and a cozy TV area, as well as competently organize storage,” says architect Maria Kataryan.

Dining table, Partisan. Chairs, Ton. Kitchen, IKEA. Facades, Cover. Table top, “CAM”. Pens, Zara Home. On the table are white bowls, Zara Home, and a vase, Arket.

Photo: Sergey Ananyev

“As a result, the customers found an apartment in a former apartment building in 1928 with a European renovation and a standard plan: two elongated rooms of the same size, an isolated kitchen, a long corridor and a small bathroom. In the new version, we managed to organize an enfilade layout. The bedroom is located along the axis of the kitchen and is hidden behind a large double door. The kitchen is combined with the living room. Thus, we managed to get rid of dark corridors, organize a full-fledged hallway, allocate storage space and increase the bathroom area by 2.5 times.”

Hood, Falmec. Wall lamps, DCW Editions. Pendant lamp, Arturo Alvarez. Overhead lights, Faro. Tiles on the floor and on the apron, CE.SI .

Photo: Sergey Ananyev

Armchair and shelving, Delo Design. Table, Woud. Lamp, DCW Editions. Vases, Zara Home. Jug, Arket.

Photo: Sergey Ananyev

Table, carpentry workshop Vecor. Table top, “CAM”. Vases and rattan basket, Zara Home.

Photo: Sergey Ananyev

“Before starting work, I looked at photos of apartments from the beginning of the century and studied the characteristic details and materials. So in the interior there were high baseboards, wide cornices, decorative details in the decoration of doorways, marble window sills and glossy square tiles in the bathroom and on the kitchen apron. I decided to keep the original brickwork fragmented in different parts of the apartment, painting the walls in color so that the brick does not stand out much in the general space. When the ceiling decoration was dismantled, we found a picturesque concrete formwork in the kitchen, which we also decided to partially leave open. And the niche in the wall, which used to be a passage to the neighboring apartment, was turned into a bookshelf.”

View of the bedroom. The bed, Hay. Rattan headboard, Matri. Hanging lamp, Umage.

Photo: Sergey Ananyev

Bedroom. Wardrobe with an open shelf, carpentry workshop Vecor. Wall lamp, DCW Editions. Plaid, designed by illustrator Linnea Andersson, Arket. Pillows, Ferm Living. Storage containers, Hay. Baskets, Zara Home.

Photo: Sergey Ananyev

“The atmosphere of an old Moscow apartment is enhanced by chairs with curved backs, an unusual bright sideboard and, of course, a ceramic sink with a console, similar to those that were made in Soviet times. Not without modern solutions that make the interior comfortable. In the living room, instead of a TV, we placed a projector, a speaker and a game console, in a niche near the sofa we brought out all the sockets and an HDMI connector. In the kitchen, we hid a small wine refrigerator in the cupboard, and in the bedroom we designed a console cabinet with an open bottom shelf for decor and books. In the bathroom in the old niche, we put a closet with a place to store the customer’s perfume collection and supplemented the bath with a wide shelf on which you can sit or place candles.”

The author of the project: architect Maria Kataryan, https://bio.site/MVY7mx , [email protected]

Hallway. Hanging lamp, Linea Light. Cabinet, hooks and shelves in a niche, carpentry workshop Vecor. Furniture handles, IKEA. Mirror, Umbra. Floor vase, Zara Home. Carpet, H&M Home.