Case study: Apartment 2 rooms – 55 sqm
Total renovation budget (electrical installations, appliances and lighting fixtures, underfloor electric heating system, sanitary fittings and sanitary ware, interior doors, floor and wall finishes, textiles / fabrics, serial and custom furniture and manufactures afferent) – 8000 Euro
Design services (2D measurements and sketches, design counselors, choice of finishes, series furniture pieces, lighting fixtures, textiles / fabrics on specialized sites and department stores, custom-made sketches, lighting fixtures ) – 700 Euro
“I bought an apartment and I need your help. It looks terrible now and I want to completely renovate it with good taste and moderate budget. I have a lot of ideas and I do not know how to bring them to my home without hurting my head at the end. “
That’s the call from a client who recently acquired a well-positioned but rather degraded and repulsive apartment. For me, this kind of space is a gold mine, providing much more freedom in fitting and allowing for better quality replacement of many interior elements. And for the client, such a home is an advantageous investment if the level of degradation and its initial appearance significantly reduces the purchase price.
Let’s see how we have managed to meet both the request made by the young beneficiary and the challenges that have arisen during the development.
The story of this apartment began with a visit where I met him and his owner. The agreed method of work was a quick one that allowed the customer to start the renovation work as soon as possible, time being a priority in this project. In this respect, site-based advice, black and white hand-made sketches, with explanations given directly to customers and finishing teams or installations, and the choice of finishes and furniture, lighting fixtures, etc. were chosen. from the online environment.
Another aspect that we had to take into account was the optimization of the existing budget in order to carry out all the necessary operations for a good dwelling – replacing the sanitary facilities and rebuilding the bathroom, installing an electrical heating system, flooring, replacing the electrical appliance or restoration of functional kitchen for efficient and logical exploitation.Thus, the initial budget has been largely geared towards the priority operations, the furniture and design being to be achieved as creatively and balanced as possible, choosing to purchase most of the products from the online environment, completing the custom made furniture , where space required it.
In order to get a pleasant, comfortable and warm interior, we opted for a feminine adaptation of the Scandinavian style to the existing space, this design direction allowing, through its naturalness and simplicity, the successful fit in the existing budget. In each room I used a wall of accent, which I decorated with wallpaper in pastel colors, delicate and feminine, the rest of the walls being tinted in one of the shades of the wallpaper. The impression of spatiality was obtained using
the same pattern of parquet, continuously throughout the dwelling, and a bright chromatic palette, based on a lot of white, beige and gray, very open, powdered with pink diafan. The chosen furniture was mostly white, in simple lines, going on the same product range for aesthetic unit.The space was not overloaded, each chosen piece having its predetermined role in the recipient’s lifestyle, thus keeping both the airy air of the apartment and the budget originally set.
In implementing the entire project, there was a close link between the designer and the client, as well as a lot of confidence in the knowledge, skills and experience of the person chosen to coordinate the whole process. That was the only way to achieve a harmonious and functional link between the aesthetic and the financial side. I am not the endorsement of unlimited budget arrangements and no financial plan for the project stages. I like the end of any arrangement to see really happy people in their home, without any additional debt due to the lack of planning and tracking of the investment.
If someone asks me how it looks, for me, the ideal client in the field of interior design, the answer is one: a person aware of having hired a specialist, experienced and knowledgeable, who is an ally and not an enemy , during the process of arranging a space.
Designer work seems fascinating, from this perspective, of the secret ingredient that makes the difference in each project, namely the posture between the emotions and different wishes of the beneficiaries, the interior design trends, the budget that ensures the transformation of the dreams into reality, spiced with unpredictable situations for the moment.
