Just as every man has his place where he feels at home, so every story that is born in a team must find a house suitable for its development. Since there are no two identical people, neither two houses are the same, each with its “something” that resonates with the soul of the people who will give it life. Like people, it’s the same “love at first sight”, a natural attraction from the first moment, the feeling that you could not be anywhere else than there.
Our story in this space began on March 1, 2017, on the first day of spring when, with the gaudy lace, we started to go on the road, renting a house built before the Second World War, located in one of the neighborhoods in the central area of Iasi. Beyond the very good location, we attracted mainly the personality of the house, the bohemian air, according to creative and rigorous activities, but also through the rather severe lines of the Romanian architecture of interwar inspiration. In less than a year, at the end of 2017, God laid things so nicely in our story that we were able to buy the real estate we were only tenants and, at the beginning of the next year, to renovate our soul, just as we felt that “home” in which we could grow and flourish.
The renovation of our headquarters had several objectives, both visual and practical, all to be achieved within the limits of the initial budget. We wanted to work for us as well as working for our clients, following all their interests and advising them to make project implementation a harmonious, aesthetic, functional and financial harmony. The challenge we had to manage in our case was to combine the role of beneficiary with designer and project manager, because now we were in all three positions. Being a team of different specialties, the solution came precisely from the designation of different people for the implementation of the designing project, supervising its implementation on time and in the required quality standards and the wisest management of the established budget.
From an aesthetic point of view, we wanted to preserve the architectural style of the house, that personality that attracted us from the first moment. Thus, we have opted to repair the interior wooden doors and repaint them in a shade of gray, taken from the decorative elements of the ceramic tile used. Under construction, the house was equipped with two rows of wooden windows, unfortunately both quite degraded by the passage of time and affected by rain, snow and strong sunshine. The practical solution that we chose as a compromise between aesthetics and functional was the replacement of the white PVC carpentry with insulating glass inside and the retention of the wooden one from the outside, the new color chosen being dark blue to the navy, to the color of the exterior PVC doors. For interior wood windows, which could only be refurbished, we went to the same shade of gray as the interior doors to preserve chromaticity. The main entrance has undergone wider transformations, keeping only a row of carpentry of the two existing and creating a windfang by fitting a curtain wall of PVC joinery outside. The decision was chosen for practical reasons to create a buffer between outdoor and indoor temperature, protecting the waiting area and the reception reception from winter cold or summer heat, but also aesthetic, designing, wishing us an attractive, stylish, yet playful entrance to encourage customers to meet us.
As far as the outer chroma is concerned, it was chosen to renounce the green and rebuild with white. The contrast between the dark gray carpentry and the white of the walls adds elegance to the house, highlighting the elements of classical architecture. Restoring the barrier and reducing the fence allowed color change, choosing a gray shade as well as designing these elements, preferring the simplicity and delicacy of the straight lines.
The interior layout was made by combining the Scandinavian design with furniture pieces and various elements of the old house, transformed and adapted to this contemporary context.
Thus, with the old doors, which were abandoned by the creation of the windfang at the entrance, there was a table in the area of the discussions with the clients and the cabinet – table for storing catalogs and samples. The classic legs have been replaced by wooden structures, similar to those used in craftsmen’s workshops, to support the workbench, in combination with standard, custom-made or custom-made cupboards.
From a rectangular window and the carved legs of the former kitchen table, a staggered glass of glass and a few shells, memories of the sea, stones and dried flowers, the most romantic office in the office was born. Next to the massive wood library, repaired in the same color as the office, repaired and the handles changed, the old and esthetically outdated elements returned to life, updated, modern and functional.
By replacing a row of wooden windows we have obtained a very good source of recyclable material. Old and sculpted frames have become true decorative objects, both indoors as pictures of various messages as well as on the outside, with an aesthetic role in the masking of the fence, and functional, as supports for the clinging plants – the Virgin Mary’s palm tree and the wild vine .Similarly, the former glass grilles will now support the weight of the flowers that will cling to them, creating a fresh design from year to year.
The chrome chosen for interior refurbishment is based on delicate beige and gray tones, shades ranging from butter color to light beige ocher or grayish to grayish gray. The wall finishing was made with different materials and textures: wallpaper with geometric patterns, decorative pearly or glossy decorative plasters, powdery veneers, applied directly to the wall or decorative polystyrene profiles, and chalkboard and lime whiteboard. Floors have been a true playground by combining ceramic plating with a very dynamic and blended design with laminate flooring, creating circular paths leading you to each corner of our headquarters.
In every room, designers’ creativity has been freed from any constraints, giving rise to an unpredictable design of original elegance, with modern and classic touches at the same time.Vivid paintings, stabilized plant compositions, but also artificial plants with mirrors, nails and twisted yarns, wall supports for flowing flowing green from hanging pots or decorative iron elements, plywood and small terrains for aerial plants , they all competed in creating this unique interior design, where the entire team really feels at home.
