Literator

“This apartment complex is located next to the former Leo Tolstoy’s mansion in Khamovniki, Moscow. Our very well educated clients and Moscow University graduates believed that was for a reason. They wanted the interior design of their apartment to resemble an old manor in Moscow – the more so as they inherited some antique furniture and had an impressive collection of Russian art of the 20th century. But at the same time they wanted a modern and comfortable apartment. That was quite a challenge because we had to marry the past to the present. We had to offer a delicate reference to the old style classics and to find a way to incorporate classical elements in a minimalistic environment.

Year: 2017

Country: Russia

City: Moscow

Space: 230 sq.m.

The apartment is quite peculiar but not at all easy from a designer’s point of view. We had to work out an interior design project for art connoisseurs and hang the paintings from their collection on the walls. But the walls were exactly something which was missing there. Three out of four exterior walls were floor to ceiling windows. And they were truly magnificent but absolutely useless in an apartment of art lovers. Nevertheless we found a way to exhibit 36 paintings.

The apartment is quite spacious with a floor area of 220 square meters but it is elongated and not deep enough. This is the reason why we designed a pretty long corridor with walk through dressing rooms. Large windows were not the only great thing about this apartment. We built a fireplace in there despite the fact that the apartment was not on the top floor.

We also tried to minimize the color palette in the design project. Too many colors would look excessive next to the paintings. Our key color was an art gallery white there. Not a polar white - we never use it even on the ceilings, even in modern style design projects. Our white has a slight undertone. We also used gold, marble mosaics and a bit of turquoise to emphasize some details.

That was a 2 years long project. The clients followed our tips to add some paintings of contemporary artists to their collection. These paintings brought an additional spark of life in the apartment which previously looked like a museum full of predominantly greyish realistic paintings.