In order to put in value our real estate project and to translate as well as possible the concept “THE MISTERIOUS DREAM OF THE CLASICAL IN THE MODERN” we started at the beginning by choosing the best team to know this real estate in every detail. Therefore, the architects, the structural engineers, the designers and the constructor made all the efforts in order to collect data, to make measurements, investigations so that we could finally have the best image of all that would have to be done. In order to have a good idea from where all started, we offer some suggestive pictures.
After all the evaluations and the preliminary studies have been made the next step was finding the solutions, making the projects, getting all needed approvals from the authorities (being an historical area and a historical building, the most difficult approval was the one from the National Institute of Historical Monuments).
First task was to remove all the old elements: plasters, decayed wood flooring, plumbing, sewerage, and electrical decades old, wood structural elements affected, thermo insulation, rubble, etc. After, even if it wasn’t absolutely necessary, we enhanced the entire structure of resistance of the building, task involving a large amount of work. Old wooded elements and with a lower resistance have been replaced with concrete very well reinforced. The wooded elements remained (the wood from the ceiling) have been treated with flame retardants, preservation substances and removal of potential pests of the wood.
The improvement of the resistance structure needed a large project and was very difficult to achieve considering the age off the construction and the fact that the apartment is situated at the first floor. Solutions needed to be found so that the construction was not overburden, the works of consolidation needed to be carried out sequentially with prior support and at the same time to be made unique operations that depended of the high qualifications of the constructor.
Also, all old installations of the building have been removed (water installation, sewerage, electricity gas-methane) and new ones were made, durable and comply with all safety standards.
After all that, everything was covered with a layer of plasterboard of high quality for extra insulation and sound-proof. In order to let the wall breathe, from place to place were made aeration and ventilation vents. The method of coating with plasterboard was chosen because it is a lightweight material, versatile with which we were able to correct and cover easily the constructive elements less regular from the razing of the building 200 years ago (corners of walls that didn’t have angles of 90°, the ceiling was not plan, walls were not perfectly vertical, etc. ).
After all the work of eliminating old building materials, reinforcement of the resistance structure of the building, improvements of the thermo and sound comfort next step was: details of design at the interior. The designers had a difficult task to combine in a harmonious way the classic architecture of the apartment with the functionality and the practical part of the modern.
First decision was that the apartment didn’t have to be fragmented, considering the height of the interior walls of 4, 5 meters, so that the sensation of spacious is not reduced.
Still, in order to achieve a harmonious proportion between the surface of the rooms and the height of the walls, was decided to lower the ceiling with 0,5 meters this thing being useful also from a thermo point of view and for installations that now had enough space to be positioned as best as possible.
Because the big volume of the apartment needed as much light as possible we removed the window ledges, where it was possible, and also was chosen an illumination solution with spots lighting positioned in soffits. In every space it was calculated and introduced also high quality lamps to bring a plus of light and to replenish the esthetic line.
The soffits were projected with good taste and where made with attention in order to maintain a harmonious balance between the straight and curved lines.
For the floors was chosen an oak hardwood floor to underline in all these transformations of the apartment that the classical line wasn’t forgotten. In the bathrooms and in the kitchen, for practical reasons, was used high quality thick sandstone for the floors.
Also in the classical line, the ledges from the windows and from the terrace’s parapets ware made from marble in tune with the warm line given by the wood floor.
The windows, for reasons of utility and functionality were made with double glazing profile with a color that looks like oak. They ware made from a high quality double glazing profile to deal with, for example on the south frontage, large openings.
The interior doors and also the “glass door” that separates the living room from the office are made also in the classical line from hard wood. The entrance door to the apartment is very high, keeping the doorway made at the construction of the building 200 years ago.
In the past, the apartment was heated with tiled stoves so this thing inspired us to integrate in the space a fireplace this enhancing the classical line of the apartment.
The walls were, most of them, finished with a plaster type Venetian stucco paste with particles of silver or gold depending on the theme that we wanted in the room. The part of finishing the walls needed a lot of work and a good qualification of the constructor. On the terraces was used a waterproof and antifungal plastering and in the kitchen and bathrooms the walls were coated with a high quality stoneware from Spain and Italy.
In the entire apartment are positioned generously electrical outlets, and in the room named “office” were positioned cables for video and multimedia appliances.
All design, choosing colors and themes for each room, the position of the fireplace, of the bar, etc. fallowed the principles of ancient Chinese Feng-Shui.
Therefore here is the short description of the areas of the apartment:
The living room is illuminated by two huge windows and also by the lighting included in a very well made soffit, soffit that fallows the entire outline perimeter of the room. The entrances in the living room, from the hall and also from the office are very large and the fireplace made in the south-west corner adds a plus of style to the entire ambient. The structure of the fireplace was insulated fireproof, for a higher safety in exploitation, and after that it was plated with special tiles with a look that makes you think at the sand beaches. Around the fireplace, in the floor was mounted an area with travertine stones that enhances the marine note.
In the middle of the ceiling was mounted a lighting piece adequate to the volume of the room very beautiful that brings a plus of warm to the room. The illumination from the soffit together with the big lighting piece from the ceiling and also with the other two lighting pieces can create different configurations of illumination this also due to the voltage dimmers that can bring the light in every piece at different intensities according to desires.
For the colors, there were used here shades of beige, golden, sand, stone to capture most of the elements like: heat, fire, sea.
The office, although this room can be used as a studio or as a second bedroom, it was made in the idea of “home-theatre” and if desired, it can be wired with a projector and multimedia systems, the wiring being already made. And, in order to have the necessary obscurity for a good viewing, special venetian blinds were mounted (electrically powered) to the windows and to the boundary area with the living room. The soffit from the ceiling make us think to a cinema hall and on the south wall a real projection screen was made also with different illumination types depending on necessities and wishes.
In order to enhance the privacy, when desired, in the area between the living room and the office was mounted, later, a classical French door made from massive wood and glass.
For the color of this room, were chosen shades of blue, white, silver, lavender and indigo in order to catch as good as possible elements like air, clouds, light, and mystery.
The master bedroom is coquettish, large, and it is served by the small bathroom, bathroom that was made from scratch because it didn’t existed in the previous establishment of the apartment. The room has direct access to the terrace from the south frontage of the building terrace that we aimed to transform it in an interior garden. In order to enhance the luminosity and to give a distinctive note to this room, almost the entire south wall is made from a window, the preexisting parapet was removed. The sleeping area is framed at the top, on the ceiling, by a soffit that separates and “protects” with playful lights.
According to the Feng-Shui harmonization here were used strong colors, shades of red to amplify and balance the “energy” of the entire apartment.
The small bathroom, about we just reminded, that serves the master bedroom, has a modern hot tub, with a special design, the sanitary objects and the decorative radiator fit in the same modern style. For the arrangement of this bathroom high quality tiles were used. Even though this bathroom in a modern style, the classical element is not missing and it is suggested in a more subtle way by creating a game of colors Yin-Yang that gives a state of natural balance.
The sanitary are practical and versatile, for example the hot tub can be used for quick showers and also for relaxing or romantic baths.
The terrace (the interior garden) is separated and insulated of the exterior with high windows and the view is at the interior yard of the building. The access on the terrace can be made from the hall and also from the master bedroom.
The terrace is very bright; here the ceiling being kept almost at the constructive height, it was lowered only because of the waterproofing layers needed. Being very high, in this interior garden, it could find the place even a decorative tree or an exotic plant of big dimensions. The wrought iron element, very old, from the parapet of the terrace was reconditioned and remounted in order to keep the classical line of the frontage’s architecture.
The hall (vestibule) is spacious and it contains a bar area, a reception or discussions area and a useful dressing area. The bar is a combination between classical and modern. It is also very practical and it contains all the necessary elements for serving a party. The fluidity of the space created by the hall, terrace, bar and living can easily transform the house in a real reception hall.
The illumination of the bar it harmonizes perfectly with the illumination of the spacious hall, the soffits with light spots very well calculated and also the classical appliqués from the walls creating also in here, with the help of the voltage dimmers, real plays of light necessary for different occasions and wishes.
The colors of the walls are warm, welcoming with shades similar with the ones from the living. The soffits from the ceiling have received here slightly darker colors in order to be a slightly distinctive to outline better the illumination line and thus increase the spaciousness of the hall.
The kitchen, aims to imprint a slightly rustic touch to the apartment through the fact that were used on the walls tiles of smaller dimensions that reminiscent of the bricks of an wine cellar or from an old kitchen. The floor is made from big tiles sand-colored antiqued look. In this note, given by the walls and floor, were chosen soffits that make a good illumination and that through a harmonious game of straight and curved lines, connect the actual kitchen area with the dinning area.
The colors used here were chosen so that it suggests the notion of “hearth”, the place where everything is alchemized and revived by the mysterious power of fire and earth. So, there were used colors of brick-red, sand, beige and white.
The furniture, for the kitchen is made in a classical line that is “interrupted” here and there by the modern elements of the high quality appliances.
The big bathroom, that can serve the entire apartment even in case of a party, has the west wall semicircular his line following a spacious hydro-massage bathtub that has a circular shape. For bathroom fittings were used tiles of best quality and stainless steel ornaments for a plus of elegance.
Also in this bathroom was attempted to achieve the same tape of “game” Yin-Yang but if in the small bathroom it is made vertically now is made horizontally.
The distinctive element, which gives a touch of uniqueness and enhanced elegance, of the bathroom is the massive mirror made in small edition by the manufacturer. It suggests the “mirror” of the lake covered with lilies, thereby giving a note of romance and freshness to this arrangement.
Therefore, the entire arrangement of this apartment, by harmoniously combining classic elements with modern ones transpires, we say, one “principle” of the “THE MISTERIOUS DREAM OF THE CLASICAL IN THE MODERN”. Still, this presentation can not capture on the whole, the rich shade of feelings and sensations that this apartment can transmit to the person responsive to the aesthetics of interior design and therefore, thanking you for the attention with what you have read this material, we invite you to visit it.