Project: Two-Storey Apartment Georgievskiy
Designer: Dreamdesign / Elena Dobrovolska
Location: Kyiv, Ukraine
Year: 2017
Photographer: Andrey Avdeenko
A two-storey apartment is located in Kyiv downtown, in the house built in the last century by a famous architect Joseph Karakis. The architecture of the building, the historical context that surrounds it, the view on St. Sophia Cathedral from the apartment’s windows, and the unique atmosphere of the old city — all of this became the semantic background and the starting point for renovation of the apartment.
When thinking through the new concept of the interior, the authors chose natural textures, restrained colors, and natural, eco-friendly materials that don’t go out of fashion and age beautifully. Timeless solutions were complemented by bright accents: furniture and decorations, personalized design elements and art objects.
The apartment has two storeys. The lower one has kitchen, dining room, living room, and bathroom on it. The second level that can be reached via a sculptural staircase has a bedroom, a study and library room, and a shower rooms with skylight windows. The room layout remained the same, the changes mostly concerned finishing and decorative elements.
After rethinking the visual concept, the authors decided to introduce natural colors and materials to the interior, each having its unique visual characteristics. This was how natural stone, wood, blown glass, and metal found their way to the apartment.
Renovation began with changing wall color and texture — in the living spaces they were plastered with tactile light-olive wallpaper, and in the bathroom they were faced with natural stone, in combination with graphic metal elements.
In the living room, to contrast the monochromatic white, grey, and black surfaces, there are azure armchairs and the atmosphere of old Kyiv that bursts into the interior through large windows. In the bedroom, there are several new elements: a bright-blue chandelier from blown glass, created by the studio’s designers, artsy headboard, and an unusual metal construction that frames the window beautifully.
Metal in a certain form is present in all rooms: it was used to decorate window slopes, to sheathe the fireplace, and metal decorative elements were also integrated into bathroom and bedroom. The final detail in the apartment’s design were Ukrainian contemporary art pieces, which put a semantic full stop to design, attract attention and provoke thoughts.
