In modern apartments, combined spaces are not uncommon. Among the obvious advantages is the feeling of air and more space, which is especially important in small apartments. After all, thanks to successful redevelopment, you can get a free multifunctional space instead of several small rooms. A well-thought-out interior of the kitchen-living room will allow this room to become the heart of the house: the option is suitable for those who like to cook, and communicate with guests, and for those who do not need a separate kitchen at all.
Maria Chek: minimalist apartment
Designer Maria Chek designed an apartment of 58 square meters. It is located in the new residential complex “Place in the Sun” in the Dagomys district, on the 12th floor of the building. The customers, a married couple from Moscow are modern representatives of the older generation who appreciate personal comfort and lead an active lifestyle.
The main idea of the project is a bright, comfortable space in a calm natural palette with environmentally friendly materials for a pleasant stay in the winter season on the Black Sea coast. One of the main successes was the design of the kitchen-living room.
The space is a real blank slate with good initial data: a square-shaped corner apartment with high ceilings of 3.5 meters and panoramic glazing. “The first thing that catches your eye at the entrance is a beautiful view from the windows,” says the designer. – Due to the location of the house and the large windows in the apartment, there is excellent insolation: in good weather, the space is flooded with sunshine throughout the day.
The wishes of the customers were few and adequate. It was necessary to design an isolated bedroom, to think over the interior of the kitchen-living room, to find a place for a small well-lit artist’s studio and storage systems hidden in niches.
The absence of partitions between the living room and the kitchen allowed to preserve the main advantages of the space – an abundance of light and beautiful views. The interior of the kitchen-living room is visually united by materials. The entire surface of the floor is covered with large-format porcelain stoneware, imitating natural slate. On the walls of the living room was applied a dense painting non-woven canvas for painting. Against the background of white walls, the snow-white storage system in the kitchen literally dissolves. And the color of the cabinet in the living room echoes the decoration of the facades of the floor kitchen cabinets.
Combination of historical decor with modern design
A small apartment in an old St. Petersburg house designed by Vladimir Berezin. On an area of 40 square meters, the architect combined historical decor with modern design, keeping within a modest budget.
The house, built in 1773, is a monument of history and architecture, known as the Gillerme Apartment House. Memorial plaques testify that Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Galina Ulanova lived in the house – the small apartment in which Vladimir Berezin worked is part of the apartments of the great ballerina.
Customers do not live in there permanently, they needed an apartment for short-term visits to the city. They wanted to see their pied-à-terre comfortable and beautiful. An important condition was to preserve historical elements, as well as to use warm shades in the interior.
The advantages of the source are well-preserved stucco, windows almost from the floor to the ceiling, and the absence of internal load-bearing walls. However, the apartment was in a deplorable condition: outdated repairs, an unsuccessful layout. “When you entered the apartment, you found yourself in a narrow dark corridor. On the right was the entrance to the bathroom, on the left was an uncomfortable small kitchen. Opposite the entrance there is a door to the living room, “the architect recalls.
Vladimir decided to dismantle the partition that separated the living room and the corridor. Now from the entrance you immediately get into a large bright room: there are both an entrance hall and a small kitchen-living room, from a large window overlooking the historical surroundings.
By combining the rooms, the architect retained zoning: the hallway is separated from the kitchen and living room by a built-in wardrobe with mirror panels – mirrors dissolved a high massive wardrobe in space, adding light and lightness to a small room that combines several functions.
The small apartment is divided into two parts: living room-kitchen-hallway and private half. The “border” between the parts was determined by a load-bearing ceiling beam. In the decoration of a small apartment, the most classic materials were used: the interior of the kitchen-living room was decorated with parquet with a French Christmas tree and Carrara marble – its texture is convincingly imitated by high-tech porcelain stoneware. The upper cabinets of the kitchen are finished with oak veneer to maintain the texture of the floor.
Buro5: modernist apartment of 43 sq. m.
The design of a small apartment of 43 square meters. According to the buro5 project is due to the functional layout. Boris Denisyuk and Slava Baldinsky rounded the wall in the corridor to make it easier for the owner to fit into the narrow passage. It was this decision in the spirit of the architecture of Soviet modernism that dictated the choice of finishing materials, color palette, and design of the kitchen-living room.
The architects did not divide the small apartment into isolated rooms, but in the meantime, they were able to accommodate all the necessary functions. In one room, a small kitchen-living room was equipped with laconic facades in the color of the walls and a compact dining room in a bay window near the window, the sleeping place was zoned with a wall of glass blocks. Two planned dressing rooms helped to visually unload the space – opposite the bathroom and in the hallway.
The design of the semicircular wall refers to the architecture of Soviet modernism and the Bauhaus, which influenced the choice of materials for decoration. The walls are painted in a single neutral shade, square floor tiles and a wall of glass blocks support the given aesthetics and decorate the interior of the kitchen-living room. The final touches of the space of a small apartment were cabinet furniture made of natural wood and expressive furnishings.
Project U Concept: three rooms out of two
U Concept is a young Kyiv studio. Its participants called their project 2 + 1: after redevelopment, they added another one to the two existing rooms.
The apartment is located in the center of Kiev, in a Stalinist house built in 1952. The area is 52 square meters. Of the pluses, it is worth noting three-meter ceilings, three windows of good proportions, and a beautiful entrance with a ceremonial atmosphere. The obvious disadvantage is the poor condition of the housing, it has not been repaired for more than 60 years. We had to change all communications, remove the floor, and demolish partitions.
The customers, a young married couple with a child, asked to make three rooms in place of two: they needed a kitchen-living room, a separate bedroom and a nursery. Designers wittily reshaped the space. A bedroom with a podium was made from the kitchen, the kitchen ruler was moved to the living room, which appeared on the site of the former bedroom, combined with the hallway. The meters of the former living room were divided between the nursery and the dressing room. A separate bathroom was made combined.
The created layout is logical and simple. The design of the kitchen-living room is thought out in such a way that four symmetrically arranged doors lead from this central zone. Two on one side – in the bedroom and bathroom, two on the other – in the nursery and dressing room.
As a result of the redevelopment, it was possible not only to organize the desired premises, but also to make the space modern, open, to get rid of corridors that eat up useful space. And after the glazing of the balcony was removed, we got a beautiful French window, thanks to which the interior of the kitchen-living room is filled with daylight.
Sveta Khabeeva: apartment for rent
As a student of the British Higher School of Design, Sveta Khabeeva, as part of her coursework, designed an apartment of 50 square meters specifically for renting.
The apartment was bought purposefully for short-term rent on Airbnb, and the interior was created for foreign tourists and other guests of the capital.
The space had to be bright, memorable, and interesting while accommodating the maximum number of beds. To do this, the living room was combined with the hallway, and the kitchen was moved to this zone. Moreover, an apartment for rent does not imply a large space for cooking and a small kitchen-living room is the best option. The set was disguised as much as possible: on one side of the hallway there is a small wardrobe, and on the right there is a compact kitchen. The whole group, including the front door, is painted in a delicate coral hue.
The designer decided to create an interior with allusions to the Soviet era but with a modern interpretation. The main task was to keep within a small budget, without sacrificing aesthetics.
The rooms turned out to be very compact. To avoid the effect of a well in rooms with three-meter ceilings, the top of the walls was decorated with a wide white stripe, which also refers to the Soviet past.
The palette includes only dusty shades. The design of the kitchen-living room includes the color of wormwood, which is usually associated among our compatriots with the hospital or entrance. The shade contrasts with the color of the kitchen set, making it shine. Furniture was selected based on the budget: the designer focused on bright and affordable furnishings.
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