The building in which this apartment is located is impossible not to notice. It is located in an ensemble of five buildings designed by Iosif Loveyko, the chief architect of Moscow in the middle of the last century. There are many famous surnames among the former residents of the house: Maya Kristallinskaya, Iosif Kobzon, Yuri Yakovlev, and Yana Churikova.
Customers & Challenges
The owners of this apartment at number 120 on Prospekt Mira in Moscow are Kira and Anton Shaev. Kira is an architect, and the founder of the Archistories bureau, and Anton is a financier. They are raising a young son, Myron.
The house, the central one in a remarkable ensemble, was built in 1955-60s according to the project of the architect Iosif Loveyko, who was the chief architect of Moscow in the same years.
Kira and Anton set themselves the task of completely remodeling the apartment that they bought in a “lived” state. Much has not changed since the house was built. But at the same time, I wanted to preserve as much as possible to convey the spirit of the era. Of course, it is also necessary to modernize the space, to bring individuality to it – the spouses like the interiors of Scandinavian and French apartments. The result is an amazing mix!
Redesign
Initially, it was a three-room apartment with a separate bathroom, toilet, an isolated kitchen and a long corridor. Kira and Anton decided to redesign but kept the historical purposes of the rooms.
The kitchen was combined with the living room (an important point is the presence of gas in the kitchen, this obliges you to put a partition between the rooms, it was installed after the shooting – editor’s note). Due to the adjacent corridor, the kitchen was expanded (built-in wardrobes were inscribed) and bathrooms, they were combined into a common bathroom.
A long corridor was zoned: visually, with the help of floor decoration, the hallway and the library were separated.
“Now there are many apartments where the space is combined and is an open space, but we did not do this in our apartment, we left an enfilade corridor, which helps to maintain the privacy of the living room and makes moving around the apartment imperceptible,” the couple recalls.
Trimming
The apartment has not been renovated since the house was built. Therefore, many things needed to be replaced. However, Kira and Anton tried to take care of the legacy of the era. And they preserved, for example, gypsum ceiling sockets, and cast-iron radiators (painted black), did not lower the high doorways. Unfortunately, the cornices and parquet flooring, which also wanted to be restored, could not be saved. But we picked up similar analogs. Instead of parquet, there is a modern herringbone laminate.
Two types of ceiling cornices were chosen: “ceremonial”, as the architect called them, with leaves for living rooms, and laconic, which are mounted in the corridors.
Porcelain stoneware was laid on the floor of the hallway and kitchen for practicality. In the bathroom, small-format tiles are combined with paint.
The paint was chosen for the walls in the rooms. In the corridor there is a light shade, they wanted to expand the space without natural light, but they did not dare to use white because of the dirtiness. In the kitchen-living room, the tone is slightly darker, but because of the large windows, the paint still looks light. The bedroom is painted in a shade of green, and the children’s room is painted in a light mustard color.
Furniture & Storage Systems
The main storage is wardrobes in the children’s room and bedroom, as well as the hallway. “We did not make storage systems that reach the ceiling, we wanted to preserve the airiness in the apartment and let the ceiling cornices follow the smooth contour of the rooms,” the owners comment. In the corridor library, there is a bookcase display for books. In the living room, an antique sideboard took its place, which became the accent point of this room.
The kitchen is compact. The main part is linear. In the area of the former corridor, which is now attached to the kitchen, there are built-in columns with a refrigerator and storage space. If the linear part of the kitchen is gray, then the columns are chosen with facades that match the color of the walls so as not to draw attention to themselves.
In the bathroom, in addition to the sink cabinet, a plumbing cabinet was made above the installation of the toilet.
In general, the furniture is quite democratic. This is a combination of custom-made items (cabinets in the hallway, bathroom) and recognizable IKEA models (kitchen, wardrobe in the bedroom, display cabinet in the corridor). Upholstered furniture, chairs, and chests of drawers are selected in a modern style, light in appearance and shape, not overloading the space.
Illumination
Kira and Anton abandoned modern lighting in the form of spotlights in living rooms. In the living room and bedrooms, chandeliers in a classic style in combination with preserved gypsum rosettes took their places. But still, modern comfort implies more lighting options, so in the kitchen, spots were provided above the work surface, and a hanger above the dining table. There are also spots in the corridor. As additional scenarios, sconces were provided in the corridor, children’s room, bedroom and bathroom, and a floor lamp in the living room.
What the apartment looked like before the renovation
