Ambience is everything
When you enter the apartment of Heli who is planning to retire and has lived half of her life in Kopli, you need to leave all your prejudices outside. At the first glance, it’s hard to believe that the owner of the apartment is a grandmother of teenagers. Her unmistakably modern studio apartment is the perfect example of an elegant but at the same time very comfortable home.
Still – what should the apartment of an urban grandmother of our day and age look like? Especially if said urban grandmother has lived in the capital for her entire life, appreciates good design and art and sews clothes looking like creations of an expensive fashion house?
The dream of a sunny home
The home on Alasi Street was Heli’s third, and she moved there mostly to be closer to her children and grandchildren – although she has always really liked Kopli. Her best friend of her youth used to live right there by the sea, in an old house which doesn’t even exist any more.
“I dreamed of a sunny home – now I have it, and a large terrace as well,” Heli says. The new building is different from the apartment buildings where she has lived in the past, in every sense. “The planters are a pleasant surprise and a challenge. I’m sure I’m going to use them,” she promises. “The house is nice and cosy, without that bleakness of an apartment building.”
The apartment with an open layout has a bedroom separated from the kitchen and living room by a partition wall with an interior window, and a spacious bathroom.
Finding the right solution for the wall with an interior window took a long time. In order to bring daylight into the deeper part of the apartment, Heli even considered installing a glazed wall, but as the bed under the interior window would obstruct its lower part, the idea of an entire glass wall was ultimately replaced by a interior window which also adds privacy to the sleeping area.
Light and airy despite the size
The fresh and laid-back atmosphere of the home – which feels very light and airy despite its modest size – continues on the terrace. The calm shades in the apartment give the space a modern look, while the earthy wood combined with them – such as cabinet doors finished with wood and oak parquet floors – adds an inviting warmth. Art, flowers, houseplants and a mannequin for fitting the sewing projects bring splashes of colour to the relaxed environment.
The light and airy colour palette also continues in the bathroom. As the washing machine was to be placed in the bathroom, the necessary space was taken from the kitchen behind the wall in order to maintain the feeling of space, adding a small alcove. This in its turn determined the layout of the kitchen where the space had to be adapted to the protrusion in the wall.
Although everything looks completely fresh and new, many things have accompanied Heli for all her life and her timeless style preferences simply harmonise with today’s style as well as a couple of decades ago. The large, decorated wooden craft box and the ottoman in the hall, renovated by herself, have a long history with her, and the round, white dining table is also older, albeit touched up.
Photos: Terje Ugandi
