This Interior Designer’s Barcelona Apartment Is Simply Stunning
Adrienne Breaux
·6 min read
"When I design a space the thing that is most on my mind is how I would feel there, what would be the position that I'll sit or stand in, and where would my eyes go to in this position," writes interior designer Shuli Tavori, who rents this stunning space in Barcelona. Credit: Lula PoggiCredit: Lula Poggi
"I want to achieve the feeling good in every angle of every house, hotel, or shop I design. A good design would be a space where when you get in you feel something, something that makes you want to stay." Credit: Lula PoggiCredit: Lula Poggi
"The house is spacious and has so much luxury just because of the way it has been built, 'classic modernismo,'" she begins about one of the biggest challenges of decorating this space. Credit: Lula PoggiCredit: Lula Poggi
"I do love the glory of this period, but this period is missing nature, and without the right balance, the design followed by house data can become heavy and flamboyant," she continues. "Finding the balance was this house challenge." Credit: Lula PoggiCredit: Lula Poggi
"I live alone, and I like to arrange my space in a way that I can enjoy every angle of the house," she begins about something unique about her space. Credit: Lula PoggiCredit: Lula Poggi
"I work from home, but I don't have an office home, I have a round dining table next to the balcony that I like to use also for working sometimes, and other times I work on the balcony table, or on the of the sofas or on the carpet." Credit: Lula PoggiCredit: Lula Poggi
"My house is full of my favorite elements," Tavori writes. "If I had to choose one, today I would choose a beautiful ornate stone column I bought in a nursery full of garden furniture, antiques, and decorations for the garden. It was in the Pyrenees near the border between Spain and France, on my way back to Barcelona after a weekend in the mountains." Credit: Lula PoggiCredit: Lula Poggi
"It stands proud just beside the original columns of the house; I use it for decoration, and it [holds] a small plant." Credit: Lula PoggiCredit: Lula Poggi
"I'm going to share the most basic thing, something that many people and designers seem to have forgotten," she writes, when asked about an organizing hack she has. Credit: Lula PoggiCredit: Lula Poggi
"Keep your clothes and shoes inside a closed cupboard if you like your textiles to be well-maintained," she continues. "An open cupboard is reducing the life of all textiles by less than half. And never hang on a hanger any kind of knitwear." Credit: Lula PoggiCredit: Lula Poggi
"I love to combine antique decoration pieces with new high-quality new furniture," she describes of her home style. Credit: Lula PoggiCredit: Lula Poggi
"The sofas, the beds, kitchen appliances, house textiles etc. should mainly be new," she continues. Credit: Lula PoggiCredit: Lula Poggi
"But then tables, chairs, chests or drawers, decoration pieces like sculptures and paintings, and more could be antiques with a beautiful story. I love using wood and plants to give warmth to the house." Credit: Lula PoggiCredit: Lula Poggi
"I do have a few elements in the house that have been custom-made for the house that I designed," she continues. Credit: Lula PoggiCredit: Lula Poggi
"These are some of the lamps in the living room, an extra kitchen bench and shelves in the kitchen, a walk-in wardrobe. To create personal elements in the house, I always prefer to hire a professional." Credit: Lula PoggiCredit: Lula Poggi
"This way, I can choose the size, shape, and material of the piece. With a good professional, I can create a high-quality piece." Credit: Lula PoggiCredit: Lula Poggi
"Take your time to move around the space before you choose how to use the space," she advises. Credit: Lula PoggiCredit: Lula Poggi
"Consult professionals, not friends. The house belongs to the person who lives in it. Don't design a house just to show it to your friends; the house should be designed to serve the person who lives in it, and not for the person to serve the house." Credit: Lula PoggiCredit: Lula Poggi
"Luckily I live alone so didn't need to consider anyone while designing my home." Credit: Lula PoggiCredit: Lula Poggi
"I recommend not buying fashionable decorations, but more classic decorations that symbolize something personal for the person living at home, that way [you] won't want to throw the product away when it goes out of fashion. In interior design, there is a fashion that moves fast and changes just like in clothes. And it is better to avoid all kinds of objects that we get tired of quickly." Credit: Lula PoggiCredit: Lula Poggi
It was the glorious architecture of this apartment building — a 19th-century modern Catalan-style with lots of balconies overlooking Barcelona — that first caught self-employed interior designer Shuli Tavori‘s eye. “High ceilings and indoor columns divide the space perfectly, and these things together give an elegant and relaxed feeling at home,” she writes.
“I was very lucky to have found this house,” Tavori begins of her home hunt that kicked off in 2016. “In the beginning, I was looking through all the rental websites in Barcelona, but I couldn’t find anything; everything looked like an ‘IKEA’ house. After a few months I couldn’t find anything I liked, so I started walking around in neighborhoods where I wanted to live, looking at buildings.”
“One of the days I went for a walk, just outside a very trendy neighborhood, behind a main plaza, on a very narrow street behind a big library, I saw a beautiful Modernismo Catalan building,” she continues.
“I saw a small sign on one of the balconies that said ‘for rent’ and decided to go to the main entrance of the building on the other side of the street, and there I met the porter of the building, and he agreed to let me visit the home.”
“It was big and spacious, completely empty, and just waiting for somebody to get in,” Tavori describes. Although she says it was a bit too big for just her, the price was affordable and fit her budget, so she went for it.
Thanks, Shuli!
This tour’s responses and photos were edited for length/size and clarity.
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