We are excited to share with you our first reader’s home.
This one is Margit’s apartment in Budapest, Hungary.
“We are a married couple living near the Belgian-Luxembourgian border.
We were born in Hungary, but we are Belgian citizens. The two of us together are 117 years old, or as we say, we have been young for 117 years longer.
Since we often visit Budapest, we wanted to make a home there as well.
This apartment was recommended to us “accidentally” during a chat with our friends. At first we were horrified of what we saw, the division of the place was bad, it was dirty and dark, but we caught the glimpse of what may be. It was in so bad a shape, that we had to demolish everything. All the inner walls, the whole flooring and every utility needed to be removed.
Now we could start with a clean slate.
The whole place is barely 70 sqm, so we did not have an easy time. It was important for us to have a decent-sized living room, and we did not mind placing the kitchen and dining room in the same area. We needed a master bedroom and a guestroom, two bathrooms and two toilets.
It seemed impossible to place it all in such a small and irregular ground plan. But ‘impossible’ is merely a word. It is a challenge for us. We drew, we made models, then built it. Then we removed a few things, because what worked on paper, did not look good in real life.
As it can be seen on the plan: for us, a room does not have to be rectangular, on the contrary, we like cambers. Functionality was more important than tradition. We gained space with a gallery above the bathrooms, extra light and sights with the inner windows.
In the end, the proper plan come to be. We were sure, that we wanted the most amount of white, because it makes the apartment look brighter and bigger, in the same way shiny surfaces do. At the same time we did not want a sterile environment, since we like colours.
The coloured mood lighting was based on our own design, using glass of various colours and LEDs.
This is a defining piece of the apartment.
The textiles were then made to match these, almost just echoing those same colours. The colourful balls sewn into the white rug, or the slips of textiles hand-sewn onto the bedcover all point back to those, as well as the carefully picked ornaments. The green “armchair” in the living room, and the special cushions are the works of the houselady.
The held-back playfulness, the ambiance promising harmony, the play of the lights and the rich technological content makes this home so attractive to us.
It is a dream made real, where sleeping is good, too.”
Photos by: Opitz Tomas
