This playful 420-square-foot project was a bit of an outlier for interior designer Elina Mussakulova. “Usually, our clients aren’t involved in the design, but we worked as a team,” says the cofounder of boutique interiors studio Sdelaemremont.kz. “It was fun!”
The one-bedroom apartment, located in the heart of Almaty, Kazakhstan, belongs to a family of six who live about an hour outside the city. The couple’s three daughters (they also have a young son) attend school nearby and participate in oodles of extracurriculars—math, tennis, and more. “They wanted a stopover where they could hang out and relax for an hour or two between the end of the school day and their activities,” Elina explains.
The team completely gutted the unit, which is on the third-floor of a four-story residential building that was constructed in 1966. “We like to work with clients who will rethink the entire space,” Elina notes. “Here, we changed the layout so they could have a proper bedroom and kitchen that would accommodate longer stays.”
When it came to devising a scheme, the clients didn’t specify a particular style or suggest particular colors; they simply wanted a lighthearted, laidback look. It was a great match for the firm, whose work combines a sense of joy with an easy elegance that’s unique without being in your face. Elina made the story about color. “If we have flexibility, it’s always about the color,” she says. Painting the walls and ceilings white made the space feel bigger and brighter—the ceilings are just over eight feet high—and established a clean, crisp base. Red, yellow, and powder blue pops and wood tones both light and dark temper the overall effect. “The natural wood floor balances the bold colors,” the designer says.
The cheery red partition that runs within the cased opening between the living area and dining-kitchen area was the starting point. The feature adds architectural interest to the otherwise plain white box while delineating the two zones—all without blocking light. It’s also a varied textural display. “We searched the market for different types of glass: wavy, rippled, wide ribs, skinny ribs,” Elina says. The haphazard arrangement suggests a sense of age, as though the structure predates the modern home that has grown up around it.
Transoms over the bedroom door and at the top of walls function similarly. “The glazed partition and transoms let light into every part of the apartment, including the bathroom,” the designer says. “We extended doorways to the ceiling to make the spaces seem taller too.”
Another notable aspect of the project are its cost-saving measures. The square tiles used for the kitchen backsplash and in the bath started out as large-format tiles. Yes, the tile installer had to cut them, but even so, the total price was less than if they had purchased ready-made ones. “It was the client’s idea; she got creative in decreasing costs,” Elina says.
Paint went a long way in zhuzhing up less than remarkable furnishings and fixtures. Elina painted run-of-the-mill ceiling lights a dark charcoal, then mounted them randomly in pairs throughout the space. The light blue coffee tables and yellow chair were dark wood before the designer got ahold of them. “It was our first time painting new furniture,” Elina says. Other pieces are custom, such as the squiggly blue mirror in the entry and the yellow credenza in the living space. “In Kazakhstan, it’s cheaper to have things made locally than buy them since we’re so remote,” Elina explains.
She did, however, suggest that the couple spend on two limited-edition Fritz Hansen Ant chairs. “We tell clients that good chairs make a room feel more expensive,” Elina says. The silhouettes are distinctive, as are the patterns. “The pattern is reminiscent of Kazakhstani ornamentation, though I am not sure if that’s what the Danish designer had in mind.”
