An old office space is basically an apartment without either kitchen, bathrooms, or storage – in the center of Stockholm, Note Design Studio worked with a private client that hoped to transform it into a home. Traces of the old 19th century splendor were there – worn wooden floors and ornaments in the form of stucco and carpentry as well as three old tiled ovens looking like a cheminé – but all those beautiful, old characteristics were painted in thick layers of white color with modern spotlights in all ceilings, which reinforced the feeling of an impersonal office.
Note Design Studio noted the colors of the three tiled ovens; green, pink and a yellowish white. Behind a wall that was torn down to access the old piping, they found original 19th century paint on a door frame, suddenly illuminating the entire white space with its powerful mustard yellow tint. They added tones to the original color scale, which worked as a bridge between the powerful original hues, finally ending up with an 8-tone palette that originated from the hidden traces of the old apartment.
Since Note Design Studio aimed to disturb the original features of the apartment as little as possible, all new elements were placed in the spaces between the old ornaments. All cabinets designed for the apartment hover on the walls between baseboards and stucco, or are free-standing on the floors. Two new walls were added and they inherited the same markings as the cabinets – a veneered surface with crossing lines in squares taken from the most beautiful pattern in the apartment; an original parquet in one of the corner rooms. A color palette based on original colours, three expressive tiled ovens, decorations in ceilings and carpentry and an original pattern from a floor – these old traits and peculiarities were the clues we needed to take a white office space into a contemporary direction. The result is a harmonious but rich color experience – inspired by the original splendour– and a new home for the Studio's client and his children
