You won't find anything behind the doors of this Moscow Stalin-era buildingNeither a bohemian loft nor a modern Scandinavian interior — designer Kira Shelmanova decorated a three-room apartment for a man who values severity and simplicity in the rare style of “Stalinist Empire” today. The house where our hero’s apartment is located was built in 1940 according to an individual project and belongs to the category of the famous “Stalin-era” buildings. The author of the project, designer Kira Shelmanova, decided not to ignore the historical component and specific architecture of the building, but, on the contrary, to emphasize it with an interior in the “Stalinist Empire” style and domestically produced furniture. The owner of the apartment, a middle-aged man with a conservative outlook on life, a supporter of strict forms and clear solutions, fully approved of this choice. Kira Shelmanova, architect and designer Graduate of the Moscow Architectural Institute, member of the Union of Artists of Russia. Since 1996, the founder, director and chief architect of her own bureau called “Bureau of Kira Shelmanova”, specializing in private interiors. In her work, she tries to adhere to three main principles: usefulness, durability and beauty. Kira's bureau team consists of several people, and her long-time partner in her projects is designer Margarita Medvedkova. shelmanova.ru Initially, she assumed four living rooms, but this number was not relevant for the customer, so he instructed the designer to make a redevelopment in favor of rational use of space and ergonomics of the interior. As a result, the apartment now has three living rooms (bedroom, study, living room), a kitchen-dining room, a dressing room and a laundry room, and the area of the bathroom increased.The Stalinist Empire style is directly related tolayouts and architecture of houses from the 20s and 30s. Among its main features are high ceilings and windows, 4-5 rooms in an apartment and, as a rule, a small kitchen. All of this was found in our project, and the designer tried to preserve the height of the ceilings as the main advantage of the apartment as much as possible.The apartment's decoration was intentionally decorated withmainly light tones, softening the sharpness of straight empire lines, and high-quality natural materials serve as a noble and unobtrusive decoration of the interior. For almost all joinery products, the shade "American" was chosen, which harmoniously combines with the wall decoration in coffee-milk tones. The living room, kitchen-dining room and bedroom feature a rather complex built-in lighting scheme, for the implementation of which it was necessary to use a two-level suspended ceiling system made of plasterboard.All the furniture is finished in vanilla enamel: this shade reduces the contrast with the finish and textiles and creates a more intimate and relaxed atmosphere, conducive to relaxation. The 16 sq. m. office contains a sofa group, a fireplace from the Art of Fire salon with a TV above it, storage cabinets and a workspace by the window.Stretch ceilings were installed in the toilet and bathroomceilings, since they provide the greatest protection against leaks, which is extremely important for houses with old utilities. The designer continued the style chosen for the entire interior, using porcelain stoneware and ceramic tiles in natural shades in the decoration.Kira Shelmanova, architect-designer:— As a result, the overall layout of the apartment became more functional, comfortable and spacious. I think we managed to harmoniously combine the exterior of the house and the interior in a single style, without pretentiousness and cliches. The customer’s main requirement was also met — to stay within the established budget. The following were used in this interior:
- Upholstered furniture - BRAND (Russia);
- fireplace - fireplace salon "Art of Fire" (Russia);
- Kitchen - Medyn (Russia);
- Cabinet furniture - ALDO (Russia);
- Interior doors - "Alexandria doors" (Russia);
- Massive board - "Atelier de parquet" (Russia);
- tiles, porcelain stoneware - "Basalt Ceramics" (Russia);
- plumbing - store "Santehimport" (Russia).