Where the Baltic Sea meets Warsaw
INTERIOR AND FURNITURE DESIGN
FULL APARTMENT REDESIGN
Warsaw, Poland, 2020
Collaboration: Lucas Skalec
Photography: © Tomo Yarmush
Styling: Kornelia Dzikowska
A century-old apartment, reimagined
When this couple bought their century-old apartment in Warsaw, they had a clear vision: preserve what makes it special, and thoughtfully adapt it for the way they actually live. No museum. No pastiche. Just a home that feels genuinely theirs.
That's where we came in.
The apartment had all the bones of something extraordinary. Enfilade layout, oak parquet floors, glazed doors, rounded ceiling edges — details that tell a story and deserve to be kept. Our role was not to erase that story but to continue it. To bring the space into the present without losing what makes it irreplaceable.
Where heritage meets modern living
The original layout was largely preserved, with two careful adjustments. An extra opening was added between the kitchen and living room to improve flow and connection between spaces. The link between two bedrooms was closed, giving the family more privacy. Everything else, the floors, the doors, the ceiling details, was carefully restored.
The furniture follows the same philosophy. Minimalist custom joinery sits alongside vintage mid-century pieces the clients discovered and fell in love with during the design process. It is eclectic, personal, and completely coherent. Old and new in conversation rather than competition.
A palette born from a wedding day
Every project has a moment where the design direction becomes clear. In this one, it came from a photograph.
The clients shared a photo taken on their wedding day, a dune by the Baltic Sea, their favourite place in the world. Sky, sea, pine forest, sand. That image became the foundation of the entire colour and material palette. Calm, natural, deeply personal.
Shades of blue and grey run through the apartment like a quiet thread. Warm oak from the original parquet floors. Rich American walnut in the new custom joinery. And in the kitchen and bathroom, a bold seamless blue resin floor, the clients' most daring and most beloved choice
The kitchen in shades of blue
The kitchen is the heart of this apartment and the space that received the most complete transformation.
Two principles guided every decision. First, we wanted a monolithic quality, one unified volume where every surface reads as part of the same whole. Fronts, worktop, skirting boards, and sink are all crafted from the same pale blue solid surface material, seamlessly integrated with no visible joints. The result is calm, precise, and effortless to maintain.Second, the colour had to be exactly right.
We knew we wanted a soft, pale blue. But finding the precise shade took time. We looked at every solid surface manufacturer available and kept coming back to the same colour, a sophisticated, luminous pale blue that captured the coastal atmosphere we were looking for perfectly.
The floor tells its own story. The clients initially considered a classic black and white chequered tile, a nod to the apartment's period character. But they were equally drawn to something bolder, more personal. Sensing their hesitation, I asked them a simple question:
"If you could have any colour in the world for the floor, what would it be?"
Without hesitation: "The colour of our car."
And just like that, the bold seamless blue resin floor was born.
The floor-to-ceiling walnut storage tower anchors the space from the other side, warm, grounding, and deeply satisfying against the cool blue palette. It houses the pantry, fridge, and freezer behind the same clean minimal lines as the rest of the kitchen. Nothing interrupts the composition.
A hidden retreat
There is one more space in this apartment that deserves attention, one you might walk straight past without noticing.
Discreetly tucked behind a floor-to-ceiling mirrored door, the bathroom reveals itself quietly.
Two elements from the kitchen carry through: the walnut cabinet and the blue resin floor. Stone tiles in the shower niche add texture and weight. Together they create a spacious, light-filled room with high ceilings and a sense of calm that feels like a genuine retreat.
Recognition beyond Warsaw
This project was featured in nterior design publications and shared widely across design platforms and online media. It resonated far beyond Poland, because when a space is this personal and this carefully considered, it speaks to everyone.
"Magda was a godsend. She made the whole process more enjoyable, organised, and less time-consuming. She listens to your needs, lifestyle, and vision and based on that prepares concrete proposals for layouts, colours, and materials, so you can choose what suits you best without visiting 125 tile shops and browsing 56 interior magazines a month.
Twenty years from now, when it's time for the next renovation, we already know the address to call."
Agata and Igor
What the clients said
Inspired by this project?
If you are thinking about renovating your home and would like to explore what is possible, I would love to hear about it.
