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Scent of countryside, the relaxation of a warm and welcoming home, the search for a natural but at the same time refined style. All this is the Country style and more and more people are choosing it for their home furnishings.
a bright Country Style kitchen with white furnishings and glass inserts
Synonyms of the term country are “countryside, rustic, rural”, therefore everything related to the earth, to nature. A return to our peasant origins in opposition to a world that chases technological progress with increasingly aseptic environments.
Simplicity and refinement make it current even if its origins are distant. In fact, it was born in England in the late nineteenth century, when the English nobility needed to get away from the Victorian splendor and rediscover the country peace.
This style of furniture in fact favors wood and, more generally, all warm and natural materials. It can also be declined in variants such as: romantic, Provencal, chic, rustic, American or modern according to the taste and preferences of those who choose it for their home environment.
a Country Style living room that enhances the details with dark wood.
A room that marries the country style also in the choice of embroidered fabrics.
The country style is characterized by classic furnishings, with shaped profiles and interior decorations. Its best expressed in an environment with exposed stone, ceiling with wooden beams and a nice warm fireplace in the center of the living area.
The aim is to be able to convey the sense of relaxation typical of a country house even in a city context. However, the “rusticity” of the style is enhanced by an extreme refinement in the elements and details that fill the environment and nothing is left to chance.
Typical complements of country furniture are the tables in solid untreated wood, the chests made entirely of wood or with elegant metal legs and the curtains that also become an integral part of the furniture.
In this country-style kitchen we made, the checkered curtain takes the place of the doors under the sink. Refrigerator and dishwasher are strictly built-in, while the oven and hood are visible and represent the heart of the kitchen. Speaking of details, here each knob has its own characterization and has been chosen with care.
Our Country Style kitchen with a touch of color and refined details.
Details of the sugar paper shaped hood and knobs.
Are often used recycled furniture such as old sideboards, bedside tables, dressers, wardrobes. In the country bathroom, a free-standing bathtub with a vintage look and stone walls cannot be missing. Vintage and “decorative recycling” objects are inevitable, that is glass bottles, jars or all those small objects that, cleaned and decorated, can change their intended use and become nice decorative elements or containers.
To enrich the environment, knick-knacks are welcome, especially if in ceramic and old crochet doilies. Vases with plants and flowers cannot be missing either, the impression must be that of a really countryside house. Flowers are an essential element because they give delicacy and a touch of romantic mood to all rooms.
Two examples of a contemporary country style bathroom area, with a focus on the choice of colors.
Country style prefers natural colors, such as those of wood, used as a base for more decisive color combinations, like cherry red, sun yellow, baby blue, ivory and all shades of green.
These shades immediately give to the environment a decidedly welcoming and romantic atmosphere. For the armchairs and other upholstered items, the choice goes to the floral textures, which are then embellished with many colored or neutral colored cushions.
In fact, the country foresees a great use of fabrics with particular textures and decorations, such as checks for tablecloths and flowers and polka dots for curtains and sofas. Even for the bedrooms you can opt for wallpapers and, as a complement, themed bedspreads and sheets.
The materials to be used are wood, stone and wrought iron especially in the chandeliers and headboards of the beds. For the back of the kitchen and for the bathroom, white ceramic tiles or in some patterns of blue, gray, sage or delicate pink are preferred.
The Modulor selection of colors, textures and furniture references for the Country moodboard
A very bright living room that emphasizes the Country style in the choice of fabrics.
The variants of the country style are many, but the one we prefer is the Modern Country style, less characterizing but more suitable for everyday use.
The Modern Country mixes vintage furnishing accessories with minimal or industrial ones. Sometimes it is enough to leave stone walls or exposed brick walls, opt for a large solid wood table and it is already possible to recreate a country atmosphere but not overly ancient.
This flavor of modern country can also be found by modernizing the style of old peasant houses with pieces of modern design that make them more refined. Here we present the living area of a splendid Sicilian Villa in which the ancient stone oil mill is located in the center of the room, surrounded by traditional dark wood furnishings and stone walls, but also very minimal backlit elements.
The ancient oil mill, classic and modern furnishings.
Details of the large living area between traditional furnishings and new elements.
Those who choose the Country style have a romantic spirit and love to enjoy their “home sweet home” in relax.
Spaces where we live, as well as representing us, must have a positive influence on the quality of our life and has to be studied and designed in the best possible way. Even more when, as in this case, life and work take place in the same environment. Designing a studio home with Feng Shui means making these two aspects coexisting harmoniously in everyday life and spaces.
We have often heard of Feng Shui, but what is it? It is certainly neither a philosophy, nor a religious or spiritual practice, it is not a style of furniture and not even a form of bio-architecture.
Feng Shui can be defined as the study of how natural and built environments influence our psychophysical conditions.
Practicing this discipline means understanding how the various elements of an environment that affect our physical conditions, our moods and our behaviors, are activated by our primordial instincts. These include: shape, proportions, symmetry, number, color, tactile sensations, sun exposure, artificial light, sound and attention paths.
Feng Shui literally means “wind and water”, in honor of the two elements that shape the earth. In fact, with their flow, they determine the characteristics of a particular place.
It could be said that the profound meaning of this discipline is “Creating the best conditions for the development of life”. Its goal is to make an environment suitable for the people who lives there or for the activities that take place there.
In fact, each of us relates to the room in a non-verbal way: what surrounds us inspires us with emotions or instinctive reactions of which we are almost always unaware and some of these are universal for the human species.
Matter of Feng Shui are these sensations and to work on the human psyche we act on the physical world.
The greatest representation of the coexistence of home-work based on Feng Shui is this realization in the Lombard capital. Our client, a holistic operator, needed an ambivalent space in chaotic Milan to be used both as a residence and as a location for her courses.
For this reason, she turned to Marzia and Germana from SpazioUmano to make the apartment as suitable as possible for her needs through Feng Shui. The housing unit on two floors is located in the context of a condominium still under construction, chosen near the city center.
Having always been sensitive to Feng Shui, we have followed the two architects with pleasure. Reading and interpreting their design choices in the best possible way has been a source of inspiration for us and a professional challenge accepted with enthusiasm.
Each building has a recognable front and a back. This polarity determines the orientation of the house in the space that is symbolically guarded by two celestial animals: the black turtle and the red phoenix. The first is associated with protection and health and it is identified with the most intimate areas of the house such as the bedroom and bathroom. The red phoenix is instead an indication of freedom and identified with the entrance and the “active” areas of the house.
The other two animals supporting the main ones are the green dragon, linked to our more rational left hemisphere and therefore synonymous with organization, home management and work, and the white tiger, linked to the more intuitive right hemisphere, therefore associated with emotionality and artistic activities.
Being a home-studio, the active areas of living and working had to coexist according to Feng Shui principles, in the part of the red phoenix, but still be separated from each other.
The access to the apartment is therefore characterized by a scenic aerial staircase illuminated on the right side by a large glass wall. This staircase, made with white painted aluminum support and wooden treads, leads to the upper floor used for holistic courses. The instinct is to go up, choosing to be accompanied on this almost emotional path of ascent.
On the opposite side of the large window, the access to the private house is out of sight. A sliding wall decorated with a spiral geometric pattern with opal inserts hides the everyday life’ interior. The light coming from the outside filters through the opal shapes of the sliding wall, creating plays of light inside the apartment.
The living area that opens to the view is an open space with a square plan, whose kitchen is placed on the corner opposite the opening.
The entrance with living area is characterized by the presence of a full-height corner bookcase, where vertical and horizontal shelves gives rhythm. Small objects and books become the real protagonists, standing out among the matt lacquered MDF profiles of the bookcase.
In front of this, the low open cabinet with doors and internal shelves visually closes the room by introducing the kitchen. The latter is arranged at an angle and anticipated by a large table in natural oak and support profiles in black iron. Above this, a witty and youthful light point with suspension elements of different shapes that intertwine on the horizontal support element.
Further element of character are the chairs that surround the table, with bright colors and simple profiles.
The actual block of the kitchen is made up of mutually intersecting volumes, creating a rhythm and visual dynamism also reflected in the material choice of the coverings. On the one hand, the block with service columns which also houses the free-standing refrigerator and built-in oven. Doors in matt lacquered MDF are interspersed with natural and dark-stained oak inserts, creating visual dynamism.
At the front, the basaltine countertop is transformed into a backsplash and back surface in the firing area, giving life to material and luminous contrasts with the uniform riser in white Lacobel.
The overlying wall units best express this play of intersected volumes with open compartments in natural oak that alternate doors in matt white lacquer and inserts in dark stained oak.
Natural materials with a soft touch blend perfectly with darker and rough inserts. Distinctive signs can also be recognized in the lower volumes, such as the drawers with oak fronts that underline the horizontal reading of the kitchen.
Designing a multipurpose interior means being able to bring together different aspects of everyday life. Especially when it comes to connecting the working world to the private one, the home environment plays a fundamental role so that nothing can be left to chance. Choosing to design with Feng Shui involved in this example the coexistence of instincts belonging to two aspects of our life, in a single home-work environment.
We are ready to calibrate your daily and working space on the basis of your needs and desires, in order to create interiors in perfect harmony and balance even with your inner “I”.
Very popular in recent years, the Boho Chic style is characterized by the combination of various other styles that flow into a balanced mix of furnishings. Since there are no precise guidelines, if not the freedom of spirit of its inhabitants, we must be very careful not to furnish the house in a chaotic and disharmonic way.
Entrance and living room in Boho Chic style.
There is a lot of talk about Boho Chic style, but what is the meaning of this term? Boho comes from the abbreviation of “Bohémien“, a French word born in the nineteenth century to identify the unconventional lifestyle of penniless artists, writers, musicians and actors of the major European cities, combined with the word “Chic” which indicates the modern trend to make even a style that was originally more rustic and natural elegant and refined. This expression took hold at the beginning of the millennium in the fashion world but soon merged into interior design as well. The Boho Chic style is an original combination of Nordic, ethnic, hippie and modern furnishings that everyone can interpret in their own way, also as regards the colors and finishes, different from each other and the unique pieces that distinguish it. Each space must tell the story of those who live there and the houses furnished in this style have some common points but they never resemble each other.
A bright Boho Chic style living area, with play of colors and wallpaper.
In comparison, a living area in the same style based on the dark tones of wood and leather.
A necessary element in this type of style is the recovery of antique or vintage pieces of furniture to be combined with other modern ones. The two eras in comparison give this cross-section of “timeless home” to the environment and each piece of furniture, each object and each decorative element contains a history and a personal and indissoluble bond with its owner. A Boho Chic home is constantly evolving, up to the filling of every available square meter. Thus an eccentric environment comes to life, made of unique colors and objects, travel memories and emotions.
Boho Chic living room with antique sofas and armchairs, of different styles and eras.
Here are two images of a living room and a dining area that Modulor created in Parisian Bohemian style
The colors are strong and lively in the Boho Chic furniture, even if light and bright tones are preferable, especially for the walls that highlight the color of the furnishings and accessories, whose shades can range from the ivory of the curtains to the terracotta of the vases, green plants or the textures of carpets, cushions and chandeliers. Colors reminiscent of foreign spices, such as turmeric, paprika, cinnamon and saffron, are highly recommended, or in recent years the most popular themes for any wallpaper on the walls are jungle and tropical. Very important are also the fabrics, the velvets, the opulent or geometric patterns that recall countries such as Morocco and India and the woven wood of armchairs and sofas.
Wallpapers and natural colors are fundamental in the Boho Chic style.
An entrance characterized by woven wood furnishings.
Bathroom with neutral colors, wooden elements and green plants.
Having a lively domestic vegetation is fundamental in the Boho Chic home, the insertion of plants, vases on the ground, wall and ceiling makes the house even more warm, welcoming and hippie. Plants can also be functional elements of the space in their function of separating the various portions of the home environment. Another fundamental element are the lights, which are not uniform and homogeneous as in modern furniture but are located in several parts of the environment and with very different characteristics, both in intensity and in type. The soft lights must not be missing and also the projection of textures on the wall through lanterns with geometries engraved on the surface.
Lights and plants, undisputed protagonists of the Boho Chic style.
Oriental rugs, plants and decorations in these Boho Chic living areas, undisputed giants of Boho Chic style.
Those who choose the Boho Chic style love to travel, even if only with their thoughts and bring many cultures and souls into their home that make it a real cosmopolitan environment.
A monolithic kitchen, entirely covered in marble, shows all its elegance in a project that emphasizes such a precious and distinctive material. Walls and surfaces, in Emperador marble, are recognized for their very dense and varied white and beige streaks on a warm gray / brown background. Such a sophisticated design line can only be accompanied by modern and innovative mechanisms.
The renderings provided by Tanya Kutzmina, a cosmopolitan Russian designer we had the pleasure of working with, immediately show the intrinsic characteristics of the project. The concept of the master kitchen, part of an open space, encloses high walls and monolithic surfaces in an ambivalent environment, inert at first glance but able to transform itself into an equipped and representative kitchen for the guests of the house when needed. Two types of marble alternate in this large space. On the one hand, Emperador dark marble, which symbolically defines the functional parts of the kitchen, becoming a scenographic setting for “acting”. On the other, Emperador light marble, clear and bright, which amplifies the perception of the environment by reflecting the light of the large windows and embodies the essence of everyday life. Living and acting therefore become the reading keys not only of the stylistic composition of the rooms, but also define the way to relate to them.
The structure of the marble kitchen is an island and the central monolith opens with a drag mechanism that becomes a snack corner. Opening, it also shows a cooking area with three different types of fires: induction – teppanyaki – grill. On the internal front there are drawers entirely covered in the same marble and equipped with cutlery holders, crockery holders and potholders. Above it stands a splendid custom-made hood in stainless steel, as large as the island, equipped with filters and LED lights. All made with laser cuts and remote engine preparation. The dark marble of the island spreads into the floor and flows into the back wall. An ingenious book system opens the central doors folding up into two side compartments and revealing a broken interior that houses a sink, a dishwasher, baskets inside the doors, an oven column and exposed shelves with underlying LED lighting. The stainless steel top and back give a touch of modernity between the eternal elegance of the Emperador dark marble with which the surrounding surfaces are covered. On both sides, two large and spacious refrigerators enclose the central block of the kitchen. The covering of the Emperador light doors continues along the entire adjacent wall, hiding an access door to the second service kitchen. At the center of the room, a huge table stands for several diners in dark Emperador with bases made to measure in stainless steel and marble. These counterbalance both visually and physically the grand plan.
Creating this kitchen was a new, arduous and stimulating experience. We accepted the challenge by finding solutions to the various executive problems that immediately arose. Among these, the union of two materials, wood and marble, so different in finishes, weights and typological characteristics. Obtaining the dynamism of the kitchen, with mechanisms suitable for the fluid movement of the parts and the arrangements on site for their perfect functioning with different materials and systems, required a lot of attention and an active collaboration with Tanya in Moscow, who followed the construction site. The marble, which was provided to us by Marmi Galli, a company with which we have been collaborating for long time, was used in 2 distinct thicknesses: 20 mm with 45° cuts to cover all the structures, and 5 mm thick screened for the application on the retractable doors to guarantee the functioning of the mechanisms with respect to the weight. We have taken great care of the quality of the mechanisms and the guides, both manual and motorized, especially for the doors of the shelf and the island snack top. We leave this video of Tanya the task of accompanying you in the living area and guiding you to the kitchen. Seeing it accomplished is a great emotion for us and awards our commitment.
The Moscow marble kitchen project fits perfectly into the series of single-material projects we have made. Among them, a kitchen entirely covered in steel.
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