A 720-Sq-Ft Townhouse is Packed With Innovative Designs
From a transforming room to a bedside faucet, these designers pulled out all the stops on their creativity
Alexander Malinin and Anastasia Sheveleva say that over the past few years, foreign DIY blogs, magazines and video tutorials have been changing up the decor scene in Russia. This inspired the architect duo to experiment and see what they could do in an interior with their own hands.
Photos by INT2architecture
House at a Glance
Who lives here: A young creative couple with their cat
Location: Saint Petersburg, Russia
Size: 67 square meters (about 720 square feet)
Architects: Alexander Malinin and Anastasia Sheveleva from INT2architecture
This townhouse was sold with no wiring, plumbing or furnishings, so there was a lot of work to be done. The engineering and welding was entrusted to specialists. The architects did everything else – from painting walls to making furniture – themselves.
Find an interior designer to design your dream home
House at a Glance
Who lives here: A young creative couple with their cat
Location: Saint Petersburg, Russia
Size: 67 square meters (about 720 square feet)
Architects: Alexander Malinin and Anastasia Sheveleva from INT2architecture
This townhouse was sold with no wiring, plumbing or furnishings, so there was a lot of work to be done. The engineering and welding was entrusted to specialists. The architects did everything else – from painting walls to making furniture – themselves.
Find an interior designer to design your dream home
Floor plans
None of the partitions in the apartment were load-bearing. Tearing them down made it possible to combine the hallway and the kitchen-living room into one and build a stairway, which became a central feature of the space.
They came up with a creative layout for the second floor: They installed sliding doors between the two bedrooms, which allow the space to be transformed as necessary. At the moment, the second bedroom is being used as a lounge. In future it might be turned into a children’s bedroom.
Here’s how to deal with load-bearing columns
None of the partitions in the apartment were load-bearing. Tearing them down made it possible to combine the hallway and the kitchen-living room into one and build a stairway, which became a central feature of the space.
They came up with a creative layout for the second floor: They installed sliding doors between the two bedrooms, which allow the space to be transformed as necessary. At the moment, the second bedroom is being used as a lounge. In future it might be turned into a children’s bedroom.
Here’s how to deal with load-bearing columns
The team weren’t trying for a perfectly smooth surface, so they didn’t even level the walls. They applied a layer of plaster about 5–15 millimetres thick with a trowel, and then painted it white. This finish was inspired by the traditional mazanka, a kind of wattle-and-daub home with uneven, whitewashed clay walls.
The advantage to this solution is that damage to plaster walls can be fixed piecemeal, without having to replace the entire surface.
They left the concrete ceiling exposed, but sanded and varnished it. The flexible cable wiring for the spotlight was wrapped in grey fabric and attached to the ceiling with small copper ring-screws.
The advantage to this solution is that damage to plaster walls can be fixed piecemeal, without having to replace the entire surface.
They left the concrete ceiling exposed, but sanded and varnished it. The flexible cable wiring for the spotlight was wrapped in grey fabric and attached to the ceiling with small copper ring-screws.
They went for natural wood flooring. They thought that a parquet finish would be too expensive for an experimental project, and it should be laid down by experts. So, they went for tongue-in-groove larch boards instead. Larch is a durable wood with a beautiful texture. They treated it with oil and hard wax.
The about 20-foot-long (6-meter-long) boards were installed wall-to-wall. A layer of Ruberoid, a bitumen-based roofing material, was laid down between the framing and the boards so that the floor wouldn’t creak. The spaces within the framework were filled with slabs of stone wool, which also provides sound- and thermal insulation.
Take a look at more kitchen designs from around the world
The about 20-foot-long (6-meter-long) boards were installed wall-to-wall. A layer of Ruberoid, a bitumen-based roofing material, was laid down between the framing and the boards so that the floor wouldn’t creak. The spaces within the framework were filled with slabs of stone wool, which also provides sound- and thermal insulation.
Take a look at more kitchen designs from around the world
The dining table is surrounded by a variety of chairs. The leather ones are mid-century European pieces, while the others are from the Czech Republic, bought cheaply online.
How they saved
They bought the kitchen at IKEA and had the fronts and handles painted dark-green in another factory.
How they saved
They bought the kitchen at IKEA and had the fronts and handles painted dark-green in another factory.
Spice shelves hang on the external wall of the box that contains the bathroom. The box has been covered with a chalkboard paint.
Check out these flavour-filled ways to store spices
Check out these flavour-filled ways to store spices
The staircase was made on-site from edge-glued solid pine panels. The manufacturer had pre-sawn them to the required dimensions, but they still had to be adjusted, sanded and oiled before they could be assembled.
Clever solution
To save space and hide it from view, the fridge was built into the rightmost section under the stairs. Next to it is a closet, while household appliances and tableware are kept in the smaller cupboards.
Clever solution
To save space and hide it from view, the fridge was built into the rightmost section under the stairs. Next to it is a closet, while household appliances and tableware are kept in the smaller cupboards.
This edge-glued panelling reappears throughout the apartment on elements like the sofa, bed, dining table, desk, shelves, bar and the countertops and fronts in the kitchen and laundry room. It was also used for the sliding doors, windowsills, doorsteps to the balcony and the decorative window frame in the bathroom.
Soft cushions custom-made in a furniture workshop embellish the sofa. Its base has three covered pull-out drawers. Thanks to the covers, these can be used as coffee tables while also storing items like bed linens or documents and electronics.
Soft cushions custom-made in a furniture workshop embellish the sofa. Its base has three covered pull-out drawers. Thanks to the covers, these can be used as coffee tables while also storing items like bed linens or documents and electronics.
This is what the drawer looks like when it’s being used as a coffee table.
These are combined with metal items, like the cabinets along the window, with their lattice-like fronts. They were custom-made and painted based on the designers’ drawings at a friendly neighbourhood auto repair shop for a token fee. Tableware is stored inside, while the lattice conceals the radiators.
Laundry utilities were added into the bathroom on the ground floor. The interior was finished in painted plaster that matches the ceramic tiles on the floor.
On this floor, the owners wanted to create a big bedroom that could be divided, when needed, into two separate spaces. That’s why the hallway doors lead to both parts of this room. The two sides are separated by a large opening with sliding partitions.
The desk, the bed with its tall, large headboard and the sliding partitions were made on-site, like the rest of the furniture in the apartment.
Clever solution
Many people get thirsty at night. The designers decided to make the owners’ life easier and install a faucet, which they had bought in the U.S., into the headboard. In place of a side table, there is a zinc-coated barrel.
Many people get thirsty at night. The designers decided to make the owners’ life easier and install a faucet, which they had bought in the U.S., into the headboard. In place of a side table, there is a zinc-coated barrel.
On the other side of the bedroom is a mezzanine, furnished with an extra bed. In future, this part of the room can be turned into a separate kids’ room with play area.
Learn how to turn a room into a multipurpose space
Learn how to turn a room into a multipurpose space
The mezzanine is made of pine beams and plywood, painted white just like the ceiling and the walls. The safety barrier is made of metal attached securely to a load-bearing, reinforced-concrete beam. There is a clothes rack in the area under the bed; the space is used as an open closet, with additional clothing storage under the stairs, as mentioned above.
The armchair in the lounge had a troubled past: It was rescued from janitors in Saint Petersburg, painted and upholstered in tarpaulin. It stands on a Turkish kilim rug from the 1970s. Next to the armchair is a bookcase that doubles as a side table. It was built on-site and is now used to store glasses and bottles.
The layout of of the plumbing created a sort of niche around the bathtub, which acts as a contrasting accent in the interior. The tiled wall doesn’t reach all the way to the ceiling; potted plants decorate the ledge on top.
Read more:
Mumbai Houzz: A Neglected Flat Goes From Run-Down to Ravishing
Tell us:
What did you like the most about this home? Tell us in the Comments below.
Read more:
Mumbai Houzz: A Neglected Flat Goes From Run-Down to Ravishing
Tell us:
What did you like the most about this home? Tell us in the Comments below.
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