This project began with a research of the notion of home. What are its key components? How to build “Simple Happiness” in a new place to consciously immerse new experiences and be happy here and now.
The owners of the apartment are a Polish couple with two children. The family used to live in Ukraine for the last five years. Initially, they approached our office to create a design for an apartment in Kyiv, but they had to change their plans due to war and return to Poland. Thus, one of the first projects of Bogdanova Bureau after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine was an apartment in Warsaw.
The bright three-room apartment is located on the third floor of a new building in a modern city neighborhood. The customers chose an apartment that met their requirements: two children's rooms, a master bedroom with its own bathroom, a wardrobe, and a spacious kitchen combined with the living room. The project started with a minor re-planning to make the space more functional by increasing the bathroom and kitchen area.
The owners of the apartment love to cook, and the kitchen is where the family spends the most time together. That is a bright space that doesn't have unnecessary details. Most kitchen appliances and equipment are hidden behind laconic white facades to keep pure lines and avoid visual overload.
The composition of sofas and armchairs in the living room was designed conveniently for the family to gather, communicate and spend time together.
Both children's rooms do not clearly reference the age of their inhabitants. However, if the girl's room still has certain attributes that indicate age like a decorative headboard on the wall in the form of soft pastel circles, the boy's room in muted emerald tones is quite universal. Toys in the play area make both rooms childlike. Although complemented by the more versatile decor, they can serve as teenagers' rooms without redesign.
There are projects from Ukrainian brands: bar stools by Woo, textiles by Home Me, and the Fly chair by Dizzroom, designed by Bogdanova Bureau. We aimed to show a connection with Ukraine through modern Ukrainian design.
For our team, this was the first project in Poland. Therefore, the main challenge was the implementation of the interior in a new country and the search for local contractors and partners. Our clients who are Poles partially assisted with that. So, the process of implementing the project was the result of our cooperation. That experience strengthened our confidence and gave us valuable new knowledge. We explored quality Polish brands: light by Chors, chairs by Fameg, and sanitary by Omnires. We plan to cooperate with them in the future. The visual accent of the interior was a painting by the Polish artist Grzegorz Worpus-Budziejewski.
– The main insight of the project took place even before it began. When a Polish family that lived in Ukraine for a long time had to return to Warsaw, everything they needed fit in several suitcases. Then came the understanding that essential things are not things. Shared time, shared space, and daily joys make a true home. And tactile surfaces, crispy pastries' aroma, and loved ones' voices create the vibe of "Simple Happiness" in it. We aimed to manifest this idea through design, through a combination of materials, colors, and volumes – shares the founder of Bogdanova Bureau, Olga Bogdanova.
