The childhood apartment in Obolon is not just about walls, floors, and furniture. It’s about those wooden doors with moldings that remember how you used to run barefoot down the hallway. About the balcony where, in winter, a bottle of Fanta would freeze. About the piano in the corner — sometimes hated, sometimes adored. We inherited this space not just to “do a renovation,” but to rethink it without erasing the memories.

We kept everything that held the threads of the past: gas pipes, door handles familiar to the touch, the usual proportions of the rooms. But we added new elements to make the apartment comfortable for today. This project is about balance between “what was” and “what is,” between warm nostalgic feelings and modern functionality. After all, it’s important not just to update the space, but to preserve its soul.

Obolon, Kyiv

NOSTALGIC

Location

Implementation cost

The piano remembers how its first notes were pressed with a creak. Now it stands in the hallway — a reminder that things can get a second chance if given a place in the present. On the walls hang paintings, bold as childhood fantasies. Perhaps they would have seemed unclear back then, but now they’ve become part of this space, just like all its stories.

The piano, the long balcony, the old wooden doors with glass, the gas and water pipes remain in plain sight — how else can you preserve the trace of childhood? Every sound and shade of light recalls the years when the doors creaked with a familiar voice and the floor cracks hid the most precious childhood secrets.

The hallway of this apartment is like a tunnel to the past, where every object is a guide to memories. The large mirror reflects not just the space but decades of stories: learning to tie shoelaces, the first cat that ran away, the first scarves and puffer jackets appearing in winter. The triangles at the entrance are not just a graphic accent but an echo of the sketches we once drew in school notebooks.

This kitchen went through several stages of transformation, tried on different “outfits,” but was born in this one. We sought a balance between warm vintage, bold accents, and modern functionality. A vintage table and chairs, as if from a frame of an old European movie, stand next to an IKEA metal cabinet, with board games on the shelves waiting for their evenings.

Sexy hero — a red IKEA shelving unit, our love and challenge: to find someone who will appreciate it too. Behind the grille hides the air conditioner, and the kitchen was extended with two tall cabinets — this way it gained more space for life. We didn’t forget our golden retriever.

A large painting by an unknown Pinterest author fit in so perfectly, as if it was created for this interior. Look closely — it resembles the character from Monsters, Inc. — that blue giant who was meant to scare but ended up touching hearts. Our monster from the painting could well work somewhere in the fear or energy-saving department. So is this kitchen: with a hint of boldness, yet cozy and homely.

This bedroom is like a frame from a slow arthouse film, where every object plays its part. It’s the true drama queen of this apartment. It could stage scenes of evening coziness, morning light, and music in headphones before sleep. But instead, it stays quiet, enveloping and keeping the balance between emotion and calm. Here, the leading roles are shared fairly. The bed, wrapped in soft green textiles, feels like a shot from a summer film set in a Carpathian cottage.

Light — its shadows glide along the walls, creating accidental compositions. Ukrainian art on the walls is like a story without words, felt by the heart. The IKEA pendant is the favorite flower of this room. With a smart bulb, you can change the mood with one click: from warm lamp-like coziness to a cool cinematic scene.

Here you can spend hours watching the light play on the bookshelves, how the tennis ball on the table looks as if it was just placed there not to be forgotten. The books by the bed are stacked so neatly that they resemble manuscripts ready for publication. This is a personal archive of sensations, where every detail works like a brushstroke on a Vermeer canvas: nothing is superfluous.

Shelves from Zara, an IKEA dresser and armchair, a Jysk coffee table — everything looks as if it’s always been here. But the main character is the custom-made cabinet. Perfect in its proportions, it became home to the PlayStation — because even in the most stylish living room, there must be a place for pleasure. Then the gaze moves on — and stops at the leopard. This is not just a rug, it’s the wildness breaking through the perfect interior.

On the wall hangs a painting that at first glance may seem random. But it only seems so. This is a living room where you can disappear for hours. Where you want to sink into the wine-colored sofa with a blanket, a book, or a joystick in hand. Where new meanings reveal themselves every time.

Once, we laughed at the made-up names of colors. But step into this living room — and they come alive. A wine-colored sofa, like ripe cherries, keeps traces of fingers after long conversations. The table is the shade of summer sky, when it’s clear and light, as if you could touch it. The rug is like cappuccino, its foam still holding, and the aroma fills the room. Here, you can lose yourself in colors and textures.

Here everything is like in life: by day — a serious workspace with thoughts, ideas, and notes that will be lost anyway. But change the angle, turn on the evening light — and the office becomes a chill zone: you can put aside the laptop, turn on music, and ignore calls. The balcony is a place to exhale after a long day or sit in pajamas, debating with a friend whether to text first.

But once you close the laptop, the space changes its genre. The folding sofa seems to pull you in, like in Lost in Translation — you’re no longer working, just existing in the moment, talking about nothing and everything at once. The graphic rug balances sharp lines with ease, while the art seems to challenge you: “Are you sure this is just a painting?”

The shelving unit awaits its heroes, and the mirrored mosaic table feels like a prop from a movie about the future imagined in the 80s. Round cushions with horse prints seem to have escaped from a surreal scene, adding a touch of quirkiness — so much of it here that it can’t be counted.

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AMICIBURO@GMAIL.COM

Interior design studio
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Ukraine, Kyiv
st. Sichevykh Streltsov, 23a