The house in Katowice is 270 sq m in size. Its interior was designed by Anna Nowicka of the Szeptem studio. The large space is filled with bold colours that give the rooms energy. Despite the feast of colours, harmony reigns in the house.
The house in Katowice is located in the Brynów district. It is a modern, two-storey block, closed off from the street and neighbours to the side, but open with glazing to the garden. Brynów is one of the most attractive districts of Katowice, where single-family buildings dominate, arranged in a regular plan. It is close to the Katowice Forest Park, which together with the Three Ponds Valley constitutes the largest green complex of the city. It is an ideal space for outdoor activities and a venue for open-air events. This is where a young family decided to live.
Work on the interior design of the building began at the construction stage. The investors had a lot of specific inspiration and materials they wanted to use in the realisation. The biggest challenge was to combine strong and often stylistically extreme ideas.
We worked on the project in a rather non-standard way, especially in its initial phase, as it was mainly in the form of workshop meetings and work on a 3D model. In the realisation, we also had to refine and coordinate many custom-made solutions and details with contractors and manufacturers – such as the design of a tailor-made art installation in the living room in cooperation with the Italian brand DeCastelli, which the Investor adm ired,among others, at the Il Saloni fair in Milan,” admits the interior designer.
When designing the interior, Anna Nowicka opted for a modern, minimalist base. Clean lines, a simple form of furniture and uniform materials bind all the rooms together. The modern minimalism is enhanced by large glazings, contemporary design and a sense of spaciousness. These elements are toned down by stronger parts, such as the batik-decorated ceiling and the veneered staircase.
The interior is dominated by a warm colour scheme that refers to the natural colours of the earth, based on the browns of the wooden floor and the veneer built-ins. The house is open to the terrace and garden, so the living area intermingles with the outside. In addition, opposite the main wall of the living room, there is an outdoor wall with a mural by local artist Mona Tusz, which will eventually be overgrown with grapevine – the combination of these spaces will create a single whole, especially in summer and autumn.
The designer opted for a clear functional layout. On the ground floor, there is a living area with a living room, dining room and kitchen. Next to the kitchen, the veneer built-in cabinets are hidden, as well as a passage to the pantry and garage. In addition, on the ground floor there is a guest toilet, a bedroom with private bathroom and access to the terrace. On the first floor there are children’s rooms, a bathroom, a study overlooking the high six-metre living room and a technical room with laundry.
Amongst other things, the interior designer is pleased with the combination of the cold-feeling white Soap Kaufmann Keramik tiles partially overhanging the countertop into a structure that allowed the creation of sliding wooden shelves for herbs and spices. This was the functional solution that the builders had been dreaming of.
I also like the fact that, continuing the intensity of the living area, the other rooms have also been given their own character – the bedroom is a gentle oasis of calm, sunk in the green of the walls and the burnt butter-coloured carpet. The bathroom on the first floor, despite the minimalist sintering on most of the walls, has been warmed up with a ‘rug’ of colourful tiles and a wooden worktop, giving it the intended, slightly Mediterranean feel. The ground floor bathroom is another journey – which can be refreshing and invigorating, energising for each morning, but with the possibility of softening and evening tranquillity with the choice of an appropriate lighting scene, she adds.
He also points to the living room as an attractive part of the house. A wide, comfortable sofa connects both the multimedia zone and the seating area by the fireplace, the irregular colouring of the wall draws the eye to an artistic installation made of dozens of tiny “plates” of polished copper in a plain or decorated version, which continues to grow towards the ceiling, and the ceiling closes the whole with a colourful composition of batiks composed by the investors themselves (the fabrics were brought back from their travels). Walking from the entrance door to the living room, more of these elements slowly reveal themselves and invite you to explore. Thanks to the double-sided glazing, this space looks different at any time of day – the play of chiaroscuro enriches the space enormously.
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About the designer:
Anna Nowicka – a graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at the Silesian University of Technology, she has been gaining knowledge in design offices and as a lighting design specialist since 2011. Since 2022, she has been running her own design studio Szeptem.studio, where she creates interiors that harmoniously combine functionality and the investor’s personality. She is not afraid of colour, challenges and non-standard solutions.
design: Szeptem.studio Anna Nowicka(http://www.szeptemstudio.pl)
photography: Vertical Level
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