After some time living alone in a large condominium house, photographer Regina Coeli realized that she didn’t need so much space. Then came the opportunity to buy a smaller house, measuring 151 m2, in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro — the same city where she already lived — and which also offered other attractions, such as the fact that it was within a charming village by the sea, in Icaraí.
The property was quite degraded and out of character, so before moving in, Regina commissioned a project to total renovation to designer Mariza Guimarães and architect Adriano Neto, from the Ammi Estúdio de Arquitetura e Design office, which was created in partnership with architect Michele Carvalho. “This is one of the few villages of houses that remain in Icaraí. A true treasure in a prime, privileged area,” says designer Mariza.
“The client wanted a house with style shabby chic, with a romantic, delicate and feminine atmosphere”, adds architect Adriano. To recreate this atmosphere in the decor, the professionals invested in the “trinkets” that the client already had, the kind that remind one of grandma’s house, such as vases, glasses, kettles, decorative boxes and even vintage pans that, together, create an effect deliberately “messy” and old.
According to the duo, originally, the house was well compartmentalized and had three bedrooms. The bedroom that divided the living room from the kitchen, for example, was eliminated to create more spacious and bright environments. The room facing the front façade was reduced and transformed into an office. As the main bathroom of the house was very large, it was divided in two to create a half bathroom. The master bedroom bathroom then became a suite.
Already decoration, the joinery is all new and the objects are from Regina’s collection — many inherited from the family. To make the most of the spaces, most of the furniture is planned. “The highlight of the room is, without a doubt, the wall between the living and dining areas, which we covered with original bricks from the house, reused from the work. We decorated this wall with pieces that tell the resident’s story, such as photographs, objects and a family mirror”, explains Mariza.
To increase the feeling of spaciousness and clarity, the floor of all the internal rooms of the house was covered with a ceramic with a wood texture, in a very light tone. The room also gained a line of classic finishes polystyrene, such as door smoothing, window sills and rosettes and woodwork of walls.
In the kitchen, the backsplash of porcelain tiles in the granilite pattern, helped to reinforce the retro atmosphere of the shabby chic style. With the same intention, the entrances to the house (entrance hall and service area) were covered with hydraulic tiles, with a print designed by the office itself, also in the palette candy colors.
On the facade, the client asked for more soft tones, with blue windows, and presented some references. From there, the office proposed painting in salmon color and window frames in baby blue. “All the frames are mining pieces that were restored and installed in the house to print a style farm house. The result was very romantic, the way the client dreamed”, evaluates Adriano.
“Our biggest challenge in this job is to update the layout to the original plan, avoiding many wall demolitions. From the beginning, the engineer responsible for the work warned us that it would be much easier, cheaper and faster to demolish everything and build a new house from scratch. But that option was discarded right away, because the idea of the project was always not only to preserve but also to highlight the history of the property”, concludes the designer Mariza.
