Furnishing an airy period apartment
Aleksey wanted to furnish his apartment in Highbury with storage and a new kitchen that would maximise the airy and spacious feel of his rooms, while making the most of the building's generous proportions and period features: it has high ceilings, alcoves either side of the fireplaces, extremely deep skirting boards and ornate cornices, and plenty of light spilling in from windows to both the south and north.
He was happy with the layout of the flat, but felt it needed freshening up and tying together. He didn't want the addition of lots of storage to make the rooms feel smaller, interfere with the skirtings or have the kitchen feel like a heavy wall of cupboards overshadowing the living area.
Aleksey first came across Lozi one Sunday afternoon, when he accompanied some friends – who were thinking of working with us on their kitchen – for a tour of our Work/Shop on Hackney Road. This peep behind the scenes must have stuck in his mind, because a few months later he got back in touch to see if we could help with this project of his own – and, of course, we did!
Floating alcove storage
Bespoke storage in the alcoves either side of the fireplace in the living area made sense to make the best use of the space; the challenges were to keep these large items of furniture feeling light, and allowing the room to maintain its spaciousness and distinctive shape. Lozi's proposal for the custom alcove storage in Aleksey's living area was to float the wall-mounted shelving above the level of the skirting board, keeping the spacious feeling and proportions of the room by leaving the floorspace uninterrupted. Further up, slender cylindrical dowels between the tiers and plenty of open shelves allow the wall behind to show through, keeping the full depth of the alcove on display and visually maintaining the shape of the room.
The mix of open shelves and sliding doors balances display space for Aleksey's possessions – including some impressive custom computer keyboards that he makes himself – with hidden storage to keep the room uncluttered. Aleksey chose sliding doors with Lozi's discrete round cutaway handles, rather than hinged doors, to keep all the action within the alcoves.
Aleksey and Lozi's founder and designer-maker Soroush went through many iterations of the configuration together until the balance felt just right – both practically and visually. The final slightly asymmetric design makes a feature of the differing dimensions of the two alcoves, giving each a slightly different feel, and the offset position of selected doors offers a playful visual rhythm with just the right amount of character.
They chose a palette of strong blue, fresh white and light maple to keep the light and airy feel. Deeper cupboards at the bottom, painted in Lozi's Blue Moon, offer storage for larger items and visually anchor the pieces in the room, while Antique White panels keep things airy further up. As usual, Lozi's discrete cable-management details keep everything clutter-free.
Finally, they added a custom media unit to house Aleksey’s projector and sound bar, with exactly the right dimensions and and distances for a crisp picture, and space for the sound to escape around every side of the bar. Matching handle details and dowel legs tie it in perfectly with the other furniture in the room to create a harmonious whole.
For the kitchen area of his flat, Aleksey wanted to freshen up the cabinets and tie them in with the bright and roomy feel of the rest of the apartment. However, the actual kitchen occupies only a small amount of space between the back of the shower room on one side, and the door to a study room that’s tucked behind the kitchen on the left.
Lozi incorporated the study entrance into the cabinetry of the kitchen, creating a secret door that looks just like another part of the kitchen when closed. On the other side, we clad the back of the shower room in the same white laminate, making the kitchen area feel much more expansive and this whole area of the room is now a quietly cohesive whole, forming a functional but calm and minimal backdrop to the living area.
The top run of cupboards is lower than before to reduce the visual bulk of the kitchen itself, and again proportions were considered carefully to create a harmonious run of cupboards that would complement the living space without overshadowing it.
Pale maple and white high pressure laminated birch keep things light and bright, and our signature cutaway handles give a clean uncluttered look. Aleksey added Merrazzo Qatar worktops from Moving Stone International with a blue fleck, to pick out the colours of his living room furniture and tie the space together. He also installed an induction hob by Fabita that hangs on the wall when not in use, cleverly maximising the counter-top space available for food preparation.
This area of the room now feels like a quietly cohesive part of the living space, with just enough space for food preparation and the playful satisfaction of a secret door into the mix.
Fitted wardrobes with a little extra
In the bedroom Aleksey wanted to add much-needed storage, with wardrobes in the alcoves either side of the fireplace. Again the skirtings are extremely deep; removing sections of the skirtings to accommodate the wardrobes would leave a mess if he ever chose to move on from the property, but floating the furniture above them wouldn't work in the same way as it did in the living room, due to the dimensions and solidity of the wardrobes, which needed enough depth to accommodate hangers and closed doors to keep everything uncluttered and out of sight.
Lozi raised the wardrobes above the level of the skirting on cylindrical legs that match the shelf supports from the living area, allowing the cupboards to take up the maximum width for a snug fit in the alcoves. Aleksey and Soroush then filled the awkward space left underneath by adding two mobile pull-out drawers on wheels. These give Aleksey extra functional storage for shoes and clothes, while visually filling the gap between the floor and drawers above.
Choosing a graduated colour palette of greens and blues for the drawers and pull-out sections breaks up the visual mass of the wardrobes themselves, grounding the pieces lower down and making them appear lighter on top, with the same pale maple veneer used elsewhere in the flat tying it all together.
In this way, Aleksey made the most of his space and maintained the balanced and generous feel he was after, without interfering with the flat's distinctive period features – and we turned a few tricky problems into distinctive features for each room that bring consistency and serenity to the flat as a whole.
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Please find our guided pricing here
Each project varies depending on the size of your home, the complexity of the design and your choice of materials and finishes.
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Bespoke floating alcove storage for the living area
Kitchen cabinetry, bathroom wall cladding and secret door
Fitted custom wardrobes in the bedroom
Mobile pull-out drawers under wardrobes
Custom media unit for projector and sound bar
Design and development with our in-house designer-makers
Making, by our own team of makers, on Hackney Road
Delivery and installation by the same team of makers
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Worktops | sink | appliances | electrics | plumbing | removal of existing units | any other home accessories shown
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After submitting your enquiry and confirming a quote that suits your budget, you'll be allocated one of our highly skilled designer-makers and they will schedule a site visit, where relevant. Based on your requirements and personal style, we'll provide a digital 2-D design to visualise the project outcome. Your designer-maker will ensure the experience is stress-free, supporting important design decisions and providing tailored, design-led solutions. All Lozi furniture is then made in-house and if appropriate, carefully installed by the designer-maker and workshop team.
Click here for a full breakdown of each stage.