Green code | Elena Fateeva

Designing interiors for a single is a special thing. The future apartment will follow its own logic – the lifestyle of a single person, thus minimum of compromises, maximum of the client’s self-expression. Moreover, such interiors are often small, which poses additional challenges for the designer, but restrictions open the door to non-common ideas. This is confirmed by a new project by Elena Fateeva, an interior of 40 sq m for a young single gentleman.

A clear and functional character of this space was achieved due to a precise planning, laconic selection of materials, plentitude of light surfaces and local insertion of the bright turquoise colour. Its effective apparition in the lobby continues in the living room fully occupying the whole kitchen block.

A strong colour accent acts as a stylistic code of this project and the main factor of its identity. By combining two different spheres (a thick, dominant and full of deep colour part from one side and the bright airy, almost immaterial from the other), the designer managed to create a unique interior felt much more spacious than one could expect from its actual area.
Another distinctive element is the bedroom block. Only after connecting the terrace to the living space was it possible to make up a full-fledged lounge zone. Architectural volume is as bright as possible and easily lets the natural light in: the walls are glazed over the upper perimeter, the entrance is equipped by a sliding door, and the whole interior is accomplished in bright sandy grey hues. The futuristic aspect is even more real inside the “cube”. Here the smart idea of constructing the room dividers as if they were furniture becomes clearer.

Minimalistic façades were mounted upon the load-bearing base – metal framework, the bed’s base and headboard are in the same laconic minimal style. Thus, the walls’ thickness tends to vanish (thus enlarging the living space), and the whole interior of the bedroom is perceived as one unique block. The utterly clear bedroom interior has just a couple of accents: author’s poster and the turquoise hue on the façades of the inbuilt storage system.
As regards storage systems, excluding the bedroom where wardrobes are simply essential, there are no closets. The task is performed by a 6 meter high dressing room where we get directly from the lobby. That is the paradoxical and the only right decision when “the space is too small to have a dressing room”.

Mirrors act as additional tool of enlarging the space. For example, vertical mirror insertions in the dining room. The segment between them is made for storing small objects that always have to be within easy reach. This construction, as most of the furniture items was created by Elena Fateeva herself, projected and assembled specifically for this interior. Also, the mirror finishing is used on two walls of the bathroom: the small space literally opened and looks like a standard bathroom. “I like mirrors, love to benefit from their potential in my projects; they are a simple and useful means for visual extension of the space, making it more interesting and diverse”, comments Elena.

And, of course, posters from Present Continuous photoproject by Natasha Iegorova, Nikolay Gavrylyuk, Oleg Nitsko add a particular deepness, some new dimension to the interior. The surrealistic still life atmosphere finishes the work of creating that special, unique character which distinguishes good interiors.

Project Fateeva Design
Designer Elena Fateeva
Project manager Valentyn Tryntsukov