Two-Level Loft in Rishon LeZion
This was meant to be home styling for an apartment in a residential tower in Rishon LeZion, but in the event a certain amount of planning crept in. The apartment was for a client and his daughter. When I took it on I was surprised to find it already reasonably designed — not an old property in need of a dramatic overhaul. That told me the client wanted to lift the design to a higher level, and to make this house his own.
Along the way I also found a planning fault that called for reversing the living room. The sofa in its original position blocked the way out to the balcony, the cloakroom door was on show to the public space, and it bothered me that anyone walking in met the eye of anyone sitting on the sofa. The reversal that fixed all three needed a new wall, which serves as the television wall, hides the cloakroom door, and buys another layer of privacy for the master bedroom whose door is next to it.
In the kitchen we changed the worktop to porcelain granite and added a storage unit beside the island that also houses the robot vacuum, with drainage and a water supply. The microwave and the oven moved up into the tall units from their previous place under the island, and we added a lift-up cabinet above the sink.
The master bedroom is designed in a heavy modern style with a slightly French note. Its walls are upholstered in a covering resembling woven strips in a dark tone, a picture was added above the bed along with new curtains, and the parquet is new. In the master bathroom the vanity unit was replaced.
The upper floor holds three rooms, two of them for the client's daughter — one for sleeping and one for study and for having friends over, both designed to hold her world. Nearly all the lighting in the apartment was replaced.
To make the most of the double-height space I designed three courses of layered stone cladding rising from the floor to the high ceiling, with concealed lighting between one course and the next. The wall came from a walk I took with another client at the beach in Hadera, beside the kurkar cliffs, around that time.
The seating in the living room takes a free approach, and the rug, made for this room, ties its parts together. A strip of light hangs along one side of the living room to serve the client when he hosts large meals, and folding tables were designed to match, stored in a cupboard of their own.
The outdoor areas were given new furniture, the stone wall was clad in vertical planting, and on another part of the terrace beside the bedroom a jacuzzi was added with decking around it. The main picture above the upper passage is by the photographer Zohar Ron.
