Country apartment gains affectionate décor with items from the 1980s

Located in the city of Campos do Jordão (SP), this countryside apartment was conceived in the 1980s for a family that frequented it for many years. "Today, with their adult daughters, the way to use the space has changed, that’s why I was called," says Felipe Carolo, architect for the CASACOR São Paulo lineup and responsible for the renovation of the property. “When I arrived at the property, I felt like I was back in the 1980s. The entire aesthetic, the furniture, objects, and appliances were from that era – refrigerator, stove, blender, TV. Absolutely everything. There were stuffed animals and collections of slippers from the women when they were still girls, a lot of affectionate memories in every room,” he recounts. From the furniture to the wall colors, everything there breathed memories. “I knew I was in a place filled with affection, but it needed renewal to be lived in with more comfort today. And the client was clear from the beginning: you can do whatever you want with the furniture – refurbish, restore, but buying new, only what is really necessary. That was my challenge,” says the architect. The first request was to resolve the insufficient hot water in the bathrooms, a big issue in a city with a harsh winter and something that also made the project even more challenging, as the demands took a large part of the budget. “I needed to do what was basic, review the plumbing and electrical systems. After all, in a winter tourism city, everyone installs a heater on the wall, an extra outlet for the TV, hair dryer, those things. I needed that maintenance. The walls did not have a fine plaster, were not smooth. So, I had to plaster the whole apartment before turning to the décor,” he explains. A major challenge was the television: the old model, still a tube type, was sitting on a piece of furniture with wheels. I solved it with a piece that I had designed for my home that worked out very well. A piece where you can place a contemporary TV and turn it in any direction you want, without having to pull it like before,” he says. “Moreover, the sofa could not be white, after all, the color is part of the identity of the space. When I saw this moss green during my research, I decided: done! It has the atmosphere and comfort that the living room needs to gather family and friends,” he adds.

In the kitchen, colors appear in the grayish-green cabinets and in the frames of the doors in a Provençal style that divide the space with the terracotta flooring. The walls featured works by Djanira, Keneddy Bahia, Glaucio Costa and tapestries from across Latin America, after a curation within the client's collection. “I replaced the frames of what I found most interesting and highlighted them in the living room. The tapestries were moved to the bedrooms along with personalized bedding, and once again, completely outside my comfort zone, with embroidery and bold colors, but very much to the client's taste,” he shares. The themed bathrooms in amber, green, and gray tones filled with colorful utensils, characteristic of the construction era, were standardized and received white square tiles. “I used the aesthetic of the cushioned cabinets in the bathroom vanities. And since the sink and the countertop were already white, I chose to keep them,” Felipe points out. The family's request for the apartment to have more light was met through glass globes in the passage lighting throughout the house. Two large fabric lampshades in the living room brought more coziness along with the English-style lampshades that were already there and were redistributed. Surprisingly, almost nothing was discarded. The objects from the 1980s were placed on the shelf on display to tell the story of those who live there, as were collectible items. “This was the most embroidered of all the projects I have ever done. My fidelity was to not remove the memory and affection from this space. I went beyond what I was used to and, furthermore, I used six different types of wood. And I managed to make them all balanced and harmonious,” Felipe concludes.