Apartment Renovation in Murcia

This spacious apartment is located in a building from the 60s facing the Mediterranean Sea and the owners wanted to carry out a complete renovation project. 

OOIIO Architecture design team decided several strategic changes in the interior distribution, which served to ensure a better and more functional home use.

The real protagonists of the project are the beautiful recycled antique furniture that is distributed through the house. It was the typical dark wook furniture with shapes and dimensions from the last century, with great sentimental value for the owners.

Those pieces were repared and laquered in pure white, reflecting light and filling the interiors with joy and luminosity.

Ancient reclaimed furniture and ceramics are key elements in the comprehensive renovation.The interior designers have opted for the unique use of ceramics from the Carmen brand: intense and luminous glazes, herringbone patterns, fish scale-shaped pieces, and crackled finishes, among other distinctive features.The comprehensive renovation was designed by the prestigious OOIIO Arquitectura studio. 

Comprehensive Renovation. Light and Recycling. Murcia, Spain. 

The owners of this seaside vacation apartment in a 1960s building wanted to carry out a comprehensive renovation following contemporary standards while preserving traditional dark wood furniture with shapes and dimensions typical of the past century, which held great sentimental value for them. APE Grupo ceramics played a very special role in the uniqueness of this new space.

The architects and interior designers at OOIIO Arquitectura chose to make strategic changes in the apartment's layout to expand the living room, provide each bedroom with its own bathroom, and fill all interiors with natural light.

Giving new life and recycling the old furniture
Another significant decision was to give a second life to the furniture they wanted to preserve, but by repairing them and completely transforming their dark appearance through sanding and a special pure white lacquer, with the aim of reflecting light and filling the interior space with brightness.

To further highlight the prominence of these furniture pieces in the living-dining-office area, the architects at OOIIO decided to play with contrasting materials. Against the warm tones of the floors and white walls, they used unique and expressive ceramic pieces from APE Grupo, glazed in a blue-green shade.

Expressive ceramic pieces arranged in a herringbone pattern
The ceramic pieces from the Ravello collection, by the Carmen brand, were strategically distributed throughout the large space to create interplays of light and color. "We selected these pieces for their special shine and unique tonality that, when well illuminated, evoke the Mediterranean Sea surrounding the house", say the interior designers.

The pieces were arranged in a herringbone pattern on both the walls and the office backsplash, generating a sense of movement and life in the rooms. They are small-format pieces that reproduce a singular water effect on their surface through a special glaze, while preserving the tradition and flavor of a handmade artisanal product.

A ceramic headboard with fish scale-shaped pieces
Another innovative use of APE Grupo ceramics was reproducing the bed headboards with fish scale-shaped pieces, achieving great singularity through geometric patterns and gleaming surfaces. These tiles are part of the Memories collection by the Carmen brand and are manufactured using the traditional double-firing technique, which allows for gradients and crackles on their surface. The architects have successfully created a new space where the silhouettes of the old furniture pieces take center stage, with their curves, ornaments, and special dimensions, harmonizing with unique special ceramic pieces from APE Grupo.

Team:

Architects: OOIIO Arquitectura.

Project's Team: Joaquín Millán Villamuelas, Alba Peña Fernández, Sandra Butautaite, Marc Robles Calafell 

Photographer: Javier de Paz

Materials used:

APE Grupo ceramics: Carmen brand, Ravello and Memories collection