New life for an old home – with Gabriela Amorim

Gabriela is a very dear friend of mine. We worked together on my first job after I graduated from Architecture School, back in Rio. She has always been very talented and dedicated, and today she owns her own company where she does a bit (or a lot!) of everything. Home Decor Ideas

Gabi and two friends, Adriana Romeiro (architect) and Patricia Pinheiro (designer) are partners at Elo Arquitetura, a small but very successful “carioca” (from Rio) company, where they work together to achieve the most beautiful results.

Gabi is an Architect but doesn’t think twice when she needs to play the role of a landscaper, light or interior designer. Actually in Brazil that’s a very common situation, and although one goes to Architecture School, it’s very common doing the whole package. Many times, house (construction), home (interior design/light desing) and garden (landscape) come together and are idealized by the same professional.

When I asked Gabi what is her style when it comes to decorating, she took a tangent and told me that she prefers to use inspiration (so typical of Architects =P – I would have said the same ;)). But that is because when you are working on a project (unless you are Calatrava, Niemeyer, Zaha Hadid…) what matters the most is the client’s style, not yours. You are there to make the client’s home come true, to help them not to make a mess of their places, to guide them (and of course, to do all the hard work too =P).

When I contacted her asking for some cool projects that she had done, she did not send me one, but several (how sweet is she?). I was thrilled to see the beautiful things she’s been doing, but didn’t know where to start. Wich project should I show first? After reviewing all of them several times, I decided to begin with this small apartment in Ipanema, one of the most gorgeous locations in Rio.

“This place was closed for several years due to an inheritance issue. The owner had passed away and the apartment was left abandoned for a long time.”

According to Gabriela, this apartment was renovated to be become the home of the owner’s mother, a elderly woman and one of the requests was that it ended up having a sort of a granny felling.

They kept original flooring and ceiling, remodeled the bathrooms and created a master suite that opens to kind of a backyard that came all the way from being a hidden corner to become an awesome and prime area. Both kitchen and master have now a stunning seating area with natural illumination and ventilation, perfect to hang out with friends and family.

Transforming uses is a powerful tool when it comes to renovating, and old houses/apartments are the most perfect scenario for these kind of changes. A laundry area can become a breakfast nook, a varanda can become an extension for a tight living area, a small kitchen can be integrated into the dining…

“We renovated all the apartment windows, taking out the old wood blinds, but I felt terrible wasting all that beautiful wood, so I decided to use them to build a vertical garden.”

Gabriela managed to make a waving wood panel, where they can hang plants all over. Behind the vertical garden, she added some nice lighting to give it a warm touch.

As you can see, when it came to decorating this place, Gabi mixed up antique and new to achieve the desired granny style without compromising the WOW factor.

Gabi likes architecture and design, of course, and also loves traveling. She is very fond of pets and have a puppy. Besides that, she practices yoga and studies everything related to it. Hmm, I guess it says a lot of her style, doesn’t it?

Hope everybody likes this project =) I’ll soon bring more of Gabi’s work to this column.

If you happen to be in Brazil or know someone who needs an Architect there, I recommend her!

e-mail:gamorim@tatil.com or eloarquitetura@tatil.com

Website: http://eloarquitetura.com.br (coming soon)

Mobile: +55 21 99954609

Office: +55 21 21114200