Situated on the third flooring of a brand new residential complicated on the outskirts of Kyiv, this light-filled house balances considerate spatial options with personalised design. The complicated provides a well-developed infrastructure, bringing on a regular basis conveniences near house. From the home windows, a contemporary cityscape unfolds.
“I needed to maintain the house minimal however not chilly,” says Nataliia Lymar. “Easy kinds, a mixture of textures and colours, and emotional accents helped obtain that.”
The designer made a number of structural changes to reinforce the house’s performance. She prolonged the lounge by integrating a loggia, which now serves as a house workplace. The doorway to the bed room was additionally reconfigured – initially accessed from the hallway, it’s now entered by means of the open-plan kitchen–dwelling space. The previous doorway was repurposed to accommodate a built-in fridge, partially hid inside a big wardrobe within the bed room, contributing to a cleaner, extra streamlined house.
Lymar’s own residence attracts from the Japandi model – a fusion of Japanese and Scandinavian aesthetics. The palette options earthy tones, sand, gray, and delicate heat whites. Supplies embody wooden, concrete, linen, and glass – chosen for his or her tactility and pure presence. “For me, performance is the muse, particularly in a small house. There’s nothing pointless – each aspect has a goal,” she explains.
To visually increase the house, Lymar used a number of key strategies. A hanging 2.7-meter-tall mirror within the kitchen amplifies mild and quantity. One other ceiling-height mirror within the bed room displays greenery and extends the visible boundaries. A hall clad in darkish wooden and a glass-fronted wardrobe provides a way of depth and dimension.
“I’m drawn to the wabi-sabi philosophy – magnificence in imperfection and authenticity,” says the designer. Pure cracks, tough textiles, and unprocessed wooden surfaces categorical this strategy. Her favourite object is the strong walnut eating desk, custom-made from a tree that grew in her household’s yard in Uman. When the tree aged and commenced to wither, her father salvaged the wooden, embedding household historical past into the guts of the house.
One other piece, a low picket bench, was crafted by an artisan in western Ukraine from reclaimed timber. Artwork additionally performs a key position within the house’s emotional panorama. On the partitions grasp delicate but highly effective works by Ukrainian calligrapher Yevgenii Berd, created in historic Ukrainian script. The lounge encompasses a diptych titled Wings, with a poem by Lina Kostenko in regards to the inside power of the human spirit. Within the hallway hangs Love Ukraine by Volodymyr Sosiura – a tribute to cultural id and connection to the land.
“Each time I return house, I really feel peace,” says Lymar. “This house is my oasis – an area that displays my values and restores me after life within the metropolis.”
Design: Nataliia Lymar, VN Studio; Location: Kyiv, Ukraine; Space: 45 m2 / 484 ft2; 12 months: 2025; Photograph: Yevhenii Avramenko;
