An 86sqm Condo Unit That Looks Like A Hotel
A couple achieves their dream of a hotel-like home with a relaxing color scheme and elegant touches
Homeowners Tonypet and his wife Cris had a unique request for the design of their one-bedroom unit: “Give it the ambience of a hotel,” they told their architect and designer Angelo Gabriel Siochi.
What Angelo delivered is a cozy, monochromatic home that echoes the luxurious look of the condominium unit’s public lobby. Using shades of beige, brown, and taupe, Angelo played with textured wallpaper, custom-made furniture, and a directional lighting system to turn the couple's unit into a hotel room. “We want to feel like we are always on a staycation whenever we stay at our unit,” says Cris. “We specifically told Angelo to make our unit sophisticated, parang hotel talaga.”
But there was only so much Angelo could do with 86 square meters of space. “The first thing my clients and I agreed on was that we wanted to have an open-plan layout for the unit because of the small space,” says Angelo, who runs his own firm AG Siochi Architecture and Design. “But at the same time, I wanted to have a division of spaces so the furniture layout would make sense.”
Pinning down the hotel feel in the open-plan layout are the textures that Angelo used on the custom-made furniture and wallpaper. “We made sure that the upholstery of the dining chairs is similar to that of the couches in the lobby,” says Angelo. The wallpaper, resembling golden sweeps of a paintbrush, recalls the condominium’s elevator interiors.
The designer also covered the dropped ceiling over the living area with faux wood vinyl floor tiles, which look almost exactly like the lobby’s wooden floor. “I wanted to achieve a wooden plank appeal, but installing real wood would have been more complicated,” says Angelo. “For one, real wood is heavy and thick. We wanted minimal movement for the renovation. Vinyl tiles are very thin, light, and also easy to work with.” And yes, they did do the job.
“All our effort in designing this unit was done because we want our client to feel like they’re going home to a hotel,” says Angelo. He did no major structural changes. All he did, apart from defining spaces, was to “remove unnecessary furniture and clutter,” he says. “That’s all you need to do if you want a hotel feel for your space. You remove what is not needed and keep everything in its place, just like in a hotel.”
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