NRCC Member in Spotlight - Inspired Design - Interior Architecture

Tue | 08.02.2022

Design

Renovation of Monumental Residences

Romania is full of monumental residences, each with their own unique historic style and architecture. As jewels they grace the streets of our cities, with their lush combination of wood and stone, beautiful ornaments, and niches. They breath history and remanence of older, happier, and more majestic times.

Many of us dream of living in such house or inhabit it as an office. And some of us get the chance to do so.

However, a monumental residence often requires a healthy dose of renovating. Very often the buildings are badly maintained and are hardly up to par for what means a modern living, with comfortable living conditions.

So, what is it you must think of when you renovate such historic monument? How different is it to a more modern home? Let’s quickly take you to the most important, and unexpected things.

Rules

There are strict rules one must follow to renovate a monumental building. These rules are aimed at the preservation of the original state of the structure. Just tearing down (or erecting) internal walls is not an option. So, you are not able to “do as you please” as you can do within a modern home. And when a design is made, this design must incorporate all those rules. That does not limit you, it just means more creativity is required form a design point of view.

Where to start

Electricity and water: these two are most likely to be completely replaced, as very often they are laid within the original foundation and have remained untouched and not maintained. Also, the installations used are very often original and thus need to be replaced. Very often the roof needs an overhaul.

All these actions are costly, but necessary. You do want a warm home, to have enough electricity for all your modern equipment. Therefore, it is vital that you work with a company that is experienced with such projects and knows and respect all these rules. They also have connections to other suppliers that have experience in this type of quality work.

Practical

We all got accustomed to more luxury: bigger living space, more and bigger furniture, and bigger utilities. Take for example a simple utility as a refrigerator. Up until 10 years ago most fridges had a standard measurement (in Europe): 2 doors: one for the fridge, one for the freezer. Then the American fridges were introduced and becoming vastly popular: 4 doors. Roughly twice the size of our traditional fridges. And by now they have added all kind of features (see trough doors), ice makers in the door, even coffee can come out of your fridge these days.

Believe it or not, this can be a headache for monumental residences. When they were constructed, the windows and doors were of smaller dimensions. And since you can’t touch the design of the house, moving large objects inside the home becomes a challenge. Simply because it does not fit through the door. Which means talking out windows to move furniture in. It is not something people think of when they imagine themselves living in a “palatal”: that their purchased furniture and or utilities do not “fit” through the door. Bummer!

Technical

Involved in a renovation, which is guided by many strict rules are:

An interior architect: to design your home and to supervise the different works.
An architect: any plans made that touch the structure need to be signed of by an architect and then approved by the City Hall. Any electrical socket added needs to be approved.
A Constructor.
A Plummer.
An Electrician.
Roof specialist.

Experience

Inspired Design (Iulia Iuga-Dohmen) has a vast experience in renovating monumental residences, providing full services from design to successfully implementation of turn- key projects throughout Romania.

For more information: info@inspireddesign.ro

Iulia Iuga-Dohmen is also the brand owner of Leuk! Home decorations, an online store for premium home decorations.

Check it out: https://www.leukhome.ro/

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