The role of a real estate agency today is not just listing and selling property but it is all about the added value and related services provided to clients for a more comprehensive experience.
As industry leaders, Frank Salt Real Estate has been offering a number of ancillary services that facilitate as much as possible the full property transaction, including property management and home interiors services.
In this article, we shall see how the company’s home interiors team managed to breathe new life into a shell-form apartment, turning it into a welcoming home for its young globetrotting owners who wanted a place to de-stress, relax and rejuvenate.
When the client sat down with FSRE’s Home Interiors Team, their brief was clear. The couple’s work schedule included lots of travel and they had opted to make Malta their home base. They both work in the glamorous world of chartered super yachts in the Americas for most of the year and when they manage to come back home, they wanted to return to a sanctuary that was fuss-free, uncomplicated and yet stylish. Today, the mix of warm woods and elegant furnishings, plus some genius design tricks, have created an apartment that feels as good as it looks.
The couple bought a spacious, new apartment in Ibraġ. At just under 200sqm, it was quite generous in size with three bedrooms and three bathrooms, and ample outdoor space. They wanted all colours and furniture to be contemporary, neutral and maybe even border on being industrial in design. It had to be stylish with an accent on textures. The general feel was meant to be solemn. Bright and moody colours were a definite no. It was important to them that they could display their collection of objets d’art acquired during their travels against a neutral backdrop.
The entire home had to exude a sense of calm from the moment you step through the front door: it had to be both a place of rest and rejuvenation and also a venue for entertaining the family.
Quite a long requirements list! Interpreting the clients’ vision fell on the shoulders of Mary Bezzina from Frank Salt Real Estate’s Home Interiors team and she had the task of executing and completing this while her clients were mostly abroad working. During the process of completing the project, Bezzina regularly consulted with them on alterations, updated and informed them about the progress of works using photographs and, at times, walked them through finer details while making use of live video streaming.
The project came to fruition and was completed in just over a year. As everyone knows, starting out with a shell apartment is quite a challenge for any project manager, but it is also an opportunity to shape and interpret the vision of the client by starting out with a clean slate. When done successfully, as was the case here, the ultimate reward is that the finished product becomes the designer’s concepts and interpretations of the client’s tastes and vision.
Upon entering the apartment, you are greeted by an open-plan living and dining room space in neutral colours. The space is decorated with functional furniture, some modern and some modern mid-century revival, also in the same colour palette as the rest. A thick and textured living room carpet underfoot acts as a soft and inviting anchor for all the pieces in the room.
The round occasional tables are reminiscent of Eileen Gray’s iconic designs and are complemented by a large Mondrian-inspired wall storage unit, which is finished in unobtrusive white and duck-egg grey. This is underscored by a minimalist wood-veneered TV unit with handle-less drawers that are thin and sleek which, in turn, draws the eye towards the dining room.
Both the living and dining room features recessed lighting that softly caresses the walls, while a bamboo-inspired chandelier hovers over the dining room: a taupe-coloured, satin glass eight-seater table complemented with white upholstered chairs. In this tranquil space, the highlights are splashes of colour provided by an arresting and colourful painting, a brass sculpture, organic-shaped ceramics and a wooden bowl…the latter carefully placed on top of another minimalist piece, a white sideboard.
In the course of just over a year, the project was completed
With the dining room midway between the living room and kitchen, this was a place where a lot of time will be spent with friends and family. The reasoning behind this was that the client, who loves cooking when at home, wanted to not only see but also converse with her partner, guests or family in the living area while she was busy in the kitchen.
When Bezzina was invited to take charge of the project, it was still early days and this provided her with an opportunity to turn the kitchen and living areas into exactly what the client envisaged. Thankfully, structural changes could still be planned and implemented, such as removing a kitchen wall in order to accommodate the now larger, open-plan space. This additionally allowed for more light and also added more space to the kitchen area.
The fixtures and fitting were made to measure and installed by some of Malta’s leading manufacturers. The kitchen is uncluttered with sleek wall units and cupboards, once again in neutral colours and the quartz counter top stretches all the way down one side. On the opposite wall, a large wire sculpture clock in black features silhouettes of swallows that the clients added themselves. These seemingly sweep past for the winter, reflecting the lifestyle of the owners who live in Malta for only part of the year. Entering the passage en route to the first guest bedroom, one cannot help but notice the breathtaking runner on the floor and the beautiful ceiling panels overhead. Together they act as an entranceway to the sleeping quarters and as a promise of what is yet to come.
A thick and textured living room carpet acts as a soft and inviting anchor for all the pieces in the room.First one finds a guest bedroom with an en suite bathroom, ready and inviting for guests: all colours are harmoniously chosen again from the same palette, with plush textured bedding and an even thicker woollen carpet that looks like a field of cotton balls, just waiting for tired feet to sink into.
The master bedroom then follows − a room that required considerable reshaping before it could be finished. To further enhance the aesthetics and functionality of the main bedroom, some odd-angled walls (that would have been very unsettling) were straightened without compromising on space.
Access to the en suite bathroom was also shifted to allow for a bigger wardrobe. To achieve this successfully, behind the bed in the master bedroom, a step was created using beautiful hardwood panels from one of Malta’s best woodwork companies. These panels double as a feature, making the step blend in seamlessly.
Here, the owners have a sanctuary that is calm, protected and intimate: a place to get away from it all. Hovering overhead is a suspended, room-sized gypsum ceiling with soft hidden lighting that creates a warm and inviting atmosphere. This is further highlighted by floating bedside tables, pendant-shaped hanging bedside lights and a collection of custom-made, framed black and white pictures from their travels which feature on the opposing wall. A large ceiling fan, customised with a wood stain finish to be the same colour of the wooden wall panels, hangs unobtrusively overhead, ready to stir the air on the balmy Malta nights.
The only hint of pattern is a large leather oversized zigzag herringbone carpet in complementary shades of browns, creams and white to offset the whites of the glossy curved headboard, minimalist storage unit and wardrobe. Above the bed, two framed artworks, one in monochrome and browns and the other in duotone and browns, pair up to define the backdrop of the darker, lush wood-panelled wall.
A door beckons one to an outside balcony offering countryside views while an additional, smaller window allows light to stream in when needed. Details are once again in the form of texture instead of colour with items such as furry scatter cushions, knitted bed throws and fine linen curtains.
The second guest bedroom is a symphony of soft grey, white and silver, and the wallpaper features broad, simple panels divided sparingly by an organic vertical white banner with earthy toned edges. The bed base, bedside tables and chest of drawers are sleek, with stainless steel legs and handle details in a contemporary design juxtaposing the organic wood construction materials of each.
The highlight and focal point in the room is the large, oversized artwork that has a thick, black frame and informally leans against a wall on top of the chest of drawers… a perfect mix of order and relaxed style. The bedroom also has its own balcony with views over the surrounding area.
Both the master en suite and family bathrooms are spacious and spa-like. Floor-to-ceiling tiles are in a luxurious marble finish while stainless steel fittings together with glass and mosaic details complement one another effortlessly. Here you will not be mistaken for thinking that you have landed yourself in the bathroom of a five-star hotel. To finish the look, receded spotlights provide ample lighting and heated towel rails are ready for use on cold winter days.
Before the owners could enjoy their dream property as “project completed”, some inevitable teething problems cropped up such as moisture that started seeping through a single-skin back wall. This was quickly sorted out and the major part of the project took just over a year to finish, with additional time allowed for some fine-tuning by the clients.
As any client’s lifestyle continuously evolves over time, an ongoing project like this also needs to keep pace with the clients’ needs, no matter what they were.
Grahame Salt, Frank Salt director in charge of the home interiors arm of the company, said: “We take pride in knowing that the clients were extremely happy with the work done and that they trusted us to execute their evolving vision time and again as their needs changed. I am truly proud of the team and the passion they put into every project that crosses their path.”
The client was just as happy with the final product: “The fact that Frank Salt Real Estate could not only help us with finding the right property but also converting it into our dream home was a fantastic plus.”
“As a foreigner, it would have been impossible to get the project to where it is today without Frank Salt Real Estate’s help,” the owner continued. “Without Mary’s guidance at the design stage, the apartment today would have been quite different. The modifications recommended then are now the property’s best features. We are incredibly grateful for her attention to detail and the agency’s work ethic and assistance in creating a home that suits our personalities.”