[second sister]

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Some homes are not waiting to be reinvented - they are waiting to be understood.

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Located in the vibrant Athenian neighborhood of Kypseli, "second sister" is the renovation of an apartment that carries decades of memories, objects, and traces of everyday life. Rather than approaching the project as a complete transformation, we saw it as an opportunity to establish a dialogue between generations, allowing the apartment's past to become an active participant in its future.

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The intervention began with a simple question: What deserves to remain?

 

The answer was not found in nostalgia, but in character. The original herringbone oak floors, decorative doors, handcrafted furniture, paintings, mirrors, and carefully preserved architectural details all possessed a quality that could not be replicated. Instead of replacing them, they became the foundation upon which a contemporary home could emerge.

The new architecture acts less as a dominant gesture and more as a quiet framework. Functional spaces were reorganized to support modern living while respecting the apartment's original spatial rhythm. New insertions, including the kitchen, lighting, storage, and material palette, were designed to coexist with the existing elements rather than compete with them.

 

Color became one of the project's principal architectural tools. Deep forest green defines the central living spaces, creating a calm backdrop for the warm timber tones and inherited furniture. Deep red introduces warmth and intimacy to the sitting room, while the bedroom remains intentionally restrained, allowing light, texture, and natural materials to establish a quieter atmosphere. These carefully composed rooms are connected through aligned openings and long visual perspectives, transforming movement through the apartment into a sequence of framed experiences.

 

Furniture was treated not as decoration but as architecture. Every restored piece contributes to the identity of the interior, carrying memories while continuing to serve everyday life. Antique tables, mirrors, chairs, and artworks become anchors within the new composition, creating moments where history and contemporary design exist without hierarchy.

 

Materiality follows the same philosophy. Restored oak parquet, painted plaster, natural stone, brass hardware, textured fabrics, and custom cabinetry establish a restrained palette that allows craftsmanship (both old and new) to become visible. Contemporary interventions remain intentionally discreet, reinforcing rather than overshadowing the apartment's inherited qualities.

 

The title "second sister" is inspired by Anton Chekhov's three sisters (Olga, Masha, Irina). As the second project in a trilogy of apartment renovations in Kypseli, it forms part of a larger architectural narrative exploring how similar principles can give rise to unique places. Like Chekhov's sisters, the three apartments share a common origin yet possess distinct personalities. While connected by the same design language (one that values memory, craftsmanship, and contemporary living), each project responds individually to its existing architecture, atmosphere, and context, making every "sister" unmistakably its own.

 

At Space Dreams, we believe that renovation is an act of editing rather than rewriting. Every existing building contains stories worth preserving, and architecture has the responsibility to reveal them instead of concealing them. Second Sister is a reflection of this belief: a home where memory is not treated as an obstacle to contemporary design, but as one of its greatest assets.

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Credits

 

Architects: Space Dreams

Project management: Space Dreams

Tiles: ZEA tiles

Photography: Ano atelier Photography