MyDecor

A charming project shrouded in mystery, a surprise, a gift from a lovely husband to his dear wife. Schumetta was in charge of planning Cove Colony in Malibu as a house for a couple. However, the client was organizing everything in secret because the project was a surprise gift for his wife. Usually to design a home for a couple means to understand mainly both needs, personal tastes, different desires and expectations concerning spaces, colours and materials.

But this time, information were very few because as a surprise it was not possible to interview both parts. The unique information provided about the lady were her preference for welcoming and intimate surrounding spaces and her love for rounded shapes. While vacationing, she showed to her husband a Ligne Roset chair which she liked very much. So for the project, there was the contemporary need for a wide and bright space for him and at the same time something more intimate and cozy for her. Moreover, the lady had a natural beauty, she wore casual clothes without particular or outrageous styles. However, she always put on dresses and accessories with interesting details giving her a personal touch.

What is important while planning for a couple is to understand the point in which different tastes and desires meet and Schumetta wanted that the house reflected these features linked to both desires and personal styles. So she focused on a research of a balance between volumes and spaces, which could seem open as well as welcoming and charming with natural materials and marvellous finishing. To achieve this goal, Schumetta proposed some solutions which could function for the couple.

In this way she started to work closely with the client to design the final project. Planning together, the client often adds something about himself to the project, giving to it an added value. In any case, in the final project the client personality needs to shine through. The living room, which is the core of the project, is an open space with kitchen, lunch area and a relax and pleasant area. At the same time each area is well-defined with a specific function creating a sort of volumetric intimate setting without the use of separable walls. The apartment has a whole perimeter glass wall with a view on the ocean. The use of vertical structures would have implicated a rupture of the view and a reduction of brightness.

In this way, both dinner table and living room enjoy the landscape and the light, remaining simultaneously separated. Furthermore, the relax area has a double height from which bright spheres of different length come down. This gives more emphasis on the relax area and a nice night lighting.
Schumetta used natural materials, without artificial colours, in order to create homogeneity and continuity with the outside landscape and nature which seem to penetrate through a glass wall and to continue in furniture, in wood flooring and on stone fireplace wall. The fabric used have natural and soft colours too. This project represented a beautiful experience for Schumetta for the strong collaboration with the client during the planning phase. Moreover, it was pleasant to work “undercover”.