Projects

Private apartment - Turin (Italy)

A house immersed in light

An apartment designed by a young couple near Turin stands out for its total white walls and a contemporary wood look
Author
Laura Maggi
Architect
Francesca Bono
Surfaces
COEM
Year of completion
2018

An apartment in a small complex with a swimming pool in Gassino Torinese, a municipality in the metropolitan city of Turin in the northern Italian region of Piedmont, served as a testbed for a project created by a young couple with a passion for interior design. The aim of the project was to transform the newly-built, 130-square-metre two-floor apartment “into a welcoming but at the same time young and contemporary home”, explained the owner Francesca Bono. She designed the floor plan with the help of her father, architect Roberto Bono. The lower floor consists of an open space divided into living room and kitchen, hallway, bedroom, bathroom and closet. An airy, open staircase leads to the upper attic floor with its exposed beam ceiling housing a bedroom and bathroom. Located in a quiet residential neighbourhood, the apartment is surrounded by a circular terrace with a view of the swimming pool.
“We chose materials with simple, clean and essential lines that would create a sense of space and luminosity,” explains Francesca, whose interest in interior design and furnishing “stems from her passion for everything to do with the home, furnishings, accessories and decoration”. Choosing all the elements proved a rather daunting task, “but we began with the floor and consequently decided to furnish the home with a play of contrasts or shades of white. We wanted a wood-effect tile that would coordinate perfectly with the total white of the walls, and on the advice of Pino Gaetano from the None Torinese-based tile retailer Casa Oikos we opted for Habita Castagno porcelain tile. It was love at first sight! Although at first we didn’t have very clear ideas, there was one thing we were certain about: the aesthetics and warmth of wood had to be present. In accordance with this principle, we chose a chestnut-coloured floor tile and used wood for the kitchen cupboards and the bathroom furniture.”
The Habita collection from Ceramiche Coem, a porcelain tile with a contemporary, elegant wood look in warm natural colours and intense, almost uniform tones, fits in perfectly with the aesthetics of the interior design project while guaranteeing practicality and ease of maintenance.
“We were worried that the total white of the walls would give the interior a sterile look, but that proved not to be the case,” continued the owner, “For the choice of furnishings and accessories we took inspiration from magazines and furniture stores as well as ideas from Pinterest and Instagram pages,” she added.
To read more about the apartment renovation project and the many enthusiastic comments from her followers, visit Francesca Bono’s Instagram profile (https://www.instagram.com/francisfrafrancy/). It offers an exciting account of this constantly evolving project.

Tiles
Coem, Habita
Type
porcelain stoneware
Sizes
15x90 cm
Colours
Castagno
Technical characteristics
Water absorpion (ISO 10545-3): ≤ 0.5 %
Chemical resistance (ISO 10545-13): compliant
Resistance to deep abrasion (ISO 10545-6): compliant
Stain resistance (ISO 10545-14): compliant
Frost resistance (ISO 10545-12): compliant
Modulus of rupture and breaking strength (ISO 10545-4): compliant
Slip resistance (DIN 51130): Naturale R10; Esterno R11
Thermal shock resistance (ISO 10545-9): compliant
Crazing resistance (ISO 10545-11): compliant
Linear thermal expansion (ISO 10545-8): compliant
Certifications and awards
EMAS
ISO 14001
Request Project info > Products Gallery >