A two-floor villa

This article looks at a classic two-floor terraced house with ground-floor living area and upstairs bedrooms located in the town of Bagnolo Cremasco, a municipality in the northern Italian province of Cremona. «The clients were a young couple who were just starting their lives together,» explained interior designer Matteo Guerini. So what was their brief? «Classic tastes: a home that is both welcoming and elegant and at the same time informal and youthful. The result is a timeless project that meets the needs and style of the owners but at the same time strives to be distinctive and unique.» Right from the construction stage, the project offered alternatives in terms both of layout and of materials and finishes. The original arrangement of the spaces underwent substantial changes. The designers focused on two aspects in particular: on the ground floor, they included a laundry space in addition to the living area, separate kitchen and first bathroom; on the first floor, they created a walk-in closet together with the three bedrooms and the bathroom. This second intervention was possible thanks to a mezzanine expansion. «For the rest of the house, we intentionally maintained the original layout and focused on the finishings, details, materials and furnishings,» the interior designer explained. «The fact that a new raised section hosts the closet gives greater emphasis to the master bedroom.» A metal-framed staircase with stainless steel handrail and pale wood steps leads from the ground floor to the first-floor sleeping area. To give a consistent, coordinated look to the entire project, uniform flooring was adopted over both levels. On the ground-floor walls and floors, Industrial line ceramic tiles from Floor Gres were used, while the Detail Wood series from Cerim was chosen for the first-floor walls and floors. There are two outdoor living spaces, one at the front and one — planted with trees — at the rear. Alongside the building stands a covered garage with space for two cars. «Like the rest of the home, the outdoor area uses pavings that were not covered by the original specifications but serve to enhance the prestige and beauty of the existing volumes.»