A two-bedroom Ixelles apartment restyled for clearer circulation, quieter evenings, and furniture that clears original mouldings.
Client brief: keep the marble chimneypiece, reduce visual clutter in the salon, and make the street-facing bedroom sleepable despite avenue traffic. Work completed over six weeks with local painters and a Brussels upholsterer.
Salon seating blocked the chimneypiece and forced a diagonal path from hall to balcony doors. A dark rug stopped short of the dining chairs, so legs caught on the edge during meals.
Bedroom curtains hung inside the reveal and left a glare stripe on the pillow line. Storage overflowed into the hall, narrowing the already tight entry.
Wall colour matched the oak floor too closely, flattening depth under evening lamps.
Seating shifted parallel to the hearth with a slimmer sofa and two chairs. A larger rug under both salon and dining zones removed the trip edge and softened street noise.
Curtains rose above the frame; blackout lined panels cut glare. Hall storage moved into a shallow wardrobe sized to the bedroom alcove.
Walls cooled one step; trim stayed lighter so cornices read again. Chimneypiece stayed untouched as the room’s fixed landmark.
Clear width past the sofa rose from roughly 55 cm to 90 cm. Delivery used the courtyard stair after the elevator cabin proved too shallow for the original sofa order — a constraint noted on the first site visit.
Original oak parquet, marble surround, and brass door handles. New work was limited to paint, textiles, lighting, and freestanding furniture.