London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

A Renovated Barcelona Flat Glows With All-White Interiors and Restored Brick Ceilings

A Renovated Barcelona Flat Glows With All-White Interiors and Restored Brick Ceilings

Allaround Lab completely revamps an 800-square-foot apartment, uncovering original barrel-vaulted ceilings and installing custom cabinetry from front to back.

Well-traveled couple Lucia Marengo and Julian Kraan felt right at home when they discovered the Gràcia district in Barcelona. The village-esque neighborhood had great food, and with the city’s mediterranean climate, was the perfect place to ride bikes. "We sometimes wondered whether we accidentally went on holiday," says Julian. And while everything felt idyllic for the couple, the flat they bought there was far from perfect.



Chosen for the view it provided, and its location on a quiet and car-free street, the top-floor apartment they purchased had low-ceilings and felt cramped. With nine different rooms across a single floor of about 800 square feet, it wasn’t exactly the wide open space the couple had wanted. Architect Noelia de la Red of Allaround Lab soon stepped in, addressing that primary desire head on. "We literally threw out all the partitions," says de la Red.

For the new layout, Allaround organized the apartment with four distinct spaces that run lengthwise. Since Lucia loves to cook, and the couple loves to entertain, the kitchen was placed at the middle of the bar-shaped floor plan, and is open to an adjacent living and dining area. "[The kitchen] is right in front of you when you enter the apartment, and it’s in sight from all parts of the home," says Julian. On the other side is the laundry area and bathroom space, through which is the couple’s bedroom. On the opposite end of the home-next to the living area-is a small garden terrace.



"It’s used as a winter garden," says de la Red, "an intermediate space between the interior and the exterior." Positioned for sun, the space helps collect heat for the home during colder months, and is used as a terrace in the warmer ones. The plants, carried over from Julian and Lucia’s previous flat, provide a welcome hit of green.

In gutting the flat, Allaround Lab discovered that the apartment’s unusually low ceilings masked an original barrel-vaulted brick and iron-beam ceiling. By exposing it, the firm not only added volume to the interiors, but also enhanced it visually. The cleaned and restored brick provides a warm, rosy tint and rough-hewn texture throughout the apartment.



The rest of the home’s interior palette is neutral, with very slight variations to define each of the four distinct areas. The larger living and sleeping areas, both in white, feature micro-concrete floors and wood detailing; the garden area and the bathroom/laundry area, which divide the other spaces, are each colored in what de la Red calls a "pinkish" tone. Each features gray-tiled flooring and metal window frames.

For storage, Allaround installed a wall of built-in cabinetry from IKEA that runs the length of the apartment-"so that we can hide away our stuff," jokes Julian. The cabinetry, customized by Cubro, seamlessly integrates appliances like the refrigerator, dishwasher, and laundry machine into the home. In another custom touch, speakers are slotted into the benches in the living room.



Each section of the long stretch of cabinets divides the flat aesthetically while also providing a secondary function to storage. The living room cabinets are lowered to double as seating for guests, while in the kitchen, the cabinet countertops feature a metal finish. In the bedroom, the open shelving provides space to display personal effects.

Julian, who’s a UX/UI designer, says he leans toward unfussy design. His slant matches nicely with Allaround’s motto of "simple solutions to complex problems," but the firm also has a penchant for playful elements. A good example is in the bathroom, where pale-rose subway tile provides a backdrop for a custom, floating terrazzo vanity from Huguet that resembles a thick slice of Turrón candy studded with jeweled fruit.



In another playful moment, the home’s entry doors close to blend seamlessly into the walls. The colors a perfect match, and the frame retreats into the built-in guide on the false ceiling. In contrast, the glass doors and windows at either end of the flat demand attention-especially, says Julian, "when the morning sun streams in through the gallery arches, and later, in the evening, when you can watch the sunset from the bedroom."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Massive Strikes in France Pressure Macron and New PM on Austerity Proposals
Trump Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
Hillary Clinton’s Reckless Rhetoric Fuels Division After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
×