Belle Rivière

Belle Rivière — the project name set across the hero photograph; below, the finished home

Another studio left.
Maja finished what they started.

A home in a Cascais condominium, bought gutted. The previous contractor had stripped the interior, opened the balcony, torn out the original tub — and then closed. The owner came to the studio with a shell. Day one for Maya’s Homes was day fifty for someone else.

The studio drew the shell whole again from the inside out. Pale oak herringbone laid through every room, chestnut cabinetry wrapping a marble island, and bathrooms pulled back to white tile and brushed brass. A chaotic beginning, finished with absolute restraint. Big, on paper. Calm, in the room.

Further reading: turnkey delivery →

— Before · A villa, mid-demolition

Belle Rivière before — original kitchen, stripped — Kitchen

Belle Rivière before — original bathroom, gutted — Bathroom

Belle Rivière before — original corridor, stripped — Corridor

Belle Rivière before — original balcony, opened — Balcony

— The Design

Belle Rivière design rendering — the home redrawn around the rescue — *The new open-plan kitchen, designed.*

Belle Rivière material selection — chestnut, marble, oak, brushed brass — *Material selection.*

— During

Belle Rivière mid-renovation — new sewage lines being cut into the bathroom floor through the original mosaic tile — *New sewage lines going in under the bathroom floor.*

Belle Rivière mid-renovation — the kitchen wall coming down to make it open-plan, rubble across the floor — *Kitchen wall coming down to make it open-plan.*

“Demolition is easy. Resolution is quiet.”

Inheriting a gutted shell is harder than starting from scratch. You have to find the rhythm someone else broke.
— Maja Milič

— After