City Center:
No place like home
FOUNDER NICOLINE DURUP TRANSFORMS AN AIRY APARTMENT IN COPENHAGEN’S VIBRANT CITY CENTER INTO AN URBAN OASIS FOR HER FAMILY
Ask any interior designer what happens when they renovate their own home and they will tell you: the sky’s the limit. Sometimes quite literally! White walls, empty rooms, an open floor plan: when you are your own client, the possibilities of what you can do are as infinite as your imagination.
For designer Nicoline Durup, moving into a new family home in Copenhagen’s historic - and at times frenetic - City Center neighborhood was an opportunity to create a space that was stylish and cozy while at the same time highly functional for her busy family, who equally love to host fun dinner parties for adults and raucous playdates for kids.
That meant a top-to-bottom renovation that included changing the apartment’s layout, putting down new floors, and of course swathing the windows and walls in Durup: textiles textiles textiles!
The previous owners of the apartment had knocked down walls to create a more contemporary, open-air flow throughout the stately 200-square-meter space, with the unintended consequence of losing some of the apartment’s original character. Rather than put up new walls, Durup worked with different fabrics and materials - silk jacquard, cashmere and silk wool, raw raffia, as well as oak and marble - to create distinct areas and atmospheres in the apartment.
The family quarters were positioned at one end, a space delineated by custom oak paneling to create a warm and intimate cocoon where the family could retire at day’s end. The walls of the master bedroom were covered in a luxurious cotton beige, and rich patterned silk jacquard draped the windows bringing an element of sophistication to the otherwise calming decor.
Durup also draped the ensuite master bath with delicately luxe curtains because, above all, we believe that every room - even the smallest and most functional - deserves the same respect.
The kitchen was moved to adjoin the dining and living rooms, expanding the space for entertaining while elevating the vibe with gorgeous Calacatta Viola marble. A sheer curtain spun from the finest cashmere paired with blue silk-wool drapes - two rather unconventional materials when it comes to drapery! - were mounted over the main room’s windows, bringing in both light and sky. But the real showstopper in the apartment was the wallcovering in the library, a hand-made raw raffia woven in a bright expressive blue that inspired a universal reaction from guests: WOW.
It was also important for the designer that her daughter’s room remain playful without being too baby - in other words, a space that would transition with her child as she grew while matching the charming ambiance of the rest of the apartment. A gorgeous green screen-printed linen from famed Italian house Dedar brought the perfect mix of whimsy and artistry to complete the equation.
“Above all, I wanted to create a home and not a showroom,” said Nicoline Durup. “But of course it was inevitable that designing my own space meant executing on the truest expression of the Durup ethos. In the end, our family home really shows the unconventional ways you can work with a range of materials to add character, depth, and definition while elevating a space to reflect a modern and sophisticated lifestyle.”
