Inside This Bright Moscow Apartment Designed For A Young Writer

At 68 square metres, this apartment uses colour, warm wood and a library to create a bright, personal home for a writer

When the parents of a young university student bought her a new apartment in Moscow, they had one clear request for designer Elizaveta Ryzhova: a large library. For their daughter, an aspiring screenwriter and philosophy graduate, books have always been central to her life. It was a fitting starting point for an interior designed around her interests, personality and imagination.

The custom-built bookshelf now sits along the apartment's main visual axis, making it one of the first things visitors see. More than simply providing storage, it immediately establishes the character of the home and its inhabitant. Ryzhova's approach was to allow the design to reflect the client's intellectual curiosity and passion for culture, while creating a space that would feel comfortable and personal.

interiors

A Paris Apartment Designed For Two Brothers And Their Creative Lives

A custom bookshelf anchors the apartment, placing the young screenwriter’s love of books at the heart of her home life

At 68 square metres, however, the apartment presented a spatial challenge. The client's parents were accustomed to living in a much larger house and worried that the new home might feel cramped. Its 3.4-metre ceiling height offered an advantage, but the designer still needed to make the most of every square metre.

The solution was to create long visual axes that run through the apartment, with as few visual interruptions as possible. A glass partition with large double doors separates the living room from the dining area without cutting off the sightline between the two. The route towards the bedroom runs alongside the library, turning an everyday passage through the apartment into part of the experience of the interior.

A glass partition separates the living and dining areas while preserving sightlines and the apartment’s open, airy feel

From almost any point, several areas of the apartment remain visible. Boundaries between rooms consequently appear to dissolve, giving the compact home a sense of greater depth. Transom windows above the doors reinforce the effect, allowing natural light to travel into areas that might otherwise feel enclosed.

The custom doors, inspired by Constructivist architecture, became a particular favourite of the owner. Paired with the transoms and rich timber finishes, they also contribute to the nostalgic quality she wanted – an atmosphere reminiscent of a warm grandmother's home, rather than a pristine new-build interior.

Vintage chairs and contemporary pieces create a characterful dining room, layered with art, colour and warm timber tones

Wood flooring and bespoke joinery bring additional warmth, while subtle references to the owner's interest in Japanese language and culture sit alongside her love of vintage objects, photography and greenery. The result is not a literal interpretation of any one influence, but a layered interior in which different interests coexist naturally.

A Colourful Mix Of Old And New

Furniture and decorative pieces bring another layer of personality to the Moscow apartment. Contemporary Scandinavian design sits alongside antiques, 1960s vintage furniture and collectible objects, while art and lighting introduce expressive moments of colour.

In the living room, a Muuto pendant and Flos floor lamp sit alongside a Mononova sofa, an antique card table and a custom cabinet. Artwork by Sergey Kozlikin and Boris Kocheyshvili adds visual interest, while sculptures, vases and smaller objects contribute to the collected feel.

Artwork and sculptural objects add colour and personality to the living room, balancing its warm architectural backdrop

The dining area continues the mix, with vintage Howe chairs by David Rowland and a Cesca chair from the 1960s positioned around the dining table. In the bedroom, a 1970s Gastone Rinaldi console chair brings another vintage note.

Warm timber, vintage furniture and carefully chosen artwork create a restful bedroom with a distinctly personal character

Rather than relying on decoration alone, Ryzhova uses the combination of colour, material and carefully chosen objects to create an interior with movement and stillness in equal measure. The architectural finishes remain relatively restrained, allowing the furnishings and artwork to provide character without overwhelming the space.

Bold colour brings energy to the kitchen, adding a playful note to the apartment’s warm and carefully considered palette

The finished apartment is bright, warm and distinctly individual – a home shaped not by a prescribed style, but by the books, objects, colours and cultural interests of the person who lives there. For its young owner, it offers a comfortable setting for the next chapter; for Ryzhova, the project opened the door to a bolder approach to colour and expressive combinations.