Esther & Álvaro’s Bright, Book-Filled Spanish Home

Name: Esther, Álvaro and Aníbal
Location: Ruzafa — Valencia, Spain
Size: 840 square feet (78 square meters)
Years lived in: Owned 3 years

Esther and Álvaro met seven years ago in London when Esther was working as a journalist. Soon after, they opened Gnomo, a hip retail store in the fashionable neighborhood of Ruzafa. They define the shop as a place for people who have an exquisite taste for design, elegance and a sense of humor—all elements reflected in their home full of books and natural light.

This house is full of the three things they like the most: design, comics and of course: BOOKS. Lots of them. The living room shelves are full, and they love to spend time reading. Aníbal inherited this passion for books and for creative things; he loves to read a story with his parents, draw something and be imaginative.

Our Style: Minimal with concessions.

Inspiration: We base our choices in common sense: We wanted a house to live, not to look at. Comfortable. And this one suits our needs. We avoid trends; we go for the neutral and practical. White, black, grey…We are surrounded by cool objects all day at Gnomo, so we need our home to be a place to rest our senses.

Favorite Element: The library.

Biggest Challenge: The kitchen and bathroom renovation (work in progress).

What Friends Say: That we couldn’t live in any place but this one.

Biggest Embarrassment: Bathroom. It really deserves a renovation.

Biggest Indulgence: The floor; it was the first thing we renovated. We used a nice and luminous parquet. Next thing was a big couch. We really like to be all together on it.

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