Name: Josh
Location: Moscow
Size: 750 sq. ft, 2 bdrm furnished rental in Stalin Era apartment building
Years Lived in: 2 weeks
You may recall Josh from an earlier Inside Out expose. He was recently priced out of that neighborhood and has since relocated to a bigger apartment with yet more Soviet imprints.
This time around, Josh made sure to find an apartment with a bathtub and solid colored walls--no 'stenka,' or wall-to-wall wall unit."
Although Josh loves living in former Soviet Republics, he often has issues with their interior design practices. So, like last time, he welcomes your thoughts and advice on making his 76 square meters feel more like home.
According to Josh, he scored well with this apartment. He considers it "soviet in style, but tasteful." The apartment is rather spacious for his needs and is of impressive quality. And when he feels like taking a walk through the history of communism and domestic life, he just opens any drawer in the house and is barraged with random artifacts of a bygone, but ever lingering, era.
His plan going forward is to try to foment a "1960's kitch mode, which complements the soviet aspects of the apartment pretty well." He will start shopping in this direction next week and keep us informed on his progress.
Apartment Therapy Survey:
Style:Soviet+ IKEA
Inspiration:hmmm. Would have to ask the owners, but would guess some Soviet movie like “Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Tears”
Favorite Element: Wooden floors
Biggest Challenge:Large already furnished apartment, trying to camouflage certain large clunky elements, like commodes and wardrobes, and bring the place up to date.
What Friends Say: It’s huge and pretty tasteful for Soviet
Biggest Embarrassment: The commode (or in Russian, “Buffet”)
Proudest DIY: Haven’t really done anything yet except for put labels for “men” and “women” on the bathroom door.
Biggest Indulgence: Haven’t done it yet, but looking to get some beaded curtains or something funky.
Best Advice: When looking for a rental in Moscow, go for the Stalin-era structures because they retain heat better and are better in the sound-proofing arena.
Dream Source:hmmmm. IKEA? Anywhere but from here.
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Originally Posted on June 13th, 2007
I just returned from moscow, where I was able to experience both a lux modern 6 room, 3 bathroom palace in a new development (albeit really crappy construction over all) and a run-down but charming one-bedroom with water closet in an old soviet-era mega complex. My favorite element in my visit to the old place: the brown soviet era stove!
But the chiffoniers! Those are ubiquitous indeed.
Moscow is the biggest city in Europe and quite a walking paradox, too.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/20/world/europe/20cnd-moscow.html?ex=1188532800&en=475fe99aa3b3abc6&ei=5070
thanks for sharing!
view olga's profile
Josh
I love your pics. Thanks for sharing your continuing adventures in Moscow real estate...
view lisa2 in austin's profile
You are certainly lucky to live in a Stalin-era building - the ceilings, the windows, the square footage! I grew up in a building like that, and it has spoiled me forever.
The decor inspiation of "Moscow Doesn't Believe In Tears" can be translated into "Whatever we could buy in 1935, the furniture is still solid, and we only did the necessary upgrades to the kitchen." It's great it's not the "neo-Victorian" of the partments furnished in the 1980s with the unending assault of patterned wallpaper, carpets, sofas, and floor treatments.
it IS fairly tasteful for typical Moscow. i would recommend playing up the furniture styles - taking it more Deco, adding some art, and being proud of it.
view annoushka's profile
Wow....
view Keisha Kornbread's profile
Hey Josh!
Wow! Shades of Brighton Beach in Brooklyn. I am married to a former Soviet. His parents live in that Brooklyn area and all the apartments are in that Soviet style. From what I can see, your current apartment is very, very tasteful considering... Your kitchen is fab for Moscow, but you know that already.
God, those chiffoniers and the dark, dark rugs on the walls... Ugh! And the lamps are indeed the worst.
As Annoushka said, thank goodness you don't have that neo-Victorian stuff. All that wallpaper, etc.
Good lord, beauty is indeed in the eye... etc. I can't bear the stuff and commend you on your bravery in tackling Moscow real estate and decor. Still, the Russians love the stuff, so who am I to say?
view Terry's profile
Please pass the razor blades....I need to gouge my eyes out.
view hdtex's profile
Love the wood floors and the wardrobe
view LaDonnaNichole's profile
Wow - gorgeous place!!! - just as lovely as some of the apartments in NY I've seen on here - well done for finding somewhere so nice
We once had a russian fridge - bought in desperation second-hand from a woman who was the double of Mrs Doubtfire - it must have been 50 years old when we bought it - it never let us down and as far as I know its still going...
view Violetsrose's profile
ah yes, i've lived in furnished places like this in eastern europe. a certain sturdy soviet-romantic atmosphere, but hard to work around other people's stuff. my only advice is to make it as plain and uncluttered as you can, then choose some color or style element with meaning to you and bring in that element as much as possible. in the past i found that a deep blue was nice with all those old earth tones and various woods, so accessories, kitchen stuff, etc. in deep blue was a unifying factor and brought some freshness. it worked for me. or maybe a creamy white like your rug would be a lauching pad for a lighter look, and still show off the furnishings to their best advantage. good luck!
view godsfool's profile
The way the curtains and the flokati in the livingroom pour oil on troubled waters is a wonder! Maybe adding oases of calm like that is the way to go. The floor in your yoga room is pretty wonderful--I can see it played up by playing down everything else: I think I'd make things monochromatic in there, maybe replacing the blue spread on the dark blue day bed (?) with a black/dark, dark brown one? (And moving the blue one to the bed under the (shudder) blue glass chandelier? --Which is so awful it's great, and you might as well have fun with it!
Do I correctly recall that you had a serious drapes issue in your last apartment? Like, weren't they pretty grotesque? Things are looking up in your new place. Back to the yoga room, what's with the limp, skinny, peach panels pointlessly ending 6 inches above the floor? In the interests of yogic serenity, I'd lose them.
But most of all (and this may be just me), I think I'd get and some of the wonderful Stalin era posters. They would point up and compliment the the apartment's era/aura.
Love your kitchen.
view Aulaire's profile
ouch.
view BRUISER's profile
The wood flooring in that chevron pattern is quiet pretty.
view magdavondahl's profile