There are some people with whom I always feel at home, no matter where I am. Tali Dugma is one of those people. I met Tali, a home and interior designer, when we began collaborating on various projects.
Actually, our joint work is much more than “just” collaboration. Our success can be attributed to our loyalty, to our understanding of a home’s needs, its character, and the design style uniquely suited to it. Moreover, out joint work is largely dependent on cross-fertilization. These important building blocks also contributed considerably to the success of our latest project: designing Tali’s own home.
Despite accompanying hundreds of projects over the past six years, and even publishing her book “Feeling a Home”, which outlines for readers how to design the perfect home – Tali still approached the project of designing her own home in Ein Yaakov with mixed feelings. She had to stop for a moment, analyze her family unit, and then to outline the home she wanted. As a versatile interior designer who likes a wide range of colors and design styles, she wanted to give herself exactly what she successfully gives the families she works with. She wanted to “feel a home”.
And now, I am delighted and thrilled to say that at the conclusion of considerable effort, we’ve done it! Tali matched her home, its style, its character, and its colors to her and her family, while I, the owner of AV Design Studio, brought into their home the complementary items and objects, all of which are, of course, made from upcycled Corian.
A few words about the family
Parents and two adolescent boys who spend much of their time around the dining table. Conversations, meals, homework, and crises alongside celebrations – all these and more are intertwined around the table.
The dining area was designed as an integral part of the kitchen space. The material chosen is wood, African walnut, which warms the dark gray staining of the kitchen cabinets.
Into the dynamic and frenetic home, Tali introduced a calm color palette to soften the atmosphere. Dark green and dark gray.
The house is like an inn that contains all who come and go, as does the dining area that contains and envelops the days and the events that take place in it.
Some homes are typified by pronounced family elements, such as photographs or the children’s drawing from different periods. In this home the elements aren’t pronounced, yet behind every piece of furniture and every element there’s a story. Most of the furniture was collected from different places, and acquired a look that suits the house: funny, sad, or moving stories.
A home of memories and life stories.
Living room
The living room table was built by the owner of the house, and it is designed as a display case for the shells and quartz stones collected by her two sons when they were little boys. The collection of stones and shells holds value since it was collected by the boys.
An experience from a trip to the Golan Height preserved inside a living room table.
On the table is a tray with a collection of KAN candleholders in varying sizes, made by AV Design Studio, which provide a different color scheme from the rest of the space.
Two pictures made from shells hang in the living room. The same shell collection has been transformed into pictures created by the parents and children.
Exit from the living room
At sunset, the best place to sit is on the two armchairs positioned at the exit to the garden, to nature.
Rays of orange sunlight paint the armchairs a warm brown. These are the quiet hours in the house. When it’s windy, the white curtain flutters gently, adding to the calm atmosphere. When the curtain is drawn, a charming area is revealed, a deck and hammocks: another corner to relax in.
The green wall
Facing the living room is a wall painted a deep green. A wall that is the transition from the public to the private space. The owner created a piece of furniture from metal combined with marble, which adds an air of prestige.
Placed on it are a pair of black candleholders from the PAMOT series that correspond perfectly with the bar seat and the glass containers with flowers.
Together with the wall, the combination of materials, colors, and textures create drama and grandeur.
The dark green wall balances and softens the energies in the house.
Kitchen and dining area
A long dining table that seats a large number of people for a family that frequently entertains friends and family.
On the table is an interesting composition of four vases. Each vase contains different items: flowers, keys, wallets. The vases, too, provide a splash of color that lights up the calm space.
To complete the look, additional vases have been placed on the countertop.
There are two shelves in the kitchen, one holding a constantly growing collection of cups, and the other transparent glass jars containing pulses. Cooking ingredients that also decorate the kitchen.
Shower
The place where body and soul relax. It was important for Tali to use an interesting combination of colors in this space: wood, marble, and metal, alongside artworks and decorative elements. The materials and their combination, for instance the mirror and the lighting elements that were purchased in the flea market, and artworks by Kobi Siboni, instill calm and a pleasant experience in everyone who goes into the bathroom and toilet.
This house whose composition of materials and colors is indicative of the members of the household, instills calm in them from their busy days. Grays that soften the energies, greens that balance, gold that enlivens, a little maroon and yellow that liven up the entire space.
The house is a collection of memories, experiences, stories, furnishings, events, colors, materials, and textures, all of which comprise what the members of the household call: “feeling a home”.
