A Mirrored Island Makes This 646-Square-Foot Lisbon Apartment Feel Grand

Old buildings come with quirks that are both charming and confounding, and this dilapidated apartment near the heart of Lisbon was a textbook example. The long corridor, string of small pass-through rooms, and compact layout that designer Svetlana Vakhtina encountered would be challenging to work with, particularly because it all couldn’t be wiped clean with a renovation. The location, within a historic district, meant there were preservation restrictions. Certain openings couldn’t move, and much of the existing structure had to remain.

Instead of viewing those limitations as obstacles, Vakhtina and her client treated them as a framework for the 646 square-foot home, which was destined to become a long-term rental. But they weren’t interested in creating another neutral investment property. They wanted somewhere a tenant might actually settle into, with two proper bedrooms, plenty of storage, and enough personality to hold its own before anyone moved in.

Then, demolition started uncovering wonderful things. Beneath old carpet was the apartment’s original parquet. Under the kitchen linoleum was checkerboard tile. Old wooden shutters were still salvageable, as were portions of the plaster molding. Even a stone countertop eventually found a new place in the bathroom. Rather than scrubbing the apartment of these details, Vakhtina let the discoveries dictate what came next—here’s how she made it happen.

The kitchen, before.

Some of the kitchen elements and interior fittings are from IKEA, while the work surfaces are made from natural Portuguese stone sourced from local quarries. Photography by Natasha Sol

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