Milan Houzz Tour: An Auto Shop Becomes A Light-Filled Home
Industrial decor is balanced with warm vintage furniture in this unique home in Italy
Sabrina Sciama
17 February 2019
A couple looking for a new home is nothing special: but if she is an architect and he is a designer, you bet the result is going to be out-of-the-box and original, packed with interesting space-saving solutions and personality. This is exactly the impression conveyed by Stefania Micotti and Matteo Dall’Amico’s home in Milan, Italy.
Finding the right home and making it the perfect place to settle down and start a family was neither quick nor easy for Micotti and Dall’Amico. “This was originally an auto shop. The first time I saw it, I wasn’t particularly impressed. It was Stefania, with her architect’s eye, who spotted its potential. When we arrived, it was just a shell … it looked like an undefined box. It took a lot of imagination, but turning it into a place of our own was a really fun challenge,” Dall’Amico says.
Finding the right home and making it the perfect place to settle down and start a family was neither quick nor easy for Micotti and Dall’Amico. “This was originally an auto shop. The first time I saw it, I wasn’t particularly impressed. It was Stefania, with her architect’s eye, who spotted its potential. When we arrived, it was just a shell … it looked like an undefined box. It took a lot of imagination, but turning it into a place of our own was a really fun challenge,” Dall’Amico says.
Photos by Angelita Bonetti, Monad Visual; photo shoot styling by Alessandra Chiarelli
House at a Glance
Who lives here: Architect Stefania Micotti and designer Matteo Dall’Amico, with a daughter on the way. They also share the space with their 7-year-old dog, Giulia
Location: Milan, Italy
Renovation year: 2016
Size: About 2,155 square feet (200 square metres) spread over two levels, the first with living areas and a bathroom, and the second with two bedrooms, a laundry-bathroom, an office and a terrace
Contractor: M.G.M.
Micotti and Dall’Amico bought the building in 2016. The former auto shop is located inside the inner courtyard of a building and had been part of a larger redevelopment of the entire property. The firm that had handled the redevelopment, Baroni + Piscone, had already rezoned the structure for residential use.
House at a Glance
Who lives here: Architect Stefania Micotti and designer Matteo Dall’Amico, with a daughter on the way. They also share the space with their 7-year-old dog, Giulia
Location: Milan, Italy
Renovation year: 2016
Size: About 2,155 square feet (200 square metres) spread over two levels, the first with living areas and a bathroom, and the second with two bedrooms, a laundry-bathroom, an office and a terrace
Contractor: M.G.M.
Micotti and Dall’Amico bought the building in 2016. The former auto shop is located inside the inner courtyard of a building and had been part of a larger redevelopment of the entire property. The firm that had handled the redevelopment, Baroni + Piscone, had already rezoned the structure for residential use.
The unit was a shell with no finishes or even window frames, but Micotti and Dall’Amico were impressed by the huge space and its industrial feel. The large windows and the facade’s overall look hinted at the non-residential nature of the building. Dall’Amico and Micotti chose to emphasise these elements, using them as a motif for the project.
They balanced this theme with more domestic architectural and stylistic choices. “We didn’t want to exaggerate the industrial feel of the building, because that would have made it too trendy and not very liveable,” Micotti says.
The new steel windows and doors have large panes that echo the original windows in a more contemporary key.
Windows with painted steel frames: Jansen
They balanced this theme with more domestic architectural and stylistic choices. “We didn’t want to exaggerate the industrial feel of the building, because that would have made it too trendy and not very liveable,” Micotti says.
The new steel windows and doors have large panes that echo the original windows in a more contemporary key.
Windows with painted steel frames: Jansen
The pair found some of their vintage and antique furniture at antiques markets. Others were heirlooms. The walls are decorated with original sketches by Mario Botta, works of art by Sergio Pappalettera and photos by Masiar Pasquali.
The couch in the living room repurposes parts of Dall’Amico’s grandmother’s bed. The other half will be placed in their daughter’s bedroom. The armrests were made out of the foot of the bed.
The living room and kitchen are separated by a blue wall.
Another part of the bed was made into a low bookcase, pictured here on the right.
Living room floor: concrete with Ultratop System natural finish by Mapei, enhanced with brass strips; table lamp: Atollo, designed by Vico Magistretti and manufactured by Oluce
Another part of the bed was made into a low bookcase, pictured here on the right.
Living room floor: concrete with Ultratop System natural finish by Mapei, enhanced with brass strips; table lamp: Atollo, designed by Vico Magistretti and manufactured by Oluce
Micotti and Dall’Amico are passionate about DIY, and the recovery and restyling of vintage furnishings were key parts of the pair’s design process. In fact, most of the pieces were custom-made: Micotti and Dall’Amico not only designed the spaces and furniture, but also upcycled various pieces or made them from scratch.
“This choice was driven by the desire to surround ourselves with family heirlooms, which bear the warmth of memories; as well as by an ethical and anti-consumerist desire to preserve what already exists rather than buying new pieces,” Micotti says. This also translated into savings on renovation costs.
“This choice was driven by the desire to surround ourselves with family heirlooms, which bear the warmth of memories; as well as by an ethical and anti-consumerist desire to preserve what already exists rather than buying new pieces,” Micotti says. This also translated into savings on renovation costs.
The finishes and coatings throughout the house have a subtle retro feel. One example are the hexagonal ceramic tiles on the kitchen floor.
Floor: hexagonal ceramic tiles by Quintessenza; mustard-coloured epoxy grout: Kerapoxy by Mapei
Floor: hexagonal ceramic tiles by Quintessenza; mustard-coloured epoxy grout: Kerapoxy by Mapei
Steel is a recurring theme throughout the home, and was used for the structures of the table, countertop and kitchen stools. Steel never feels cold in this home, because it’s always paired with wood: Light-coloured wood in the custom-made furniture is matched with darker vintage pieces.
The white metal structure in the kitchen was a stroke of luck. “An acquaintance of Stefania’s was dismantling part of an exhibit at Expo 2015, which I promptly took, cut apart and re-welded together,” Dall’Amico says. He then used the same material for handrail on the stairs, the frame of the bed upstairs and the table on the terrace.
Kitchen and bookcase in white-painted steel and birch: designed and built by the owners
The white metal structure in the kitchen was a stroke of luck. “An acquaintance of Stefania’s was dismantling part of an exhibit at Expo 2015, which I promptly took, cut apart and re-welded together,” Dall’Amico says. He then used the same material for handrail on the stairs, the frame of the bed upstairs and the table on the terrace.
Kitchen and bookcase in white-painted steel and birch: designed and built by the owners
The ground floor is made up of a living room, kitchen and this bathroom.
Floor: painted concrete with an Ultratop System gloss finish by Mapei; white square tiles: CE.SI; sink and toilet: Ceramica Flaminia; vanity: made based on the owners’ design
Floor: painted concrete with an Ultratop System gloss finish by Mapei; white square tiles: CE.SI; sink and toilet: Ceramica Flaminia; vanity: made based on the owners’ design
The etched-iron spiral staircase was already in the building. It is covered in fabric by Kvadrat to make it homier and less slippery.
The upstairs houses the bedrooms and a second bathroom. Here, the ground floor’s industrial concrete yields to a light-coloured wood floor.
Oak floor: Noesis
Oak floor: Noesis
Curtains: Kvadrat; table lamp, foreground: C’hi, by Umberto Asnago and manufactured by Penta; table lamp on shelf: Eclisse, by Vico Magistretti and manufactured by Artemide
The steel motif continues here in the bed frame and the covering on the step to the terrace. Birch storage containers have been fit into the frame.
The walls in the second-floor bathroom are finished in classic subway tiles. The vanity and the vintage mirror were recovered by Micotti and Dall’Amico.
Ceramic floor: Quintessence; sink, toilet and shower: Kaldewei and Catalano; tiles: Ceramica Vogue
Ceramic floor: Quintessence; sink, toilet and shower: Kaldewei and Catalano; tiles: Ceramica Vogue
The second floor opens out to a terrace. This open-air living room is a good match with the interior spaces. Here, too, Dall’Amico’s touch can be seen in the unique iron table: The top is decorated with majolica tiles recovered from the nearby building.
The plant life on the terrace is constantly evolving, turning this terrace into a serene corner.
TELL US
What do you love about this home? Tell us in the Comments below. And don’t forget to save your favourite images, bookmark the story, and join in the conversation.
The plant life on the terrace is constantly evolving, turning this terrace into a serene corner.
TELL US
What do you love about this home? Tell us in the Comments below. And don’t forget to save your favourite images, bookmark the story, and join in the conversation.
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Beautiful, the old and new, industrial and modern, all merges seamlessly into a bright, warm, inviting home. These people have style.
Such a nice apartment! I love the windows, and the terrace is particularly nice, but is upstairs off the bedrooms. I wonder if they considered putting the bedrooms on the ground floor and shifting the kitchen/living room upstairs so that the terrace could be accessed from these "public" spaces. It would be difficult carrying meals up those stairs from the kitchen.
Beautifully designed space, with one exception: why so many stairs, twists, and turns in the bathroom, with the tub? It looks like a serious trip hazard.