European romance

With the assistance of interior designer Keren Hirschfeld, a young couple have turned their penthouse apartment into an inviting ‘vintage’ environment.

By GLORIA DEUTSCH
Petah Tikva penthouse 521 (photo credit: Uriel Messa)
Petah Tikva penthouse 521
(photo credit: Uriel Messa)
Who said romance is dead? Walking into this penthouse in Petah Tikva, one is transported back to another time, another place. It’s England of the 1960s, Laura Ashley, a world where every little girl is a princess to be surrounded by a fantasy of pink and frills and white tulle.
The apartment belongs to a young couple who live there with their three children – a boy of nine and twins, a boy and girl of six. They moved there eight months ago, upgrading their previous five rooms to a six-room apartment, which in the end they turned back into five, as they wanted a very large salon.
For all the furniture and interior design, they turned to Keren Hirschfeld, who has a place on Rehov Sheinkin in Tel Aviv, where she displays her specific style.
The wife, 34, always loved to explore the Jaffa flea market as a child with her mother and, from an early age, was attracted to antiques and what she calls “vintage,” even before they became fashionable. She came across Hirschfeld’s furniture boutique when she was decorating her first apartment and bought the bedroom from her. This time, the whole place is done in Hirschfeld’s dreamy style, which is the antithesis of the modern minimalist look. She finds this suits her, as it’s warm and romantic.
She is especially happy with this look in her home environment because in the fashion shops, which she helps to run with her husband, she feels she had to choose a different concept.
“For women’s clothing boutiques, I think you can’t go entirely in this direction,” she says. “A shop has to be a little more cool and catch the eye of the young crowd.”
In their apartment, the kitchen and lounge are basically one very large room that blend together seamlessly, and the woman of the house loves the fact that she can interact with the children while they’re in the lounge reading or watching television, while she is in the kitchen preparing the evening meal.
“I particularly like it when we have guests in the evening, as I can be busy in the kitchen and yet be able to join in any interesting conversation going on in the lounge,” she says.
While the kitchen is predominantly white, with solid wood cabinets and marble worktops, the floor is a shade of mocha/pink, also in marble, giving a luxurious look to the whole corner.
Every cabinet is finished with moldings and decorative handles, and the dishwasher is concealed inside a wooden cabinet. Crystal lamps are suspended over the island, and four high pale green chairs complete the picture. As in every room, the walls are finished with cornices and white skirting borders.
Two chintz-covered armchairs and a comfortable velvet sofa in gray-green make up the seating arrangement around the wooden coffee table, while cushions in the same chintz material unify the effect. An imposing brass and crystal chandelier hangs over the scene.
In the daughter’s room, Hirschfeld makes use of the distressed look in the furniture to great effect and thinks she was one of the first designers in the country to use this in her vintage- look designs. The room is a little girl’s dream, with white tulle draped over the fourposter bed and white lace curtains. The nineyear- old son also has “distressed” furniture, but without all the girly touches.
The master bedroom carries on the romantic theme with a floral bedspread, the dressing table painted a misty gray, with a velvet-covered stool and another crystal chandelier.
The theme continues into the large children’s bathroom, complete with cornices, decorative motifs on the cabinets and a granite porcelain floor that looks like expensive parquet.
Finally, we inspect the large balcony with a garden, including a flourishing kumquat tree.
In the distance one can see Ramat Hasharon in one direction and Rosh Ha’ayin in the other.
Here they have installed a home cinema with rainproof speakers so the man of the house can invite the guys over to watch the big games and share a couple of beers. Eventually they hope to install a Jacuzzi and a grill.
Surprisingly, Hirschfeld, the designer whose trademark is romance, spent three years studying in Japan at the beginning of the last decade and returned fired with inspiration to design minimalist furniture and straight, simple lines.
After working in this for a few years, she sensed that she wanted to go in another direction.
“I began to do these very feminine girls’ rooms. Perhaps it was because I became a mother,” she says. “I don’t think they will ever go out of fashion. Israelis love their children, and every girl is a princess to her parents.”
She also feels that Israelis are very particular about their homes because they are under so much pressure at work and like to pamper themselves when they come home, creating a relaxing ambience.
Certainly this apartment provides a dreamlike and cozy environment to come home to after a long, hard day in the workplace.
Do you feel you own one of Israel’s most beautiful homes? Please e-mail: gloriadeutsch@gmail.com