MAKO

The family members missed the country and were waiting to reach a permanent place where they could establish their home. They asked me to design a minimalist and elegant home, but also warm and family-oriented. The woman has excellent personal taste and a love for small details, and she wanted the right combinations of colors and materials with attention to the small details. We designed the apartment in a Nordic style with an emphasis on functionality and a lot of space to focus on useful and everyday objects that are also designed and beautiful. We chose solid colors but used them in a less conventional way, for example, by choosing powder pink for the kitchen. The furniture is made of delicate black iron and designed with clean lines.

MAKO

During the year 2018, we had the pleasure of showcasing a vast variety of homes from all over the country – villas and rental apartments, penthouses, and contractor apartments – in all of which the architects, designers, homeowners, and residents invested thought, work, time, and money. We were delighted to publish all these different projects, learn about the processes of creation and construction, and gain inspiration. Towards the end of the year, we selected 12 that stood out especially – huge villas, private homes, and apartments designed with relatively low budgets and creative residents.

MAKO

Our dream as a family and mine as a designer was a spacious apartment with a sense of space and airiness. We moved to Tzur Yitzhak from a cramped apartment in Givatayim, and the space and connection to nature were the two things that convinced us to buy the apartment. It was important for me to highlight the view from the different rooms. On one hand, I wanted to maintain minimalism and monochromatic tones, and on the other hand, create some warmth with the materials and colors. Despite my love for decorative objects, I avoided creating visual clutter and ensured cleanliness in both the placement of the furniture and the accessories themselves.

XNET

The limitations actually encouraged creativity: upgrading a rented apartment in Givatayim. A young family with two small children moved in knowing it was a temporary apartment but chose to invest to make it pleasant. How did they add a brick wall to the kitchen and uniqueness to cheap and generic furniture?

The couple has a four-year-old son and a one-year-old daughter, and they left their apartment because it was on the third floor without an elevator. ‘Before the birth, we decided to move to a lower-floor apartment, just one street over,’ says Stern. ‘The plan is to stay for about two years, until we move out of the center and into a larger home. We moved in knowing it was a temporary apartment, but we wanted it to be pleasant to live in.’ The budget they decided on was 35,000 shekels, which was spent mainly on new furniture and upgrades done by themselves to save on professional costs.

Building and Housing

For Me, Only Israeli: How Designers Incorporate Local Design Products.

Interior designers have access to stores full of accessories and online shopping sites, but often they prefer to support local creation and choose locally made products.

The footwork we do to accessorize the home can take hours and span days and weeks. Foreign websites are open to us for orders and save us considerable time, design stores produce locally or import items from abroad, but right here, an original and local design scene exists that designers do not overlook. We asked interior designers to share with us the Israeli products they chose to incorporate into the homes they designed.

MAKO LIVING

In the center of Petah Tikva, in a four-room apartment with an area of 85 square meters, lives a young family: the father works in international trade, the mother works for the electric company, and they have seven-year-old twin boy and girl. Also living in the apartment are a German Shepherd dog, a rabbit, and a parrot. The building was built in the 1980s, and the condition of the apartment was fine, but the reason for the renovation was the residents’ desire for a more stylish and functional apartment.

‘The residents wanted a classic and pleasant apartment that would bring them calm. They wanted to change the structure of the kitchen to include an island and dreamed of having a fireplace in the living room but were not sure if the budget would allow for it. It was important to them that the apartment be warm, but since there are animals in the apartment, parquet or carpet was out of the question,’ says the designer Yonit Stern.

MAKO LIVING

The clients, who lived in an old apartment filled with items and strong colors, asked me to design an apartment that would look like a summer home: bright and airy, with quiet yet refreshing colors. Together, we found our version of a summer home, which seemed disconnected from the humid and bustling Tel Aviv atmosphere.

To achieve this, we planned to use materials with a natural-local appearance like oak wood, painted tiles, and mosaics that evoke Israeli associations. We chose a light color palette that reminds of both the beach and the sea itself, and finally, we also used photos that the apartment owner took himself at the Jaffa Port.

Building and Housing

After the cooking, cheesecake baking, and salad preparation, the moment arrives to set out the entire holiday meal you’ve prepared somewhere on the table. The dilemma arises again whether to simply spread a white tablecloth (after all, it’s Shavuot) and place one set or to create something a bit more interesting. You might be surprised to hear, but the transition from just another festive table to an impressive one takes only a few minutes; it all depends on inspiration. Choose a concept, match it with a tablecloth, napkins, and utensils, add a few beautiful items and candles, place a bowl inside another bowl, nice place-mats, and serving dishes at different heights, and if there’s still time – a small gift for each guest will complete the celebration. Still need inspiration? Here are some ideas for holiday tables in a rustic, nature, and beach atmosphere.

MAKO LIVING

“Goodbye Tel Aviv, Hello Givatayim.” When the renovations began in her apartment in Givatayim, Yonit Stern was still a flight attendant traveling around the world and collecting souvenirs. In a short time, she realized that her true calling in life was interior design and decided to make a career change.

“After academic studies and working in a therapeutic profession, I took a break from my role and started working as a flight attendant for El Al. The travels around the world, the temples, the galleries, and sometimes even the hotels reminded me of how much I enjoy beautiful spaces, so I turned to study interior design at the Holon Institute of Technology. After my studies, I immediately jumped into the deep end and opened an interior design studio specializing in urban apartments.”