Color Is the 'Common Thread' That Helps This Small Warsaw Home Master an Awkward Downstairs Layout

What's harder than coordinating a colorful interior palette? Coordinating a colorful palette in a space with an awkward layout. It takes planning and a keen eye, but with the right applications, color can make those difficult layouts sing with personality. Need further proof? Interior designer and founder of Plural by Design, Ada Wrońska, masters the art of color mixing in this modern home in Warsaw.

Like most great design, the decision to decorate with color tenfold was inspired by the owners' personalities, lifestyles, and interests. Ada explains, "We weren't interested in creating a home that followed one particular style or trend. Instead, we wanted it to feel collected, personal, and a little unexpected — a place where different references could coexist naturally." The idea was to create something expressive and full of life, but still warm, comfortable, and genuinely enjoyable to live in.

Downstairs, the kitchen, dining room, and living space blend into one another — each area bursts with bright hues, yet they all coexist in harmony. Throughout the home, there are little moments of personality to uncover, which influenced the design as well. Ada shares, "The owners are passionate about traveling, food, Italy (they own a couple of renowned Italian restaurants in Warsaw), and discovering new places, and we wanted the interior to carry some of that energy for discovery."

Beyond just color, one of the main interior design style references in this Warsaw home was modernism, particularly in the shapes and proportions of the furniture. "The house itself has its own architectural history, being constructed in the 60/70s as a typical Polish rowhouse, so we wanted to acknowledge that rather than impose an entirely unrelated aesthetic," says Ada Wrońska.

To experiment with this style in a contemporary space, Ada introduced rounded silhouettes, geometric forms, and some retro-inspired pieces. At the same time, "we mixed these references with contemporary elements and more playful, almost Mediterranean design influences," says Ada.

A mix of styles and designs typically creates a more layered and true-to-life aesthetic; individuality is found in experimentation. Ada adds, "We didn't want to recreate a specific period; it was more about taking elements we liked from different eras and seeing what happens when we mix them."

Still, color was obviously one of the starting points of the entire project. Each room sports a joyful color palette complete with bold prints and finishes. This was led by the homeowners' desire to move away from the neutral, safe interiors they "felt surrounded by every day." At home, they wanted more energy, warmth, and a sense of joy.

"A lot of the inspiration came from Italy, especially the landscapes of Liguria — the contrast between the sea, the mountains, the colorful buildings, and the slightly faded tones of Mediterranean architecture," explains Ada. Italian color palettes have a unique way of blending heritage shades with pastels and rich saturation.

The starting point was the kitchen color palette, which combines many different colors, materials, and textures throughout the carpentry and finishing materials. "My client was very decided on what kind of vibe she wanted to capture there, and came to me with some really nice reference pictures. From there, we did endless color samples before finding the perfect palette of dusty pinks, burgundy, shades of blue, and touches of yellow." The end result built upon the idea of unexpected color combinations, but somehow made complete sense together.

"For me, color isn't just decoration. It's a way of creating atmosphere and expressing personality. We wanted the house to feel alive, rather than perfectly coordinated," says Ada.

Despite the expert use of space in this small living room layout, Ada shares that the renovation itself was quite challenging. "We basically gutted the house and rethought the entire ground floor." What was originally divided into several small, conventional rooms became one open living space.

The open-plan concept also required being comfortable with taking a few risks, as to avoid any common open-plan layout mistakes. One example was the decision not to install a railing along the staircase — "something that might seem controversial to some, but was important for maintaining the openness and visual flow we wanted," shares Ada.

The different shapes that the riskier choices created in the room help visually divide the open layout as well. The staircase, the wall-to-wall bookcase, the colorful kitchen design, the terrace that bleeds into the living space — all of these choices give each moment its own space to exist within the open concept while still staying in conversation with one another.

As Ada says, "The combination of softer shades with stronger color accents, graphic elements, rounded furniture, and different materials creates depth and keeps the spaces visually interesting." A color palette doesn't have to be loud everywhere to have personality, "sometimes the quieter moments are what allow the bolder ones to really stand out," Ada adds.

During the design process, Ada shares that there were a few moments of tension that also forced creativity. For instance, "The stone we knew we wanted for the kitchen worktop seemed impossible to find, some furniture arrived looking completely different from what we had imagined, and not everything went according to plan. Sometimes we had to be patient, and sometimes we simply had to embrace what was happening and make the best of it," shares Ada.

Where this small kitchen might lack in square footage, it makes up for in clever design choices. The color palette, for example, plays with saturation and contrast to feel as stylish as it does comforting. "We didn't want the softer, pastel-leaning colors to become too sweet or predictable, so we constantly played with their relationship to deeper, more saturated tones," says Ada.

Dusty pink in the kitchen, for example, takes on a completely different character when placed next to burgundy or cobalt blue. "We also paid a lot of attention to the shapes, textures, and finishes surrounding the colors," Ada adds.

Any time there is an internal glass door, it becomes an attention-grabbing part of the home. These red doors, specifically, serve as a design element in this home, but they also carry a little piece of Ada's own story.

"My clients and I share a passion for traveling, and we often exchanged recommendations about places we'd visited. One city that's particularly close to my heart is Mexico City. During one of my trips there, I came across these beautiful glass doors framed in red metal at the entrance to a restaurant. I remember thinking, 'One day, I'm going to create something similar for one of my projects,'" shares Ada.

Finally, the right project came along. When looking for a fun way to separate the entryway of the home from the living area, these red doors became the perfect solution.

As for the rooms, "my absolute favorite is actually the upstairs bathroom, which we created as a little sanctuary for my client and her daughter." And the secret that helps this bathroom pack a design punch is that they broke quite a few bathroom 'design rules' in this tiny space. First of all, "we used real wood flooring — something many people would consider unthinkable in a bathroom, although it's quite commonly found in Italian and Spanish interiors," says Ada.

"And we also covered the ceiling and a large part of the walls in dusty pink microcement, pairing it with very subtle white and light beige square tiles, which isn't so common either," adds Ada. The blue vanity cabinet and playful custom red mirror provide essential contrast in the design. "I love how all these seemingly unrelated elements come together. And then there's the crystal chandelier, which is the cherry on top!" says Ada.

A home shouldn't look as though everything was purchased at the same time or from the same collection. "A little contrast and imperfection make a space feel more human," says Ada.

There is definitely a certain tension between the interesting layout and different elements: soft and graphic, vintage and contemporary, understated and expressive. "We wanted the materials and patterns to add layers to the interior, rather than compete for attention," says Ada. And ultimately, color becomes the common thread. Ada says, "It allowed us to experiment with different textures, decorative elements, and furniture styles without losing the sense of cohesion."

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"I'd say this house is full of experiments, unexpected turns, and what I like to call fortunate mistakes. The little accidents that we managed to turn into some of the nicest stories of the project," says Ada. But that's also part of what makes a home feel authentic. Not everything has to go exactly according to plan — sometimes a little whimsy brings your room to life.

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