How to create the project of your dreams according to the Made in Meda recipe: read the interview with BertO customers Silvia and Cristian

Silvia and Cristian are the owners of a beautiful loft in Milan that is completely enveloped in light. In collaboration with our Art Directors Castello Lagravinese Studio, we created an entire furnishing project to include the living area, the sleeping area, and the terrace.

Silvia and Cristian both work in the music industry and immediately had very clear ideas about what their home would be like, the atmosphere they wanted to achieve, and how they wanted to live in it.

They arrived at our showroom in Meda with a blank sheet of paper that exactly represented the state of the art of their home: a very special, large room with very high ceilings and endless customization possibilities but… completely empty.

People have lots of ideas when buying a home. Some ideas are very clear while others are more confused: keeping everything together is not easy at all. There is a risk of losing the overall vision and of not being able to correctly choose the right furnishings, their dimensions, coverings, and colours, and to coordinate everything perfectly.

There are consequences to this, and many customers fear not being able to obtain that sense of warmth, that original and personalized look in those spaces they want to share beautiful times with family and friends. That fear is often unfounded.

Furnishing Silvia and Cristian’s home so that the project fully adhered to their personalities was an incredible challenge and one that really thrilled us. We asked them to tell us how it went for them.

If you are wondering whether we began with a floor plan of the house and whether we worked together with them in choosing the furniture to develop their project, the answer is yes. The design of dreams always starts with the project and, even before the choice of furniture is made, there is one aspect that should never be overlooked: listening and trust.

This is what they told us.

BertO: Silvia and Cristian, tell us a little about yourselves. Who are you and what do you do?

Cristian: I’m Cristian Milani, and I’m an artistic producer and a sound engineer. I am Silvia’s partner and Thea’s father.

Silvia: I’m Silvia Ottanà, I’m a musician – specifically a bass player – and I’m Cristian’s partner.

BertO: your home is undoubtedly a magnificent place to live. How did you decide it was the right place for you?

Silvia: We had often thought about moving house.

We wanted to leave our rented house for a new home that fulfilled our needs.

We saw so many places but each had something that did not convince us.

The main challenge concerned light: Cristian is used to working in recording studios many hours a day, and studios are normally located in a basement or in places where natural light is quite rare.

We therefore looked for a home with many windows, and this place seemed excellent.

BertO: there is certainly no problem of natural light here, on the contrary. What advantages and design solutions did this home seem to offer you?

Cristian: This space was not originally intended as a private home, but as an office.

So converting the spaces to make the environment a real welcoming family home was a problem that we tackled in several tranches, not least with the choice of furnishings.

And we believe the best result has been achieved.

Silvia: The point is that we fell in love with this space.

Although we already knew we weren’t going to have a normal home. We both have always liked the idea of living in a loft and the windows are certainly a magnificent aspect – but there was a risk of it being too cold unless we managed all this light with the right furnishing project.

BertO: how did the collaboration with BertO for your project come about?

Silvia: We had a problem and we were looking for a solution, especially in regard to furnishings; it wasn’t easy.

We did some research online, and we liked BertO’s style. We went to the Meda showroom and our wonderful collaboration began from there.

Cristian: the BertO consultants first helped us to understand how to obtain that feeling of warmth that our home lacked. Then, together with us, they built that welcoming flavour we wanted.

BertO: people increasingly need to create a workspace inside their home. For you who work in the music world it was not so easy to find a way to do this. What did you do?

Cristian: We both work in music and are part of the same world, but working together isn’t always the best thing. So we needed two separate spaces to work in; there wasn’t an easy fix.

I have a studio where I work and produce and Silvia has a space of her own. We have managed to maintain a link between the world of work that is typically outside the home and what happens at home.

And we like to maintain this type of spirit.

Silvia: Yes, being able to obtain and carve out a space for myself was very important. I wanted a studio where I could play and be able to work separately from Cristian, a space that had defined boundaries and my own style and that was perfectly integrated with the style of the house as a whole.

Every now and then we meet in the house, in the kitchen, in the living room…but then I go to my room and he to his.

BertO: What was the biggest difficulty you encountered in developing the project for your home?

Silvia: We needed someone to help us have a total vision of the project.

Clearly, we are not experts in interior design. Although we had a clear idea of what we wanted, we would have been frustrated trying to choose the furnishings by ourselves and would have ended up not getting what we really had in mind.

Cristian: The BertO consultants were able to transform our ideas about the home we had envisioned into what you see now.

It may seem simple: a large empty space without walls that is to be filled. BertO consultants listened to us long before proposing their furnishing solutions. And the result was very greatly appreciated.

Silvia: Exactly. First we, then the BertO professionals, got a clear understanding of what we needed. It wasn’t just a question of aesthetics: having a home that is only beautiful was not what we had in mind.

That’s not what we wanted.

BertO: What was the furnishing solution that surprised you the most?

Silvia: it may seem strange, but the most surprising things are found in the little things and details. It would be simple to say the sofa or the table, they are indeed very beautiful and amazing. But there are some complements that actually surprise me not only for their style or design but because they resolve issues that I would not have considered on my own.

And I am referring to the carpet.

Of all the complements this was the last on my mind.

If it were up to me, I would never have thought of including it in our living room.

But it was fundamental: it created a mental partition that really helped to divide the living area – which is very large – without using any walls or vertical elements. We love open spaces a lot, so we never wanted to put up physical dividers.

Cristian: it was very nice to see how the environment was transformed from paper to reality, sharing our ideas and finding the best solutions by working closely with the BertO consultants, seeing how slowly everything it took shape by fusing our ideas with the right solutions to make them happen.

It has been a truly great journey.

Thank you Silvia, Thank you Cristian. See you soon!

If you want to create the design project of your dreams with BertO’s Made in Meda recipe for your living room or for the whole house, click here and get your free consultation immediately: https://www.bertosofas.co.uk/home-projects