A place of my own: The completed puzzle in Gràcia

Andrea and her husband, Simon, met putting together a puzzle. “So geeky, I know,” she said, a huge smile spreading across her face. Andrea, from Colombia, and Simon, from the UK, were both on Erasmus in 2002, and during a trip to Figueres, they bought a puzzle together of the central detail of the ceiling in the Salón Noble at the Dalí Theatre and Museum. “It was obviously his excuse to spend more time with me,” Andrea joked. Over the years, more and more finished puzzles have been framed to become the major artwork in their various apartments. The only puzzle they couldn’t complete is glued in small clusters to an old door hanging on the wall of their living room. “That door has a bit of history,” explained Andrea. It was a door in the couple’s first apartment, which was going to be thrown away, so she turned it into a tabletop. Considering it stuck with them through other moves, she couldn’t bare to get rid of it this time.

In their current, recently renovated apartment in Gràcia, they also have four original pieces, all from the same artist, Reinaldo Duarte—Andrea’s best friend’s father, “and basically my dad, too!” she said. Reinaldo was also a big help in planning and designing their new place. After purchasing the apartment, the couple decided to gut it. The yellow, Seventies wallpaper had to go, and they tore down whole sections of plaster drywall to expose the wood beams running across the ceiling and a brick wall in the living room. “I can’t believe anyone would cover up such gorgeous features,” said Andrea. It’s true that they establish the warm, welcoming feel of the space.

All the work on the apartment was finished in three months. “It sounds so quick, especially for Barcelona standards,” Andrea said, “but we were under pressure to move out of our previous apartment. Our building was sold some time ago and the new owners made it clear that they planned to kick all of the old tenants out.” Although their situation was a bit stressful at times, everything worked out in the end.

Andrea and Simon were finally able to decorate a room for their son, Sebastian (or Tian to those who know him), but the design element that is Andrea’s real pride and joy is all of the carefully selected tile throughout the apartment. “I must have looked at hundreds of tiles, patterns and colours before finding the right ones,” she explained, “because, of course, all the ones I wanted were out of our budget.” Now there are black, grey and white ‘starburst’ tiles in one of the showers, and light sky blue, tan and hazelnut multi-patterned kitchen floor tiles. The subway tile backsplash is grouted with the same aqua colour that the wall of windows, which look out onto the patio de luces, is painted. Andrea claims the window in the kitchen, and all the natural light it lets in, is what she fell for first when they came to look at the property. The soothing, light grey walls and pastel accents, like their painted, pale yellow kitchen table, complement the colour she chose to paint its frame.

When asked if Simon had any say in the design of their new home, Andrea laughed. “Poor man. I tried to show him everything beforehand, but he basically just agreed with anything I suggested. So I guess the answer is no, but he trusts me.” And for good reason. The apartment looks spectacular, as beautiful as their family.