A Designer Works & Lives in This Stylish Barcelona Space

While sharing the place you live with the place you work might sound exhausting, for interior designer Carles Ruiz Carrión, it’s a perfect match. When he was looking for a space to run his design business out of four years ago, he spent a year searching for just the right spot. When he saw this place, he immediately fell in love with it…but it was out of his price range.

Thankfully, he was able to negotiate a good price for the street-level studio space, deciding to renovate and live downstairs! Everyone told him he was a little crazy, but he was committed to the idea of creating an atypical interior design studio. His design style is one-of-a-kind, so he wanted both a business space and a home that matched his unique design perspective. This renovated space checks all the boxes, and offers up a cozy nook for one that he lives in, as well as a showroom he runs his interior design business out of.

His living space being on the lower level—along with the mix of rough, rustic building materials—means his home has a sort of minimal, modern, cave-like vibe. There’s not a ton of natural light, but the color palette is such that the rooms feel like they’re encompassed in a warm glow. The renovation highlights the architectural aspect of the structure, too; the curved ceiling contrasts beautifully with the straight lines of the furnishings. And a big bonus of living in your interior design showroom is you get to splurge on a fancy kitchen since you’ll be showing it to clients—the showroom’s kitchen is the one he uses as his own!

My Style: Eclectic. I like to mix different styles.

Inspiration: Nature, observing different things: shapes, colors, textures, etc

Favorite Element: The kitchen, which I share with the showroom.

Biggest Challenge: The bathroom. It was hard to do the plumbing.

What Friends Say: They love the style of my home and the architectural elements in it.

Biggest Embarrassment: That I don’t have enough windows.

Proudest DIY: The rocking chair in the living room, which I restored myself! A client was going to toss it but I decided to keep it and restore it!

Biggest Indulgence: The lamp next to the sofa.

Best Advice: Try to know what you want. Don’t follow trends. Interior designers are great to organize our ideas.

Dream Sources: Traveling, design fairs and AD magazine

Sofa – Temas V
Sofa lamp — Artemide
TV cabinet — Ikea
Shelving — Ikea
Bathroom Shelving — Ikea
Side table — Custom made
Dining table — Custom made
Chairs — Magis Design
Carpet — Is made of coconut fiber and was a gift from a friend
Pillows — Zara Home
Desk — Custom made
Desk Chair — Ikea
Desk lamp — vintage

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