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Jorge Redondo decorated his 969-square-foot apartment in Madrid’s Salamanca neighborhood as a colorful, eclectic refuge rather than a neutral investment box. The creative director of Redondo Brand used his architectural training, professional experience with color and materials, and a willingness to combine glossy lacquer, natural stone, vintage finds, and practical upholstery. The result is a useful case study in making a compact home distinctive without sacrificing comfort.
A small apartment designed as a personal refuge
Redondo describes the apartment as a place to disconnect and explore his creativity. His starting point was not a single trend or a strict period style. He wanted the home to express his identity, his work, and the objects he loves. In his words, “I wanted my home to reflect me, my work, and the things I love.”
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The apartment is in Madrid’s Salamanca neighborhood and measures 969 square feet, according to Architectural Digest’s December 24, 2024 profile by Iñaki Laguardia, with photography by Fran Nicolás. Redondo decorated it himself. The article presents the residence as a design profile and homeowner interview, so the credited objects document what appeared in the tour; they are not a guarantee of current inventory or retail availability.
His brief was deliberately more expressive than an all-neutral scheme. He wanted visitors to remember the home after leaving, while still being able to live comfortably in it every day. That tension—strong visual character inside a limited footprint, with rooms that remain useful—is the central design problem the apartment solves.
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Why color and eclecticism were the starting point
Redondo wanted the apartment to embody the eclectic style associated with his collections: varied materials, saturated or unexpected color, and objects with a story. He specifically sought high-gloss lacquer and natural stone, two finishes that behave very differently. Lacquer reflects light and gives a surface a crisp, almost graphic presence; stone introduces visual weight, texture, and variation. Using both keeps a colorful room from feeling flat.
His professional background shaped that approach. Redondo works daily with color, fabric, and materials, and he studied architecture. Those experiences gave him a vocabulary for combining finishes, but the apartment is not presented as a classroom exercise. It is a home built around preference. “I wanted my home to embody the eclectic style that characterizes my collections,” he says. “I wanted color and pieces that my guests would remember when they walked out the door.”
That statement explains why the rooms do not depend on matching furniture sets. A custom orange glossy-lacquer dresser can coexist with a brown aragonite obelisk from Madrid’s Rastro flea market, a Murano glass vase, and an artwork by Emeca. The objects differ in age, origin, and surface, but each contributes to the same personal narrative.
How exposed concrete pillars determined the layout
The apartment’s exposed concrete pillars were not treated as a detail to hide. They affected the overall plan and forced Redondo to think carefully about furniture dimensions. In a compact home, a fixed structural element can determine circulation, sightlines, and the usable width of a seating or dining zone. A piece that looks proportionate in a showroom may block a passage or crowd a pillar once it is inside the room.
Redondo therefore considered scale alongside color and finish. The dimensions of each room, the location of the pillars, and the need to move around furniture all influenced his choices. This is a transferable lesson for any apartment with columns, deep structural walls, radiators, or awkward corners: measure the permanent architecture first, then select pieces that leave clear routes through the space.
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The concrete also provides a useful counterpoint to the decorative program. Its raw, cool surface keeps glossy lacquer, velvet, glass, and stone from becoming visually sweet. Rather than disguising every irregularity, Redondo allowed the building’s structure to participate in the composition.
Living room and bedroom came before secondary spaces
When Redondo had to decide where to concentrate effort, he prioritized the living room and principal bedroom. He expected to spend the most time in those rooms, so comfort and practicality were requirements, not afterthoughts. This approach prevents a small apartment from becoming a collection of impressive corners that are inconvenient to use.
The living room
The tour identifies a sofa and coffee table from The Masie, a vintage armchair reupholstered in Gancedo cotton velvet, a Murano lamp from Indoors Madrid, and Gancedo cushions. The combination mixes contemporary upholstered furniture with a vintage seat, reflective glass, and tactile textiles. Reupholstering the armchair allowed Redondo to retain the character of an older piece while adjusting its color and comfort to the new scheme.
Striped Sanderson curtains add a linear pattern at the window, while cushions and upholstery bring softer, closer-range texture. In a small room, this kind of layering can establish variety without requiring many additional objects: the curtain pattern is read across the room, while velvet and cushions reward closer use.
The principal bedroom
The bedroom includes a custom curved-profile headboard and a bedside table from The Masie. A curved headboard changes the room’s geometry without consuming the floor area that a freestanding sculptural piece might need. Its profile also softens the harder lines of pillars and case goods. Because the bedroom was one of Redondo’s priorities, the design emphasis is on a comfortable, workable retreat rather than a purely photographic backdrop.
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A room-by-room inventory of credited pieces
Architectural Digest’s captions identify the following objects and makers in the tour. These are source attributions for the photographed apartment, not statements about current stock, prices, or exact modern replacements.
| Item shown in the tour | Maker, source, or description | Design role |
|---|---|---|
| Glossy-lacquer dresser | Custom orange finish | High-impact color and reflective surface |
| Aragonite obelisk | Brown stone, purchased at Madrid’s Rastro flea market | Natural material and a sculptural focal point |
| Glass vase | Murano glass from Décadas | Decorative transparency and color variation |
| Artwork | Emeca | Artist-made personal element |
| Dining table | The Masie | Foundation for the dining area |
| Dining chairs | Venezia chairs by Décadas | Seating with a distinct design identity |
| Wall lamp | Vintage Goffredo Reggiani | Period character and focused lighting |
| Curtains | Striped Sanderson fabric | Pattern at the window and visual height |
| Cushions and upholstery fabric | Gancedo | Texture, softness, and coordinated color |
| Sofa and coffee table | The Masie | Everyday living-room use |
| Armchair | Vintage frame reupholstered in Gancedo cotton velvet | Comfort with a renewed textile finish |
| Lamp | Murano glass from Indoors Madrid | Sculptural light and reflective detail |
| Headboard | Custom curved profile | Softened bedroom geometry |
| Bedside table | The Masie | Practical storage and surface beside the bed |
What Redondo found hardest: seeing the whole combination
The major challenge was not finding individual pieces. It was predicting how all the pieces would look together. Redondo bought different objects at the same time, and he could not see the finished combination until deliveries began to arrive. “I think what I found most difficult was envisioning the process as a whole,” he says. In a project with several colors, patterns, wood or stone tones, and reflective finishes, each purchase changes the context for the next one.
His practical solution was simple: request samples. “I learned that asking for samples helps a lot.” Fabric swatches, lacquer chips, stone samples, and curtain lengths let you compare materials in the actual room, under its daylight and evening lighting. A sample also reveals scale and texture more honestly than a small screen image.
A sample-based ordering sequence
- Record the fixed conditions. Measure each room, doorway, window, pillar, radiator, and circulation path. Note ceiling height and the direction of natural light.
- Choose the largest functional pieces first. Confirm the sofa, bed, dining table, and other high-footprint items will fit before committing to decorative purchases.
- Collect physical samples. Ask for upholstery, curtain, lacquer, paint, and stone samples. Place them together in the room where they will be used.
- Check the samples at different times. Gloss, velvet, glass, and stone can shift dramatically between daylight and artificial light.
- Order in a sequence that protects circulation. Leave enough clearance around pillars, doors, and seating before adding occasional tables or sculptural objects.
- Reassess when the first major pieces arrive. Use the real sofa or table as the reference for later colors and accessories instead of relying on an imagined finished room.
Balancing visual character with everyday comfort
Redondo’s apartment offers a practical way to evaluate an expressive choice before buying it. Ask what the piece contributes visually, then ask whether it supports the way the room is used.
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| Decision to make | What to evaluate | Why it matters in a compact home |
|---|---|---|
| Color versus calm | Whether a strong hue is balanced by quieter surfaces or repeated in a controlled way | Prevents several unrelated accents from competing across a short sightline |
| Material variety versus coherence | How lacquer, stone, glass, velvet, and fabric relate in sheen and texture | Creates richness without requiring more furniture |
| Furniture scale versus architecture | Clearance around pillars, doors, windows, and walking routes | Protects circulation and keeps rooms usable |
| Statement piece versus comfort | Whether seating, lighting, and bedside surfaces work for daily routines | Keeps the room from becoming a display set |
| Planned palette versus real samples | How materials look together in the apartment’s own light | Reduces surprises when multiple orders arrive |
This is why the living room and bedroom could carry memorable finishes without becoming impractical. Their priorities were established by use first; color, vintage pieces, and custom details were then selected to support that use.
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How to make a small apartment feel personal without copying the tour
Redondo’s advice is explicitly against imitation: “Take risks pursuing what you really like, don’t blindly imitate other projects, and find ways to introduce your own personality into every corner.” Applying that principle does not mean filling every surface. It means choosing a few decisions that could belong only to you, then repeating their logic consistently.
Start with a personal brief
Write down the colors, materials, places, memories, and daily habits you want the home to express. A flea-market stone, a family chair, an artwork by someone you follow, or a fabric associated with travel can carry more identity than a room assembled from anonymous accessories.
Give each room one clear priority
Choose the room where comfort matters most and the room where you want the strongest visual statement. This mirrors Redondo’s focus on the living room and principal bedroom while preventing a limited budget or floor area from being spread thinly across every space.
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Use contrast deliberately
Pair one reflective finish with one tactile finish, one contemporary item with one vintage piece, or one saturated color with a quieter architectural surface. The goal is not maximal variety; it is legible contrast.
Repeat a material or color at least twice
A color that appears only once can look accidental. Repeating it in a cushion, artwork, lamp, or small object creates a visual bridge. Repetition also helps disparate finds read as a collection rather than clutter.
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Leave room for objects that arrive later
Redondo’s difficulty visualizing simultaneous purchases is a warning against completing a home in one rush. Buy the pieces that determine scale and comfort first, then let art, vintage finds, and small decorative objects develop over time.
What this Madrid apartment demonstrates
The strongest lesson is that personality comes from decisions connected to the resident, not from a universal formula for color or eclecticism. Redondo’s architectural knowledge helped him work around concrete pillars and room dimensions; his professional familiarity with fabrics and materials helped him combine lacquer, stone, velvet, glass, and patterned curtains; and his priorities kept the rooms comfortable enough for daily life.
The apartment also shows why a memorable interior can still be disciplined. The furniture has to fit the structure, the seating has to support use, and samples have to test the imagined palette against reality. Within those constraints, a custom orange dresser, a flea-market aragonite obelisk, vintage lighting, artist-made work, and a curved headboard can make a 969-square-foot home feel unmistakably inhabited.
Redondo’s final principle is the most portable one: pursue what you genuinely like, avoid reproducing another project, and introduce personal character throughout the home. In a small apartment, that approach turns every measured decision—from a curtain stripe to a reupholstered chair—into part of a coherent story.
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