We design apartment interiors and apartment renovations across Dubai. That covers a new apartment you have just taken the keys to, and a full renovation of one you own now. We draw it in enough detail for a contractor to price and build. We also handle the approvals your building asks for.
- 2021Designing in Dubai since
- 10Designers in the studio
- 4 weeksSurvey to a complete drawing set
Tell us about your apartment
Gallery
Room by room
You pay for every square metre of an apartment twice, once to buy it and once to finish and furnish it. In a tower, the walls that keep the building standing cannot move, so an apartment is harder to plan than a villa. The job is decided by the layout, the storage, and what the building lets you change.
Living and dining
One room doing two jobs. The seating has to work for both the window and the television, and the dining table must not block the way out to the balcony.
Kitchen
Usually closed, and usually small. Whether the kitchen can open into the living room depends on where the cooker fan can send air outside, and on what the building allows. We settle that before anything is drawn.
Bedrooms
The bed wall, the sockets and switches beside the bed, and a drawing of every wardrobe front down to the millimetre. A fitted wardrobe here has no spare wall to borrow from.
Storage and built-in furniture
The difference between a small apartment that works and one that does not. Every metre gets drawn, because there is no store room to absorb what will not fit.
Work
Across Business Bay, Dubai Marina, Downtown Dubai, Jumeirah Beach Residence, City Walk and Zabeel. Palm Jumeirah, Dubai Creek Harbour, Dubai Hills and JVC are the other areas we cover.
Process
0104
Survey and brief
Week 1
We measure the apartment and find out what the building allows. Then we write down how you actually use the space, rather than how the floor plan assumes you do.
You receiveA measured survey, a note of what the building will and will not allow, and a written brief we both agree.
Budget
An apartment renovation has no standard price, so we do not publish a price list.
The size, and how many rooms
A one bedroom and a four bedroom are not the same job scaled up. Every extra bathroom brings its own drawings, approvals and skilled workers.
How much is built to fit
In an apartment, most of the work is furniture built into the walls. Fitted wardrobes, a television wall and a kitchen are the biggest cost on most renovations.
Whether a kitchen or bathroom moves
Moving a kitchen or a bathroom means new waste pipes, a sealed floor to stop leaks, and building approval. Leaving them where they are takes most of the risk out of the timeline.
Your building's own fees and rules
Allowed working hours, booking the service lift, approval fees and deposits you get back vary a lot between towers. On a small job these add up.
The level of finish
The difference between good standard materials and full luxury ones moves the price most here. Your choice of finishes can double a budget without changing a wall.
Why us
What you get here that a company doing both the design and the building cannot offer you.
Your building's rules come first
Your developer sets what can move, and the building rules set the rest, before any design starts. We check both first, not after you have seen the pictures.
We do not profit from the build
A company that designs and builds is paid for the construction as well as the design. We are not. Nobody here has a reason to approve a price we would otherwise question.
Drawings a contractor can price without guessing
Unclear drawings are why apartment budgets grow, because anything missing becomes an extra charge once work starts. Ours leave the contractor nothing to guess.
Approvals and building permissions handled
We prepare and submit the drawings your building manager and Dubai Municipality ask for. We handle their comments through to approval.
We are on site until it is finished
We do not hand over drawings and disappear. We answer the contractor's questions and approve the materials. Then we compare what gets built against what was drawn.
FAQ
Apartment renovation questions, answered
We design and draw. Your contractor builds from our drawings, and we stay on site through the work. If you want one company to design and build, we are not it. Better to know now.
The price depends on the size, and on how much furniture is built into the rooms. Moving a kitchen or a bathroom adds more, and so do your building's own fees. Expensive finishes push the price higher again. We do not publish a price list, because no two apartments are alike. Tell us the building and what you want done, and we will come back with a realistic range.
Design takes about four weeks, from the first visit to measure the apartment to a complete set of drawings. That assumes you approve each stage within a week. The build after it usually runs a few months. Your building's limits on working hours affect that more in an apartment than anywhere else.
Some walls keep the building standing, and those cannot move. The rest can usually come out. Moving a kitchen or a bathroom needs your developer to approve the new waste pipes first. We find out what your building allows before we design, not after.
Yes, we prepare and submit every drawing your developer, your building manager and Dubai Municipality ask for. An NOC, or no objection certificate, is your building owner's written permission to start the work. We handle their comments through to approval.
If the work is limited to one or two rooms, sometimes. For a full renovation, rarely. In an apartment there is no room to escape the noise and dust, and most buildings only allow noisy work at set times. Most owners move out for the noisiest stage.
Yes, and we draw them to the same standard as anything else. With a studio apartment design, storage is the whole problem. A small apartment needs the same drawings as a penthouse, because every decision is just as detailed in less space.
The design work is the same, but the limits are not. An apartment is tighter, the walls that keep the building standing cannot move, and your building sets rules a villa never has. Home interior design in Dubai covers both, and we do both.
Start an apartment project
Tell us about your apartment
Other sectors
Commercial
Commercial interior design in Dubai for cafes, gyms, lounges and reception spaces, drawn so a fit out contractor can price and build them.
Landscaping
Garden design and landscaping in Dubai. Pools, terraces, shade and planting, drawn so a landscape contractor can price and build them.
Villa
We design and renovate villas across Dubai, from a handover shell to a full refurbishment of a home you already live in.
Office
Office interior design in Dubai. Test fits, layouts, technical drawings and landlord approvals, drawn so a fit out contractor can price and build them.
Residential Towers
Lobbies, amenity floors, show apartments and unit interiors for residential towers in Dubai, drawn so a fit out contractor can tender and build them.