Are you renovating an apartment in Tel Aviv, just because you are in love with this crazy city?

You love the beautiful streets full of people, the proximity to the sea and the park, the pace of life, and the joy of living in this city.

You also like the old apartments: the feeling of a space that has already been lived in, the old trees around, sometimes the old tiles and the high ceilings.

At the same time, most apartments in the city are problematic in many ways, – and anyone who renovates an old apartment in Tel Aviv encounters similar problems.

Here are some of the problems that await you when renovating an apartment in Tel Aviv:

Old-fashioned planning (separate kitchen, separate and small toilets, balconies closed with plastic shutters)
Narrow and long spaces
Long corridors
Problematic windows (small windows, windows of different sizes in the same space, an unattractive urban view)
Old technical systems: plumbing, electricity, air conditioning.

Therefore, most old apartments in Tel Aviv need substantial renovation. The trick is to do it wisely…To preserve and enhance everything you love, and at the same time adapt the apartment to the modern lifestyle and taste.

Here are examples of old apartments on Tel Aviv, which I have renovated and updated. In these examples you can see how typical elements were transformed to create modern living standards and enhance the old charm:

Balconies:

A large part of the apartments in Tel Aviv were built with a balcony. These balconies were closed over the years with plastic shutters, and were used as a separate room, as an addition to the living room, or as a storage room. Usually, there is no legal obstacle to attach these balconies to the apartment, and thus gain a bright and open space:

Here is a front porch attached to the living room. This is how it looked before the renovation:

This balcony became the most beautiful part of the living space:

Here is another balcony, which became a kitchen:

This is what the balcony looked like from the outside before we renovated it:

And this is what we created:

The same apartment had another balcony facing the back of the house:

We turned it into a beautiful space:

Recycling old elements:

Everyone loves the ornate floor tiles of yesteryear. Sometimes we can use them and preserve the original atmosphere in the apartment. Here we managed to save some of the tiles to create magic in the living room:

The old floor:

How we used the old tiles:

You can read more about this apartment here

Long and narrow living rooms:

Such living rooms characterize many old apartments in Tel Aviv, especially from the sixties onwards. It is worth examining the possibility of attaching the room next to them to the central space, as here.

This is how it looked before the renovation:

We added the adjacent room to the living space, and designed a new, bright kitchen:

Before the renovation:

After adding the adjacent bedroom :

You can read more about this apartment in Houzz

Another apartment, in which my clients asked for a flexible study:

The study can be closed off to create a quiet space or opened to the living room for everyday living:

The kitchen:

In the old apartments, the kitchen is usually in a separate room. Today it is possible – and acceptable – for the kitchen to be part of the public space. Thus we gain an additional room to the apartment, and an open, ventilated and bright kitchen, which becomes the center of life in the house:

Here is a link to an article from the “Building and Housing” magazine about this project)

Orly Eran is an architect and interior designer with extensive and varied experience in renovating apartments in Tel Aviv.

For more details on planning and architectural support for apartment renovation in Tel Aviv, call: 03-561-7420, I will be happy to be at your service.

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