We all like to peek into someone else’s apartment and find out all the challenges that the owners have encountered while decorating the apartment. But when a celebrity tells his story in the first person and lets you enter her intimate space, then such a story of adaptation gains in special importance with a small addition of intrigue.
The dramatic beginning of this story is not due to the dramatic adaptation of the apartment, but to the fact that we bring the story of our famous actress Barbara Nola. We start with the first part, with plans, wishes, but also getting to know the Mopar brand and beautiful oak parquets with a Croatian signature, which Barbara fell in love with at first sight.
The harmonious acting-directing couple, Barbara and Lukas Nola, have been thinking about buying an apartment for many years. Commitments and various life events have so far prevented them from doing so, but with the arrival of the pandemic, they have been given extra time when they manage to realize this long-awaited wish.
The first was the choice of location, which was preceded by thinking about the needs of all family members:
„There is also my working hours which are different every day. Sometimes I have to be in the theater and three times a day, I come back late from shows, sometimes in the early dawn to film… Mostly chaos, so it is important to me that I am close to Gavella. It was also important to us that our daughter has her own space where she can do her work, because she studies at the Academy of Fine Arts, that Lukas has peace to write, because he doesn’t have an office, that our moms can come to us if the need arises and I could still enumerate indefinitely.“
„We spent a lot of time in various apartments and watched everything. Overpriced, neglected, knauf-coated, and cracked apartments. Besides, there was an atmosphere here that we both thought “look, this apartment is kind of ours”. Old-fashioned, yet slightly modernized and radiated a pleasant peace.” Barbara Nola shared with us. She describes the moment when she recognized that it was their apartment as a feeling that is experienced immediately upon entering the apartment.
After the enthusiasm that followed the ease of choosing and buying an apartment, they started measuring and measuring the walls, organizing the rooms and planning the positioning of antique furniture from the family heritage: they were massive chests of drawers, antique cabinets that are very important to Barbara’s family.
Moving the kitchen to the living room also meant switching installations, but with a well-known and excellent craftsman, this process was not a problem. But when they set out to remove the laminate from the former kitchen and maid’s room, it was found that the floor was uneven. New parquet had to be put in the future daughter’s bedroom and study, while in the rest of the apartment the parquet was relatively good. But here Barbara encounters a problem.
We bring the rest of the story from Barbara’s perspective:
„Real wood and small parquets, so we thought to put them in those rooms and in the hole in the hallway. Only, we found that such samples are no longer on the market.
We went on an internet search for parquet floors and came across Mopar. I fell in love with their parquets at first sight, and for me it is a huge plus that they are a Croatian manufacturer. In general, a lot of what we bought later, I tried to be ours. I think we have great manufacturers and they need to be supported. Now the dilemma was whether to patch part of the parquet or change everything? We realized that it is impossible to change the floor later when you already live in the apartment and that this investment is very worthwhile. You do it once and that’s it. In Mopar, they helped us a lot with the choice, because they have experience that would suit which type of apartment.
We chose a wonderful warm shade of wood, large in size (12 x 58 cm) and decided to arrange them in herringbone. So that it is in the spirit of the original parquets in such apartments.
We put OSB boards in the rooms and the hole, and just sanded the rest and covered the old parquets. Now I’m sorry that I skimped and that I didn’t lift the old parquet everywhere and put the Osb boards crosswise because I later found out that it increases the static resistance.
The parquet was laid by a top master and it actually paid off and we had to wait a bit because it is world class. I adore him. When he had to go to work on a previously contracted job and stop with us for a short time, I, frustrated by the experience of repairing the knauf and painting the walls that took longer because the masters worked elsewhere, told him “swear to me you’ll be back in a week” and he replied: “Jesus and Mary, Mrs. Barbara, so only if I fall under the car I will not come“.
And he came.“
Photo: Sanja Bistričić
