Design House: Nisrine El Lababidi

Our protagonist for this edition of Design House is Nisrine El Lababidi. Nisrine is the Founder of Harfnoon Design Studio and the author behind 'Homes: We make them, they make us'. A design influencer, Nisreen invites us into her constantly evolving home that she has carefully curated to meet her family's developing needs and preferences.

Nisrine: Our house passed through several phases and styles from the time we were single and brought in my furniture and my husband's furniture together marrying our styles - to then growing a family and having that factor control what we have at home and what age my kids were going through. It was a lot more minimal and child-proofed years back - but now that they are older and can appreciate style I have finally furnished it the way I envisioned it to be. I have to also add that due to us working from home during those past two years - our appreciation for home grew. We are among the lucky ones who had a garden and a space to move around in even during the lockdown. I believe that just like we mature, so does our interior style and we start to understand better our relationship with space - our favorite reading corner, our favorite chair at the dining table, our preferred side of the bed! The house has a contemporary feel to it - it communicates an aesthetic vocabulary that references both classicism and modernism with a layered narrative.

Our home was originally a two-bedroom villa; as the kids were growing we needed the extra space and did an extension on top of the garage for an extra ensuite bedroom and office. These were really the only structural changes we did, but we are going to be undergoing a major renovation to the kitchen in the next few months - the new open space kitchen will now have a big island seating, windows and a coffee bar as well as a full laundry room - I can’t wait for all that organized space to come together! As for the furniture, we love our Bernhardt sofa set and tables which I’ve paired with chairs from Aura Living. The carpet was designed by me for Carpet Centre and it's currently one of their best sellers! As for the dining room, the glass dining table and buffet are from Al Huzaifa Furniture and the chairs are from Indigo Living. I always prefer buying quality furniture in neutrals and then accenting them with cushions, accessories, and art that is easy to update from season to season.

I think the most challenging part of our house was the kitchen, it's super small - however by closing an extra entry to the kitchen and adding cabinetry and functional storage and pullouts plus some organizational skills I was able to use every cm and keep the counters completely clutter-free. But now after having the small kitchen for 12 years, we decided it's time to invest in a proper size kitchen for us all to enjoy.

My favourite space in the home is our garden - when the weather permits, I spend endless hours working, planning, exercising, cooking, and entertaining all outdoors! We have set up a fully functional BBQ area and kitchen in the garden just for that purpose.

Our home is located in the Jumeirah Village Triangle community just off Al Khail Road. And it's truly like a village; very quiet with a wonderful mix of neighbors and cultures. The community is the quietest community you’ll find in Dubai. We have access to basketball and tennis courts (and soon padel) and the roads are great for biking with everything at arm's length. It's also very accessible to all highways. We never get stuck in traffic jams here! We also have the kids walk to school which is 5 minutes away, and have great neighbours too.

Images courtesy Harfnoon Design Studio