Design & Architecture

Step into Dubai's most instagrammable loft

Loft White

We speak to aspiring interior designer Christina & Kyle's Bali meets Scandinavia loft.

Words by Aneesha Rai in Design & Architecture · Nov 29th, 2020

If you're familiar with Loft White on Instagram, then you have definitely seen this loft. With bits and bobs from all over the world - Christina and her husband Kyle bought a cozy one bedroom loft in JVC in 2017 that they continue to carefully curate, even today. In this edition of The Design House, we speak to Christina & Kyle about how she put together her home. 'The Design House' offers inspiration on beautiful homes and the people behind them.

Christina: As I have been working for Emirates for the past eight years, I've been traveling all over the world. I love sourcing stuff from other cities and other countries. This is my motivation for every layover - to go and just find a little bits of stuff. I like to go to local markets, or get inspiration from, you know, furniture shops or vintage shops. Like, I really love it - I can go and spend hours there. I cannot bring furniture, but small little bits. I always bring them from my trips. Bali was a huge inspiration for me. In terms of the art, I buy a lot of from the Poster Club and some from Australia. In general, Scandinavian design for me is such an inspiration. Every time I go especially to Copenhagen or Stockholm, I can just stay for hours then just looking and getting inspiration from everywhere -from people walking in the streets, the shops, even inside coffee shops, because the architecture there and the interiors are superb. 

We picked this house for what it is. We haven't done any major construction changes or renovation. We did add extra wardrobe space by using the same supplier the constructor did and we want to add a sliding door to our master bathroom, but that's it. It's a loft, but then you have privacy between the downstairs area and upstairs because of the wall, but no door leading up from the stairs so it still has an open feel.

Kyle: The only major upgrade we did was that there was an empty space under the stairs into a cupboard. We used a local carpenter for the same.

Living room
Kinfolk
Cupboard under stairs

Christine: As we enter, we got the console from West Elm. This actually took me a while to find as it's quite narrow. The home bar stools I managed to source from a trip in Copenhagen. I added the dots from the brand Muuto and put on a hat from one of our trips to Las Vegas.

I sourced the lamp from Zara Home and got the marble console custom-made from a lady I met on Instagram a couple of years ago. The entrance mirror I got made custom - I had a vision of it. So I sourced the mirror and wood in Satwa and got it made by suppliers there. The ladder is from White Moss - and added some throws. We used a simple couch and are now going to upholster it. All the wall art is from Desenio. I got little pieces by pieces just like one by one and then put them together. But now I'm in the process of changing everything as interior designing is my hobby. 

Kyle: She loves changing things everyday. When I wake up everyday, I have to spot what moved. Every week there's something new that we're doing. I've recently been painting the kitchen pipes black and I'm learning so much about plumbing and electrical work.

Entrance art
Entrance
Entrance 2

Christina:  One of the first things we bought was a modular shelving unit and bar that doubles up as a workspace from Crate & Barrel. We attached a workspace unit, shelves and a bar unit and put it all together. Our kitchen is a really good one - Scavolini. One of the first things we also bought is the dining table from West Elm. The lights are from Muuto - I saw and bought them and convinced one of my colleagues to take some of my clothes so I could fit them into my suitcase! The coffee station table is made by Fronteriors - I wanted to support local brands too.

Kitchen perspective
Desk
Coffee station
Kitchen
Kitchen

Christina: For the bedroom, I wanted just a relaxing vibe. I didn't want to overcrowd it, so didn't put too much. Just small wooden details. We kept it white and simple as we just wanted calming space.We got the benches from Tribe and the bedside tables from West Elm. The lamps are from Australia. 

Bedroom
Bed mirror
Bed dresser

Christina: We love to have friends over, so for us the outdoor space was what sold the place for us. When we moved, we had the entire skyline view, but now it's been a bit blocked from all the construction. We can have up to 20 people on our terrace.

 Kyle: The outdoor seating was my invention, I was able to get the pallets for the seating which was a bit plain, so I painted it white and created the outdoor sofa. 

Christina: We love DIY and just playing around with the stuff. We like to make our furniture and not just buy them. So we bought the pallets and Kyle painted them and we added cushions. We got the chairs from Jysk. I don't look on Pinterest, but I had the vision and slowly add stuff as I procure them.

Christina outdoors