Caroline Stavonhagen's two-floor apartment close to the lively Taikang Road exudes a sense of fun injected by bright colors. The flat itself is a strong mix of the family of four, who have lived in this 120-square-meter home for eight years and are still happy with it.

Hailing from France, Caroline was one of the first tenants in Tianzifang. Her shop Atelier Mandarine located in the lane's main factory carries a good mix of fashion and lifestyle brands. She also creates her own line of knitwear.

A 17-year China resident, Caroline met her husband Thomas Stavonhagen in Beijing and moved to Shanghai 13 years ago. "I liked the atmosphere of Beijing but I couldn't stand the climate and the traffic jams. After moving to Shanghai, I had experienced living in both old and new apartments in the former French concession area," she said.

"We wanted to buy something for investment. And since this residential block was so close to my office, it was easier to check the renovation work," she said. "I was not tempted to live in a huge house. This one has a reasonable amount of space for us."

Her criteria was precise - the right amount of space, abundant natural light and a good location for investment. The 120-square-meter two-floor apartment, although lacking a desirable outside view, had good potential. After having rented houses for many years, Caroline was excited to renovate this one from scratch.

A practical yet rather stylish living space was achieved with a tight budget after the house purchase. The space was opened up and a personal intimacy was given to each room without being cluttered and overwhelming.

She designed it very much around her family's needs. Choices were also made with the children in mind. "With two naughty boys, the house had to be practical," she said. "The aesthetics were obviously important, but not at the expense of the practicality." Easy-to-clean and not-easy-to-break materials make day-to-day living much simpler.

On the first level, the open-plan common area has three distinct zones - living area, dining area and family room. The family room opens to a delightful balcony with green plants and bird cages.

The homeowner sought to keep the home's main colors in a neutral palette, partly because of its calming practical aspect, and also to better show off their art collection.

Because the backdrop color was all about neutrality, with cream walls all over the place, Stavonhagen paid more attention to finding colorful textures and accents for each surface.

"There's a lot of color in the artwork, in the fabrics, in the little things here and there," she said. "I love happy colors - orange, pink, green, red."

The flat, filled with a mix of Chinese furniture and modern design pieces, displays a unique taste for textures and happy colors.

Caroline started to collect furniture pieces from Beijing where there were a lot of interesting pieces to choose in her early years in China. She loved to spend time browsing the Panjiayuan market and other warehouses. "I love simple, minimalist countryside-style furniture that mix well with modern furniture."

For her, it's about getting that balance so it's not all slick and new. The new bits such as lamps from Kartell are clean and modern, and then they've got the character of the old, which makes it more of a home.

However, Caroline doesn't opt for a busy space filled with things everywhere. She would rather keep the space simple but make several focal points.

The sensual feeling of a room is enhanced by placing as many cushions and fabrics as possible. A well-mixed range of fabrics in different colors and patterns that she sourced from her travelling works brilliantly in a relaxed room.

"Everywhere I go, I must go explore the local fabric markets," she said. "I like countryside fabrics. For example, I've always brought back the local fabrics in naive patterns with bright colors from Inner Mongolia."

One of the great advantages of fabric-made home decoration is its replacement benefit. The items can be changed by simply replacing the fabric-made covers and upholsteries. Getting creative with fabrics is one of Caroline's unique talents. It makes a huge difference to a room while not spending a lot of money.

The entire second floor of the flat is composed of the master bedroom and the room for two boys. The master bedroom design is relatively simple, with minimal color and clean lines. A group of cushions in a pastel palette on the white bedding adds to the visual feast and turns the plain bedroom into an oasis of calm femininity where rest and relaxation prevail.

"I let the boys decorate their room and I do not impose. I want them to create whatever they like and put their soul into it," she said. "They feel comfortable and happy with colors and things around."

"Our house is not a showroom or a museum. It's a house meant to be lived in."


THE DESIGNER

Who is she?

Catherine Cheung is the founder and design director of The XSS Interior Design Limited. Cheung studied architecture and completed her five-year professional degree at New York Tech. She set up her own studio in Hong Kong in 2002. She was recently honored in the Asia Pacific Property Awards 2011 scheme, supported by Bloomberg Television and Google, and open to both residential and commercial property professionals. Two of her projects were awarded the Best Residential Interior and the Best Public Services Interior.

Tell us some of your works and name the one you are most proud of.

The awarded Chung Shan project is one of my favorites. Chung Shan house is located on a golf complex where each property has a private garden connecting to the fairway. The garden acts as an interception point between interior space and the fairway, while maintaining distance between the two.

A relocated powder room is the main focal point and enhances the continuation and integration of movement from the ground floor, extending into the garden. As a departure from the "solid zoning" approach, the swivel powder room forms a center of division for the living space, dining area and kitchen.

Are you currently involved with any project?

I'm currently working on a six-story house project in Stanley. The project is split into two phases. I wanted to create a totally different experience between phases one and two by using the circulation through the house.

In phase one, I wanted to design a traditional high-end house. To achieve that, I concentrated on the materials more, by the mixture of mosaic tiles, granite and marble. But in phase two, the design is more about architectural form and spacing. I split the function into different floor plates in order to achieve forms following functions. By walking through the circulation, I created the atmosphere of an outdoor experience. I used some greenery elements to turn an indoor space into an outdoor environment. The concept is "Living in the Park."

What's your design style?

I start from a core concept, the design development progress goes step by step from the conceptual design. And I love to play with forms to create interlocking; void and solid space. I enjoy design progress, I love to explore.

Where are you most creative?

Detailing; design strategy; concept deriving; from concept to design development. I get inspirations from my traveling.

What does your home mean to you?

Home means a lot to me. Home is somewhere away from work, to relax and enjoy the time with my family. And I have to say thank you to my husband for his understanding and supporting me to develop my interest since childhood. He never complains even if I am home late because of deadlines. Home is a place for me to feel what love is. And I like to keep my home clean, minimalist and without too many decorations around.

What do you collect?

I collect everything "nice" and "neat." I do like travelling a lot, so everywhere I go on a holiday or for a business trip, whenever I see something nice, it will go into my collections.

Where would you like to go most in Shanghai?

Shanghai has a rich collection of buildings and structures of various architectural styles. Therefore it's hard for me to say where I like to go most in Shanghai. I like Shanghai; I enjoy being in the city. It is a combination of Western and Chinese style. If I have to choose a place I would like to go most in Shanghai, I would say the Bund. When you stand there you can see the contrast of a city and the economic growth in China.

What will be the next big design trend?

I would say green living will be the next design trend. The economy has grown a lot in the past 30 years around the world. New technology has been developing and more super structures have been built. This will damage our environment and we might have been overlooking this.

If we can start putting more greenery into our design, providing a better indoor living environment for people, we can make them feel more relaxed with the greenery and remind them to take care of our world more.

There are architects and designers that have already started with this. They will include a green roof, green walls or sunken garden into their design, in order to minimize the heat energy inside and to achieve energy saving. If we want to protect our world, we probably should look deeper into this subject.