Home Again Reframes a 1950s House into a Warm Social Haven in Prague
Home Again transforms a 1950s house in Prague, Czech Republic, into an intimate retreat for two under the direction of Mimosa Architekti. The renovation reworks an earlier family-focused scheme into a layered interior where light, color, and material support both quiet daily routines and generous gatherings. Original elements stay in play while new surfaces, windows, and crafted pieces give the house a calmer, more personal character for its next chapter.
Morning light slips across fine-textured plaster and pale timber, catching the edge of a galvanized railing before falling toward the garden. Inside, every surface carries a decision: what to keep, what to soften, what to make new for a different rhythm of living.
This house in Prague’s Břevnov district is now a compact home for a married couple, reworked by Mimosa Architekti in 2025 from an earlier family renovation. The project turns a 1950s structure once tailored to five people into a layered interior where color, material, and cherished objects hold the memory of that busier chapter. Rather than erase the past, the work edits it, using finishes, light, and crafted pieces to support smaller daily routines and generous family visits.
The real estate type is a house that now works almost like a lived-in gallery, with each floor tuned to different moments of use. At the center lies an interior palette that threads between restored original elements and contemporary interventions, so that every room feels both precise and comfortably worn. Surfaces, railings, doors, and artworks speak to one another through tone and texture more than through spectacle.
Calmer Facades, Brighter Rooms
Outside, the renovation aims for quiet confidence rather than drama. A muted color palette settles over the exterior, while new window openings refine the composition and pull more daylight into the interior. The most visible move is the generous dormer on the second floor, where frameless glazing toward the garden replaces two small original windows and stretches the view.
Plaster carries much of the visual work on the facade. Fine 1 mm render sits beside rough plaster with sprayed stone granules, so light reads differently across each band during the day. Contemporary windows replace historicizing frames, and their oak or bleached spruce profiles register the difference between old and new openings in a subtle, legible way.
Ground Floor As Everyday Core
On the level closest to the garden, the house shifts into daily mode. Here, the living room, kitchen with dining area, and bedroom sit in direct contact with outdoor terraces and planting. The garden opening is slightly reduced in width, a counterintuitive move that frees enough wall to tuck in a bedroom with an en-suite bathroom without losing the sense of openness.
The entrance one level below is enlarged and brightened, so arrival feels clear and generous rather than compressed. New glazed entrance doors, the removal of suspended ceilings, and a revised material palette wash the hall with more light and quieter colors. Softer wall tones in whites and grays allow artworks to read sharply, while restored parquet floors and galvanized metal skirting boards add a familiar, almost industrial edge underfoot.
Objects, Stories, And Craft
Much of the atmosphere comes from objects gathered over a lifetime. The interior reads as a collection of stories rather than a showroom, with each piece anchored to a person or event. A friend, Jurgen Rajh, built the living room stove, and the couple’s son Jakub crafted solid wood joinery that ties rooms together with consistent grain and proportion.
Art and textiles deepen that narrative. A glass sculpture by Dana Vachtová rests on the stove, catching light against the muted walls, while wool textiles sewn by the owner from Scottish yarn bring warmth to seating and beds. Pendant lights above the dining table, sourced at a Danish flea market, add a gentle, irregular rhythm overhead. Even the concrete tiles on the terrace trace back to a concrete plant near the Javornice distillery, folding another place into daily view.
Plywood, Terrazzo, And White Planes
New surfaces frame those objects with restraint. Natural-toned plywood clads selected walls, so joinery, artworks, and furniture read against a warm but quiet backdrop. In contrast, most walls move to softer whites and grays, allowing light to travel easily from window to artwork to floor.
Bathrooms experience the most radical transformation. Large white tiles in 3×1 m format stretch from floor to ceiling, giving the rooms a nearly seamless shell that reflects light deep into corners. Underfoot, terrazzo flooring adds speckled color and durability, while solid oak furniture grounds the rooms with a tactile, handcrafted presence. Original interior doors with transom windows are carefully restored, and new doors with concealed frames step back visually, letting art and material take the lead.
Upper Floors For Gathering And Guests
Above the everyday core, former children’s bedrooms become a flexible salon. The room hosts family gatherings during special occasions and shifts into a home cinema or guest room when needed. Bathrooms and the remaining room on this level follow the renewed material language, connecting social life with the softer palette established below.
The attic is reworked as a more independent retreat. A fully redesigned layout and bathroom allow guests to stay for longer stretches, while hosts maintain privacy on the levels below. Throughout, the galvanized steel railing that links main and secondary stair landings is kept and extended, gaining what the architects describe as a distinctly non‑Prague character.
In the end, the house feels steady rather than showy. Light moves across plaster, timber, steel, and terrazzo, drawing out the marks of years lived together. Every corner folds in a story, yet the refreshed palette and measured joinery keep those memories clear, ready for the next visits and the quieter days between.
Photography by Petr Polák
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