Complete renovations in Barcelona: How to modernize an old apartment without losing its historical charm

Barcelona boasts a residential architectural heritage that is the envy of much of the world. Stepping into an apartment in l'Eixample, Gràcia, or el Born and encountering three-meter-high ceilings, large wooden windows, and floors that resemble canvases is a truly unique experience.

However, living in the 19th century with the needs of the 21st century is not comfortable. Old apartments used to be hyper-compartmentalized, with long, dark hallways and tiny kitchens relegated to the back of the apartment.

The biggest challenge of a complete renovation in Barcelona? Achieving the perfect balance: a technologically modern, efficient, and bright apartment that still feels like Barcelona. Here are our interior design team's four key tips for achieving this:

1. Hydraulic flooring: don't cover it up, integrate it

If you discover original hydraulic tiles when you lift the old parquet or linoleum flooring from the 1970s, you're in luck. Catalan hydraulic mosaic tiles are a treasure.

Modern technique:

These days, it's not necessary to keep the original hydraulic tile flooring throughout the entire apartment (it can sometimes be visually overwhelming). A striking trend is to create "visual carpets." For example, keep the mosaic only in the dining area or under the kitchen island, and fill the rest of the floor with continuous microcement or natural oak parquet. The contrast between the neutral tones and the historical pattern makes spaces feel larger.

2. Look up: the "Volta Catalana"

Many of the buildings constructed between 1880 and 1930 in Barcelona hide a Catalan vaulted ceiling ( volta catalana ) with wooden or iron beams under a false plaster ceiling.

The process:

Strip the beams, treat the wood against woodworm, clean the limescale from the brick, and apply a protective matte varnish. You'll gain 30 to 50 centimeters of visual height and give the living room unparalleled acoustic and aesthetic warmth.

3. From the "tube floor" to the Open Concept

The classic floor plan of the Eixample apartment is rectangular: it faces the street on one side and the typical courtyard ( pati d'illa ) on the other, joined by an endless corridor.

The solution:

Remove non-structural walls to merge the entrance hall, living room, and kitchen into a single open-plan space bathed in light from the main facade. The bedrooms and sleeping areas are located in the much quieter rear section.

4. Carpentry: restoring vs. replicating

Solid wood double doors with moldings are not thrown in the street bins; they are cherished.

If the original doors are in good condition, stripping and lacquering them in an off-white tone or leaving them in washed wood adds incalculable value.

The opposite is true for exterior windows: however nostalgic they may seem, old wood lets in the cold and the noise of motorcycles. The solution is to install modern PVC or aluminum balcony windows with thermal break, ordered with the same pattern (small squares) and color as the building's protected facade.

The golden rule: In a historic renovation, less is more. Choose just two original elements to be the "stars" and let the rest of the home act as a clean and silent canvas.