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Livingetc profiles a Milan apartment designed by Gaia Venuti for homeowner Veronica Lafleur, whose home also serves as a creative studio and workplace. The design centers on blue-and-burgundy sofas and combines bold color with materials including cork, steel, marble and terrazzo. The report presents the project as a personal design story, not a newly announced property or research finding.
Livingetc has published a feature on a Milan apartment designed by interior designer Gaia Venuti for real estate entrepreneur Veronica Lafleur. The home pairs saturated colors and contrasting materials, and serves not only as Lafleur’s residence but also as a creative studio and meeting space for her real estate business, BetterCallVero.
The design began with a pair of Cornaro sofas by Carlo Scarpa for Cassina, upholstered in blue velvet with burgundy lacquered frames. Venuti, who works under the name GaiaHomeProject, described their contrast as a starting point for the apartment’s colors and materials. She said the sofas were “the genetic code of the entire home.”
That palette continues through burgundy cabinetry, dark marble and terrazzo flooring, alongside an ochre-yellow room and a bedroom with lavender-gray walls, chartreuse linen and a silver faux-leather headboard. The feature also describes stainless-steel furniture and a workspace overlooking a garden, where natural cork walls sit beside metal furnishings.
Lafleur told Livingetc she brought no belongings from her previous home because she wanted the apartment to mark a personal and professional fresh start. The article includes photography credited to Monica Spezia/Living Inside and identifies Venuti as the designer. It does not report a sale, renovation cost, completion date or announcement of a new design product.
A Home That Also Hosts Work
The project illustrates how a private residence can be planned for several uses without separating its work and home identities. Lafleur’s apartment is also her creative studio and business meeting place, so the layout and finishes have to support daily life as well as professional activity. The feature’s account of cork walls and metal furniture highlights material choices used to shape that environment.
For readers interested in interiors, the design offers a specific example of using strong colors in measured areas and carrying a visual idea across rooms. Venuti describes treating the apartment as a sequence of emotional and visual transitions rather than a set of unrelated rooms. These are the designer’s stated principles for this project, not evidence that the approach will work identically in every home.
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From Chance Meeting to Design
According to Livingetc, Lafleur and Venuti met while a retail property deal was closing. Lafleur recalled noticing the designer’s unusual color combination, which she said worked in a way she had not expected. That encounter led to their collaboration on the apartment.
The feature describes Venuti’s approach as beginning with a central element and developing the rest of the home around it. Here, the blue velvet and burgundy lacquer of the Cornaro sofas supplied that reference point. Venuti said she uses intense color as an accent or to define particular architectural volumes, and that tactile contrasts help prevent a color scheme from feeling flat. The report provides no broader market data or claim that this apartment represents a citywide trend.
“The sofas aren’t just furniture — they were the genetic code of the entire home.”
— Gaia Venuti, interior designer
Project Details Not Reported
The Livingetc feature is an interiors profile, and it does not specify when the apartment was completed, how large it is, what the project cost, or whether structural work was carried out. It also does not provide independent assessments of the design or explain how the home’s residential and business uses are scheduled in practice.
The feature presents Venuti’s and Lafleur’s descriptions of the space and their intentions. Statements about how colors affect mood or how materials make the apartment feel are their own design judgments, rather than independently measured outcomes. No further project announcement or next development is identified in the supplied material.
No Further Milestone Listed
The source does not announce a follow-up project, event, or scheduled update. The apartment is presented as an existing home and workplace, with Livingetc’s feature serving as the reported development. Readers seeking further details would need to consult the publication or the designer’s GaiaHomeProject materials; the supplied report gives no timeline for additional information.
Key Questions
Who designed the Milan apartment?
Gaia Venuti, who works under the name GaiaHomeProject, designed the apartment for homeowner Veronica Lafleur, according to Livingetc.
What is the apartment used for?
It is Lafleur’s private residence and also functions as a creative studio and a meeting space for her real estate business, BetterCallVero.
What inspired the apartment’s color scheme?
Venuti said the starting point was a pair of blue velvet and burgundy lacquer Cornaro sofas, designed by Carlo Scarpa for Cassina.
Why did Lafleur leave her previous belongings behind?
Lafleur told Livingetc she wanted the apartment to represent a fresh start personally and professionally, so she chose not to bring belongings from her previous home.
Did the report provide the apartment’s cost or completion date?
No. The supplied feature does not state the project cost, apartment size or completion date.
Source: livingetc.com
