Lofts have many apparent advantages. For designers it is an opportunity to fulfill their most daring ideas. When Jonathan Straley purchased this loft in a former chocolate factory, there was only a bathroom and pillars at two-meter distances. The first step of the reconstruction was the floor. It was covered with matchboards; their light-brown color brings in warmth and makes a quaint contrast with stone ceilings. Walls, painted in white, serve as a good decoration for the collection of art. In order to keep the wholeness of the space, the designer organized rooms without walls. A large pillar originally divides the sitting room, on its one side there is an artificial fireplace, on the reverse a bookcase which, together with a writing table and a couple of chairs, makes up the library. Cupboards serve here as screen-partitions between the apartment areas. The result is amazing...