Eco style interior design in Batumi: wood, stone and plants by the sea

Where eco style comes from and what it means in an apartment

Eco style grew out of the interest in ecology at the end of the last century: wood, stone, linen and real plants came back into interiors, and plastic and synthetics were moved out of sight. It has no strict rules, just a principle: materials that are natural or honestly resemble natural ones, colours taken from nature, and plenty of light.

In a Batumi apartment this principle has an ally and an enemy. The ally here is light: floor-to-ceiling windows and the southern sun give plants and wood more light than northern cities ever get. The enemy is the damp of an apartment left empty in winter: natural materials absorb moisture, and they are the first to grow mould. That is why we design eco style interiors together with dehumidification and ventilation, and put natural materials where they will survive both the winter and the cleaning.

Wood: where to use solid wood, veneer or porcelain tiles

Wood is the main material in an eco interior, but it works in different ways. On the wall behind the bed, the headboard, the windowsill and the worktop we use solid wood or veneer: these surfaces are seen up close and touched. How boards are dried, fixed with gaps and finished so that they don't warp in a damp winter is covered on the page about interior wood finishes.

The floor is most often engineered wood: the oak top layer is the same as on parquet, and the base moves less in a damp winter. How the two differ by the sea is explained in the comparison of solid parquet and engineered wood. In the bathroom, by the sink and by the balcony door we lay wood-effect porcelain tiles: up close they give themselves away, but water doesn't bother them.

Under the sun from a floor-to-ceiling window, wood changes tone over time, and a planter that stands in one place for years leaves a patch of a different colour. So large planters by the window go on stands with castors and are moved from time to time, and the floor and windowsill by the glass are finished with a UV-filter product.

Stone, clay and wall colour

The natural stone in eco style is most often travertine, limestone or slate. They are porous and, without sealing, soak up coffee, wine and oil stains, so in the materials list the sealer stands right next to the stone, together with when to renew it. How stone is laid and protected is covered on the page about laying natural stone. A stone wall in the hallway or by the fireplace is often clad in decorative stone: it is lighter, and the wall doesn't need the extra strength that heavy slabs would require.

Walls are painted with deep-matt mineral paints, and one wall gets a textured plaster. Clay paints and plasters look beautiful in eco style, but we check whether they are available in Georgia before approving the palette, otherwise the batch will have to be shipped in to order. The palette comes from nature: sand, clay, moss, olive, warm white. We match it next to a wood sample, because a cold white next to oak looks grey. We don't recommend wallpaper made of natural fibres, bamboo or grass by the sea: it takes on moisture, and stains appear on it that can't be washed off.

Plants: a light map and watering

In an eco interior we draw the plants on the plan like furniture: where the planter stands, how much light it gets during the day, whether there is an air conditioner nearby. By a south-facing floor-to-ceiling window many houseplants get scorched, so we put large planters a metre to a metre and a half from the glass or behind a sheer curtain. We don't put plants in the air conditioner's airflow: a dry, cold stream quickly dries out the edges of the leaves.

Every large planter needs a saucer, and under the saucer protection for the floor: water that overflows during watering leaves a dark ring on wood within a season. For an apartment you only visit from time to time, we recommend self-watering pots with a reservoir and plants that tolerate missed watering. We only install a green wall with automatic irrigation where someone looks after it regularly: a leak from the irrigation system damages the wall and the downstairs neighbours' ceiling. A socket for a grow light in a dark corner and a water supply to the green wall are drawn on the electrical and plumbing plans.

Textiles, lighting and furniture

We choose linen, cotton and wool with removable covers: by the sea anything natural gets washed more often than in a dry climate. Wicker furniture made of rattan and willow stays in dry rooms and doesn't go out onto an open balcony. How wicker behaves in a damp winter and under air conditioning, and what replaces it, is covered on the page about boho style.

The lighting is warm, 2700–3000 K, with fittings made of wood, paper, linen and ceramics. We order solid wood and veneer furniture from furniture makers to our drawings, and ceramics and baskets are easy to find from Georgian craftspeople. Designer rattan furniture, paper lights and large clay planters are more often ordered in, and we allow several weeks for this in the procurement schedule.

Eco style in a rental apartment

From eco style, an apartment for short-term rental needs the things that don't call for care: a wooden table and headboard, linen curtains, ceramics, a textured wall. We only put in real plants if someone who comes regularly waters them. Otherwise, in a hot month without guests they dry out, and the photos show bare planters. Another option is good-quality artificial plants where guests can't reach them, plus a couple of real ones in self-watering pots.

Guests spill wine on a light oil finish on the table and windowsill, so in a rental apartment the wood is finished with a hard-wearing water-based lacquer. Jute and grass rugs are replaced with wool-blend or cotton ones that go in the washing machine.

What eco style mixes with

Eco style sits easily on a Scandinavian interior: the light base and simple furniture are already there, and all that remains is to add wood, stone and plants. It shares a love of wood and empty space with Japandi, and texture and irregular materials with wabi-sabi. Eco style goes worst with gloss and high-tech: next to chrome and glass, wood looks as if it has wandered in by accident.

Eco interior mistakes by the sea

• solid wood boards on the kitchen floor and by the balcony door;
• plants by a south-facing floor-to-ceiling window with no protection from the sun;
• planters without saucers standing directly on a wooden floor;
• natural wallpaper and grass rugs in an apartment that stands empty in winter;
• a floor, walls and furniture in wood of the same shade that merge into one brown blur;
• the apartment is closed for the winter without dehumidification, and mould appears on the linen and wood.

How much eco style interior design costs in Batumi

An eco style design project costs from 145 to 190 ₾ per m² of apartment area, and this covers only the designer's work. Besides the layout, 3D and drawings, we draw elevations of the walls with wood and stone and a plan with places for planters, the dehumidifier and sockets for grow lights. Finishing is paid for separately, labour and materials together: turnkey timber wall cladding from 215 to 310 ₾ per m², decorative stone or brick cladding from 155 ₾ per m², textured plaster from 75 ₾ per m².

Wood on the walls is the most expensive finishing item here, so we usually give it one wall and the things people touch: the worktop, the windowsill, the headboard. The design costs more if it includes a lot of solid wood pieces made to our drawings, a layout change or a large area in the renders. An apartment where the natural materials are gathered in one or two zones and the rest is a calm base with ready-made furniture costs less. We name the final cost after the measured survey, once we have agreed together which walls and pieces go ahead.