Mediterranean interior design in Batumi: white walls, tiles, linen

Greek, Italian or Spanish

Mediterranean style grew out of houses on the coasts of Greece, southern Italy and Spain. They have thick limewashed walls, small windows, tiled floors, built-in benches and niches, wooden beams and plenty of shade. The style has two recognisable versions. The Greek one is built on white, blue and the simplest shapes. The Italian and Spanish one is warmer: ochre, terracotta, patterned tiles, old wood and wrought-iron details.

For an apartment in Batumi we take one version as the basis. White walls, blue doors, a terracotta floor, Moorish tiles and Italian ochre in a single one-bedroom (1+1) apartment compete with each other, and the interior falls apart into snapshots from three different holidays.

Mediterranean interior design in a new build

In a house on the Mediterranean the walls are half a metre thick, and deep niches and reveals come with them naturally. In a new build the partitions are thin, so depth has to be built. Where we put up new block partitions, we build niches for shelves and lighting into them straight away. We don't cut niches into reinforced concrete walls and columns: they are load-bearing, and we don't touch them without a structural design and a structural engineer.

A built-in bench by the window or in the dining area does more for the style than any decor. We build it from blocks or from plasterboard on a frame, plaster it in the wall colour, put a cushion on top and fit drawers inside for storage. We make an arch in one wide opening, for example between the kitchen and the living room. Arches in every doorway make an apartment with a new build's modest ceiling height feel lower, and the doors for them have to be made to a template.

Floor-to-ceiling windows with a sea view are what most sets the apartment apart from a Mediterranean house, where the windows are small to keep the cool in and are shaded from the sun by shutters outside. In an apartment with south- and west-facing windows we create the shade from the inside: linen curtains hung from the ceiling, wooden blinds or roller blinds on the window sashes, which are covered in more detail on the page about roller blinds and other blinds.

White walls: shade and texture

White in a Mediterranean house is warm and uneven: lime is applied with a brush or a float, and the craftsman's hand shows on the wall. In an apartment we repeat this on one or two walls, for example in the living room and hallway, with a textured mineral plaster. The other walls are painted smooth: texture on every wall becomes tiring, and it takes longer to dust. How texture is applied and how a wall is checked against a sample is explained on the page about decorative plaster.

We choose the shade of white together with the floor. Terracotta casts a warm reflection onto the walls, and next to it a white with a yellow undertone drifts towards peach, while next to blue tiles the same white looks colder. So we put the paint sample next to the floor sample and look at them together by the window. We don't use pure cold white in sunny rooms: by the sea, light comes both from the sky and from the water, and a wall like that is dazzling.

Terracotta, patterned tiles and mosaic

Floors and tiles lead in this style, and we decide on them as early as the layout stage, because the thresholds between rooms depend on the thickness of the tiles and adhesive. The joint with wood flooring and SPC vinyl is covered in more detail on the page about porcelain floor tiles.

We keep the pattern to one zone: the kitchen floor, the bathroom, the splashback or the shower. If ornamental tiles run through every room, the apartment looks busy in the photographer's wide shot, and you tire of the floor itself before it wears out. We also choose matt tiles for the floor because gloss tiles by floor-to-ceiling windows catch the glare and are slippery under wet feet after the beach.

Wood, linen, metal and how much blue

Wood in a Mediterranean interior is simple: whitewashed or painted oak, pine under a matt varnish, thick shelves on brackets. The furniture is low and calm, upholstered in linen or a linen-look blend. Woven chairs and wicker lights look good against white, but dust gets stuck in the weave, so we keep to one or two woven pieces per room.

Wrought-iron railings, table legs and curtain poles are powder-coated. In the Greek version blue takes up one surface per room: a door, the kitchen fronts or the wall in a niche. The rest of the blue lives in fabrics and ceramics, which you change when you tire of them. In the Italian version olive, ochre and terracotta take the place of blue.

In the evening this interior needs warm light reflected off the walls: wall lights on white plaster, lighting in the niches, ceramic or wicker pendants over the table. In a niche we hide the LED strip in a profile with a diffuser, so that no bright dots show on the white wall.

Terracotta for yourself, porcelain for guests

The style is convenient for short-term rental: tiles and mineral plaster stand up to frequent cleaning, and white walls with blue or terracotta accents photograph well. In an apartment for rent we lay terracotta-effect porcelain instead of the real thing, paint the walls people touch with washable paint and keep the blue to cushions and bedspreads.

For yourself you can afford real terracotta and handmade tiles if you are ready to look after them. We gather samples of tiles, plaster and fabrics together at the materials selection stage and look at them in daylight. Mediterranean style mixes with other styles through its base: its floor and white walls easily take contemporary furniture, as long as the patterned tiles stay in one zone.

Mediterranean interior mistakes by the sea

• cold white with bright blue in every room: the result is a swimming pool, not a home;
• "nautical" decor on every shelf: anchors, ship's wheels, ropes and shells;
• ornamental tiles in every room at once;
• real terracotta by the front door and by the hob;
• thick acrylic paint on external walls instead of mineral paint;
• plasterboard arches in every opening.

How much a Mediterranean interior costs in Batumi

A Mediterranean style design costs 145 to 190 ₾ per m² of the apartment. For that the designer produces the layout, 3D visualisation and working drawings, and in this style most of the sheets go on the tile layout and the elevations of the niches and bench. Plaster, tiles and mosaic are priced separately. Textured decorative plaster costs from 75 to 96 ₾ per m² including labour and materials, ceramic tiles as a material from 69 to 110 ₾ per m², and laying mosaic from 140 to 190 ₾ per m².

The design costs more when it includes a built-in bench, niches, an arch and patterned tiles in several zones: each of them has to be drawn and laid out. An apartment with patterned tiles in one zone and painted walls comes out cheaper. The final cost is set after the measured survey and once the scope of the design and the materials are agreed.