A clear axis links the bar, kitchen and informal dining area, defined by a warm material palette of natural oak, mineral plaster and bush-hammered ceramic.
In a penthouse loft overlooking the brick rooftops of Maastricht, an interior designer sets out to test a simple but demanding idea: can minimalism feel deeply human?
In Maastricht, Netherlands, a penthouse loft interior by Niels Maier begins with a request that sounds almost disarmingly simple: to create a space with a warm soul in a minimal set-up. The clients envisioned a home centred on gathering, a hospitality-style kitchen and bar flowing into a generous dining and living room. Rather than separating these zones, Maier treated the loft as a single continuous space. “It had to feel open and fluid,” he says. “A place where cooking, dining and living naturally happen together.”
Maier builds this openness through a two-tone colour palette. A soft umber tone runs through the architecture, paired with a natural stone shade that moves between beige and taupe with subtle light brown undertones. “It has the soul of the Mediterranean coast, adapting beautifully to changing light throughout the day,” he says. As daylight shifts through the loft, the surfaces change character without the architecture itself changing.
Material choices are consistent across the interior. Oak flooring is used in a natural finish, while walls and ceilings are treated in mineral paint. Cabinetry is integrated flush into the walls and finished in the same palette, allowing storage to sit within the architecture rather than interrupt it.
The kitchen introduces one of the few breaks in this softness, a ceramic worktop with a bush-hammered surface. “We wanted something that didn’t disappear,” Maier says. Brut brass tapware is deliberately left untreated. “It will change over time,” he says, “it becomes more honest the longer you live with it.”
A two-tone palette of umber and stone runs through the interior, holding the space in soft variation rather than contrast.
An oak dining table by Niels Maier sets the stage for a deliberately imperfect mix of Lina Bo Bardi, Egon Eiermann and Fredericia chairs.
Circulation becomes part of the architecture, rather than a by-product of it. A long library cabinet traces a geometric corridor, pulling books, objects and storage into the flow of movement. Full-height doors extend sightlines between rooms, but never fully erase thresholds, so the loft reads as one continuous interior rather than separate spaces. “In the dining, we used a mix of different design classics for a lively feeling, an imperfect set-up,” Maier says, combining vintage pieces with re-editions and design references that sit loosely together.
Across the project, Maier resists a single focal point in favour of accumulation. “The colour depth and richness… with the different atmospheres in the different spaces but still extremely connected,” he says. “It works because it doesn’t try to be one thing all the time.” As he sums it up, it’s deep, minimal, and soulful.
In the living area, a tailored Living Divani sofa sits alongside a custom cabinet by Niels Maier, finished in mineral plaster and blackened steel.
Set within one continuous space, the oak dining table supports a hospitality kitchen and bar concept, encouraging an open, fluid way of inhabiting the home.
The library, designed by Niels Maier in mineral plaster and coating, doubles as a spatial divider that guides movement through the loft.
An oak table is complemented by a Pierre Jeanneret teak chair, bringing warmth and depth through contrasting timbers.
The bathroom keeps things understated, pairing a bathtub-shower with a sculptural Corian basin by Niels Maier.
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