Madrid office space becomes grand apartment

A couple from Mexico has transformed 5,000 square feet of former office space in Madrid into a grand apartment. The property, located in the city’s Salamanca district, offers views of the American embassy. To create a livable space with period character, the couple turned to ELLE Decor A-List designers Mafalda Muñoz and Gonzalo Machado.

The designers, founders of the Madrid design firm Casa Muñoz, relished the chance to work with a blank slate. “It’s not their primary residence, so there were no heirlooms or art collections we had to incorporate, no workspaces or school routines to consider,” Muñoz says. “They wanted a place to unite as a family and celebrate. The rest was up to us.”

The Design Process

The owners had been drawn to the sophisticated but confidently unfussy ambience Muñoz and Machado bring to their interiors. Casa Muñoz has become synonymous with a version of authentically Spanish design and lifestyle that is rooted in tradition. The firm was tapped to create the first Forbes House private club, which opened in Madrid in late 2024.

Muñoz and Machado, both Madrileños, have known each other since childhood and now have three kids of their own. She is local design royalty, the daughter of the late designer Paco Muñoz, who is credited with modernizing Spanish decor in the midst of the Franco dictatorship. But she has cut her own path with refined, thoughtfully functional design rooted in tradition with contemporary flair.

The Apartment’s Features

The duo’s combined talents are on full display in the Salamanca apartment, where they completed the entire renovation in 10 months. “We invented the layout from scratch. Every single wall, floor, and ceiling is new,” Muñoz says. The apartment features a welcoming entry hall and a bar tucked discreetly into a nearby passageway.

A series of flexible entertaining rooms unfold graciously from the entry hall. About a third of the home is given over to the primary suite, with another third housing smaller family and guest bedrooms, a kitchen, and other service rooms. A focal point of the apartment is a round library that doubles as a home cinema.

“The owners are fanatics for sound quality,” says Machado, who notes that the room integrates 20 speakers and a video projector into the custom boiserie and bookshelves. The apartment’s design combines objects and textures against a muted palette of grays and browns throughout.

Practicality and Functionality

For all the apartment’s grandeur, Muñoz and Machado paid close attention to how their clients actually live. The “clean kitchen,” an open-plan cooking and dining area, allows for simple, casual meals to be shared with friends. The “dirty kitchen” handles intensive cooking and cleaning for formal dining or entertaining.

“Everyone loves the laid-back vibe of sipping wine in the kitchen while the host dresses a salad,” Muñoz remarks. “But pull a roasted turbot out of a hot oven and your guests get a blast of fishy odor and a dirty pan to look at. It can break the spell.”

The apartment’s design is a result of the owners’ desire to create a space that is both a family home and a place for celebration. The 19th-century Grand Tour objects and the works by contemporary Spanish artists contribute to this atmosphere. The designers’ attention to detail and their ability to balance different styles and periods have resulted in a space that is both elegant and functional.