Designing one’s own home is often the truest test of a designer’s instincts. Set within a Riyadh townhouse, Nebras Aljoaib’s most personal project unfolds through a quiet dialogue between classical references and contemporary clarity. “It is the purest expression of how I think, live and see.” Spread across 360 square metres, the three-level home sits in a calm residential neighbourhood where the shifting desert light “changes everything: sharp in the morning, golden by evening”. That rhythm, the Saudi interior designer notes, shaped much of her house and how she wanted to feel in it: soulful, familiar and composed, but never overworked.
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AD100 Riyadh Designer Nebras AlJoaib Reimagines Italian Craft From an Arab Perspective
The starting point was mood rather than a master plan. “The large Japanese byōbu screen came first; it became both art and architecture,” Aljoaib says. Its scale, intricate surface, and changing reflections set the tone for what followed: a home built through pieces collected slowly, each one tied to memory or meaning. “Nothing was overly planned,” the designer adds. “Pieces were collected over time and found their place naturally, guided more by my feelings.”
This intuitive approach sits alongside a clear aesthetic logic that’s fundamental to Aljoaib’s practice. The young designer has long been drawn to the interplay between eras; vintage pieces with “quiet gravity” sit alongside clean-lined contemporary forms. “Vintage objects have this soul; they’ve lived lives before mine,” she says. “At the same time, I love contemporary architectural lines; they bring structure and visual purity.” In her new Riyadh townhouse, this balance appears effortlessly resolved: a comfortable armchair beside a Mario Botta chair, historic screens paired with soft silhouettes, and expressive materials grounded by a restrained architectural envelope. “It’s less about style and more about a dialogue between history and the present.”
While each room has its own character, the dining area is the designer’s favourite. “I love hosting small, intimate dinners, just a few friends and good conversation.” The banquette seating creates a playful asymmetry around the table, illuminated by a dramatic Pipistrello lamp by Gae Aulenti. A sling chair that Aljoaib designed with Artemest anchors one corner. The space overlooks a modest front yard framed by an old olive tree, while the previously mentioned 20th-century byōbu screen becomes the focal point. “The room looks complete even when it’s empty,” she adds.
Materiality shapes much of the home’s quiet impact, reflecting Aljoaib’s philosophy of balancing aesthetic complexity with spatial simplicity. Marble, with its movement, weight and unpredictability, appears throughout: Arabescato Corchia in the kitchen, honed silver travertine floors, Sienna Giallo framing select openings, Calacatta Viola in a bathroom, and local stone from Riyadh grounding the back yard. “I like mixing stones; it gives depth without noise,” explains the designer. Layers appear without clutter: a Coromandel screen behind the bed, Kvadrat’s Clouds tiles breaking up the geometry of a wall, and woven surfaces offering soft texture. “The house has its layers, but it never feels busy. There’s space for everything to breathe.”
For a designer, instinct often plays a decisive role. The olive tone in the living room “wasn’t planned”, she says, but immediately felt right. Several artworks and pieces of furniture arrived via “spontaneous auction bids, the kind you make late at night”, becoming unexpected anchors of the home. Aljoaib trusts those moments: “They bring a certain ease and imperfection that make a space feel lived in rather than designed.”
Although the renovation is complete, Aljoaib doesn’t consider the home finished. “It’s a designer thing,” she laughs. “Homes are never finished; we just take a break until we’re inspired again.” @nebrasaljoaib
