Cool to the eye,

Cool to the eye but warm to the touch, designer Sara Esnaashari’s apartment is bright and vibrant. Born in Tehran and raised in Toronto, Esnaashari moved to Shanghai over six years ago to pursue a career in design, where she met her husband Arash Jalvan who moved to China as a child with his parents 20 years ago.

The couple decided to move in together after two years in a relationship. But finding the perfect home was rather impossible for them as they were both drawn to older homes with history and yet both were picky and had a long list of requirements.

It took them about six months and over 100 lane houses to find the place they’ve been calling home for the past three years.

“We always knew we wanted to live in a lane house, and we never liked living in a newly built apartment because all the apartments around the world look the same: charmless and disconnected from the city outside and its culture and history,” Esnaashari said. “That’s not how we want to live our lives. Now that we have the opportunity to live in this charming city, we want to take in every bit of it with all of its ups and downs.”

But finding a truly authentic yet renovated lane house that retains its charm while incorporating modern features is not so easy in Shanghai anymore. As lane house living is becoming more and more popular, many agencies are renting lane houses for the long term, renovate them with fake loft style and lease them to foreigners who want to experience lane house living.

“And that’s why as soon as I walked into this property, I knew it was it,” she said. “Our landlord kept all the charming features of the house like the original flooring, the doors and the windows and restored it to be more of an open concept home with plenty of light, an open kitchen and a separate entrance.”

So the couple rented the apartment as the landlord was moving to England, and brought in their furniture and make it theirs with all the soft furnishing. “We didn’t touch any of the original struct but over time, we graded some of th that were added thr like all the built-in rooms, the cabinet in the kitchen as t were not working p she added.

“Living in an o house which was co in the city center, w living in a part of will not be here in a Esnaashari said.

“Our home indee interests, our trav multi-cultural bac was never a particu to follow in our ho we went room-bygard to what was g of the house, and added elements to the way as we trave found a piece we lo

Living and buildi in this energetic ci sion with beautifu them to start ESN lifestyle brand and gifting solution. Th tially an extensio lives and what they and their home is curated world they each day.

“I use my home a ment and try new th bursts of color, m and globally curat and that combina every room of our h said.

The master bedr trary, is cozy and q extra-high ceiling a light in the bedro attic so they compl keeping the colors and adding richne ering natural fabri

The highlight at the built-in bookc room which is now they call their “glob It is right in the m and almost visible ner and the perfec the items and acc lected over time an their travels aroun