Interior Design for Bluewaters Island Apartments

Bluewaters in the developer's words

Meraas, the island's developer, places Bluewaters beside Jumeirah Beach Residence, Palm Jumeirah and Dubai Marina, and describes it as home to Ain Dubai along with dining, shopping, leisure and entertainment. Its residential projects on the island, Bluewaters Residences and Bluewaters Bay, are presented as waterfront apartments.

The developer's language keeps returning to light: open-plan layouts, light-flooded rooms and views that run from the city skyline to the Gulf and the wheel itself. Bluewaters Bay also lists shared amenities such as a tennis court, a fitness centre and an infinity pool, which can free a spare room at home for something other than exercise equipment.

Keeping an open plan open

An open-plan apartment is easy to spoil. Add too many dividers and the light disappears; add too few and the kitchen, dining table and sofa blur into one long room with nowhere to settle. Our space planning for an apartment like this uses furniture, rugs, ceiling detail and lighting to create zones without building walls.

Storage is the other test of an open plan. With fewer walls there are fewer places for cupboards, so we look for depth at the entrance, beside the kitchen and in the bedrooms, and place tall joinery where it will not block the light. The tools we use most often:

• A kitchen island or dining table placed to mark where cooking ends and living begins.
• Rugs and grouped lighting that give the sitting area its own boundary.
• Joinery that doubles as a partial screen, with storage on one face and display on the other.
• Sliding or pivoting panels where a study or guest room needs privacy only some of the time.

Light, glare and a wheel outside the window

Views of the sea and of Ain Dubai are a large part of the island's appeal, so we plan seating to face them and keep tall furniture off the window line. The same glass brings glare through the day and reflections on screens in the evening. Layered window treatments, motorised where the budget allows, let each room shift between open and shaded quickly.

After dark the view changes character. Interior lighting should be warm and low enough that the glass does not turn into a mirror, which means dimmable circuits, lamps at seating height and careful placing of anything bright near the windows.

Bedrooms need a different answer from living rooms. A view is a pleasure from the sofa, but a bedroom needs darkness on demand, so bedroom windows usually get full blackout lining with sheers in front for softness by day. Where a bedroom doubles as a daytime retreat, a reading chair turned towards the water makes the most of the outlook.

Refreshing a developer finish or starting again

Meraas describes its Bluewaters apartments as having a sophisticated finish, so many owners will not need to strip everything out. The better value often lies in keeping sound floors and bathrooms and putting the budget into joinery, lighting, soft furnishings and art. Where an owner wants a completely different mood, we can take the apartment further, and 3D visualisation lets you compare a light refresh with a deeper change before anything is decided.

Owners with their own contractor can stop at design: we hand over the concept, renders, specifications and drawings, and the build is theirs to run. Owners who split the year between countries may prefer the alternative, where our team orders, installs and supervises everything until the keys come back.

Approvals and logistics on an island

Changing anything beyond furniture and décor on the island may involve the master developer or community management, building management and the relevant authority. How much review applies follows from the scope; we confirm the route for each address, then fix the drawings. The authority approvals page explains what we prepare.

Getting materials into an island building needs a little more thought than a street address. Delivery slots, service lift bookings and space for large items such as stone slabs or sofas are agreed with building management in advance, and deliveries are grouped so that neighbours see as little disruption as possible.

Cost and how to begin

Projects start from AED 150,000. Above that, the items listed below are what push the figure up or down. Give us a realistic ceiling early, and we will draw the Bluewaters scheme to sit within it.

Photos of the views help as much as the floor plan, so add both to our estimate page along with the building name, and an indicative estimate and timeline will come back to you.

• The floor area and how many rooms are in scope
• Built-in joinery, from media walls to dressing rooms
• Window treatments, including any motorised systems
• Lighting and MEP changes
• The furniture, art and accessories package

Beside Bluewaters: JBR, the Marina and Palm Jumeirah

Meraas names Jumeirah Beach Residence, Palm Jumeirah and Dubai Marina as the island's neighbours. Our separate JBR page looks at the beachside towers on the mainland, while on Palm Jumeirah we have two villa projects, so owners who hold property in more than one of these places can deal with a single studio for all of it.