The house of Albena Zafirova

Jazz and classic music, cinnamon cake and black tea. This is how Albena Zafirova, one of Unique Estates’ agents, has welcomed us to her house, located in the very heart of the old city of Sofia.

A soft light slipping through the oil-green silk curtains in her living room gives the place a warm feeling of coziness and tranquility. This is where Albena grew up. She returned to her home about a year ago after a long stay abroad. She likes this area of the city a lot. Albena decided to reconstruct the property herself. That creative task gave her artistic soul such a great pleasure. While redesigning and decorating the place she chose furniture and items that would be practical for her everyday life. The colors in the interior were quite important for her. He likes the shades of gray, as well as the warm earth tones. The graffiti wall in the living room she chose as a contrasts for the color splash on the big canvas hanging there. Details and accents like this one came out as an inspiration for the color scheme of the entire house. Each space there overflows smoothly and elegantly into the other. The light, fabrics and colors in this house make it feel soft and comfortable. Black and white photographs on the shelves tell stories about Albena’s family. The old cupboard with crystal glass doors she once inherited from her grandparents. For this piece and the old piano in her house she treasures very special feelings. The instrument brings back a lot of memories with her father, from the time when he was an opera singer and a musician in Bulgaria and around the world. Right there, in her living room, there has been many joyful gatherings of his friends, part of the cultural and intellectual elite in Sofia at the time Albena was very young. She grew up, surrounded by music. The "Bulgaria" concert hall and the “House of the national opera and ballet" have been the places where she has spend a lot of time since she was a child.

She likes reading the biographies of people from the artistic world, as well as novels with intriguing stories and adventurous characters. Albena herself is an adventurer, curious about the world and its wonders. She likes to travel. After years of touring around distant and exotic destinations, now she feels like spending more time traveling round the Old Continent. She doesn't usually bring anything back to her house from those trips abroad. She prefers to collect emotions and impressions from the place there, via communication with the local people.

If she would choose another place in the world to live in, it would be Italy. She likes the country's culture and history, food and wine, the beauty of nature, and the temperament of the people there.

In the city of Sofia she loves walking round the “Borisova garden” where she used to spend a lot of time with her two dogs. She enjoys meeting her friends for dinner at some of her favorite spots in town. Albena is eager to get to know the artistic and cultural life in Sofia better.

She is fascinated by an exclusive concert she attended at “Bulgaria Hall” and her meeting with the opera singer Sonya Yoncheva.

And I am fascinated by the wonderful time I had at Albena’s house this afternoon and the way she played "Fantasy" by Mozart on the family piano.