Renowned Spanish interior designer Lorenzo Castillo is currently operating at the absolute peak of his professional powers. While managing a roster of highly coveted international clients, the Madrid-born visionary has increasingly turned his focus toward education, sharing the rich history and fundamental principles of interior design. Beyond his television appearances on the Spanish design competition DecoMasters and an upcoming book outlining the essentials of his craft, Castillo’s creative energy is most vibrantly on display in his own newly completed home. Nestled in the heart of Oviedo, the capital of Spain’s northern Asturias province, his stunning apartment serves as a living museum of curated treasures, historical nods, and a deeply personal celebration of high-end interior decoration.
A Stately Northern Retreat Overlooking the Park
Perched on a prominent corner overlooking Oviedo’s iconic Campo de San Francisco park, Castillo’s new residence occupies an early 20th-century French-style building that retains its stately character. To create this expansive home, the designer undertook a massive renovation project that involved combining two separate apartments into a single, cohesive floor plan.
Working within a theatrical yet comfortable layout, Castillo oriented the primary bedroom suite toward the park to capture the building’s most elegant facade. Conversely, he relocated the living room to the rear of the apartment, reintroducing a traditional glass-enclosed gallery—a classic Asturian architectural element. The finished space is an exercise in high-end design that seamlessly blends multiple eras, incorporating subtle Hollywood Regency touches alongside northern Spanish flair.
Mastering Light and Color Dynamics
Color serves as the foundational architecture of Castillo’s design philosophy. Rather than defaulting to light palettes for darker rooms, the designer took a sophisticated, counterintuitive approach dictated by natural exposure.
The front portion of the apartment, featuring the bedroom suite, receives minimal direct sunlight, primarily catching a soft afternoon glow. To maximize this cozy ambiance, Castillo blanketed the space in soothing, deeper shades including pinks, blues, camel, and chocolate brown, even painting the ceiling a dusty rose for added warmth and contrast.
In contrast, the brighter rear of the apartment is bathed in butter, cream, ochre, and mustard tones. Throughout the entire residence, these color stories are punctuated by liberal applications of gold. Far from viewing gold as pretentious or a mere synonym for luxury, Castillo embraces it as a source of warmth and light. By utilizing patinated and brushed finishes—such as on the bathroom’s shower screens—he achieves an aged, organic luster, frequently pairing the warm metal with cool silver accents to strike a harmonious balance.
A Sanctuary of Cherished Objects and Personal Spaces
Every decorative element in Castillo’s Oviedo home is singular and intentional. The primary bedroom features a striking four-poster bed draped in navy-blue Ralph Lauren fabric on the exterior and Castillo’s own silk and velvet textiles inside, complemented by a silver fox blanket by Javier Alcaraz. The main living room gathers seating areas around a 1970s Casa y Jardín sofa upholstered in cream-colored mohair, paired with a stone table by Romeo Rega and walls upholstered in geometric wool by Phillip Jeffries.
Despite his public profile, Castillo insists he is fundamentally a homebody rather than a socialite. Drawing on his astrological sign as a Cancer, he notes that his greatest pleasure in life is returning to a space surrounded by his own cherished possessions. This desire for privacy and comfort is even more pronounced in his Madrid residence, where he and his partner of over 20 years, Alfonso Fernández Reyero, maintain a private duplex—complete with their fiercely protective dog, Tana—that remains entirely off-limits to guests.
Cinematic Inspirations and Creative Roots
Castillo’s distinct design sensibility is deeply informed by his lifelong exposure to art, history, and cinema. Recently, a visit to the Dries Van Noten Foundation in Venice sparked an intense obsession with Luchino Visconti’s 1971 film Death in Venice, which he has rewatched roughly twenty times to study the drapes, Indian fabrics, and period details. Films by Visconti and Stanley Kubrick continually serve as vital sources of inspiration for his work.
This creative awakening began early in life, largely nurtured by his maternal grandmother. A subscriber to the American edition of Architectural Digest when it was a rare and costly luxury in Spain, she exposed young Castillo to forward-thinking interior aesthetics. Growing up in 1970s Spain with an intense passion for art history presented social challenges, as peers often viewed his interests as unconventional. However, after completing his studies at the Universidad Complutense, Castillo embraced his unique perspective rather than conforming to societal expectations.
Revolutionizing the Antique and Decorating Landscape
Castillo initially entered the design world by opening an antique shop in Madrid’s Barrio de las Letras with his brother Santiago. However, he quickly grew tired of the commercial limitations of traditional antique dealing. Rather than collecting pieces for their intrinsic, historical value, Castillo approached antiques with a decorative eye, pioneering a fresh approach in Spain by mixing classic European pieces with mid-century 20th-century furniture from the 1960s and 1970s.
Reflecting on the evolution of Spanish interior design, Castillo points to influential figures like Jaime Parladé and the overlooked Valencian pioneer Rafael García. He notes a recent cultural shift away from post-war minimalist austerity toward textures, rich colors, patterns, and global influences from China, Japan, and India—elements historically woven into the Spanish Renaissance before the country’s bourgeois development lagged in the 18th and 19th centuries.
As he looks to the future, Castillo remains driven by a desire to innovate rather than rest on his laurels. Having collaborated with his dream roster of international clients over the past five years, his primary motivation now lies in education. Drawing on the teaching background inherited from his scientist father, he finds immense pride in passing the torch to the next generation, demystifying interior design, and demonstrating that creating beautiful, happiness-inducing spaces is accessible to anyone equipped with curiosity.
