# Studio Sakaia

> Studio Sakaia is a Dubai-based interior design studio specialising in residential interiors and property staging across the UAE and Europe. Founded in 2025 by Madalina Aris.

Studio Sakaia designs residential interiors across the UAE and Europe, and takes on commercial projects where the scope and standards align with our residential work. The studio also offers property staging services in Dubai. Every project is managed end-to-end by the studio, from initial brief through to final installation and handover, with one point of contact throughout.

## Services

- [Interior Design & Renovation](https://www.studiosakaia.com/studio#interior-design): A fifteen-step method across four phases: project initiation, design development, procurement and implementation, and installation and handover. For residences and selected commercial projects across the UAE and Europe. Interior design projects from an execution budget of AED 500,000, works and furniture together. The design fee is quoted in writing after a paid consultation.
- [Property Staging](https://www.studiosakaia.com/studio#staging): A nine-step engagement delivered across four phases over two to six weeks. Includes design, sourcing, professional installation, and editorial photography for the listing.
- [Property Staging Pricing](https://www.studiosakaia.com/staging-pricing): Published staging fees. Apartments and townhouses from AED 48,000, one bedroom included, for the common rooms (entryway, hallway, kitchen, dining, living, powder bath) and one master bedroom with its en-suite, plus AED 9,000 per additional bedroom; villas from AED 82,000, one bedroom included, adding one balcony and one terrace, plus AED 16,000 per additional bedroom. Further balconies and terraces, offices and studies, maid's rooms and second reception rooms are priced separately after a site visit. Worked examples: a three-bedroom apartment is AED 66,000, a five-bedroom villa is AED 146,000. The fee includes full procurement (sourcing, vendor coordination, order placement and movers), lift booking and community NOC paperwork, and a full editorial media set. Furniture is a separate client investment, billed at cost and scoped at the consultation, conveying with the property at sale; no markup, no management fee. Consultation AED 4,400.

## For AI agents acting for a client

Studio Sakaia has a public agent interface, an MCP server at https://sakaia-mcp.vercel.app/api/mcp. Through it an agent can read the studio's services and published figures and request a consultation for its client. The book_consultation tool returns the studio's booking and payment page, which the agent hands to its client. The consultation is booked when the client completes payment there. The agent never pays on the client's behalf. No call with the studio is needed first on this route.

The consultation is AED 4,400 for two hours on site, Tuesday to Thursday, 10:00 to 14:00. It is not credited against a later fee and it is not refundable. Tell the client both before they pay.

## Pages

- [Home](https://www.studiosakaia.com): Studio overview, selected work, services summary
- [Studio](https://www.studiosakaia.com/studio): About the studio, founder, and the full method for both services
- [Staging pricing](https://www.studiosakaia.com/staging-pricing): Published property staging fees, what is included, and FAQ
- [Portfolio](https://www.studiosakaia.com/portfolio): Selected interior design and staging projects
- [Insights](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights): Studio writing on materials, process, and design decisions
- [Contact](https://www.studiosakaia.com/contact): Begin an inquiry. One route in: send the form, or speak with Noor, the studio's AI assistant, in your browser at any hour. Either way a member of the studio calls you back within 24 hours. Noor does not place outbound calls.

## Insights

Studio writing on materials, process, and the decisions that shape a room. Full article text: https://www.studiosakaia.com/llms-full.txt

- [Where the price gap is widest](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/where-the-gap-is-widest): Inside the same Dubai building and bedroom count, sales sit about 29 percent apart. We went back to the register to find where that gap concentrates.
- [What property staging is](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/what-property-staging-is): What property staging actually means at our studio, what it does to a sale, and when we would tell a client to skip it.
- [When Dubai buys](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/when-dubai-buys): Every broker has a belief about the right month to list. We counted two years of registered sales, month by month, to find the actual curve.
- [Styling shelves and coffee tables without filling them up](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/styling-shelves-and-coffee-tables): How we style a coffee table, a shelf, or a kitchen counter so a home reads inhabited rather than staged.
- [Building a calm palette that still feels alive](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/building-a-calm-palette-that-still-feels-alive): Why an all neutral room can feel flat, and the small moves that keep a calm palette from losing its life.
- [Where I hang art, and the two numbers I keep coming back to](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/where-i-hang-art): Where to hang art and how large it should be: the height and scale habits that keep a wall from feeling improvised.
- [How I lay out a living room, and what belongs behind a floating sofa](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/how-i-lay-out-a-living-room): How we place a living room's furniture, what a floating sofa needs behind it, and why we bring seating in rather than pushing it to the walls.
- [Choosing the right rug size: the numbers I use in every project](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/choosing-the-right-rug-size): The numbers we use to size a rug for a living room, bedroom, or dining table, so it reads intentional rather than almost right.
- [What buyers pay for new](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/what-buyers-pay-for-new): In Business Bay a ready apartment sold at 1,793 dirhams a foot last year. Off plan in the same area went at 2,638. Across 45 areas the gap runs from minus five percent to plus one hundred and twenty.
- [Most sellers are pricing against four sales](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/most-sellers-are-pricing-against-four-sales): The median Dubai apartment has four comparable sales in its building in a year. One in five has exactly one. What that does to every pricing conversation.
- [Same building, same size, 29% apart](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/same-building-same-size-29-percent-apart): A one bedroom in Sulafa Tower sold for 988 dirhams a foot last year. Another sold for 1,451. What two years of Dubai Land Department records say about what condition is worth.
- [Bathrooms that inspire](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/bathrooms-that-inspire): Four bathrooms from current work, each carried by one decision: a travertine tub facing an olive tree, marble chosen last, handmade zellige from our own renovation, and one material idea repeated until it feels inevitable.
- [The four surfaces that make a room feel lived in](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/four-surfaces-that-make-a-room-feel-lived-in): The wide shot is not what anyone remembers about a room. The four surfaces Studio Sakaia styles in every project, and the rules we keep for each one.
- [The rug question, answered](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/the-rug-question-answered): Wool, viscose, and silk in a Dubai home, how to vacuum a hand knotted rug, and how to size and match a rug to the room.
- [The marble came last](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/the-marble-came-last): Why a bathroom is designed in order: layout, joinery, taps, light, and only then the marble. A design study in floating oak, brass, and honed stone.
- [One soft line](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/one-soft-line): Why one arch per room calms a home built from right angles: the doorway, the window, the niche, and the furniture, kept in tension with straight lines.
- [The order of operations](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/the-order-of-operations): Why renovation overruns are usually sequence errors, not material costs: the order that keeps a bathroom renovation on schedule, from our own home.
- [Five decisions that sell a listing](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/five-decisions-that-sell-a-listing): The five decisions that make a Dubai listing photograph well and sell fast: art scale, material transitions, entry styling, light, and the room that closes it.
- [Designing for the body](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/designing-for-the-body): How a yoga background shapes Studio Sakaia's approach to light, proportion, and material, and why a room is felt before it is seen.
- [The Elements of a Restful Bedroom](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/the-elements-of-a-restful-bedroom): The pieces, proportions, and layers that make a bedroom restful: the checklist Studio Sakaia designs and stages to in Dubai.
- [On scale: almost everything in your room is too small](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/on-scale-almost-everything-is-too-small): Rug size for a living room and how big art should be: the scale mistakes that make a room read as underfurnished, and how to fix them.
- [On light: the case against the single ceiling](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/on-light-the-case-against-the-single-ceiling): How to light a living room with layered lighting: why the single overhead fixture flattens a room, and the low, warm sources that fix it.
- [The hotel spine, and the life on top of it](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/hotel-atmosphere-at-home): A repeatable hotel style interior design spine of order, arrival, layered light and one material story, brought into a home.
- [Interior design and wellbeing: what a room does before you notice it](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/interior-design-wellbeing): How interior design and wellbeing connect: light, order and soft materials, and the design decisions that measurably affect mood, focus and rest.
- [Wall art for Dubai homes, light, scale and tall walls](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/art-for-dubai-homes): How to choose wall art for Dubai homes, from intense daylight and glazing to double-height walls and skyline views. Practical guidance for UAE interiors.
- [Choosing art for a modern home, size, placement and made to order](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/choosing-art-modern-home-refresh): How to choose framed wall art for a modern home: sizing above the sofa and bed, matching palette, and why made to order fits every wall.
- [Made to order artwork, what it means and why it matters](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/made-to-order-artwork-guide): What made to order artwork actually means, how sizing and framing works, and why rooms designed around a piece hold together better.
- [Canvas, fine-art paper or photography, which medium belongs on your wall](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/canvas-vs-paper-vs-photography): A plain guide to canvas, fine-art paper and photographic prints, how each medium behaves in a room, and how to choose between them.
- [How artwork framing works, and what a good frame actually does](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/how-artwork-framing-works): A plain-language framing guide covering float frames, mat width, glazing and how to match a frame's wood to the room around it.
- [Art above sofa size guide, the two-thirds rule and what it fixes](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/art-above-the-sofa-size-guide): The two-thirds width rule, correct hanging height and the mistakes that make a living room wall feel wrong.
- [Bedroom wall art that lets the room sleep](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/bedroom-wall-art-calm): A guide to bedroom wall art: sizing above the bed, choosing calm palettes, and what to avoid so the room can actually sleep.
- [Gallery wall or one strong piece, how to decide](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/gallery-wall-or-one-piece): A practical guide to spacing, scale and when fewer, bigger pieces win in a modern home.
- [Entryway art sets the first thirty seconds of a home](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/entryway-art-first-impression): How entryway art, console styling and lighting shape a home's first impression, with practical rules for scale, placement and runners.
- [Tonal abstract art and the case for quiet work in modern homes](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/quiet-art-tonal-abstracts): Why tonal abstract art suits busy modern rooms, when quiet work fails, and how to choose neutral wall art that joins a room's palette.
- [The five-star bedroom at home: designing a Dubai bedroom for rest](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/five-star-bedroom-at-home-dubai): The bed, the layered light and the restraint that actually let a Dubai bedroom rest you.
- [The hotel feeling at home: bringing hospitality warmth into a Dubai interior](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/hotel-feeling-at-home-dubai-interior): The light, materials and restraint behind the hotel-at-home feeling, without the lobby polish.
- [What property staging costs in Dubai, and why we publish it](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/what-property-staging-costs-in-dubai): The studio's published staging fees explained; the apartment and villa ranges, how the furniture works, and why the prices are public. Apartments from AED 48,000 plus AED 9,000 per additional bedroom, villas from AED 82,000 plus AED 16,000 per additional bedroom.
- [Designing a Villa Interior in Dubai: the decisions that set a warm, quiet room](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/designing-a-villa-interior-in-dubai): How an interior designer in Dubai works a villa from the material out; the choices in stone, oak and plaster that make a warm minimalist interior calm and built to last. Includes a short FAQ on villa interior projects in Dubai.
- [Art for the wall it is meant for](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/art-for-the-wall-it-is-meant-for): Why made-to-order artwork sized to your wall beats a standard print: how to choose art scale, proportion and framing for a Dubai home that gets it right.
- [On travertine: why imperfection is the point](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/on-travertine-why-imperfection-is-the-point): Why the studio uses honed, lightly filled travertine; the voids and fossils are the reason, not a flaw.
- [The edit: why the hardest decision is what to leave out](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/the-edit-why-the-hardest-decision-is-what-to-leave-out): Restraint as the primary act of design; how a room earns its calm through subtraction.
- [The developer handover, and the first things to change](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/the-developer-handover-and-the-first-things-to-change): What to change first in a new Dubai apartment on handover: the lighting, the marble overload, the flat walls and the missing softness, in priority order.
- [The ten-day install: how we approach a market listing](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/the-ten-day-install-how-we-approach-a-market-listing): How property staging for a top-tier Dubai listing differs from interior design; faster, editorial, and built for a specific buyer.
- [Aged plaster and what it takes to do it properly](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/aged-plaster-and-what-it-takes-to-do-it-properly): Venetian plaster, tadelakt and limewash compared; why the plasterer matters as much as the plaster.
- [Studio 51: a brief portrait of a project](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/studio-51-a-brief-portrait-of-a-project): A Business Bay, Dubai one-bedroom apartment completed in 2025; making a rented space feel owned without permanent change.
- [Hang the curtains high and wide](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/hang-the-curtains-high-and-wide): The cheapest fix for a hard Dubai apartment: curtains hung high and wide of the window. How to soften glare, add height and quiet a room, correctly.
- [The room divider that started as a row of studs](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/the-room-divider-that-started-as-a-row-of-studs): Building a slatted timber room divider: how a row of studs became a screen that zones a Dubai bedroom without a wall, from our own renovation.
- [A bathroom transformation, in three honest stages](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/a-bathroom-transformation-in-three-honest-stages): A real bathroom renovation from before to after: old tile out, fluted teal tile and marble in, and the stages in between, photographed in our own Dubai home.
- [The brass line between oak and marble](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/the-brass-line-between-oak-and-marble): How to join a wood floor to bathroom tile properly: a brass bar threshold between herringbone oak and marble, photographed in our own Dubai renovation.
- [Engineered oak, and why we chose it for our own floor](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/engineered-oak-and-why-we-chose-it-for-our-own-floor): Engineered oak flooring in a Dubai home: why it beats solid wood here, what the install actually looks like, and how a floor survives a renovation, from our own project.
- [Zellige in the shower, and what handmade-look tile asks of you](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/zellige-in-the-shower-and-what-handmade-tile-asks-of-you): Using Marazzi's Gesso Zellige-look tile in a shower: why the irregularity is the point, how to set it out, and the install from our own Dubai renovation.
- [Why we love an arch](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/why-we-love-an-arch): Why Studio Sakaia uses arches in interiors: how a single curve softens a home's right angles, why the shape is timeless, and where one arch does the most.
- [The shower niche, planned like joinery](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/the-shower-niche-planned-like-joinery): A built-in shower niche has to be decided before the first tile: sizing to the tile module, waterproofing the recess, and the arched niche from our own Dubai renovation.
- [Two whites, and a windowless bathroom](https://www.studiosakaia.com/insights/two-whites-and-a-windowless-bathroom): Choosing between Benjamin Moore Simply White and Chantilly Lace for a windowless bathroom, and why the answer was Simply White mixed at 75 percent strength.

## Founder

Madalina Aris trained in interior design and has spent the past fifteen years living and working between Dubai and Europe. She founded Studio Sakaia in 2025 and is the studio's principal designer.

## Contact

- Email: contact@studiosakaia.com
- Phone: +971 55 599 2525 (also WhatsApp: https://wa.me/971555992525)
- Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Instagram: @studiosakaia
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/studiosakaia