"NEVER TOO SMALL: Interior Designer’s Custom Built Plywood Apartment, Paris 32sqm/344sqft"

My inspiration came from several trips I made on the road with the van. With van life there is no wasted space. Cabinets are custom made to enjoy every free inch. You only go to bed to sleep and you're traveling most of the day. I wanted this place to be a permanent road trip and to be a livable piece of furniture where everything would have its place. So my goal was to anticipate as much as possible how I would live in here. My name is Adrien. I'm an interior designer based in Paris and the owner of this apartment. I'm also the founder of Plato, an office furniture company for startups. We've been cooking up something tasty. Meet our new magazine. Packed with people living small, designing small, sustainable and experimental design, urban life and culture. It's designed for design lovers who like their design without the swank and the wank. More than a mag, this is a collectible keepsake. I want to live on your coffee table or best bookshelf. So hot! That is if you can manage to put it down. Subscribe now to get it first. The apartment is located in Belleville in Paris. Belleville is known for being diverse. It's a vibrant neighborhood with lots of good food and wine bars, especially for Asian cuisine. There is also the Parc de Belleville nearby which might have the best view over the city. The building was built at the end of the 19th century and used to be a department store. It was refurbished in the late 70s and each old shop became a tiny loft. I believe my particular apartment used to be a fabric store. I used to rent a similar apartment in the building, so I knew when this one went on the market before it went on the market. When I bought the place, it had been used by a student. It had been renovated a few decades ago with poorly made materials and a low budget. I didn't want to waste any square inch of free space. I wanted a nice kitchen and a shelf for my motorcycle helmet and just a few pieces of furniture so it's easy to clean. There was a small hallway with access to a bathroom and living room. The kitchen was in the corner of the apartment. The entrance was below the stairs. Up on the mezzanine, there was a built-in closet and a space for bed. The first thing I did was to remove everything from the floor to the ceiling. I decided to create a 100% plywood box that includes the kitchen and the bathroom below and the mezzanine bed on top of it. The stairs were chained from the left to the right side of the apartment and shortened a bit to have more space around it. The living room was intentionally kept simple to leave space for my personally picked pieces of furniture. I work daily with plywood so I know how to manufacture it. A lot of elements were CNC machined at the factory and then assembled here with almost no adjustments. It was a good way to have a dust-free construction site. You enter the apartment through a little corridor between the kitchen and bathroom. I store my keys in a dedicated niche at the end of the kitchen. Above the front door, I have a wooden plaque that my girlfriend made for me in tribute to the Dakar motorcycle race. There is a tall storage closet for the vacuum and tools to be hidden away. The entrance, kitchen and bathroom all share the same terrazzo floor. The living room has a 320 cm ceiling height. It's the place where I spend most of my time. The floor in the living room is light gray epoxy on top of the original cement. During the day, it's full of light due to the large windows. I wanted Californian blinds for privacy when I need it and also for its 70s motel vibe. I've always wanted a polystyrene-designed armchair so after the renovation, I thought it was the right time to buy. It feels like having a hammock in the place. I refurbished the coffee table and added a yellow glass on top. It's the same glass as the shower. This is where I eat, work and chill. Above, there is a projector that projects on the facing wall for movie nights. I made it with leftover wood pieces as I wanted a shelf for both projector and a soundbar. I didn't want a ceiling light in the middle of the room. Instead, I wanted a ceiling fan for hot summer nights. It's by the Belgian brand WooWooWoo. In the corner, there is a parenthesis lamp that enlightens the entire room. The Monstera plant was rescued in the street without any leaves left. It seems that she likes living here. I really love my lamp from Santa Col, a Spanish design brand I worked for a long time ago. It's a great piece of wood craftsmanship that creates a soft light at night. There is a hidden cabinet for my jackets, coats, shoes and more helmets, of course. I custom designed the shelves. They are assembled without screws with CNC machined details. The high shelves above the kitchen and bathroom double as the guardrail of the mezzanine. I use these shelves to display my books, objects I care about like my motorcycle helmets. The kitchen countertop features a sink, induction hobs and still has counter space for cooking and slicing veggies. There is a narrow dishwasher and plenty of storage in the drawer. On the other side are open shelves with dishes. The side of the kitchen also have a washing machine. Above the fridge, there is a little oven which I use quite a lot to roast veggies, bake clafoutis or grilled endive au jambon which you should try if you haven't already. Not a lot of people like it but I'm really fan of it. The main lighting for the kitchen and the bathroom come from sconces on both walls. All the sconces of the apartment are the same model with the different sizes depending on where they are located. I didn't want them to stand out but just be functional and simple. There are also spotlights on the kitchen ceiling to enlighten both countertops. The bathroom sliding door is hidden in the wall and features a large mirror on the other side. The bathroom is entirely made out of plywood so I was worried about the humidity. I had to cover the ceiling with tiles to protect the plywood from moisture. After two years living here, the humidity hasn't been a problem. This is due to the water-resistant coating of the plywood I selected. There is a circular washbasin with custom-made drawers based on Muji boxes. The toilet is located in the area below the stairs in order to maximize space. For the shower screen, I decided to use a yellow tinted glass, just so I can look tan all year round. The bottom is a large shower base and the wall and ceiling are Zelige tiles from Morocco. The sleeping zone can be reached using the custom-made stairs. It has a height of 120 centimeters. You can't really stand up but it's enough to move around comfortably. The queen-size bed was custom-made. The space underneath the bed was used to route electrical cables from the kitchen and bathroom. The wall behind the bed acts as one large bed head made from birch plywood. On the other side of the bed, there are five wardrobes for clothes, shirts and homeware. To break up all the natural colored plywood, I painted the doors in a dark green. Paris has a lot to offer, with many opportunities to go out, experience new places and see friends. In the future, I might want to live closer to nature. But I'm already happy to know I'll always have this place to enjoy the city I love, enjoy every inch of my little cabin. Thanks for watching. If you're an architect or designer with a project we could feature, please share it with us at nevertosmall.com submissions.