Interior Designer’s Compact Paris Home and Art Workshop, 51sqm⧸548sqft

The main idea was to open up the spaces to take full advantage of the many unobstructed views the apartment offers. I'm very interested in basket weaving and natural dyeing. I wanted this space to feel like a workshop as well as a home. My name is Sophie Berg, I am an interior designer and together with Pauline Girardot, we founded Petit Jour Architecture, an interior design company based in Paris. This is my apartment where I have been living for a year and a half. The apartment is located in the Mary district in Montreuil, a neighboring city of Paris. The building was constructed in 1975. I drew inspiration from the building's 70s construction period, being careful not to fall into a pastiche of that era. I used mostly locally sourced or natural materials as well as secondhand pieces whenever I could find them. When I first got the apartment, it was in very good shape. I immediately loved how bright it was thanks to its corner location and windows on three sides. The apartment consisted of a bedroom, a bathroom and toilet and a closed off living room and kitchen. Nearly all the spaces were separated by doors, six in total. The first thing I did was to remove the partition that separated the kitchen and living area. This gave me the opportunity to add an island that separates the spaces without cutting them off. What does a magazine look like when you jam it full of intoxicating Greekness, dreamlike logic, Compeji's convertible creations, robot-y sculptures, Jaime Hayon's contagious creative compulsions, intimate home portraits from Japan and Enzo Mari-inspired creatures? Well, it looks like this and this and this, this, this and this. And it includes sexy as hell small apartments from Amsterdam, Athens and Milan too. As well as a spectacular archive of stickers and labels telling stories of design histories. And it also features the 100% definitive and scientifically proven principles of timeless design. Disclaimer, not 100% definitive or scientifically proven. Wait, there's more! There is a salami factory turned art museum and there are very un-kitcheny kitchens, laundries, legacies, mythology and some seriously hot pots. Oh my! Get your copy now! As soon as I get home, the first thing I do is sit on the bench that I designed myself and take off my shoes and coat. I painted the flooring in this area in a bronze green shade and gave it a curved border. Front doors in France are usually made from steel and are magnetic, so I decided to fill mine with postcards from art exhibits. The living room receives the most light in the apartment. In the lounge area, I matched a dusty pink sofa with a chair by the designer of the iconic togo in a warmer shade of pink. Behind the sofa, I decided to sand down the wall to reveal the raw concrete. Another very 70s thing about this apartment is that it's only 2.5 meters high, which made ceiling lights feel quite uncomfortable. I worked really hard to find different lamps and light fixtures that could keep the room well lit while providing soft lighting. The floors in here are also cement, as in the rest of the house, to cut on cost. This area is directly connected to the balcony, which extends the living area on sunny days. The recessed wall in the corner of the apartment was the perfect place to install a bookshelf and it naturally became my office area. I decided to face the desk to the apartment as not to feel totally isolated while working. I wanted to be totally surrounded by the things I love and inspire me, and I needed to have easy access to my stuff. On top of the bookshelf, I installed a pull-down projector screen for movie nights with my boyfriend. I designed the kitchen knowing it had to be somewhere I could make a bit of mess with my natural dyes and not worry about staining. Above the sink, I added open shelves that can also be accessed from the other side and makes the space feel less boxed in. For the backsplash, I sourced tiles that were installed in the 70s that complement the apartment's architecture. I chose to leave the dishwasher, refrigerator, and freezer in the kitchen uncovered. You can see them from inside the kitchen but not from the living space. The dining table is compact but can fit up to six people when I have friends over. The legs have adjustable heights which come in handy for basket weaving. The bathroom is glossy and colorful. Although this place doesn't have natural light, I still wanted it to feel very luminous. I placed the border colored wall tiles in a striped pattern and combined them with brown floor tiles that give the eye a rest. I used the space behind the door to add floating cherrywood shelves which I mounted on the wall using tip-toe brackets. Inside the walk-in shower, I added a floating ceramic shelf that looks really good with the colorful tiles and chrome fixtures. The small transition area gives me a lot of extra storage that I couldn't have fit in the main bathroom. The multi-tone blue curtain which I made beautifully hides all this clutter while keeping it comfortably accessible. The bedroom is a peaceful place for me to unwind. Beside the bed, I placed a custom-made dresser that I designed to be a bit lower to the ground to double as a nightstand. I drew inspiration from the geometric curves of the 70s. On the other side, I placed a wooden beam that I salvaged and sanded down to use as a nightstand. I also designed a wardrobe using as little material as possible and closed it off with pale yellow wool curtains that complement the blue-gray of the walls. The small toilet is perfect for guests. I wanted to create a sort of rug effect with the tiles so I chose four different colors that create a checkered pattern. The orange spotlight adds a pop of color that livens up the space. I finished the space off with the smallest thing I could find. Living in a small space depending on its size inevitably requires making choices and setting priorities. It is important to identify which activities can take place in the same spot using the same furniture and conversely which ones need to be done separately each in its own place. Sign up to our newsletter for subscriber-only content and exclusive offers. Visit nevertosmall.com slash subscribe.