The original owners of this apartment had a vision—combine eight rooms that were originally designed for household staff to create one, vast Parisian loft. That was the concept behind the home located on the sixth floor of a building a stone’s throw from the Canal Saint-Martin. With its high ceilings, spacious rooms, original floors, and unusual attic space, this 1,076-square-foot apartment had enormous potential. The only downside when its second and current owner bought it was the lack of harmony and coherence in this partitioned space. “You can still see the differences on the floor between the different parquet floorings, the traces of the fireplaces, the terracotta floor tiles… It was important to the client to preserve these witnesses to the history of the space, but they also resulted in a very fragmented home,” Aliénor Louédin, founder of the Parisian architecture studio Inaugure, says.
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After the previous owner combined eight rooms that originally housed domestic workers, the apartment was centered around a large, open-plan living room of almost 650 square feet, two bedrooms, two sleeping nooks, a kitchen, and a bathroom. “The space had a certain unfinished quality,” Louédin says. “The kitchen was a jumble of different odds and ends and the layout of the apartment was awkward. Some rooms, like the bathroom, were too small. We reworked each space to create a coherent and customized floor plan and provide a uniform look to the loft.”
Louédin decided not to eliminate all traces of the previous layout and instead highlight some of the differences found on its floors. “Part of the charm of this apartment is to be able to imagine how people used to live here, under the rooftop.” Some of the terracotta floor tiles, however, were replaced by waxed concrete to achieve a visual coherence. Three main materials were used: light oak, waxed concrete, and zellige tiles. “We needed a common thread to unite the apartment’s different features. We worked to achieve a consistent design and repeated elements to create a unified look.” The architect’s use of repetition can be seen in element like the geometric strips used as handles on all the furniture, particularly in the kitchen.
Rounded shapes helped to create more fluid spaces, particularly in the bathroom, where a shower is now located where a fireplace once was. “Nothing is simply straight in this apartment as it was previously a bunch of smaller rooms,” explains Louédin. The architect’s use of curved lines appealed to the owner, who wanted an apartment that embraced softness and light to create a certain vacation atmosphere. “The apartment is flooded with sunlight, so we added Moroccan references with the zellige tiles and waxed concrete, banquettes under the windows, large cushions, and alcoves so that my client can sunbathe all day if he wants. As the owner works from home, he moves around during the course of the day, following the sun!”
The addition of zellige tiles further enhances the natural light in the Parisian loft by reflecting the sun’s rays in the kitchen and the shower. A custom unit with neon and mirror details was designed for the living room and it acts as a partition to make a true bedroom suite (with a bath and shower) while also providing a storage space and even a secret hiding place for the client’s cats, accessed via a low opening. There are also two mezzanine nooks fitted out as sleeping berths where you can gaze upwards at the sky through Velux windows—the new owner added three more to increase the amount of natural light. Finally, the choice of colors evokes Morocco, from sandy waxed concrete and brick-red zellige tiles to bright yellow accents, like the outlet covers used in the kitchen. The décor also incorporates some soft pastels, from the large Persian rug to the ceramic vases, while the succulents and the mandarin orange tree by the window are additional Mediterranean touches. “It’s a sunny, peaceful loft that invites you to relax,” Louédin says.
This apartment tour was originally published by AD France. It was translated by John Newton.
