Renovation of an apartment like it was a house

Hidden house within an apartment

The project is intended for a family of four with two young children. The goal is to create a collective space while respecting each individual's privacy and intimacy. Since this ground-floor apartment opens onto a garden, it was possible to create a "house effect".

The house effect is to give the impression of a single-story family house on a garden. It also makes one forget the common areas of the building and the condominium once the front door is crossed.

Completely redesign the apartment layout:

• create a triple exposure for the living room
• construct a 5th room
• take advantage of the south-facing exposure of certain rooms
• rethink the entrance so that it serves multiple functions

The owners want a warm, complete, and polished atmosphere with a clean decoration, containing all necessary storage for the whole family.

Optimize the space

We worked on several layout proposals to enhance the space. The chosen solution creates a triple exposure in the living room and subtly defines the boundary between the interior and exterior.

A large entrance

The apartment entrance was carefully designed. Large in size, it distributes the different bedrooms while inviting one to the living room. It is enhanced with a custom storage cupboard.

Creating a large entrance follows the codes of a house, as such spaces are often reduced or removed in apartments to maximize space efficiency. We enhanced this entrance with its floor tiles to make it a centerpiece.

The bedrooms

The children's bedroom faces south, making it a pleasant room where the children willingly spend time enjoying the natural light.

Each bedroom has a pattern and color. The rest of the decoration is particularly minimal. These rooms indeed accommodate more toys than decorative elements.

Office and service room

The office is separated from the living area by a glass partition: while giving character, it allows the person working to be apart without being isolated.

Service rooms, now rarer in small apartments, contribute to the owners' comfort by lightening the load on living spaces. Here we find a self-contained laundry room, which fully contributes to the house effect of the interior design.

Decoration from floor to ceiling

The decoration relies first on colors and wood to highlight the materials.

The choice of floor tiles, typical of house entrances, distances itself from often uniform apartment entrances. The Green Smoke hue of the custom furniture dresses the room. The angled perspective highlights the painting "Twilight in the Forest" by Julie Lansom (Willo Grove).

A living room with touches of color

The living room, oriented towards the exterior, benefits from some color touches. This includes the baseboard which is thus highlighted. The continuity between the office and the living room, emphasized by the glass partition, is reinforced by variations in different shades of the same color (Card Room Green).

The centerpiece items in the living room are two leather armchairs from The Socialite Family, a HK Living sofa, a MAG coffee table from Conran Shop (David Schofield). The lamp comes from Valérie Objects. The dining table, surrounded by a mix of chairs including ones from HAY, is extendable to accommodate the entire family.

A glass partition for the office

A glass partition for the office was sourced on Selency. It is wooden, glazed, and repainted for the project. The lighting comes from Bordeaux craftsmanship (Laura Cambon). The TV is integrated into the furniture to blend as much as possible into the room.

A high kitchen

The kitchen was designed to give it height while emphasizing its openness to the exterior. The ceiling is thus raised thanks to tiling from the countertop to the ceiling, composed of vertical and irregular rectangular tiles. The windows are highlighted by the absence of upper cabinets. A central island with three seats allows not only hosting but also provides storage.