00:02I wanted the apartment to feel colourful but natural at the same time.
00:08A lot of my decoration is illustration-based. It's got a lot of colour. I collect a lot of prints.
00:16We have touches of yellow that bring me joy in the winter months.
00:21The main motivation for the layout of the apartment was to have one large multifunctional space
00:26with smaller bedroom and bathroom areas.
00:31I wanted more space for clothes, household items, my sewing machine, these sort of things,
00:37but to be able to hide them away.
00:41I'm Caroline Duncan. I'm a French-American architect living in Paris.
00:45I've been living in this apartment for three years with my boyfriend Hector and my cat Simon.
00:50Just hanging out.
00:57This apartment is located in the Belleville area near the Jourdan metro station.
01:03This is in the 19th arrondissement.
01:06It feels like a village in the upper hills of Paris.
01:10This building itself is on the main rue de Belleville, which is a very busy and commercial street.
01:16But the nice thing about this building is that we're actually quite shielded from the traffic and the noise.
01:22This building was probably built in the early 1900s.
01:25It was probably a workers' housing unit.
01:29Historically, this apartment would have had a lot of partitions,
01:31and this main large space was divided into a bedroom and a living room.
01:35However, the previous owner had already removed this partition, making it into one very large space.
01:40When I visited the apartment for the first time, I was really mesmerized by the large open kitchen and living
01:46room
01:47and the natural light flooding in here from the south facing facade.
01:52When I bought the flat, the main thing that I wanted to do was really create a very separate bathroom
01:57connected to the WC accessible from the corridor rather than accessible from the bedroom.
02:01So we created a new partition between the bedroom and the bathroom.
02:05We also used the leftover space from the WC to add a washing machine, closet and a space for the
02:11litter box.
02:11Another thing that I wanted to do was add quite a lot of storage.
02:15There was only one storage unit in the existing apartment.
02:17So we created a combined unit combining kitchen items and clothes dressing units with a secret passage into the bedroom.
02:29The main entrance corridor is quite narrow.
02:33It's very dark, but you can see the natural light coming in from the living room.
02:40We have quite a few coats in the winter months, so we added some coat hooks on the back of
02:44the door.
02:46On the wall, we installed a hay wall shelf with bag hooks concealed underneath and some space to put in
02:53keys.
02:56We found a narrow profile shoe cabinet, which is really convenient for putting away all of our shoes in this
03:02narrow space.
03:07We used the space above the door to store spare toilet paper and cleaning products.
03:13In order to conceal the stuff from view, I sewed a small Norton curtain above the shelf.
03:22Within the entrance, we were able to use the leftover space from the old WC to install a small washer
03:27dryer space.
03:28It just, just fit into the very narrow cupboard.
03:32We lifted up the machines so that I could install the cat's litter box underneath, saving space again.
03:39I made a small notch into the cupboard door so that Simon, our cat, can access his litter box.
03:47Once you step through the corridor into the main living space, you're greeted by two large windows giving in a
03:52lot of natural light.
03:54We can still see the cornice moulding and traces of the previous partition dividing the space in the ceiling.
04:00I think it's nice to keep traces of the historical movements that this apartment has been through.
04:06The chimney conduits from the building jut out, which was the perfect space to install some custom shelves.
04:14And the vintage radio station and record player unit, which I brought back from when I lived in California.
04:20Inside I store the Wi-Fi box and my records.
04:26Because I can always use more shoe storage, I bought this vintage shoe cabinet online.
04:34I was really keen to create more seating space because I like to have people over and the couch was
04:39not enough.
04:40I custom built the bench around a Muji storage unit module, which were able to slide perfectly into the boxes.
04:49When it's nice out, I like to open the windows and sit on the bench and pretend like I have
04:53a balcony.
04:56For the sofa, I really wanted something that we could host our friends when they come and visit.
05:01I was looking for something light, something low, that would still allow visibility through to the windows as it sits
05:07in the middle of the space.
05:08The material is a green felt because felt is one of the materials that my cat does not scratch on.
05:16The first mattress goes down on the floor and it becomes a double person bed.
05:24Hector and I sometimes work from home, so we needed an office space within this large living room.
05:29We found this wall hung secretary unit from Montana Furniture based in Copenhagen.
05:35It acts as a decoration shelf, but also conceals the work desk.
05:43So the main kitchen portion is made from IKEA method boxes for which we custom made some fronts out of
05:51birch plywood.
05:54These porcelain handles came from my parents' kitchen.
05:58I had the countertop custom made from a white Phoenix laminate, which is convenient for cooking and doesn't show too
06:04many fingerprints.
06:06I love KitKat tiles for the sort of verticality that it brings.
06:10It makes the space feel a little bit larger.
06:14Where we were able to save money on the kitchen by using IKEA, we were able to splurge on a
06:20couple little gadgets.
06:22The faucet has a boiling water feature, which is really convenient for making tea and hot water bottles in the
06:28winter months.
06:30We built in a soap dispenser so that the worktop can stay clean.
06:37The cabinets above the range hood are the only closed cabinets.
06:41I wanted open shelving above the rest of the kitchen for decoration items and my coffee making collection.
06:46The shelves I made from the same wood from my previous apartment's bookshelf.
06:51And I rounded the corner to soften the edge.
06:56I purposefully left a space between the green part and the floating shelves so that I could install this sconce
07:02from Marseille-based artist Axel Che.
07:08The table is a mid-century Danish dining table, which we got second hand.
07:12It extends on both sides so that we can have either four people or six people over for dinner.
07:19The chairs are also second hand.
07:21I've reupholstered them in a dark blue velvet, another fabric which the cat does not damage.
07:27Over the dining table, I added this pendant, which I built from various electrical components and a lampshade that I
07:34found at a marketplace.
07:37The fireplace is original to the apartment, but does not work anymore.
07:41I use it as a space for decoration for my plants.
07:45It's quite traditional in Parisian apartments to have these marble shelves on top of the radiator.
07:50They help to diffuse heat, but also to conceal the top of the radiator, which is unsightly.
07:57On the back wall of the kitchen and living space is this large custom built storage unit, which combines kitchen
08:04features and living room storage features.
08:07We built this unit from a combination of IKEA method and IKEA packs dressing room units.
08:14We chose to custom make all of the fronts.
08:17The handles are from the kids wardrobe section at the hardware store.
08:22In order to finish all of the details, we had a professional woodworker come and create the alcove out of
08:28plywood.
08:29And we also had him finish the corner of the unit with these rounded shelves.
08:37In the wardrobe portion, we have a combination of hanging space and drawer space.
08:45The door to the bedroom is finished with a mirror, which helps us get dressed in the morning, but also
08:52creates a privacy zone between the bedroom and the living room.
08:56The bedroom is raised on the platform as the plumbing runs from the kitchen out into a corner of the
09:02bedroom.
09:03I wanted it to feel very calm and soft in here, a lot of whites and beige.
09:10The floor is a woven jute, which feels really nice and textured under your feet.
09:17Behind the bed, there is an existing fireplace conduit, which I couldn't remove.
09:22I chose to extend this conduit with a plasterboard projection to create a headboard for the bed.
09:29Within the niche, we added shelves.
09:32We also installed a power socket so that we could plug in our projector and project movies onto the opposite
09:39wall.
09:41On either side of the niche, I installed two vintage IKEA sconces, which pivot and give a really cool quality
09:48of light.
09:49The bed is a floored platform bed, which I've had for years and brought back with me from the States.
09:55I actually had to cut the boards down for this room so that it could circulate around the bed.
10:01With the leftover pieces of wood from cutting the bed, I made the three floating shelves on the right-hand
10:07side of the bed.
10:08We only have one nightstand, a floating module from Montana Furniture.
10:12In such a small space, it's nice to prioritize wall-mounted units, freeing up floor space, making it easier to
10:18clean.
10:20There were two small leftover nooks on either side of the bedroom.
10:24We maximized the use of them by adding shelves and hangers to store some extra clothes.
10:29We chose to sew two Norin curtains out of the same fabric from the entrance.
10:34It was quite complicated to create cupboard doors.
10:37Plus, we did not have the floor space for real swinging doors.
10:44The bathroom is just about two square meters.
10:47Often in Parisian apartments, the WC is in a separate room, but here I chose to combine it within the
10:52bathroom just to save space.
10:56Within the shower ceiling, I installed a small hook which allows us to hang our deployable Muji clothes hanger to
11:02dry our clothes.
11:05We built in shelves which we tiled for storing soaps and shampoos.
11:11The partition between the shower and the sink is purposefully not full height.
11:16It allows the perfect amount of protection from water, but creates a feeling that the space is bigger with access
11:22to the natural light.
11:24We have plenty of storage provided by the three-part mirrored cabinet above the sink.
11:29Below the sink, within the plasterboard built out, we have added a tile access hatch to store extra toilet paper
11:35reserves and cleaning supplies.
11:41When designing a small space, I think it's really important to understand one's habits and how you inhabit a small
11:47space.
11:48For me, my priorities for living in this flat was really maximizing the large living space in which I spend
11:53most of the time.
11:55Having a big bathroom and a big bedroom were not very important priorities for me as I do not spend
12:00a lot of time there.
12:02It's important in a city like Paris that has a shortage of housing to be able to breathe new life
12:07into these older apartments that are very small surfaces and often stay unbought or unused for many years.
12:15Renovating these small spaces and putting them up to date with the way that people live nowadays and how priorities
12:21have shifted makes them more accessible for future use.
12:33Renovating these small spaces and from the side of the building.
12:35Renovating these small spaces.
12:35Renovating these small spaces as well.
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