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Looking for a new home for them and their baby, architects Ophélie and Edouard, found Crussol apartment; a 54sqm mid-century home in the center of Paris, surrounded by shops, restaurants and historic buildings. With Edoudard enjoying busy spaces with stories, and Ophélie's clean and simple styling, they blended their ideas together to design a home that feels like a tidy but busy workshop. Taking the formerly open floor plan and dividing it into zones by adding a small glass wall to the entrance and separating the main area into living and dining, and adding a closed off bedroom and bathroom. This also allowed the addition of a separate toilet, and a small nursery and mezzanine. Low furniture with built-in storage and creative additions like a mirrored bathtub help keep the home feeling open and light, and multifunctional furniture in the nursery leaves plenty of room to grow.

#smallapartment #architecture #interiordesign

Project Name: Crussol
Designer: https://www.spacefactory.fr/

Produced by New Mac Video Agency
Creator: Colin Chee
Director: Nam Tran
Cinematographer: Matthieu Torres
Producer: Lindsay Barnard
Editor: Jessica Ruasol
Music: Water Colours by We Dream of Eden
Transcript
00:05For this project, we were both the architects and the clients.
00:14The brief was simple.
00:18Find a place with a soil and make it an apartment.
00:26What we found was a studio from the mid-20th century.
00:35It has now been transformed into a family home.
00:39We live here with our baby daughter.
00:52The apartment is located in the center of Paris, in the 11th district, a neighborhood called Oberkampf.
01:03Oberkampf is a very lively area.
01:06It is also close to Le Marais, which is a popular historic area.
01:16Edouard loves busy places with a lot of objects and full of stories.
01:24Ophélie is more attracted to open plans and simple lines.
01:30That's how we came up with the concept L'atelier rangé-dérangé,
01:35which can be translated to a tidy and busy workshop.
01:43When we first found the apartment, there was a single half-length wall which divided the main space.
01:55The rest of the apartment was open with no other walls or rooms.
02:02We sectioned off the entrance, created a bedroom and bathroom area that can be closed off from the main space.
02:09Then, we added a toilet.
02:13We also added a mezzanine above the office space, which is now transformed into a nursery.
02:20Lastly, we removed one of the entrance doors and replaced it with a window and a wedding nook.
02:28As you enter the apartment, you are faced with a glass divider made using the same glass as the original
02:36windows of the workshop.
02:41There is a wall made of pine wood, which has hidden storage space.
02:47We added a small pine wood bench, which also doubles as storage for our shoes.
02:56The kitchen, the living and the dining areas are an open plan.
03:04Low furniture can make the space feel more generous.
03:08So, we designed a low storage unit that wraps around the wall within the living room.
03:15We also included a built-in planter and added some floating bookshelves.
03:25We designed a bench that wraps around the heater. It allows us to cover it and also create another area
03:33to sit and relax.
03:37We divided the living and the kitchen area using the sofa and custom-made bench seat.
03:49We designed an integrated kitchen.
03:51We chose a matte black finish so that we could feature the existing beautiful stone wall and contrast with the
04:00marble.
04:02The kitchen is equipped with a modern stainless steel oven and an induction cooktop.
04:11It has also a laundry and plenty of pantry space.
04:19We separated the bedroom with a recycled glass window.
04:25The sleeping area is very compact. There is a queen size bed, a closet and a small bench.
04:42The bed was custom-made so we could add storage and make use of the space under the bed.
04:51The bathroom is ensuite with a bedroom.
04:55It was important for us to have a full-size bath as we didn't want the apartment to lack the
05:02comforts of a bigger space.
05:07We installed a mirror into the side of the bathtub to reflect its surroundings and give the illusion that the
05:16space is bigger than it actually is.
05:23Finally, we installed floating wooden shelves to visually open up the space.
05:35The nursery was originally used as an office. We turned it into a nursery with the arrival of our daughter.
05:46There is a custom-made closet and a multifunctional furniture that integrates the cot, a changing table and an armchair.
05:56This piece can be transformed into a larger bed when our daughter is toddler age and into full-size bed
06:05when she reaches school age.
06:09The mezzanine area is currently used as storage but we plan to make it into a reading corner in the
06:17future.
06:19We replaced the original skylight with a much larger one to bring in as much light as possible.
06:30When it comes to designing a small space, it's not the square meters that matter, it's what we do with
06:38them.
06:41Paris is an expensive city and space has become a luxury.
06:47This is actually the way we advise our clients.
06:50This is better to have a smaller space well designed than a larger one but impractical.
07:09This is more expensive than a small space.
07:10What are you doing?
07:11This house is better to have a small space.
07:11You can't do it.
07:15The main map.
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