50 square meters of interior and 120 square meters of terrace. You have read well, this small apartment It is decidedly atypical. Ideal, after all, for a client in southern France, where people live outside most of the time. He bought the property, located in the heart of the Parisian neighborhood of Neuilly-Sur-Seine, very chic, with the idea of rediscovering the heat of its southern native. The first challenge for Alice Lacherez, the interior designer in charge of renewal, was to design a warm interior with Mediterranean accents, but with subtlety: «We are in Neuilly, so we had to be consistent with the local environment,» he explains. «We have introduced some southern codes, but preserving the style of the building of the seventies.» The second challenge was to integrate the elements of the old 100 square meters of the owner in a space reduced by half, but that continued to have two bedrooms. The challenge of distribution and optimization was, therefore, the project compass.
«All requests have been fulfilled,» says Alice Lacherez. To achieve this, the plant plane was checked to create a diaphanous room with integrated kitchen. «It was difficult for my client to be in a small versatile room after living in 100 square meters, so the challenge was to get a 'wow' kitchen, sculptural. Since we were going to see it, it was worth playing the game and getting the most out of it.» So HE He chose to work in wood, to match the furniture that the owner had brought. The wood quickly became the main theme of the project, with wood in all rooms, starting with the entrance, framed by an oak arch. «The idea was to create a sense of unity between the spaces, to prevent them from seeming too different,» explains Alice Lacherez.
Back to the kitchen. Conceived to fulfill all its functions and keep enough space to move around the room, combine noble materials with economic solutions. Alternate low solid oak furniture with woven wooden mesh panels in the upper part, which gives space a «Japanese air». In this sense, the enamel has been left without painting in favor of a raw finish, which reminds the walnut, especially fashionable. The countertop is finished in Carrara marble «to evoke vacation houses, particularly the Italian countertops.» It is a timeless and noble touch that joins all wood. Several species dialogue in furniture and decoration, even in bamboo appliques, another wink to the Mediterranean.
The hall that leads to the night area has also been covered with wood to create a link between the two main spaces. «We try to maximize the vision and perspective angles,» explains Alice Lacherez, who added a color note to create a visual attraction in this same corridor, avoiding a «frozen» effect. A similar approach was adopted in the main bedroom, where the furniture was designed to give dynamism to this elongated room: staggered shelves, sometimes open niches, sometimes closed, a versatile head with functional storage. On the wall, an intense, Mediterranean olive green but above all timeless according to the interior designer, mixes with the «quite distinctive» decorative pieces of the owner, such as the Noguchi poster and the wall lamp Nemo from Le Corbusier. The desk and dressing room, on the other hand, echoes the codes used in the kitchen.
The bathroom solves the double need for shower and bathtub with a Wet room that creates a true aquatic space separate from the sink area. The glass wall lets the natural light pass, which brings clarity to both the room and the next one and creates an interesting visual depth. The palette is pink, a color that the owner likes. «It forms a soft set with the waxed concrete floor. Bright tiles contrast with matte marble.» The cabinets are hidden behind the mirror, which gives the room a minimalist air. «The integrated and smooth side expands the space and reflects the light,» explains Alice Lacherez. The same materials are used in the bathroom, also for the sake of coherence.
Finally, the second bedroom of this (not so) small space incorporates a large headboard, run along the wall to create a visual continuity and provide a new storage space, also in the study, in the specially carved niches and in the dressing room, which replaces an unused service door. In the end, this multiplicity of storage spaces does not seem at all to subtract value from the design of the small apartmentwhich is still clean and warm. «We have managed to create really pleasant spaces,» concludes Alice Lachererez. A challenge over.