Family apartment renovation: 71 m2 revamped in Paris - Côté Maison
When renovating your apartment, don't be afraid to mix styles! In this Parisian apartment, an architect offers us a mix of flashy colors, decorative and functional storage for a vitaminized makeover.
When they visit this Parisian apartment, Aurélie, doctor, and Olivier, screenwriter for TV, are seduced by the volumes, the height under the ceiling and the openings on the street side and on the courtyard side even if everything must be reviewed. They call on the architect Julie Alazard and decide, with her, to work on the circulation in the apartment as a priority (which must be fluid), to eliminate the corridors and to design a room, unique but vast, for the two boys. , Caesar and Robinson. Other choices, when four people live in 71 m2, must be made. 
If the surface of the living room is preserved, the long, functional and semi-open kitchen is installed between the entrance and the living-dining room. To save space, the chimney flues are removed, and the space is optimized thanks to the wooden fittings designed by Julie Alazard. The architect also takes advantage of the 3.50 meter high ceilings. Thus, in the boys' room, the "sleep" space is designed on the mezzanine in order to maintain a beautiful play area. In the parents' bedroom, the bed slides under a platform. In the entrance, a cube accommodates the toilets, and an office area, which is accessed by a ladder, is placed on it.
To reinforce the impression of space, the walls are painted white, while the joinery is colored: those of the kitchen in "Down Pipe" gray (Farrow & Ball), and those of the screen, in the bedroom of the boys, in "Canton" blue (Little Greene). Rethinking this space was a challenge for this young architect who favored space-saving solutions, while remaining within a limited budget thanks to accessible materials, but with the most beautiful effect.
In the living room, the ceiling height of 3.50 meters and the double windows without curtains bring a beautiful light to the room. The floor was covered with a waxed concrete coating. If the walls have been painted white, it is to better accommodate the colorful furniture and works of art. The chimney flue was used as a support pillar for the library, made of simple planks of raw wood.
3 questions to the architect of this family apartment
What have you transformed in this apartment?
Julie Alazard: I reviewed the distribution, which I wanted without a corridor to give the impression of a free space. The entrance has become a semi-open kitchen, and the bathroom, originally in the entrance, has been placed near the parents' bedroom. The light has been highlighted by windows with a sleek design and by ignoring curtains.
Was the idea of made-to-measure fittings in joinery immediately accepted by your customers?
Julie Alazard: Since the owners wanted plenty of original storage, they gave me carte blanche. I was able to design a claustra, a platform, cupboards fitted out as a dressing room, niches in the steps of the stairs, a desk and very decorative OSB facades.
The budget (80,000 euros) had to be kept. How did you proceed?
Julie Alazard: I was faithful to my craftsmen, Marius Aurenti for the floors and the carpenter Z & M. With the latter, we grouped the purchases of materials. And then, I did the sales: I received discounts for certain materials, the faucets (Leroy Merlin), the kitchen sink and the bathroom furniture, unearthed at the business corner at ikea.
Julie Alazard, 13 rue de Paradis, 75010 Paris. Such. 0613239275. Juliealazard.com.
Companies that participated in the project: Z & M (carpentry), 78530 Buc. Such. 0610961146. Marius Aurenti (polished concrete), Mariusaurenti.com.
