Small Apartment Living: Coffee Coloured Interiors Transform a 538-Square-Foot home into an Indulgent Retreat
“We’ve created a sense of movement that didn’t exist originally. After all, the apartment is small, so this fluidity of circulation gives a feeling of volume, creating perspectives that didn’t exist before.” In the kitchen, which is deliberately open to meet the same objective, the glass roof contributes to this process of visual breathing between rooms by allowing light to filter through.
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A Coffee and Cream colour palette lends timeless contrast (and warmth)
Atelier Opale’s work contrasts with the historic lines of this 50m2 space: sober lines and dark colours, all on original parquet flooring that maintains the link with the past. The chocolate-coffee brown used in the reception rooms is the result of MDF panels varnished and then stained, a process increasingly used in renovations, particularly in small spaces, offering both material savings and an interesting raw look. “Even in the furniture, we kept to very warm tones, to contrast with this cream-coloured box,” adds Gérard. The kitchen features a coffee and cream checkerboard tiled splashback in the same spirit.
A cocoon-like sleeping area
In the bedroom and bathroom, as well as in the study created for the couple, Atelier Opale opted for the softest of tones, without contrasts like in the rest of the rooms. “What we also wanted to do in the bathroom is very soft. We didn’t want to add MDF because it’s a bit intense, a bit graphic. Just a little reminder in the headboard, which we also designed.” Indeed, the night space is like a cocoon, in gourmand tones of butter and cream, with a hint of cocoa. ” They were very happy for everything to be white because their dog is white,” says an amused Gérard. More audaciously, the bathroom is the most colourful of all the rooms, “because the customers still wanted colour, so we imagined a more fun place”. The result is an all-over of small tiles in bleached grey, brown and powder pink.
A small apartment designed for beauty and comfort
While the interior designers kept the furniture design minimalist, with its graphic, contemporary lines, they also imagined a somewhat playful decor, as evidenced by the stainless steel candlestick by Axel Chay for Monoprix and the vintage Tulipe chair. Above the sideboard in the living room, a Sarah Moon photograph belongs to the couple’s modest collection. “And then,” adds Gérard, “the light is incredible. We’re only on the second floor, but the light is so soft. That’s really the first word that comes to mind when you enter this apartment: softness. It envelops us.” @atelier.opale
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