A warm punch of yellow on the stairs highlight its luscious curves and brings a vibrancy to the muted tones of the apartment. In addition, four of the six dining chairs were sourced from the Paris fleas to complement the existing ones.
All photos by:
It's spring and what better time than any to showcase the final product of our sojourns to Paris. From the beautiful curved stairs punched up with vibrant yellow paint from RAL colours, the bright white walls to showcase the client's diverse art collection and an eclectic mix of furnishings, our project really came together in just 3 visits and a ton of emails and calls.
The sculture/coffee table by Francois Portelette adds to the diverse artwork which includes sketches and paintings by the same artist and Georges Braque as well as photography by Michael Kenna and Denis Brihat. We love how the rich toffee colored sofa plays off the wine barrel and continues the warmth from the stairs.
View from the mezzanine.
The client's authentic indian chairs paired well with the mod swivel lounge chair and the vintage rugs. We added a cabinet to conceal the television and added the bookcases on the right for the massive collection of books.
This pied-à-terre is a lot more traditional in feel than typical for us, but then again we don't normally work in Paris, so a lot of firsts for us in general. We worked with most of the client's furnishings adding a few pieces from various Parisienne flea markets and a couple of boutique shops in Le Marais. Alas, the remaining owned pieces were sent off to storage.
Pair of Louis chairs in original fabric is a part of the client's family collection.
One of the client's inherited secretaires is featured on the mezzanine along with artwork byMichel Blanc-Garrin and John Stewart, vintage books, and a sculpture by Francois Portelette.
View from the office also located on the mezzanine.
Though not pictured, we successfully combined a tiny guest bathroom with a wash room to create a modern space with walk-in shower and a washer/dryer closet. Unfortunately the bathroom was not completed by the time we left Paris for the last time, hence no pics.
In addition, we created a lighting schematic for the space and changed out all the wall-to-wall carpets with hardwood and Amtico floors. Finally, despite our editing efforts, we had to provide additional storage with bookcases on two levels and a built-in media closet to house the tv on the ground floor.
In addition to the walls, we painted the office cabinets white in the mezzanine area to minimize their importance so we could dwell more on the artworks in the space.
All our projects give us an opportunity to grow and learn from the experience and I would say that this project had quite the lesson plan. Definitely our most challenging to date. The editing process was one of the harder aspects because of all the sentimental value attached to each item in the home by our wonderful client. In addition, communicating design plans and guidance in french was the other major hurdle, but it has led to good relationships with our overseas contractors.
There were many collections to edit for display including teapots and a vast stone collection originally housed in the curio in the living room. Given their size and beauty we chose to sprinkle a few of the stones throughout.
We look forward to sharing all our favourite experiences from our one year affair with Paris in our next post. In the meantime, we are happy with this project's outcome and so are the clients! Hope you appreciate it too. For all the images from this project, visit our online portfolio
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