A Creative Couple’s 484-Square-Foot Paris Loft Defines Utilitarian Minimalism

Tucked down a cobblestoned, tree-lined alley in the 11th arrondissement, just steps from the Place de la Nation, a Paris loft has been given a new life. The space, a former artist’s studio turned residence, opens directly onto the street and is crowned by a transom window that floods the interior with natural light.

Interior designer Caroline Pusset, who founded Studio Rœus with her sister, points to the soaring proportions as a starting point for the redesign. “The ceilings are more than 13 feet high, which immediately made us think of treating the apartment as a loft,” she says. “We added a mezzanine in the main room to house the bedroom.” Pusset owns the home with her partner, photographer Thomas Tissandier.

The high ceilings allowed the 484-square-foot apartment to be conceived as a single, cubic volume. Studio Rœus capitalized on the height by adding a staircase to a mezzanine bedroom and installing a desk below that doubles as an extra sleeping area. A vintage Kimba sofa by Michel Ducaroy, with its faded eggplant tones, adds a note of softness under the stainless-steel structure of the bedroom. The effect recalls designs by the French architect and designer Robert Mallet-Stevens. The stainless-steel coffee table is vintage and the pendant light is by Zangra.

The apartment is organized into a series of distinct volumes. At the front, a generous double-height space on the ground floor combines the entry, kitchen, and living area. Toward the rear, a split staircase divides the plan, with an office to one side and a bedroom above. They converted the basement into a large walk-in closet—at the back of which they added the bathroom—reducing the need for storage in the living spaces. Now, the space feels like a spa-inspired retreat. With the addition of the mezzanine and dressing room-bathroom in the basement, Studio Rœus’s interlocking cube design adds valuable room to the original 484-square-foot plan.

You enter the apartment through an open-plan kitchen, which has a loft-style feel, an effect created in part by the use of a floor-to-ceiling off-white paint. Elements like the kitchen island table and the custom storage units seamlessly blend into it. The kitchen is by IKEA with cabinet fronts by Cubro, walnut handles, and a custom stainless-steel worktop. Stainless steel was also used for a niche that houses small appliances. Around the raised island table are Pascal Mourgue’s Lune d’Argent bar stools.

Studio Rœus painted the walls and concrete floors an off-white shade typically used for garages. The palette provides a quiet backdrop for bolder elements that can shift and change over time. The kitchen island table and custom made storage units were painted in the same color, allowing them to blend seamlessly into the space. In keeping with the building’s more industrial history, stainless steel is used for the light switches, the kitchen worktop, a niche where appliances are stored, the radiators, and the exposed ventilation duct. Raw stainless steel was also used for the bedroom’s glass wall which was designed in the spirit of Mallet-Stevens and echoes the raw concrete structural elements which have been left exposed by the interior designer.

The high ceilings allow the 484-square-foot space to be viewed as a large cube and Studio Rœus took advantage of the height by creating a staircase leading to a mezzanine bedroom and installing a desk which doubles as an extra sleeping area just below it. A vintage Kimba sofa by Michel Ducaroy, with its faded eggplant tones, adds a note of softness under the stainless-steel structure of the bedroom. The effect recalls designs by the French architect and designer Robert Mallet-Stevens. The stainless-steel coffee table is vintage and the pendant light is by Zangra.

Studio Rœus introduced a number of wooden elements into the bedroom and dressing room. Okoumé wood covers the wall behind the headboard, giving it the feel of a ship’s cabin, while lighter oak is used in the bathroom, combined with travertine for the sink. “This accentuates its warm feel, especially when combined with marbled blue tiles that remind me of paper from Annonay [in France] with their highly pictorial pattern,” Pusset says. The cupboards and other storage spaces are custom designs while other pieces of furniture are vintage finds, such as the Kimba velvet sofa by Michel Ducaroy, whose slightly faded eggplant provides a warm and soft contrast to the stainless-steel coffee table opposite it. “Thomas, who lives and works here, needs a lot of space and, above all, for everything to be easily movable,” concludes Pusset. “The home can be turned into a photo studio and then easily back into a comfortable living space when a shoot is finished. It’s a space that’s easy to live and work in.”

The geometry of the windows in the façade, is echoed in the home’s staircase.

The whitewashed staircase leads to the mezzanine.

Studio Rœus introduced wood into the bedroom. Okoumé wood covers the wall behind the headboard, evoking a ship's cabin. Respiro wall lamp (DCW).

The niche in the okoumé headboard includes outlets and a reading light (Modelec).

The basement was dry and free of humidity, and the studio added large walk-in closets there, reducing the need to incorporate storage into the living spaces. A desk topped with a large mirror serves as an oversized dressing table, reminiscent of one that might be found in a photo studio. It can also be used as a second office space.

A bathroom is at the back of the basement. The basement has been transformed into a large spa-inspired relaxation area. It’s warm, comfortable, quiet, and feels removed from the world.

The lighter oak of the dressing room and bathroom is paired with travertine for the sink and large Les Bijoux de Rex porcelain stoneware tiles in Sodalite Blue: “These marbled blue tiles remind me of paper from Annonay [in France] with their highly pictorial pattern,” says Caroline Pusset of Studio Rœus.

Thomas Tissandier

This Paris loft was originally published in AD France.