November 21st, 2009
I Heart… Elodie’s Paris Apartment
When fairy tales meet interior design, magic happens. Welcome to the wonderfully quaint, dreamy and girlie apartment of Elodie, a Parisian interior architect/designer whose lovely little apartment is the epitome of space small living: it’s only 280 square feet! As a small space fanatic, I was immediately drawn in to see just how she would optimize her space to get the most out of it. And optimize she did! Every nook and cranny is decked out with both aesthetically pleasing, and practical elements that make her space all her own. Her apartment is so wonderfully quaint and dreamy that I’m ready to move in yesterday!
My inner pack rat squealed with delight seeing her trinkets displayed in full view. While the minimalists amongst us may call her space “cluttered”, I beg to differ. Yes, there’s a lot of stuff. But it’s not just stuff for stuff’s sake. I think that makes all the difference in a space. If the items you’re displaying have a special meaning to you, and you take the time to carefully and artfully display them, they won’t look like you’re too bothered to clean out and de-clutter.
How so? Love. Not to go all afternoon special on you all, but I truly believe that’s such a key element to designing a space. If you don’t truly love every single item you put in your space – be it furniture, art work, trinkets, whatever have you – it will feel disorderly. Perhaps not in the strickest of senses, but messy in the vein of things not melding and creating a cohesive whole.
What I love so much about this space is that it’s not afraid to take risks and go big. Elodie takes all of the things she holds dear to her heart and puts them out there, center stage, in her home. Everything has a place, and it’s neatly organized and displayed. It’s not thrown together haphazardly. There’s order and structure, and that’s what keeps this space from feeling like a circus.
Take the above bookcase, for example. I’m sure most would advise against opening shelving in a small space and suggest that all of these books and items be hidden from view. But I say, why hide objects of beauty? She’s carefully arranged each item so perfectly that it would be such a shame to lose them behind closed doors. It adds so much of her personality to the space.
A lot of more modern approaches to design are about creating these sleek and stream lined spaces. Perfect, geometric spaces void of any hint at human interaction. Maybe it comes down to personal preference, but I like a space that comes to life, a sense of vivaciousness and the comfort of being surrounded by the things that you love.
And for me, this space encompasses everything that’s right in design. It’s small, it’s sweet, it’s vibrant, it’s original and it doesn’t take itself too seriously. After all, we only have one life to live. Why not surround ourselves in the things that bring us joy.
(Images via Apartment Therapy)
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The flamingo wallpaper is one of my favourite things ever! I want it in my place, pronto! :P
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