I’m thinking that once the servant moves into her quarters, the doors will never all be closed at once again. Neat design, though!
Among the clever space-saving strategies: no capital letters.
How miserable.
(Been) Here 5 minutes, and I already feel sorry for myself.
-Halle Berry Swordfish
If you are going to do this kind of minimalist design, it should be very clean, white, pristine feeling. I felt like the concept was good but the execution was low-rent, too ornamental, shabby and miserable. The concept of the wall with various sliders was clever.
The real “trick” to making these maids’ rooms “livable” is the addition of a toilet and shower. They don’t normally have more than a sink (there’s a shared “turkish toilet” in the hallway). In that regard, this reno seems to have done a great job.
Once you carved out a space for the bathroom, however, I personally would prefer to have a single bed that was out in the open, to serve as a sofa, with drawers to store clothes underneath and shelves on the walls to store books and stuff. The table seems miserable, and certainly no better than a folding one that could hang on the wall when not in use…
The design is clever, but I can’t think it would be at all pleasant to live in.
I actually think they did a great job with it - the staircase is the most clever bit. I can see using a similar design for my kid’s room when he gets big enough for a loft bed. It would really allow for full use of a very small room to have all that built-in storage and a desk. The one thing that’s missing from the design is a nice lounge chair or nook - it would be nice to have someplace cozy to read a book or watch TV without having to lay down in the bed.
Anyway, for what it is, I think it’s pretty amazing. A real pied-a-terre that probably cost almost nothing to buy and renovate. And all that savings on a mortgage or rent can be spent on enjoying Paris.
It’s servant’s quarters. Literally.
Ah yes, I see now it’s intended for the “help” - still, I think it’s really nicely done and obviously it’s a perk for the au pair to live rent-free.*
*I’m sure someone will chastise me for calling it a perk when she’s probably working for peanuts and forced to live in a tiny apartment. But we’re talking Paris, not Hong Kong here, and this is far from the least pleasant live-in situation possible.
The staircase design wastes potential storage space as-is. It would be better if each step was a separate “drawer”. Pull the bottom drawer, and a stop on each would catch the next one up at the right place and pull it along so that you had a staircase when it was fully extended. Release the stops and each drawer could be pulled out fully to access the back compartments on the higher “steps”. Just my two cents.
Interesting idea! You wanna come design my son’s bedroom? 
How’s the window takeout?
Where do the arcade cabinets go?
What? What do you guys keep in your apartments?
The ability to completely isolate yourself from fresh air will come in handy.
In this living space it is incumbent upon the occupant to PUT THINGS AWAY.
I do not PUT THINGS AWAY.
leeloodallasmultipass
-cutest line in a movie, ever.
She knows it’s a Multipass!
They’ve achieved the dream of storing servants in a closet when they’re not in use.
All those moving parts? Mechanisms will inevitably wear out and/or break. I’ll give it five years.
Sometimes I can be a miserable old git.
All these one-off designs for livable apartments in very small spaces are lovely from a design perspective, but it would be nice if someone was actually making them available to more of the people who have to live in tiny apartments.
