apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Smallest, coolest...this place is amazing. Fantastic design, no wasted space anywhere, yet the living room area looks relatively open and spacious.

The dog does look great in the apartment, but I can't even imagine how much work it takes to keep the black hair cleaned up.

I don't know if I could do it (I need private space), but this is one of the best small apartments I have seen. I hate white, but it seems to do OK in this setting.

A few years back, I was offered a job in Paris (which fell through) and the apartments they were showing me were 10 sq meters. I guess this is kind of normal there?

I start to get comfy around 650 sq ft or so...

They must have a summer home, I don't believe anybody could live like that year round. How would you entertain?

the ingenuity of people never cease to amaze me!

Well, I doubt everyone feels the need to entertain - we have people over for dinner occasionally but that just involves a table and chairs - LOL.

I do find this unbelievable - I feel sorry for the children since they barely have anywhere to play and weather is not always willing for them to be outside. In the US, the children would be taken.

I was in the Marais last week. I'd happily live in a tiny place there even with 3 other people.

Living in a super small space seems fun until kids get involved. Then I feel like it might be kind of cruel to them?

Incroyable!

431 square feet is roughly a space 21'x21'. I find it difficult to believe that a family of four plus Labrador are living in a space that small, no matter how well engineered it is. The children's "room" has no exterior windows while the dining table only has three chairs for a family of four. This is their city apartment and they actually live elsewhere.

It's tiny but amazing! I would be happy to live there (but without kids)...

Families of four can and do live full time in apartments this size in big cities. I just moved out of an apartment building where all the apartments were around 400-450 square feet. There was one family of four with two young kids (maybe 4 and 6 years old) living in a single bedroom apartment. I always wondered how they set it up to work for them.

please, saying this is cruel for children is ludicrous. children can adapt to living in small spaces as well as adults, plus its paris- there is so much for them to do there. they are in school for most of the day anyways and the marais has the great big place des vosges! i would have given up growing up in big houses in the suburbs for living there any day! great apartment!

Agreed. Saying this is cruel to the children is just down right wrong. In a space this small, uhmm guess what the kids get to actually see and interact with their parents, how unhealthy! Give me a break. And as for the dining table only having 3 chairs...its not really that hard to imagine. Feed the kids, the the adults sit and eat, while the kids play an arm length away.

I personally thing this apartment is great. Space is used wonderfully, and I easily imagine living in it full time with a family.

The US-dwellers' lack of awareness is mind blowing. Child cruelty, or they must have a summer house because people can't live like this? Wow. In Europe we lived in a studio apartment until my baby sister was two, and then in a one-bedroom well into secondary school. There was no choice, it never occurred to us that it would be cruel, and believe me none of these places were as well-planned an luxurious as this. And we still had it much better than many third worlds families of 12. Perspective, people.

The idea that everyone in the family needs their own personal room seem to be a very American one. I think it's great that a family of four has found a way to inhabit such a compact space and make it work for them. I shared a small room with my siblings growing up and I would hardly call it cruel.

To all the commenters who doubt this is their main home, just for the record:

When I was a kid, my parents, by brother and I lived in a 40 sq. meters apartment in Eastern Europe. That was typical; that was a common size of an apartment for a family of four. One can say that people had to do without a lot of basic necessities living in the Communist bloc, and while this is certainly true, and while I remember wishing for Levi's jeans and good sneakers when I was little, we were all perfectly happy with our apartment. Now, looking back at it, I'm really starting to appreciate the ingenuity my parents put into making the apartment not only livable, but also lovely.

And we weren't even in Paris, and the outside wasn't nearly as nice.

Oh, and my parents "entertained", too - sometimes having a dozen people over for dinner. They just folded up their bed and unfolded a large table in the middle of the "living room".

I think I'm almost offended by the comments saying that this is cruel for children. A 40-sw-mt apartment is perfectly fine - it's the love and care and ingenuity you put into making the place work that really matters.

I agree that the comments about being cruel to children are offensive. It's very US-centric of us to fetishize space and waste. It's that kind of thinking that have gotten us into this mess of an environment in the first place.

I think this space is clever, efficient, warm, beautiful and full of love. Kudos!

saying this space would be cruel to children is insulting. Give your head a shake.
I'm not crazy about the aesthetics of this place but I love all the hidden storage.

I grew up in Eastern Europe too, four people in 42 square meters. I played in the living room (and sometimes in the bathroom) and we were all very happy together.
Children are smaller people and really like smaller spaces. Like under the table or something:)
The small space taught me to be naturally tidy.
Looking back, I cannot imagine how we fit in the apt (on today\s standards) but it was great back then.

Oh, and my parents entertained too.
We had an expanding couch, a folding table and a folding bed in the kitchen.

The tiled floors really keep this space warm even with all of the stark white. At least for me.

For several years growing up my family lived in a house that was less than 1000sf. There were 7 of us total (my parents, 4 siblings and myself) along with a dog and a cat. Oregon has been known to have some pretty rainy days so we often were forced to play indoors. Some of my best memories were in that house.

It's amazing! Would I love to implement a lot of those ideas in my (much larger) space!

wow, that is an amazing place. it is woonderful to see how they managed to keep a light-filled and stylish look.

cruelty to children has nothing at all to do with whether or not they have a lot of space. "in the US the children would be taken"?? really, that is cruelty to children.

One thing commenters haven't (yet) mentioned is that Paris is *extremely* expensive. I live in the next-most-expensive French city for real estate, which is Nice and surroundings. I have several friends with families of 4 who live in 50 to 60sq.m apartments (about 500-600 sq.ft) and who were overjoyed to be able to afford them. I myself am extremely lucky to have a 45sq.m (450sq.ft) apartment all to myself (got it for 115K, usually they start at 160K), when this size is considered good for couples or families of three. It's considered a luxury to be able to purchase anything 75sq.m (750 sq.ft) or more; they start at about 500-600K.

It's so odd when single family members back in the US complain about not having enough room in their 1,000 sq.ft places... I never know what to say. 450 sq.ft feels huge to me. With 4 people it would be cramped, but definitely doable if I were as creative as this man!

to continue the "cruel" conversation:
I have seen so many small American families (2 kids tops)
rolling around in huge, sterile, boring homes.
now that's cruel.

I do not think it's cruel, it is SO great to have such a home. When I was growing up my family of 5 had an apartment of 32 sq. meters, I did not think it was small (well, I am not from US). When my kid was growing up we lived in family gradstudent apartments. Tiny-tiny-tiny. 3 of us, possibly 25 sq. meters, never measured. Out apartment was full of neighbors' kids whenever we we home, playing, drawing, whatever. My daughter says that she had the best childhood of all the kids out of her private school 30 kids class. Kids do not need a lot of space to feel happy. and this seems to be a very happy home. Lots of books is a very sure sign.

A lot was said, but I will add to it. I am also from Eastern Europe, where basically all apartments were small. We were really lucky - we had the biggest apartment that we could possible had in the so called "modern buildings" - 72m2. That is with 3bedrooms.... You can imagine how small the bedrooms were. I was lucky that I had my own room (since my brother went to school and it was decided he needed his own room). it was tiny - a queen bed would not fit, only narrow twin, some closets and desk. that's it...

And anyway - were weren't even spending that much time inside. Everyday after school we were out for a few hours running around the neighborhood, running bikes, playing ball... then coming back to do homework and so on.

My neighbors were family of four. they lived in 1 bedroom apt, about 45m2. They lived there happily for almost 30 years... at one moment one of the daughters had a baby, so they lived in living room bedroom, 4 adults baby.... And I think these were the most wonderful people, very good, decent and loving. They entertained, having often family over for home-cooked goodies. The home was very well organized, always perfectly clean. The family each day had to clean the beds (put away all bedding) as they had sofa-beds. It's doable... And I am not even talking about families who live for very long time in one room, sometimes dozen of people. It's not cruelty. It's life.

I used to live in Paris. Kids there do not tend to play inside. There are far too many amazing things to do elsewhere!

Hmmm.... but maybe it IS cruel for the dog....

I think the biggest thing with children is in some states, if a room does not have a window, it is not a bedroom. So a lot of these folks who cram their children in would definitely get into some huge trouble. I know in Indiana there has to be so many square feet per person.

I just realized it's in Paris - but surely there is better solutions then this. I really doubt this is all they can afford - and if it is, they need to find another city to live.

Not a choice I'd necessarily make, but certainly not cruel, how ludicrous.

And "in the US the children would be taken" - what a crock. For a spotless home with non-abusive parenting? Yeah right.

ChrisGal, you very clearly have no clue about the prices in Paris, have you? and "they need to find another city to live in"? don't you think that is a bit high-handed, coming from somebody who doesn't know the first thing about France as it seems?

I may not know a ton about France - mostly since it's a place I have never been and am not sure I want to go if they toss money this easily. But yes, if I had two children, no matter where I lived, I would find somewhere suitable to fit everyone. At the very least somewhere I could afford two bedrooms. It's common sense - children do have to play indoors at least a third of the time and like this they have no where to. Plus they don't even have a dining table to fit all four people in the family. I thought the point of a dining table was so the family could SIT DOWN TOGETHER and eat.

JosieDaisy - the usual requirement per person in the US is 150 sq feet apiece, which is law. So unless they could pull another 170 sq feet out of their butt, the children would either be removed or they would be forced to move.

The apartment is beautiful and a wonderful use of space. And in the Marais - what an amazing location! I think it would be my first choice in Paris.

There are no national US laws pertaining to "Sq feet apiece". There are certainly no roving bands of abductors pulling children from small homes. If that were the case, most of the large families in New York and Boston would have been broken up years ago.

I don't know if I should encourage ChrisGal to get out of Indiana for her own education, or to remain forever in Indiana, in order to prevent the perpetuation of the "Ugly American Tourist" stereotype.

That is an amazing apartment! I personally like a little colour but regardless it's genius! I do agree that it seems to be an American mindset about having a huge house in order to have children! I get looks from ppl when we respond that no we r not moving into a bigger apartment just because we will have 3 kids.
I think it's cruel that people wait half their lives to settle and buy that huge house and then have kids. Kids do not require huge spaces they only require love and attention. Plus living in a smaller space allows families to be outdoors more. Hence, avoiding the obesity issue!
Maybe the children from large houses with a million video games should be taken!

This is an awesome space, brilliantly conceived and executed. The only cruelty being perpetrated is by ChrisGal and her amazingly small and mean spirited mind. It would seem much more appropriate to have children removed because of living with this influence than for the square footage of their home. I would have loved to have grown up in that house and/or raised my children there. Oh ya, for those who are so worried by the absence of the 4th chair it is shown in another part of the flat.

Beautiful, functional, amazingly clever use of space. This is an incredible apartment.

For those wondering if this is their full time residence, based on the info in the original article it is. The father is an urban planner, and this apartment is a case study of how 4 people can live together in 40sq meters. It seems like a successful experiment.

Also, the article mentions that the children's room has a sliding partition, in case they need some privacy from each other. I don't know if that makes up for living in a smart apartment in a great city, with interesting and creative parents, but it's some compensation perhaps. ; )

When I was a child I lived with my parents in a two bedroom apartment and it was just perfect. I had my own space for all my toys and crafts and I could decorate how I liked. I don’t think these kids can say the same thing. That may not be cruel but having your own space where you can make some of the decorating decisions is important for kids. I want to know was money a factor in staying in this apartment.

It's gorgeous, it's in the Marais, and best of all it is an HOME. There are many larger spaces with fewer children that might not be considered that.

I love this. Growing up, my family had an 800 sg ft house with 3 bedrooms - 2 girls in one, 2 boys in the other, and my parents in the third, plus 2 dogs, 2 cats, 5 gerbils, a bird, and whatever friends wandered in at any point of the day - I never felt that the space was too small, and really, I feel like a smaller space would never have been an issue. I would have loved growing up here, with all of paris right outside my door.

I think this is a fascinating discussion: what amount of square footage per person is considered "normal" or "legal" in the U.S. My father grew up in the U.S. In New York City. He and his brother and sister lived in a 1 bedroom apartment that was roughly 500 square feet. Everyone had enough to eat, was loved, played a LOT (indoors and out) no one was mentally maimed by this situation and each child lived there until he or she got married or moved out. I would caution people not to be classist. "normal" or "correct" should not be associated with what you have, it should correlate to how you treat other people.

This space is brilliant and I would say the size really contributes to their familial closeness and interaction. This is a much healthier way to live than in a massive McMansion.

I currently live in a one bedroom apartment with my husband and our two children (2 and half years and 9 months). We moved into this 300 sq ft space two months ago from a sprawling 3 bedroom apartment and I have found the shift to be radically life altering in the best of ways. I will never live in a big space again and when I come to build my own home I will do it with tiny in mind. It's the key to family cohesion and intimacy.

I love to cook and spend alot of time in the kitchen, my husband is a DJ and spends a lot of time on the computer and with his gear. We continue to pursue our interests invidually but now we do it in the same space (kitchen, living, dining and office is militarily arranged in the one room while we have a queen bed, a small child's bed and a cot in the bedroom). There is much more togetherness living like this and that is priceless for any family in any environment!

We live in 5 minutes walk from the beach in the Caribbean. My point being that for us, like the family in Paris, life is as much about accessing your environment and community as it is about spending time indoors. Living tiny makes for a much more balanced lifestyle, it leaves a much smaller footprint both in terms of energy use and consumption (eg no space for storing heaps of junk therefore stop buying it) AND it only takes 10 minutes for two people to do a cleanup (1 hour for a deep clean including mopping and the bathroom!!)

I recommend it to anyone and everyone - particularly those people who think that this is cruel to children and pets.

As to the dining chairs-could they not just pull one of the desk chairs from thr kids area? The table certainly looks big enough for all to eat at.
To me, the kid's sleeping area actually looks pretty seperated from the rest of the apartment, at least according to the floor plan.
I love the storage in the stairs, I think that is really creative.

Chrisgal has OBVIOUSLY never been to France.

oh the american obsession with private space. . .

The Europeans (and NYC'ers) truly understand that the city is an extension of the home. The neighborhood, (a true neighborhood, not a bland american suburb), is a wonderful place to grow up.
it's a totally different mindset that someone from Indiana is not likely to grasp anytime soon.

Children love intimate little spaces -- a window seat, a fort inside a closet or under the stairs, hiding under a table when grown-ups are dining

It's the parents that need space from the kids.

Don't try to blame them for your consumptive nature and inability to find peace of mind.

video - you are saying your father, laws change every single year

Eh, with most of this post, every single person could find out what laws are here if they spent more than five minutes off this site.

I love the space and I think it's wonderful in every way. Kudos on thinking outside the box! My favorite is the futuristic looking wall system and also the bunk beds.

And now I stand on my soapbox:

I was waiting for some ill-informed soul to say something silly about child cruelty. What is this supposed law about 150 sq. ft per person? What code book is that from? Different municipalities do govern space requirements differently, depending on the type of building- institutional, commercial, multi-story residential, etc. However, to my knowledge, there is no national code, or even state code, that governs how small one's house can be in terms of square feet.
I actually think they should limit how large a house can be built. What a waste of resources and land. Does any single family (unless it’s a family of like 15 or something) really need 3,000 sq. ft? I love the idea of small living. I live in a 400 sq ft place and my friends who grew up in the 'burbs, have no idea how I can "make it" in such a small space. We Americans have an obsession with space. I think it's mostly due to history and geography, but that's another story for another day. Is it just a coincidence that since WWII ended, our family sizes have grown smaller and our house sizes have grown larger? From my experiences and observations, American houses have become shrines to our stuff. We live in 20% of our houses and just look at the other 80%. It's refreshing to see tours on AT, where people use every possible inch of their space for something useful.

FYI

This is the New York City statute pertaining to minimum floor area per person in an apartment:

Sec. [D26-33.03] 27-2075 Maximum permitted occupancy
a. No dwelling unit shall be occupied by a greater number of persons than is permitted by this section.

(1) Every person occupying an apartment in a Class A or Class B multiple dwelling or in a tenant-occupied apartment in a one- or two-family dwelling shall have a liveable area of not less than 80 square feet. The maximum number of persons who may occupy any such apartment shall be determined by dividing the total liveable floor area of the apartment by 80 square feet. For every two persons who may lawfully occupy an apartment, one child under four may also reside therein, except that a child under four is permitted in an apartment lawfully occupied by one person. No residual floor area of less than 80 square feet shall be counted in determining the maximum permitted occupancy for such apartment. The floor area of a kitchen or kitchenette shall be included in measuring the total liveable floor area of an apartment but the floor area for private halls foyers, bathrooms or water closets shall be excluded.

There are addition NYC statutes defining minimum ceiling heights (8') and floor area (80 sq ft), windows, window locations, and window sizes.

It is notable that the Paris apartment would not comply with NYC statutes due to the children's bedroom lacking an exterior window, and may not comply with the minimum square footage per person ratio depending on the size of the bathroom, kitchen, and connecting hallway.

I do believe that people in other countries go out more to parks and exercise or just walk. So maybe they don't need a lot of indoor space? I only wish I could live that way and be neat.. Maj

Another point: Young kids have no perspective... they accept the status quo when they're young. Don't forget that many of their school chums will live exactly the same way, if they're lucky!

Well-designed apartment!
Very stimulating thread.

what a cute place!
the cruelty-to-children suggestion is absurd.

chrisgal, do you have a link to that law about 150 square feet? i can't find it, and would love to see your source.

John H -

Ever wonder why these marvels of design appear in Europe and not the US? Because our building codes are also ameri-centric.

This is a beautiful apartment that makes great use of available space and light but the debate that it has sparked is almost as fascinating!

As a place to live, it exemplifies the point made elsewhere about the European lifestyle where the city itself is the extension of the home. Marais is only a few minutes walk to the Louvre, the Tuilleries Gardens, the Pompidou Centre - why have and pay for a 200sqft yard, overlooked and overshadowed, as it inevitably would be in a city, when you have those options on your doorstep? It's only a generation or two since whole families living in one or two rooms was commonplace, particularly in urban environments, so its interesting to see how our expectations of a home have changed in that time - what we now consider to be normal.

For example, the issue of raising children in a small home. By choosing to live in the city, these parents are probably within an easy commute to work, possibly even walking distance. Perhaps they are able to walk their kids to school, come home to make them lunch and dinner. They'll certainly have more time available for their children and for themselves in the evenings. On the weekends, they are within walking distance of any number of interesting places to take their children, in order that they might understand where they live, it's history and their own.

At a time, when suburban living has become the norm, where these suburbs are located in places only accessible by car, where we drop our children in daycare at 7.30am and don't see them again until bedtime, in order to commute for several hours at a time from our shiny, spacious, empty homes, what does it say about our expectations if we then regard the Marais option as unnatural and cruel?

And what about privacy? Well, privacy is easy to find if you can step outside your door and go sit for an hour in a cafe, or take a walk in the park or by the river or visit a museum or... The reason we've had to build it into our homes is because they are increasingly being built in places where there's nothing to do and nowhere to go.

This debate really strikes at the heart of the problems that we face at the moment about how and where we choose to live. As the question of how we heat and light those large suburban homes and how we fuel the multiple cars required to take us to and fro, becomes more pressing, I think that the options and limitations explored in this family home will become easier to understand.

This is a beautiful home! All space and materials should be used so well... and all environments should provide the opportunities outside the home apparently available in the Marais area of Paris.

As for the comments regarding building codes, zoning issues and local or state statutes requiring a certain amount of space per person in a dwelling unit, I don't believe there is a building code issue in any of the national model codes nor in any state building codes still in use. Any locality or state may have an ordinance or statute dealing with whatever is a perceived issue of too many occupants for too small of a dwelling unit, but that doesn't make it right. More effort should be exercised in changing laws that lead to consumption of more resources.

Taking a good look at the photos and axonometric drawing one can see there are two tables with chairs (in the kitchen and the living/dining/master bedroom area) and there is shared daylighting (if not a window) for the children's bedroom above the clever storage wall with built-in seating and pull-out bed. In most urban lofts in the US this daylighting solution is allowed for a sleeping area in lieu of a window and ventilation, and the normal egress window requirement is excepted for smaller spaces.

We do need to learn that less is more so we can be freer of the impositions of indebtedness. Please see/read: http://www.littlehouseonasmallplanet.com/ to get a new perspective on the "American Dream" paradigm.

As an American, I don't feel that the space is too small. I moved from a 1700 sf home to a 1000 sf home and I feel that there is a lot of wasted space.

I like the fact that there is a lot of hidden storage. I am looking to go even smaller with my next move. I have never like the McMansions that are so close together that you hear your neighbor sneeze. Would rather have more yard than house or at least great parks and other such things to visit.

I just love this. It is my idea of a perfect space to live in. I looked at a 12 m2 apartment in Sydney and spent weeks planning how I would design it to live in it, if it were mine. This is special

Oh-Dee-Doh's "Smaller Cooler" contest should be focusing on homes like this one: SMall homes for families with children (not just a contest on kids' rooms).

I'd love to see more House Tours showing how families make small spaces work.

What jac7890 said.

Brilliant use of space.

I am watching my 6, 5 and 3 year old play in the front room of our small apartment in "urban" Nebraska. The authorities are in no hurry to come and get our children. They are not neglected, abused or forced to live in substandard housing. Why is a small space cruel? I'll admit at first I missed a back yard, and the excessive space, but I now enjoy the benefits of efficient living. The cost of living is affordable were we live but I don't need to make excuses to anybody about our living arrangements. Our midwest neighbors look at us strangely, even friends are curious as to how we make it work as if it's bizarre. I appreciate good design. The longer we live here, the more ideas we find to make it comfortable and surprisingly fuctional. Along with space comes "stuff," and the cost and time and worry to keep it all up. I don't miss this a bit -and we moved from a large house with a huge yard on the edge of town. The wonderful alternative to.... interior space?(and privacy??) is going out and doing things -we do so much more together with outings, parks, walks, cultural and social opportunities, etc. The only thing that would make it better is if our city didn't have such a bad case of sprawl, then we wouldn't have to be so car-dependent. Nevertheless, this apartment is a gem. Functionality and personal expression come together well, bravo!, bigger is not better.

There's an urban in Nebraska?

It's relative, hey, I debated wether to mention it and opted for not caring about all the farmer-cornfield-what do you know about "urban" living in Nebraska?- cracks. It isn't Paris or NYC, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

You know what's cruel to children? Living where they need you to drive them to any activities. This apartment is totally cute and very functional, for adults and kids alike. I'd live there.

Love,
An American
Washington, DC

Absolutely beautiful.
Ruben
Paris - France