The chambre de bonne -- or maids room -- is an under-exploited space in many French buildings, left unheated and used for storage or rented out as-is to students. But Elle Décoration has a feature on a tiny 134-square-foot chambre de bonne that's been cheerfully designed like a real apartment, with a double bed that doubles as a daybed during the day (with under-bed storage for clothes and bedding), a compact kitchen with dining for two, a tiny shower and sink and a workspace...
Architect Vincent Renié designed the chambre de bonne like a ship's cabin. One wall of the mini-apartment houses the kitchen, storage, a second sink for grooming (the shower is opposite) and a workspace, with floor-to-ceiling built-in storage to give it clean lines and keep it from feeling clautrophobic.
Conspicuously absent from the reportage is a mention of the toilet, which is most likely across the hall or on the landing -- which is still surprisingly common in the former maids quarters (or regular unrenovated since the 19th-century quarters) of Parisian buildings, as anyone who has househunted here will undoubtedly know.
See the rest of the apartment here.
- Kristin Hohenadel blogging from Paris. She can be reached at kristin @ apartmenttherapy . com
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
Haha! My appartment is also a former chambre de bonne, with a toilet across the hall, but this place makes me feel like a king: I have a palatial 240 square feet...
view Jaze's profile
Awesome!
view gswiszcza's profile
This is a great design and renovation.
I lived in a chambre de bonne when I was in Lyon. It was a lovely place on the 6th floor of a building w/ an elevator. The toilet was in the hall which was quite nice in such a tiny space. There was an eat-in kitchen, and built in storage in the living room. There was also the most charming terrace that over looked a small street with a church and playground across the street.
view Michael Dumas's profile
This looks amazing and ingenious but no matter how clever the design, I could never live in somewhere so tiny.
view TamaraL's profile