The French fashion designer Marcel Marongiu's Paris apartment is only 645 square feet. We were pretty impressed to see a fairly well-known designer living in such a (relatively) small space. So we were curious to see how he does it. His mother is Swedish and the apartment's reference to Gustavian style is in homage to her. Although the apartment is teetering on the line of being a little too shabby chic for our taste, we did like the bedroom...
The living room. We like the mix of styles--The Henri IV-style cabinet, the 19th century Italian mirror from the Paris flea market and the Indian coffee table, but we just can't get behind the sheet on the sofa. The screen is separating the living area from the bedroom.
The sofa looks a bit better from this angle. The leather pillows were created by Marcel, and we do love the bergère chair.
This was the room that inspired us the most. We know many people who have their bed on the floor, but this is definitely the chicest. The key seems to be the repeating horizontal lines. The arrangement of art work creates the first line across the room. The nightstands create another, then finally you have an additional horizontal created by the bed. The line is also repeated in the pillows and in the blanket at the foot of the bed. It just works.
For the full story (in French), go to Marie Claire Maison. We should note that this is not his only home, Marcel Marongiu also owns a country home in Normandy, which is featured in the book Dressing the Home: The Private Spaces of Top Fashion Designers.
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
This apt has one thing that many AT features lack: patina.
view whytephoenix's profile
I love the way artwork is displayed.
view shlacking's profile
Spooky dude.
view 2kidsandus's profile
A mattress on the floor! The tables next to the mattress are so high up that it renders them pretty useless for a glass of water, an alarm clock or a place to set the evening reading. I would also feer getting clocked in the head by one of those dreadful urn-like things during more energetic bedroom activities.
The dining are seems like a calm and sophisticated place to drink tea and ponder the day ahead or the day past...or nurse a bruised head from a falling urn-like thing during the previous night.
view austinjohn's profile
fear, not feer.
view austinjohn's profile
If I lived in Paris, that's all the space I would need too.
view Trii's profile
gorgeous
view formosagirl's profile
"His mother is Swiss and the apartment's reference to Gustavian style is in homage to her." Gustavian style would be Swedish, not Swiss.
I like the flat, though!
view martigny's profile
i think it's lovely - serene, lots of interesting things to look at.
the 'shabby chic' comment is a bit rough.
love those potted flowers on the coffee table.
don't worry austinjohn, i don't think you'll be having sex there anytime soon.
view *elspeth's profile
This place is lovely.
I do go for practically everything posted here from France. Oh but it all teeters on the line of being too shabby chic doesn't it.
view Henrietta the Terrible's profile
The one thread I find that connects so many french interiors is that they appear to be both casual and timeless. While the space has all of the hallmarks that we find in many "trend" interiors of the current decade (mismatched frames and tables, Louis chairs and turned wood...) it avoids all that cloying, winking irony (white lacquered "modern" Louis, for example) that would date the room. It looks grown up, but it doesn't take itself too seriously. This apartment would have been stylish and livable 20 years ago, and will be equally stylish 20 years from now because it would appear to reflect a tasteful, authentically gathered life and not a checklist of current trends.
view RichardinLA's profile
Yes! Well said.
view Henrietta the Terrible's profile
i love it.
shabby or chic.
i love its lightness.
it feels old and has character.
i love that.
view Goody's profile
Great use of flowers, it looks so inviting.
view jancola's profile
Absolutely yums. A plus!
view m's profile
He looks like an old-time movie star.
view Annie25's profile
great weaving in and out of black and white without being a black and white interior, dreamy!
RichardinLA -well put my same thoughts just don't write as well as you.
view LoriSF's profile
Martigny: It clearly says, "his mother is Swedish" so they are correct with the Gustavian style...says nothing about "Swiss"...
Great space, simple yet has a lot of depth to it...being Swedish, I can appreciate this style...love it!
view howswedeitis's profile
elspeth,
I'm with you all the way.
view click212's profile
Super lovely! But I am not sure about that mattress on the floor - seems a bit strange to me -- too dorm room for this sophisticated interior and I don't get the high nightstands. I mean how would that work in reality?
The artwork is stunning!
view Maryam in Marrakesh's profile
The bedroom is so beautifully arranged I didn't even realize that the mattress was on the floor. I agree, if I was in Paris I wouldn't need more than this space. Same goes for New York, Italy, London...
view MellyG's profile
The bed is not on the floor -- not literally, anyway. The bed just has low clearance underneath. And while the thing on the sofa looks like a sheet just thrown on it, it is in fact a slip cover that just has little structure to it (it does have seams), so it was more than just an afterthought by the designer. I like the apartment and think it is nice to see something besides MCM featured here.
view YL2008's profile
this is the kind of place where you take a sabbatical. drink loads of wine, talk lots of rubbish.
i'm in.
view red.door.read.'s profile
I'm inspired!
view tlcuningkin331's profile
I wouldn't call this 'Shabby Chic'. To my mind, 'Shabby Chic' is worn reproductions of antiques. These look like real antiques to me. And if they are reproductions, they are good ones and well thought out and put together. I am not sure that your writer of this piece is educated enough to know the difference between real antiques and reproductions, or to know when design elements are well thought out and put together, even though they may not be of the writer's personal taste. One can appreciate something well done, without wanting to live with it. I think these rooms are very well put together. And I like them. They are not amateurish, they look professionally polished. This person has a good eye.
view dandy's profile