A magazine dedicated to compact interiors

Reunited and transformed over the years, this former group of service rooms has become a 70-square-meter family apartment. Benjamin, the architect and owner, led the project, which involved reclaiming the attic space, optimizing volumes and reworking the structure.

Marie and Guillaume had just bought their first apartment in Paris: a charming but outdated 56 m² Haussmann-style apartment that needed complete renovation before they could move in. As renovation novices, they wanted guidance and reassurance throughout the project: “The apartment hadn’t been renovated since the 1970s; there was a lot to do, but the space offered several possibilities for layout. Given the scale of the project, we preferred to have help with the design and supervision of the work,” they explain.

Beneath the low ceilings of a former office, interior designer Sacha Ekert has embarked on a careful reinterpretation of a 48-square-meter space, creating a light-filled open-plan one-bedroom apartment.

It was in Amsterdam, in the working-class neighborhood of Transvaalbuurt, that Michiel Hilbrink and his partner Dongyoung Lee discovered, almost by chance, this 60-square-meter attic apartment in a brick building dating back to 1924. The photos in the listing didn’t look very promising, but when they visited, something clicked: “We immediately saw the potential! It was bigger and had higher ceilings than anything else we had seen. It had a definite loft feel. We knew we had to go for it right away,” says the architect, who has since sold the property.

Some places are just impossible to resist. For Charles, Harrods Village—Harrods’ former furniture warehouse on the Thames—was a long-held dream that finally came true. After a failed purchase, this apartment suddenly appeared: views of the gardens, plenty of natural light … and the promise of a wonderful life.