The LABOPOP agency came up with a candy-coated space for Caroline, which they nicknamed
“La Bonbonnière.”
“It’s a colorful, small and welcoming space, like a box of bonbons,” the architects explain. Nestled in the attic of a Haussmann building, it has been thoroughly dipped in pink, the owner’s favorite color. Seduced by her neighbor’s apartment, also renovated by LABOPOP, Caroline contacted the latter’s founders, Ania and Jérémie Brault, to help her with her own project. “When Caroline bought the apartment, she carried out a few small improvements, then lived there for a while before realizing that everything needed to be redone,” explains the duo. “The bathroom was tiny and windowless, and the kitchen was separated from the living room. And when you walked in, you came upon the WC, right in the middle of the apartment! ”
However, the property boasts a number of valuable assets, such as its triple exposure and high ceilings, which LABOPOP set out to highlight while meeting Caroline’s expectations, as she had a very precise idea of what she wanted. ” The specifications were quite ambitious for such a compact area. Everything had to be large: the kitchen, the living room, the bookcase, the separate bedroom, the wardrobe, the shower room… plus an extra room for guests. “The existing mezzanine would have been ideal for hosting friends if its wooden structure hadn’t been so rickety.” LABOPOP thus decided to demolish it and build a new block to accommodate the upper level. Positioned in the center of the apartment, it houses the kitchen, storage space and a large wardrobe, while an attractive pool ladder leads up to the guest bedroom above.
From the mezzanine to the kitchen, including the new shower room, pink, the young woman’s favorite color, reigns supreme: “For me, Caroline is a true incarnation of the Pink Panther character,” explains Ania. “She’s elegant, mysterious and slightly mischievous.
She has a fondness for the color pink that I’ve never seen in anyone. I think it’s a reflection of her extraordinary character and personality. She loves pop culture, collects Bearbricks and the works of Yoshitomo Nara, and adores George Byrne’s poetic surrealism.” So she needed an apartment that suited her to a tee, and – pinkie promise – LABOPOP delivered.
However, to live La vie en rose to the fullest, one should take care to judiciously employ chromatic variations, thus avoiding any risk of saturation. That’s why the agency decided to broaden the palette used within the apartment. ” It was important for us to combine different shades of pink to create different moods. A bright, energetic pink for the ladder; a softer, more discreet powder pink for the bookshelf; candy pink to create a soft atmosphere in the bedroom; and a more pronounced pink for the bathroom.” No need for rose-colored glasses here!
