Architecture Wednesday: From Stable to Tiny House

In 1850, this apartment was nothing more than a small stable at the end of a typical Parisian paved courtyard overlooking Boulevard Garibaldi. It had a tiled roof supported by an oak framework with a hayloft on the first floor.

At that time, the Boulevard Garibaldi was the rampart between the city of Paris and the beginning of the city of Issy. Between 1853 and 1870, the boulevard was built and the stable was incorporated into a Haussmanian building facing the boulevard. With the disappearance of the horses and the appearance of the metro, a façade was created and the stable became a small apartment.

In 2024, the apartment underwent a complete renovation. Everything was transformed and renovated. Curves are an integral part of this achievement; they hug the existing walls and facades and link the spaces together.

The main space is one room with an angled wall and windows open to the street; a small living and dining area fills that nook with a nice modern kitchen at the other end. It is a small space, clearly, but the high ceilings and unused attic space allowed for the creation of an additional level for a sleeping loft linked to the main floor by a custom-made curved staircase.

The project gives full place to natural materials and traditional techniques to give a second breath of life to the building: a crawl space regulates the humidity of the ground; the oak framework was repaired, lightened, and sanded; and the stone walls were plastered with a mixture of natural lime and pigments. The brick façade walls are insulated from the outside with wood fiber and a lime-hemp plaster is sprayed on the inside.

It's not for me, because that small living area would drive me crazy, but I love the rest of it … perhaps if I could bust through the space next door and add a few feet to the living room?

Dwell

Architecture Wednesday: Villa Flora

I’ve always said I needed to live in a villa, and this may just be the one I need. And with 5 bedrooms and some 4400 square feet, this villa in southern France, I could turn it into a B&B and make some coins while I lounge by the pool and  Carlos tends to the gardens.

The property, nicknamed Flora for its bountiful gardens, sits at the heart of a village near Uzès in the Gard department, and  is described in the listing—yes, it’s for sale for $4,455,846.50 USD—by the fragrances of the property, ‘of incense and fig’ but it’s the rugged stone walls, and the arched ceilings, and the meticulously crafted gardens, that call to me.

The house is three levels, with the  ground floor featuring a bedroom that opens onto a terrace, a bathroom and a separate toilet, the laundry, and most importantly, a wine cellar; I think that will be my bedroom, close to the wine. The first floor features a large living room with barrel-vaulted ceilings and floor-to-ceiling French doors that open onto a breezy terrace; it opens onto to a spacious kitchen and a reception lounge; the dining room and a TV lounge are also on this floor and are open onto a terrace with garden and pool views. In addition there are two bedroom suites with adjoining bathrooms. Up on the second floor are the last two bedrooms with an adjoining bathroom and shower room. Outside are the gardens, the terraces, the patios, the pool, the greenhouse, a summer kitchen, with pathways to wander and explore.

And, again, it can be yours ….

The Spaces

The Funny Papers

David Horsey, Adam Zyglis, Clay Bennett, Gary Varvel, Jack Ohman, RJ Matson, Michael de Adder, Marc Murphy, Mike Luckovich, Gary Huck, Nick Anderson, Christopher Weyant, Bill Day,