36 mètres-carrés

24.6.09

Flowers in the City

Wild flowers on a window sill, simply put into bottles....

Libellés : architecture, Homes in Switzerland, Inspiration, Urban; Geneva

13.11.07

Self-Promotion

My kitchen published in the italian magazine "Casa Facile"

Back in July, the editor in chief from an italian magazine contacted me via Flickr and asked if i wanted to publish my kitchen remodel. Of course !!

So, here it is, in the november edition of Casa Facile.

I'm sooo proud of this ! Why ?
Because it is my first "real" project, after two years of evening school in interior design.
The first project which i did all by myself, from drawing the floorplans, researching suppliers, materials and companies for the big works, over to organizing and supervising the whole thing.
This article is a reward to the result of my work !

Thank you so much at Casa Facile, especially Giusi Silighini ( editor in chief ) and Claudio Malaguti ( text ) for the wonderful article, thank you so much !

Libellés : Apartment Therapy Cure 1/07, Do-It-Yourself, Homes in Switzerland, Self-Promotion

6.9.07

Homes in Switzerland: Hélène and Denis' Apartment

Today, we'll tour an absolutely fabulous apartment situated near Lausanne.

The apartment is in a new building, but as it is the one on the very top floor, it gives the feeling of living in a seperate house of its own.

When Hélène and Denis bought the apartment the building still was in the planning stage which allowed them to adapt and change the floorplan according to their taste and needs.

They wanted an open and lofty allover ambiance, creating a very modern, almost industrial look. This has been achieved by many of their own designs ( lights of LED, custom-made kitchen ) and an unique flooring allover the main level made from italian stone tiles, all 60x60 cm. Also, the concrete wall with its red accent, details such as glassbrick walls lined with inox surroundings, add to the coherent modern look.

The surface of the apartment, including the mezzanine is 162 m2 and 93 m2 of surrounding terrasse.

So, come on as we enter:

Unusual, but the entrance door is made of glass, which has been partially sanded with geometrical patterns. Once you come inside, an open cupboard seperating the glassbrick wall allows you to view directly towards the lake and the alps on the french side of the lake. Denis pointed out that he wanted to avoid a narrow "hallway-feeling" and wished to create an airy and lightflooded entrance.

Stairs lead up from here to the mezzanine.
Beneath the stairs a commode serves as landing strip, with a lovely and light little lamp.

The kitchen is part of the open plan main room . The furniture has been designed by themselves and is custom-made. As Denis explains, he wanted the kitchen to be part of the main room but without actually seeing that there is a kitchen. You'll find no hanging cabinets, and if you look from the living room area towards the kitchen, the central block does not give impression of a kitchen.

For the cooking there is a vitroceram and two ovens, the ventilation had to be custom-made because of the high ceilings. The roof had to be reinforced with concrete in order to carry the weight of the ventilation. Its height is 3.5 metres and the manufacturer is Gutmann in Germany.

The lighting is mainly LED, notice it installed beneath the furniture. This also was one of Denis' ideas who wanted to create an effect of floating furniture.

The hanging lampes also work with LED and are from Catellani&Smith.

The dining room is next to the kitchen with big bay windows on all three sides. From here there is also a direct access to the surrounding terrasse.

If you wonder what is that glass box next to the table: this is the homes of Hélène's mice ! And wait, there are also two cats living here !

So, let's have a look towards the livingroom:

As already seen in the kitchen, the ceiling here also is very high and goes up to the roof. The perfect height for the lovely Castellani & Smith lamp hanging above the coffeetable !

Furniting has been kept spare, in order to maintain the clean and modern look of the whole apartment.

Also from here there is a direct access to the terrasse, only light string-curtains give some privacy to the next doors house.

This is the wall opposite to the windows and terrasse. It has been left in concrete, obliging Hélène and Denis to buy the wooden panels to do this wall, as they had to be unused. One part of this wall has been colored in red to create an accent, and about two thirds have been left unpainted. Denis had asked that little holes are in the wall in order to hide all the cables of the TV and Hifi supplies. Note how nice a media center can look whitout apparent cables. You'll see later where they go.

Also here, Denis worked with LED to create indirect lighting , as for example shown around the flatscreen TV and the light fixtures made by himself which illuminate the paintings.
All the paintings are made by Hélène.

The glassbrick wall parting from the entrance is aligned with the concrete wall in the living room. This was made on purpose to give the mezzanine a floating look, emphasized by the negative joint ("joint négatif") above the concrete wall.

The floor is covered with italien stone tiles 60x60 cm which have a main shade of anthracite with beige and brown reflects.

This also adds to the modern clean style of the apartment and pulls the the main level together as these tiles have been used in all main level spaces.

Next, we'll have a look on the mezzanine. The painting in the staircase is made by Hélène.

A big tiger greets you when coming up the stairs ! He won't bite.

This is used a s a multi-purpose space. Hélène paints here, it's their home office and serves as a guestroom with a convertible sofa. This is the only space where hardwood floors have been used.

Also here, details count: the power outlet is in the floor, aceessible by opening the metal flap.

And back down we go...Behind the red accent wall, a switchboard with all main electrical commands has been installed. From here lights in the kitchen , dining, living room as well as in the entrance area can be controlled. Also the terrasse store are commanded from here.
The lovely painting, again, has been made by Hélène.

Another painting from Hélène, to the right a door leads to the second bathroom with its adjacent laundry room.

This bathroom is quite big, entering you'll find a red commode to your right, and then behind a glassbrick wall the spa-bathtub. The design of the sink is modern and simple, again according to the overall look of this home. Color has been added by the seventies-style plastic curtains and accessories on the bathtub edge.

Lets now turn to the master bedroom and bathroom, passing by the dressing area.

In the dressing room you find the back of the livingroom wall, hiddden behaind a door. All the electrical cables are alimented and hidden here.

The main bedroom also kept the ceiling open up to the roof, which allowed to create a wall full of closets. Adjacent to the bedroom is the en suite bathroom.

Spacious and full of light, the design is kept modern and simple. Here again, the italian floor tiles.

From the livingroom we go outside on the huge terrasse. Don't worry, the cat is alive, please meet 'Leo', the reincarnation of Garfield.

The terrasse is orientated plain south, with a lovely view of the Lake of Geneva ( Lac Léman ) and the French Alps. It allows to furniture it generously in order to enjoy the view and sun.

The apartment is surrounded by a balcony-like path and leads to a biotop at the rear, next to it a huge palmtree found a home in a giant pot.

So, now we've literally done the tour. I hope you enjoyed it !

Many, many thanks go to Hélène and Denis who generously allowed me to take photos of their perfect home. Again, Milles Mercis !

If any magazines ( printed or online ) are interested to publish pictures of their home and for further information, Hélène and Denis will appreciate a lot.

For contact, please leave me a message with "Hélène and Denis" in the subject line at this email adress: 36m2(at)gmx(dot)ch

I'll forward the mail to them and they'll come back to you.

Libellés : Homes in Switzerland

23.7.07

Homes in Switzerland: Loft near Zurich

view from big window towards bedroom & entry

This the loft of a friend of mine, situated near Zurich. It's the first of a series of Homes in Switzerland i'll feature from time to time.

So this first one is about 200m2 big, one big room. It's a rental, situated in a transformed chocolate manufacture.

The space has been divided into different areas, such as bedroom area on a podium, office, TV-lounge, living and eating. She seperated the space by using,for example, low BILLY shelves, creating at the same time enough storage for books and CD's. By chosing the lower version of BILLY, the open space feeling remains.

The open kitchen offers lots of storage and has a cooking island to keep in touch she's receiving guests.

To create a more intimate bedroom area, she separated it with large closets standing back to back from the entrance and hung stores down from the concrete ceiling.
Additional storage can be found underneath the podium where are huge ( really huge ! ) drawers.