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86 Sq. Ft. Transforming Micro Apartment in Paris


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Kitoko Studio architects in France have decided to take this old “maid room” in Paris and redesign it into a transforming 86 sq. ft. micro apartment studio.

Normally spaces such as these are so small that people end up using them as storage spaces but with some smart design concepts it has been turned into a nice and affordable living space in France’s capital.

Sliding doors and cabinets reveal a sleeping loft, storage spaces, a pullout staircase, a wardrobe, dining table, and more. Please enjoy and re-share below. Thank you!

86 Sq. Ft. ‘Swiss Army’ Micro Apartment in Paris

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Images © Kitoko Studio/Vimeo/Fabienne Delafray

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Images © Kitoko Studio/Vimeo/Fabienne Delafray

Video: 86 Sq. Ft. Micro Apartment in Paris

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Alex

Alex is a contributor and editor for TinyHouseTalk.com and the always free Tiny House Newsletter. He has a passion for exploring and sharing tiny homes (from yurts and RVs to tiny cabins and cottages) and inspiring simple living stories. We invite you to send in your story and tiny home photos too so we can re-share and inspire others towards a simple life too. Thank you!
{ 29 comments… add one }
  • Cahow
    November 4, 2014, 10:53 am

    I hang my head in embarrassment, for NEVER, in a million-bazillion years of being an architect, could I have conceived of a space as sheer genius as THIS one is!!!! And to think that I almost deleted this email from Alex, doing the “Pffffttttt!” dismissal in my head of “Of WHAT interest could an 86 sq.ft. shoebox apartment be of to me?!” All I can say is, “Yum-Yum!” to the Crow Pie I am now munching upon. ~blush~

    I had to watch the video a total of 4 times before I could write this comment; I was just agog over the Mensa-Level design aspect to this place. HOW can Kitoko Architects achieve MORE space in this 86 sq.ft. unit that 90% of other Tiny Home builders?!?!? They not only thought “Outside of the Box”, they didn’t even KNOW there was a ‘box’ to think outside of!

    The sliding staircase to the loft bed is Mind Blowing! The sliding doors to the loft (with nice reading light) are just the right amount of ‘cozy’…I would give up a week’s pay to stay in this place for a fortnight. 😀 It would be an absolute impossibility for me to improve upon any.single.aspect. of this design…it is perfection in the making. The only thing that I would require, however, is for somehow having a squishy chair to lounge upon….I don’t know how that would be do-able, though. 🙁 At my age, and with my injuries, I couldn’t sit on the hard stool for longer than it would take to consume a meal. But, that’s MY problem, certainly not a problem of a younger sole.

    Would I have lived in this unit when I was much younger? Hell yeah to the N-th degree…and in Paris!??? That’s a no-brainer. (I do so miss living in Paris…sniff-sniff) Mind you, I’d need to have a “goal in mind”, such as a 2-5 year plan of saving money for a much larger space but if THIS place was a Means to an End, it’s a most satisfying end!

    And, I’d never-ever-EVER sell it: once I had a large space, I’d rent this out to tourists and keep it for myself as a Pied-a-terre.

    THANK YOU, >ALEX<, for always bringing a special treat to your avid fans! 😀

    • Jenifer
      November 5, 2014, 7:20 am

      I agree — this is brilliant.

      I think there may be room for soft furnishings — which I’ve found necessary for noise reduction with hard surfaces. Rug, curtain, and then perhaps some storage for soft stuff (maybe use the bed to store extra soft stuff?) like big cushions to sit on (perhaps thai style triangle ones that are great for leaning on?).

      This is definitely great for one; I could easily be happy in such a space.

      Fortunately/unfortunately, I am one of three.

    • aleks
      October 28, 2015, 8:49 am

      hi, i happen to own a very comfy FOLDABLE armchair i bought in paris – i bet that could be tucked away somewhere in there… 🙂

    • Denise
      June 29, 2018, 3:24 am

      Cahow, I sure miss you and your comments, where are you?

      • Cahow
        June 29, 2018, 7:42 am

        Dear Denise,
        Thank you SO much for your heartfelt and kind comment about missing me. My life has changed drastically since I was last here. My husband had severe health issues starting 2 years ago, so I left ALL Social Media to spend time with him and our family. He passed away this past January, providing him with the peace and pain-free life he deserved. I’ve since moved and am dealing with the loss after 48 years of being together. You deserved a response as I greatly enjoyed being here and chatting with you. But, I won’t be coming back. There’s no joy in my life at the moment and I need to regroup and find it, again, through Real Life and my family/grandchildren.

        Blessings to you and Thank You, again, for your kindness and friendship. <3

        • Denise
          July 1, 2018, 2:55 am

          Dear Cahow,

          I am so very sorry to read about the loss of your husband. It is very clear you had a relationship with him that a lot of people can only dream of having with their spouse, plainly illustrating the ‘two shall become one flesh’ principle. My hope is you can find comfort, joy and encouragement, because you sure brought it in your comments here at Tiny House Talk.

          I also suffered the loss of someone that actually closed a chapter to a big part of my life. This person was the mother of a friend of mine who took her life by suicide in 2007. I took Roberta ‘under my wing’ and although I was never able to become the daughter she lost, I did my best to love on her and help her through her pain and the last years of her life, with her moving in with me after she no longer was able to care for herself.

          In 2015, Roberta was able to observe me work as I fulfilled my own dream of building a tiny house, watching me daily as I installed the metal roof over the course of summer around my work schedule. She paid for that roof, but did not live to see the whole thing finished and I am finishing the inside now. It will be dedicated to her in memory; my goal is to hang a small plaque in calligraphy with a short story about her inside the entryway. It is about 236 square feet on a foundation and with a loft. My vision was to build it for a friend to stay in when she comes in from out of town to visit as she is highly allergic to my cats. I am hoping to wrap it up this year and regret Roberta could not see the finished product.

  • alice h
    November 4, 2014, 12:59 pm

    Love that staircase! Lots of brilliant ideas here but I’d have to add some kind of comfy lounging chair to the pullout collection or a flop down couch of some sort and some kind of additional pullout worktop space in the kitchen. I’d probably also make the doors to the bed area out of something translucent or clear, maybe with curtains. You could even have overnight guests with an air mattress.

    • Lisa E.
      November 6, 2014, 9:26 am

      We all love the staircase(s). Now, let’s find a way to put it into a THOW;
      roll-away staircase!

  • rusty
    November 6, 2014, 9:42 am

    This space is so cool .I just loved the architect’s letter on this .I just started my tiny house interest and am thinking a minimalist lifestyle might be for me .I lived that life before not by choice but by circumstance . have never been happier.enough about myself. I may have misinterpreted the video but I believe the sleeping area screen may be painted stretched canvas which would breath as well as allow some light through .oh and the paint job .love it.

  • Stephanie P.
    November 6, 2014, 9:43 am

    This is brilliant. No other way to describe it.

  • Ellen A.
    November 6, 2014, 10:56 am

    Thanks for finding another delightful Paris pied-a-terre, Alex. This is an amazing adaptation, and the bathroom is a particularly prized addition in such a small space (as you know, lots of Paris “chambres de bonne” have to share a hallway toilet/shower, uncomfortable and sometimes less than spotless). Is there any way we can discover what the design and build-out cost? I could see folks renovating small NYC places along these same lines.

  • Brian
    November 6, 2014, 12:27 pm

    Wow oh wow, love this tiny apartment. Beautiful design ideas especially the superb storage, push away staircase. Would love this TH in the centre of a busy city as a hideaway just for me. Thanks for sharing Alex. Cheers from Australia.

  • Angela B
    November 6, 2014, 4:23 pm

    A little bit to close for me but the storage ideas are fabulous!

  • Glen
    November 7, 2014, 12:46 am

    So small it is hideous!

  • Mame
    November 24, 2014, 7:59 pm

    hehehe… I love Glen’s comment, following all the other accolades. The place is, of course, genius, albeit rather teensy-tiny and many of us could not tolerate that small size. I must think though about how perfect it would be for students or young people living away from home for the first time, in the big city with their new big job for a career just beginning. As a young person, I would have loved it. And, as Jenifer pointed out, adding some soft furnishings would make a huge difference in its appeal. When you consider what a small apartment in London or Paris is worth, something most of us in North America would gag over when first learning of the prices, I think a place like this would sell and/or rent within hours of becoming available with someone happy as a mouse in cheese to get it. 🙂

  • Paula
    January 22, 2015, 2:48 pm

    I stand amazed!

  • Montessahall
    March 16, 2015, 3:08 am

    I love this! Brought a to be reno in Paris some months ago. 250 sf. This article gives me a ton of ideas.

  • Mike
    October 27, 2015, 5:31 pm

    This is great! For a young single person this is a fun economical setup in an expensive city. I really love efficiency bathrooms both as the best way to design a small bathroom and for the ability to painlessly clean it! I would (try) to add a kind of Murphy couch on the wall.

  • Trish
    October 27, 2015, 9:32 pm

    Alex,
    You’ve outdone yourself finding this little gem. I’ve been racking my brain training to come up with a plan that resembled a train couchette/bunk with usable storage underneath it without creating an actual loft. Each sketch that I came up with just didn’t satisfy me. I hadn’t thought of using a sliding door to close off the bed from the rest of the room. It’s a simple solution that makes the bed area disappear, especially with the design on the entire wall. There’s so many options with this design: built in chest, closet, w/d, or even another bed. I just love it. I would like to know the dimensions of the whole wall including the depth.
    Thanks for sharing.

    • Claire
      October 28, 2015, 4:39 pm

      Trish, the second link at the top of this page goes to the architect’s site, and shows a couple of 3D plans in the slide show. It looks like a single bed at one end, and the bathroom area is maybe just over half that size added on to the end (because the toilet is partially tucked underneath the bed to gain room). So maybe 1m x 3.3m? Given the overall space size of 8m2, it can’t be much more than that.
      There are some excellent ideas here for storage and use of the small space that I’ve never considered – while there are a number of things I would change a bit to meet my own personal preferences, it’s a fantastic jumping off point.

  • Kim W
    June 26, 2018, 3:10 pm

    I love this tiny room/apartment! Like others, would need somewhere comfy to sit. We have a huge bean bag that might be comfy to sit on. Paris can get very hot and stuffy in the summer, so the door to the bed might need to stay open! Perfect for one person who is out a lot. In the summer, the parks and cafés in Paris are great places to meet up with friends, rather than playing sardines with friends in the apartment!

  • June 26, 2018, 3:38 pm

    What happened to the window?

    • Alex
      June 26, 2018, 4:30 pm

      Its still there in the kitchen area you can see in the video

  • Angela
    September 7, 2018, 5:48 pm

    I agree with everyone saying this is brilliant design and I also agree with those saying this is for the younger person. I noticed that, even to access this apartment you have to climb some seven flights of stairs. So…yes, for the very young, but oh, so brilliant!

  • Chuck
    September 7, 2018, 6:42 pm

    But, at least, she’s “living” in Paris!!!! Right? LOL.

  • Alison
    September 7, 2018, 9:32 pm

    With a seven flight climb, you’d have no need for a gym membership! Great ideas in this clever apartment. I would have put less busy tiles in the bathroom, but hey, to each his own. Very well done.

  • Chel
    September 8, 2018, 10:11 am

    Impressive planning. Right down to the neutral colours pulling it all together.
    A second shower curtain would keep the basin area dry.
    Some comments on the need for a rug. The pullouts are on wheels from the sounds made. Cork tiling is soft and warm underfoot and soaks up the echo. Let’s the wheels run too.
    Large folding cushioned camp chair allows easy lounging.
    Folding table (for tv dinners kind) gives more working space. A slightly larger room with the same high ceiling, 10’x10′ would seem spacious.
    Own posters/art on the walls and it’s personalised.
    Impressive indeed.

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