In Paris, a Pied-à-Terre That Brings the Garden Inside

3 min read

For many interior designers, the opportunity to reconfigure an entire mansion in the tony sixteenth arrondissement in Paris is a dream project. But the undertaking of such a large-scale assignment often comes with commensurately larger hurdles like the inability to change the facade or the windows outside and having to preserve or restore cornices and plasterwork within. Reimagining such a historic home often requires as much flexibility as it does creativity.

But when Anne-Sophie Pailleret was contacted to redesign an approximately 10,000 square-foot, century-old Art Nouveau building, the challenges of working in such a space paled in comparison to the promise of the unique canvas. The Paris-based designer was also more than ready for the size of the challenge: her past projects include everything from hotels to restaurants to showrooms, as well as private homes of every size. Moreover her firm also creates bespoke furniture, which meant if she couldn’t source the specific piece for which she was hunting, she could always have it made herself.

Modern dining room featuring a large table, patterned chairs, and a woven pendant light with green drapes and floral wall art. Victor Hugo

The home’s dining room overlooks the garden outside. The bespoke table was so heavy, it required a dozen people to carry it in. Rug by Codimat; floral lamps by Joanne Odisho; and the suspension fixture, sideboard, and chairs are custom.

Pailleret’s clients, who were planning to use the home as a pied-à-terre two or three times a year, essentially gave her carte blanche in terms of vision—with a few important caveats. “They said, ‘I want to bring the garden inside.’ So that even when it was winter, the joy of the floral colors would remain,” she says. They also provided the designer with a list of words to help with her inspiration: bright, chic, audacious. The execution from that point on was left to Pailleret.

But from the moment she first saw the home, she knew that she would draw much of her inspiration from the curvilinear, soft shapes found in the bones of the classic Art Nouveau structure. “It was never about squares or angles,” she says. “Instead, we wanted everything to be quite round.” These forms are found everywhere, from the home’s domed entryway, which also has a bespoke circular bench, to the hallway leading to the primary suite: a curving path complemented with arched windows and a color-blocked, undulating rug by Codimat. In order to highlight the shapes, the designer stuck to more simple building materials like plaster, light-toned woods, and natural fibers for many of the wallcoverings and fabrics.

Bright and colorful living room with a modern aesthetic, featuring plush seating, decorative rug, and large windows. Victor Hugo

The living room features a mix of the clients’ existing furniture and new pieces. Sofas are clients’ own; the armchairs are vintage and upholstered with Holland & Sherry fabric; sconces by Francois Bazin; and rug by Codimat.

As for her client’s directive of bright florals, Pailleret opted for a palette that highlighted lush greens with plenty of pinks and golds as well. “Those colors also complement the ivory plaster, ceramic, and marble that’s found in the home. Together, they all make you think about summer, never winter,” she says. The living room, for example, pairs two squared-arm pink Chesterfield sofas with a duo of forest green club chairs, all set on top of another Codimat rug that features swirls of both colors on an ivory background. And in one of the clients’ daughter’s bedrooms, the floral brief is taken even more literally with a stylized print of blossoms on the Pierre Frey wallcovering, still in the pink and green color scheme.

Step Inside Elegant interior featuring a plush round seating area and a dramatic pendant light, with a pastel-color scheme. Open Gallery

The overall effect of these cheerful tones and curved spaces is a home that’s not formal and meant for unwinding. As Pailleret puts it, it’s décontracté—relaxed in French. “The client told me, ‘When I open the door, I want to smile,’’ she says. And from the brightly painted rotunda in the entryway to the Portofino-inspired stripes in the powder room, it’s hard to imagine how you couldn’t when you go inside.

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