Video. In Angoulême, the secrets of an interior designer to transform a soulless apartment

The professional first made a “clean slate”. “I often work on old buildings where we are careful to preserve the charm of yesteryear. There, there was nothing to keep, so we knocked down all the partitions.” The destruction revealed some “interesting” elements: a column, a cement beam. “I highlighted them in the new project.” The specifications established by the owner: make the apartment “circular and modular”. A section of the living space can thus be isolated by a closable glass wall to create an independent bedroom.

“Alternate noble and inexpensive materials”

Second requirement: build the project around the client’s great passion: books. There are more than a thousand of them, installed in niches and corners. A real decorative element. Some tips for using all the space without wasting space. Like this piece of furniture embedded in a worktop that unfolds and the invisible toilet cabinet that unfolds, hidden behind a wall of books: we open the door as if we were entering a secret passage.

For the rest, the designer and her client had fun. “Mr. Souty likes contemporary architecture, it allowed him to imagine lots of things.” The bedroom’s bed hangs on a backlit pylon. A lot of work on color: Majorelle blue in the hall, yellow, red. Furniture and works in strong, assertive tones, revealing the owner’s influences. “In the Netherlands, I learned to understand Mondrian, the Dutch pictorial school. I am also very inspired by Art Deco.” A great traveler, François Souty brought back in his luggage paintings by Brazilian artists, African masks from Gabon, “transformed in the room by a genius lighting designer”.

We say that this project cost a fortune. “Not that much,” explain Marielle Tesson and François Souty. “€130,000 for the purchase of the property, 150,000 for the work”. “The secret is partly to alternate between noble materials here and inexpensive ones there. The kitchen looks new, it has actually been taken over, repainted. The shelves have an effect and yet, they are in painted medium. For the floor, “we chose the least expensive and most durable material: bamboo. At €30 per m².”

Three days of Architecture to experience

The operation is called “Architectures to live days”, it takes place today, tomorrow and Saturday, everywhere in France. It opens to the public houses and apartments designed by architects. New this year, the possibility of discovering interior designer projects. The opportunity to discuss with the project designer who reveals his secrets of creation. The Charente property to visit is the one presented in the article opposite. Registrations on www.journeesavivre.fr. Price: €2.