Home visit: inside a writer’s creative conversion

In an old glove factory, just outside Paris, the owners of one apartment have worked with the building’s utilitarian features to create a calm, open-plan home with a little fun mixed in…

Just enough personality

This apartment is bigger than the last one Anne-Solange and David shared, but they are still space-conscious. ‘The ceilings are high but the space isn’t huge, so we have to be careful. For us, part of a home being comfortable is it being calm and quiet – it’s not quiet for the eyes to have too much stuff,’ says David. So how do they strike a balance? ‘We give space to things we love, such as books, colour, music, old pictures – their character adds texture, and that was one thing we felt this white box needed.’  

‘Our home has two faces. Often, it’s solitary and quiet – the perfect place for a writer’s thoughts to find their way on to the page. Other times, it’s sociable – with friends gathered to eat, drink and discuss’

Anne-Solange, Fontenay-sous-Bois