Mixing high-end with high-street finds was key to the renovation of this city apartment
Pauline Gidoin paired designer pieces with high-street finds in her cool yet comfortable London apartment
For architect Pauline Gidoin, home had been a succession of modern rented flats until she finally bought her ideal apartment. ‘I’d been living in Hong Kong for 10 years and then I moved to London,’ says Pauline, who is French. ‘As I got to know London, I remembered how much I’d missed the architecture of older buildings, which I’d appreciated when I studied in Paris.’
After being immersed in Hong Kong’s hectic lifestyle for so long, Pauline craved living somewhere quiet, but also within easy reach of bars and restaurants. ‘I really liked the vibrancy of Brick Lane in the East End, the mix of cultures and the artistic feel,’ she says. ‘When I found my flat in an old, converted shoe warehouse on a quiet street I fell in love with the high ceilings, brick walls and original steel-framed windows.’
Pauline cast an architect’s eye around the flat recognising that the main living space – comprising a kitchen, living and dining area – was packed with too much oversized furniture. She also noted the rooms were significantly lacking storage.
‘Good room proportions meant I could design storage without impacting the space,’ she says. ‘I created a walk-through storage area at the entrance of my bedroom, which acts like a buffer to give the sleeping area privacy.’ Pauline also designed a bank of floor-to-ceiling cupboards for the living area. ‘I created a niche for the TV, displaying books and ornaments, too, which I’ve lined with oak,’ she adds. ‘The
cupboards are painted a warm, pale grey and have minimal lines and discreet handles so the furniture doesn’t crowd the room.’
Another clever change was adding the steel-framed glazed partition to zone the kitchen. ‘I like to cook but this means we don’t see the mess afterwards,’ says Pauline. ‘We use this concept a lot in French flats – the low wall hides the worktops and high glazing keeps the space feeling open.’
Throughout the flat, colour is discreet – flashes of green in the vintage factory pendants, a soft pink velvet chair, warm blue bedroom storage – and materials authentic, including exposed brick walls, steel-framed windows and a worn wood floor.
‘I didn’t want an aggressive colour scheme – perhaps that’s a reaction to living in “neon” Hong Kong for so many years,’ explains Pauline. ‘I worked with the architecture of the flat but didn’t focus entirely on the industrial aesthetic because too much of these materials can feel cold. Instead, I picked out touches of black metal and oak in every room but mixed in soft leather, a thick wool rug and cushions.’
Inspired by her own project, Pauline has set-up Millimetre Architecture, an interior architecture and design studio. ‘In Hong Kong, I spent years learning how to be inventive with space planning and how to design for clients in a big firm, but I’m enjoying working for myself in London now,’ she says. ‘It’s lovely to finally have my own home and to live somewhere that is filled with life and history.’