Interior designer Marianne Evennou, our French doyenne of color, composition, and small-space living, has just published her first book.

Un Intérieur à Soi (loose translation: “A Place of One’s Own”) is a compendium of her signature moves—interior windows, exposed beams, duo-toned walls, bonbon box-sized kitchens, and black Bakelite light switches—that dazzle us over and over.

Marianne may have go-to design tricks but she applies them with a freshness and excitement every time. Today, we’re spotlighting a favorite Paris apartment for a client named Sabine, an artist and businesswoman in her forties who Marianne describes as having “une idée à la minute.” At each of their preliminary meetings, Sabine arrived with macarons from Ladurée and their “soft but not cutesy colors: pale pink, almond green, and pastel blue” became the starting point for the makeover:  “luxurious and carefree,” it’s also a pocket apartment that, as Marianne puts it, “has all the big stuff.” Join us for a tour.

Photography by Grégory Timsit, courtesy of Éditions de La Martinière.

The entry, shown here, has a wainscot patterned with Antoinette Poisson Buisson de Roses wallpaper and a bleached parquet floor with radiant heat. Marianne puts tight quarters to work: the pink tiled floor defines the kitchen, and the bedroom is on the other side of the glazed wall. Scroll to the end for the updated floor plan.

Floor Plan

The Book

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Three more Marianne Evennou projects:

• The Ultimate Starter Apartment in Paris
• An Inventive, Postage Stamp-Sized Apartment in the Center of Paris
• 12 Small-Space Design Ideas for Compact Quarters