With golden parquet floors, marble fireplaces and French doors that open on to balconies just wide enough to enjoy a coffee or a glass of wine while perching on a bistro chair, this two-bedroom apartment has everything that we have come to associate with Parisian chic. It occupies the fifth floor and attic of a handsome stone building designed by the great French architect Georges-Eugène Haussmann.
Like many 19th-century apartments, however, this one wasn’t without issues, says François Mille of interior architecture practice Véronique Cotrel, which specialises in Haussmann architecture. ‘The focus of these interiors is always the main sitting room, while the kitchen is usually small, dark, and far away from the family areas,’ says François, who, along with his interior architect wife Véronique (after whom the practice is…
