House of Plants by Sophia Charles Architecte
House of Plants anchors a quiet courtyard in Paris, France, where Sophia Charles Architecte reimagines a once-fragmented house as a calm sequence of lived-in rooms. Natural light, timber structure, and green views now steer daily life, from the ground-floor living room to compact upper bedrooms. Warm textures, clear circulation, and everyday rituals guide this renovation without losing the building’s urban intimacy.
Morning light filters through tall timber-framed doors, catching the grain of the oak floor and the curve of a built-in bench. A yellow sofa anchors the living room while plants at the threshold signal the courtyard beyond.
House of Plants is a compact house renovation in Paris, France, reworked by Sophia Charles Architecte for contemporary family life. The project reorganizes circulation and rooms while drawing light deep into the plan through enlarged openings and a reconfigured ground floor. Interior palette and furnishings carry much of the transformation, tying exposed historic beams to crisp new carpentry, warm textiles, and a steady presence of greenery.
Opening a former load-bearing wall across the width of the ground floor clears a single living area that now links street, courtyard, and kitchen. The move turns what had been segmented rooms into one connected volume where the sofa, stair, and dining table create gentle zones without partitions. Light tracks along the pale walls, picking up the texture of lime-toned plaster and the rhythm of dark timber beams overhead.
Living Room Core
The ground-floor living room reads as a low, continuous piece of joinery rather than a collection of separate objects. A white masonry bench runs along the wall, thickening into a plinth for the vivid mustard sofa that sits just above the oak boards. Built-in shelving tucks beneath the stair, with slender timber uprights framing books, small artworks, and a single vase of leaves. This careful carpentry turns a circulation edge into a place to pause, read, or watch the courtyard through full-height glazed doors.
Kitchen As Hub
Around the corner, the kitchen wraps in an L-shape under the same exposed beams, keeping the historic structure present above quiet white cabinetry. A thick white counter curves toward the living area, finished in warm wood that continues down the island base to ground the room. Subtle square tiles line the backsplash, catching reflections from globe pendants and daylight from nearby windows. Everyday objects—a green glass vase, framed prints leaning on the counter—soften the geometry and make the kitchen feel like a continuation of the living room rather than a separate service zone.
Quiet Upper Rooms
Upstairs, the palette shifts slightly softer while keeping the timber and plant thread intact. The primary bedroom pairs an arched wooden headboard with pale flooring and loose linen bedding, giving the modest room a relaxed, almost coastal calm. A pendant woven from natural fiber echoes the tone of bedside lamps and small wooden furniture, while a potted plant near the window brings a slice of the garden up to this level. A compact nursery sits behind glazed timber partitions, its crib framed by warm joinery, patterned curtains, and a yellow rug that adds playful color underfoot.
Tactile Wet Rooms
In the bathroom, vertical cream tiles wrap walls in a quiet grid, matched by a pale tub and a simple round countertop basin. The timber vanity top introduces warmth, while a black-framed glass screen gives the room a precise edge against the softer surfaces. Globe lights read as bright orbs in the mirror, doubling their presence and reinforcing the room’s simple geometry. The palette stays restrained so texture and shadow do the visual work.
Garden Connection
Outside, a narrow cobbled path runs along the façade, lined with dense planting and potted herbs that explain the house’s name. Windows sit just above stone edging, allowing residents to look directly into greenery from the ground-floor rooms. Old stucco walls and painted shutters hold the memory of the block, while new interiors lean on wood, color, and plants to anchor present-day life. The house now feels tuned to its courtyard, with each room borrowing a bit of that planted calm.
Photography by Thomas Tissandier
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