Maison garage: old parking as tiny home in Bordeaux, France

Jérémie Buchholtz wanted an affordable apartment in Bordeaux (he's a photographer who splits his time between Paris and Bordeaux so his budget was limited), but he wasn't finding anything he liked. Then he stumbled upon a listing for a garage. 

There was no house, it was just an abandoned garage for sale. And it looked like one. It had big metal doors that blocked out any sunlight and inside it was being used more as a junk room. So Buchholtz called his friend and architect Matthieu de Marien who specializes in converting stores, offices and other spaces into homes.

De Marien took one look at the historic street and recognized it as something special. Passage Buhan is a private passageway where the owners each own half of the road so life extends into the street. And the history here is rich: a couple centuries ago, the laneway housed horses and their riders en route to the then city of Bordeaux and the old stable still sits on the street.

Buchholtz bought the property and De Marien quickly cut into the old garage to create more light and ventilation. The roof is historic and couldn't be touched so he carved a 12 square meter (129 square foot) patio out of the small space, leaving only 41 square meters of living space (441 square feet).

In order to make the space feel larger, De Marien created a "house within a house": one large piece of furniture that includes the bathroom, bedroom, office, closet, a sofa bed and all of the home's storage. With everything contained in this large furniture box, the rest of the home was given more breathing room.

Original story here: http://faircompanies.com/videos/view/maison-garage-old-garage-as-tiny-home-in...

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• tiny apartment
• tiny home
• small space
• downshifting
• home size
• simple life
• simplicity
• transformable furniture
• transformer furniture
• space-making furniture
• space-saving furniture
• small space furniture
• downsizing
• small house movement
• small home
• microhome
• tiny house
• maison garage
• garage home
• converted garage
• bordeaux
• france

[jelledge8]

Also, what is the height of the ceiling at its peak?

[kirstendirksen]

@jelledge8 I'm not sure about the height of the ceiling at the peak, but that box with the bed/bathroom/office and all is 3.60m long by 3m wide by 3m high. You can probably see in the video that the ceiling wasn't much taller than the bed, though we could stand on one side and I am about 6 feet so I'd say it's another 2 meters so 5 meters (or 16 1/2 feet) at the highest point. Though these are just my rough estimates.

[Malegnius]

I love this home, definitely something I'd try to do myself. Any idea how he got his hands on that huge piece of multi-purpose furniture? And how much it cost?

[kirstendirksen]

@Malegnius That piece of furniture was all part of the design by the architect (Matthieu who speaks in the piece as well). I believe it was made by a carpenter. I don't know how much it cost on its own since it was tied into the construction- or remodel- of the garage.

[hydrobuu]

80,000 euros =110,000 US dollars....holy crap that is expensive for that small area.

[kirstendirksen]

@hydrobuu Yes but the average price per square meter in Bordeaux is 2840 € / m² which would mean at market rate it should cost 170K euros. Though he did put quite a bit of money into it so in the end it wasn't necessarily cheaper than the market rate, but he got something that suited him and was quite unique. Plus, every homeowner on that street owns half of the street as well so his property extends out if he wants to put a table and chairs out there and use that as well.

[ace51k1]

I must say that this house is one of my favorites that has been viewed on this channel....the use of space and functionality of that single peice of furnuture is simply amazing

[wisdom32]

i look forward to all your videos. Pls update every week =p

[HylomantisLemur]

Charlie Hedbo! Brilliant.

[corycmelvin]

Excellent!!

[jackiebrown0637]

BORDEAUX my city

[234netklh27]

Like the video says, there is bad lighting...but then again I saw apartments smaller, that has worse lighting and ventilation than this. Love the design and location !

[mrnicekevin]

I usualy find the houses nice but i wouldnt live in them... This one though ! I think this is beautiful, it might lack a bit of color but its wonderful

[Cabezababy]

Wow. Cool. Dunno if I could live in it but I love it.

[mrstrick24]

I adore this house. It's my absolute favorite of them all. This one I could I actually see myself living in. And the design is so sleek and modern, with all the white. I just love it

[craniumdesigns]

this is so cool. i love the amazing use of the space. this certainly challenges my american way of looking at homes and i hope i can do something like this for my first home.

[RaspalaKrava]

How's the isolation? Does it get cold in Bordeaux? How woud it do than? How's the sound isolation?

[BishopAdamair]

Very very nice.