In the quest to optimize and tweak our current space before seriously considering moving onto the next, I spend tremendous amounts of time trolling the nebulous world of home décor and DIY websites. My “la maison” board on Pinterest, while beautiful, mostly serves to remind me of what little space I have to work with and how largely inaccessible most of the pieces are here in France. But some stories give me hope – amazing things are possible! Perhaps the most inspiring example of home renewal and adaptive reuse is Dutch graphic designer Judith de Graaf’s home in the Oise, 50k north of Paris.
Several years ago, Judith and her husband bought an abandoned industrial building from the 1960’s and spent well over a year renovating it into a habitable space. They did everything themselves, from electricity to plumbing, and designed their home from scratch -something I never would have had the courage or patience to do. In addition to being featured on Design*Sponge and in the Ikea Family magazine, Studio Sapique, as Judith calls the place, has its own permanent focus on her blog Joelix where you can scroll through the entire transformation.
Over ten years in France and she couldn’t…
