Discover Champeau & Wilde's Nouvelle Athènes Project

At the heart of the renovation lay two central elements—the complete restoration of the double séjour (French speak for those swoon-worthy large living room-cum-dining rooms) and the housing of the couple’s impressive collection of contemporary artworks.

The latter is immediately explored in the entrance hall with a 2006 Anselm Reyle mixed-media piece hanging proudly. The monochromatic colour palette used throughout the hall reinforces its innate dynamism.

It surely never gets old to walk through to the apartment's pièce de résistance—the grand séjour made up of two interconnecting Modernist-style salons. Both sitting rooms were taken back to basics with rewiring and restoring of the ornate mouldings taking priority.

The first living room’s anchor is its gilded 2008 Patrick Hill Sculpture mirror, which is mirrored on the end wall of the adjoining sitting room—points for glamorous symmetry. Other key pieces in the room include the Arnand Albert Rateau daybed along with the Jean Michel Frank armchair and 1960s Danish couch.

It’s assumed that one of the two salons would have originally been a music room while the other served as a classic sitting area. The restoration focused purely on making both living rooms places of comfort and artistic contemplation.

The second has, however, a slightly more intimate, low-key feel. A 1950s curved sofa—which Champeau & Wilde had recovered in dove grey mohair-cotton—wraps around the central lozenge-shaped purple table by Mattia Bonetti.

All eyes are on the artwork again in the dining area. While the white-lacquered, eight-seater dining table by Herve Van der Straeten and soft-yet-sculptural Robert Lemariey chandelier above it command attention, it’s the series of gloss black Gilbert & George photo work that arrests most of all.

Now for a change of pace. Less of the black and white monochrome colour scheme and more of a natural monochrome one thanks to the warming tones of the office's natural woods.

This was the first space where Champeau & Wilde would subtly instruct the owners in how to use and appreciate well-applied colour. The combination of amber meets buttery caramel in the Christian Liaigre desk and chair is repeated throughout the room in the fitted bookcase and Frere Borelik overhead lamp. Small but daring expressions of colour are seen in the neon shelf objets.

Championing more of the shades seen in the study, the kitchen is the space that mixes the strong presence of black found in the hallway and sitting rooms with the home office’s timber tones.

The designers selected custom-made walnut panelling for the cabinets and island, and kept the original parquet flooring seen in the séjour which has been stained throughout in gunmetal grey. Recessed strip lighting in the ceiling furthers the kitchen’s warm glow, as do the grouping of Tom Dixon pendant lights. The small kitchen table and velvet-upholstered chairs are by Knoll though the island stools are Mater Design.

Repurposing the former butler’s pantry, both the master bedroom and ensuite are bathed in natural light. It’s in here that you experience the first intense hit of blue, thanks to the Wolfgang Tillmans photograph. Otherwise, the black and white colour coupling is warmed up with off-white walls, notes of cream in yet more pieces by Robert Lemariey (the bedside tables), a bespoke headboard and Galerie Chahan bench, and threads of grey in the linen rug that’s based on a David Hicks geometric design.

Decidedly 1930s in influence, the Carrara marble bathroom is a celebration of strong, straight lines. The miraculously suspended cabinet with sunken sink is custom-made from solid marble which only adds to the strength of the design narrative—metaphorically and quite literally.