Turning a shoebox-sized house into a Paris oasis

As a designer, Kein Cross is pretty good at estimating space, and when he saw the 18th-century courtyard house in Paris in an ad, he knew it was small — maybe 9 or 10 feet deep.

But walking into it on a rainy day in January, Cross realized his estimate was far too optimistic. The house, which he would later describe to friends in New York as a carriage house, was a respectable 19 feet wide, but from front to back it was only 6 ½ feet. The living room, minus the area taken up by a stairway, was less than 4 feet deep — were Cross to stand in it, arms outstretched, he could easily touch both walls. The kitchen was so tiny there wasn't room to open the oven.

Cross' reaction?

"Wow! It was like God sent this to me," he said, ebullient as a souffle. "Regardless of how small it is, you have two floors and a stairway, so you can create light and space. I was so excited, I told them I would pay three years in advance."

Cross, who has an apartment in Greenwich Village as well, continued: "It needed me. It was a diamond in the rough. Honestly, what I think it is, I walked up to it and I saw exactly the way I would make it, and exactly the way it would become, and without me it would never become. And what could be more fun than spending a month in the mother ship of decor doing your own house?" (It should be noted that Cross is someone who seeks out unusual spaces; his New York City duplex, which was featured in Home two years ago, has a 3-foot-square dumbwaiter that he turned into a bathroom.)

Ceramic Space Heater

Ceramic Space Heaters - Ceramic Space Heaters

Ceramic Space Heaters

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