Coco Chanel’s 31 Rue Cambon apartment

This week I am inspired by Coco Chanel, and wanted to dive deep into her interior design style. She was a trendsetter and her interior design taste was beyond her time. She revolutionized women’s clothing by showing women can be elegant and wear pants, and the little black dress is a timeless classic that will never be out of style.

When it comes to interior design and decorating, Coco Chanel had some revolutionizing ideas in her 31 Rue Cambon apartment as well. Chanel’s favorite colors were beige, black and white, and those were the colors she also chose for her home. While those colors may seen so normal today, decorating with light colors like beige and white were not common at all in the 50′s. Today we have easy-care materials and cleaning products, but not so much back then. One of Chanel’s brilliant ideas was to use suede as upholstering fabric – suede, that is so common nowadays.

I found pictures from Coco Chanel’s apartment in Paris and wanted to show how you can create a luxurious living room inspired by Coco Chanel. Yeah, in your dreams, right? Don’t turn away so fast, I will also show how to get Chanel inspired living room with a smaller budget – and even not-so-much-of-a-budget in upcoming posts.

Pictures from Coco Chanel’s apartment:

The Hollywood regency style wheat table with glass top has been one of those items that has been popping in design magazines the last couple of years, and it is making a huge comeback. You can find it on eBay or antique markets, flea markets if you are lucky, but I was not able to find a copy or reproduction of the wheat table. But I wouldn’t be surprised if indeed someone is starting reproduce this unique table some time soon.

One of the most famous pictures of Coco Chanel is the one taken for Hearst magazine, Chanel in a white chair. The chair originally was just a prop for the photo, but later on was purchased and now it resides at Coco Chanel’s apartment. I think she would approve, it reflects her design style and goes perfectly in the room.

One of the things to mention is that Coco Chanel used dark colors for the walls, and the wooden furniture was black, giving the room luxurious feel, but light colors for upholstered furniture and a lot of glass and crystals to bring lightness, and feminine delicateness to the space.

The quite opposite to the feminine objects are the statues Chanel collected. Coco Chanel liked combining antiques with modern items, and creating spaces that still today look stylish – style is forever.

Photos: Live Your Style

Tagged as: Coco Chanel, design inspiration