Vintage charm, the French way - in pictures

The ordinary and the extra­ordinary exist side by side in Isabelle Puech’s Paris apartment – a converted carousel workshop in the 9th arrondissement, where merry-go-round horses were once repaired. The upper reaches of this vast, double-height space are accessed via a rusting spiral staircase, and three large, first world war battlefield medical kits – found, like much else, in the flea markets of Vanves and St-Ouen – are used as seating. Metal girders and factory lighting add to the industrial air, which is only ­softened by a wooden rocking chair. Photograph: Camera Press/MCM/Christophe Dugied

Lemon yellow Eames dining chairs (try Aram) in the living space. Photograph: Camera Press/MCM/Christophe Dugied

Animals hoofs and oil paintings – flea market finds – in the main living space. Photograph: Camera Press/MCM/Christophe Dugied

Puech has filled her home with contemporary pieces, including a selection of mismatched Eames dining chairs surrounding a large dining table. Photograph: Camera Press/MCM/Christophe Dugied

A second, smaller bathroom has its original sink (architectural salvage company, Lassco, has a great selection). Photograph: Camera Press/MCM/Christophe Dugied

A light-filled corridor overlooking a courtyard garden. Photograph: Camera Press/MCM/Christophe Dugied

The internal courtyard garden, which is filled with palms and other tropical plants. Photograph: Camera Press/MCM/Christophe Dugied

The workshop’s former office is now a kitchen, complete with distressed cabinets and charcoal-grey tiles. “Paris has been so done up that much of its texture has been lost,” says Puech, one of Paris’s best known maroquiniers who, with her husband, Benoit Jamin, founded the Jamin Puech label. Photograph: Camera Press/MCM/Christophe Dugied

The old atelier’s concrete floor, battered brick walls and beamed ceiling have been left, alongside a glorious tiled floor in the main bathroom (try Habibi Interiors for similar). Photograph: Camera Press/MCM/Christophe Dugied

The bedroom has a reclaimed filing cabinet and a distressed screen that serves as a headboard – found in a flea market. The lavender bed linen picks out similar shades in the parquet floor. Photograph: Camera Press/MCM/Christophe Dugied

Benoit Jamin and Isabelle Puech. Photograph: Camera Press/MCM/Christophe Dugied