The main room runs the depth of the building, which is unusual for the Bastide and is the reason the apartment feels larger than its floor area suggests. Two tall windows face the street and a third, smaller one faces the courtyard behind, so there is light from both sides for most of the day.
The beams overhead are original and were left exposed when the building was converted. They are darker than the walls and they lower the visual ceiling considerably, which sounds like a drawback and is not: the room would feel cavernous without them.
Furniture is deliberately sparse. A linen sofa, a low table, a round dining table by the window that seats four at a push and two comfortably. There is no television. This was a decision rather than an oversight, and it is the one thing guests either love or immediately mention.
Morning light comes in low and warm from the street side and reaches most of the way across the floor. By mid-afternoon the room is in shade and noticeably cooler, which matters in July and August when the Languedoc sits in the mid thirties for days at a time. Shutters on the street windows close fully and make a real difference to how the room holds heat.
The floor is terracotta tile throughout, original where it survived and matched where it did not. It is cold underfoot in winter and exactly right in summer. There are rugs in the cupboard if you want them.
