I’m originally from Rennes. I left there at the age of 21 for Barcelona with the desire to explore new horizons and learn a new language. I met my husband there, and we had our first child. A few months later, we moved to Toulouse, and this is where we live now, in a house that suits us and where we feel comfortable. I am an aesthete; I love beauty in everything, which makes me an inquisitive person.

My apprenticeship in life, the most rewarding school of all! With my Management Science & Technology baccalaureate under my belt, I tried my hand at a foreign language college without much conviction to keep up with my girlfriends. I had no leader, no one who motivated me enough. I felt I needed attention to get there, encouragement. The mass approach doesn’t suit me. So I decided to enter the world of work with butterflies in my stomach, yet, at the same time, curiosity about what to expect. I soon earned a little money and left home, moving to Rennes. After that, I took a series of jobs as a sales assistant for various brands. It was a repetitive job but always in contact with people. I learned from all these experiences! Then I arrived in Barcelona. I continued my work in sales at Kookaï, after a fashion school there in merchandising. Then I became the visual merchandiser for the brand in Spain! I travelled around the country, and I loved it. This is where I started training teams in the rules of good merchandising. My creative vision was to the fore, and I loved what I did. I continued my training in this creative city a second time, thanks to my right to training. I went back to another fashion school for a one-year course in fashion journalism and social networking. The final project was to set up a blog, so I looked for a name and a concept. HOP3FULLY was born. It was a webzine that aimed to highlight emerging artists living in Barcelona, Paris and Amsterdam. A blog in three languages governed by a team of writers who are all good friends. We went to meet them to get to know them and photograph them. I invested myself, body and soul in this medium; it fulfilled me. The network grew through events that we organised between the three capitals in unlikely places (a launderette, a tattoo parlour, a coffee shop, etc.). I was learning to create ‘moments’ from scratch. To do artistic direction, production, partnerships, press. I invested time and money to keep this small but growing project alive. I then realised that this is what I was made for: bringing people together to present the work of artists who caught my eye. I like to nurture creativity and find those people who deserve to be seen. I then opened an Instagram page dedicated to the project, which grew very quickly! I brought my friends into this. It’s what unites us, brings us closer to each other despite the distance. I realise now that this project has taught us a lot; it’s been like a diploma course for us.

Over the years, HOP3FULLY evolved as I tried to monetise it. We spent a lot of time on it, but no money came back. So I tried to set up an online concept store to sell products from Barcelona designers. Always with product descriptions linked to the history of the brand and its creators. Here again, I started on something new with a steep learning curve – opening an e-shop! (Laughs) I think it was too early for this phase of the project. I had a very artistically oriented audience, and I covered decoration, children and fashion. This audience had to be redirected into communication and this wasn’t easy. Then came the year I turned 28 and became pregnant with our first child. I carried on working but very quickly, the question of returning to France came up in our discussions. After a year of the shop and trying to sell as best I could, I decided to stop the project when I arrived in Toulouse to devote myself to my child. After a few months, I decided to learn to take photographs. I trained with a friend and practised at home, where I spend most of my time. My Instagram account became Bonjour la Smala, and it was first dedicated to the family, then to designers, decoration, travels and things I fell in love with. The more it grew, the more I emphasised creation and craftsmanship. I like to communicate, write, express myself through different media, and I decided to go all out by taking my own account as a case study. Demands on me as an influencer started coming in, and so did my first communication clients. I was lucky enough to have a luxury decorating brand as my first client to set up a strategy and prove myself!

We bought the house as-is in 2018. We were looking for something around 130 m2, bright and quiet. It had to be an instant hit, which was the case with this one, which I visited without my husband, who was away at the time. It had just been renovated, all painted white with this beautiful concrete staircase. This was a great advantage as we were able to settle in with two small children immediately!

The decoration was arranged step by step. We were helped first and foremost by our friend Céline Hervé from Crème Studio and started with the security, with the glass railings for the stairs and the pool. Then she worked on the masterpiece for the living room: the bookcase in wood and cane. Here, my husband’s wish was to have a cabinet to store all our books, his turntables and his vinyl records. A modern, unique and timeless piece of furniture mixing high-quality materials such as wood and cane, where I could arrange our belongings, including this portrait of Napoleon, which would bring a historical touch to the rest while challenging those who pass in front of it…a bit of a dichotomy. We are lucky enough to get along very well when it comes to decoration; we both like the same materials. This house blends the old with the new, with pieces by artisans – such as in the kitchen with plates by the ceramist Homere – and the tufted rug by Atelier Paolo in Jules’ room. The light fixture in the living room came from an antique dealer in Berlin.

How comfortable we are here and how much it reflects us both! It is a warm place where playfulness and creativity have their place. Each room transports us to a different world while forming this cohesive whole at the end. This house is the cocoon where every day our children grow and flourish before our eyes.