In early October 2026, Never Too Small published episode 270 of its series, featuring LECLERC, the 43 m² apartment that interior architect Anthony Aoun renovated to live in. Among the ideas highlighted, one in particular caught our eye: the small table attached to his window railing. It's our Balconie, and we were absolutely delighted by the news.
The video runs just under 13 minutes. Anthony Aoun shows the apartment's location, its floor plan, and then each room: the entrance, living room, kitchen, dining area, bedroom, and bathroom. The accompanying article on the Never Too Small website goes into detail about five ideas from the project.
Never Too Small, the media outlet for thoughtfully designed small spaces
Never Too Small is an Australian media outlet based in Melbourne, entirely dedicated to the architecture and design of compact homes. Its creator, Colin Chee, showcases studios, apartments, and small houses designed by award-winning architects and designers in cities around the world. The media outlet offers videos on YouTube, articles on its website, a print magazine, and books, along with a directory of professionals specializing in small spaces.
Its starting point is a single conviction: smart design and creative use of space can change the way we live in increasingly dense cities while improving quality of life. Never Too Small calls this approach Small Footprint Living, which could be translated as "living with a small footprint". The channel has been cited by the New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, the Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal, which ranked it among the best YouTube channels for home decor enthusiasts.
Doing more with less space: why it resonates with us
That is exactly the question we have been asking ourselves at Extra Terrasse since 2020: how can we enjoy the outdoors when all we have is a railing in front of our window, or a balcony where we can barely stand? Our products attach to what is already there—a railing, a balustrade, a post—so they never take up floor space.
Seeing the Balconie in an episode of Never Too Small is a bit like seeing our own approach in someone else's home. Anthony Aoun was not trying to turn his window into a balcony. He wanted to gain some functionality where there was none, and that is precisely what this table was designed for.
LECLERC: 43 m² reimagined by Anthony Aoun
Anthony Aoun is an interior architect and the founder of the studio AOUN INTERIEURS, which designs custom spaces intended to make the most of every square meter. LECLERC is his own apartment: 43 m² in a late 19th-century building in western Paris. Before the renovations, the home was divided into a series of small closed rooms, with a narrow entrance, a separate kitchen, and partitions that prevented natural light from circulating.
His first move was to open everything up. He removed almost all the partitions and installed the kitchen in the living room. Each space retains its identity, but light and views now pass through the apartment from end to end.
The ideas that make the project so strong
An entrance that begins on the landing
Anthony Aoun treated the common landing as an extension of his home. Around the door, custom-made furniture stores shoes, hides the electrical panel, and displays objects brought back from trips. The front door, made of aged metal and custom-built, announces the character of the apartment even before you enter.
Inside, a wood-paneled wall replaces traditional closets. Behind this continuous panel are hidden coats, shoes, and access to the guest toilet, while thin shelves attached to the wood hold keys and small everyday objects without encroaching on the floor.
A desk that disappears into the bookcase
In the living room, an entire wall is occupied by a custom-made bookcase that combines open shelves and closed storage. Antique-looking mirrors line the back of some niches: they reflect light into the room and give depth to an otherwise imposing piece of furniture.
This is also where the desk is hidden. A sliding mechanism, inspired by systems used in kitchens, allows the worktop to be pulled out when needed. The surface is large enough to work on A3-sized plans, and the printer is stored right next to it. Once the day is over, everything goes back into the bookcase and the living room becomes a living room again.
A bedroom separated by a mirrored door
To isolate the bedroom without closing it off completely, the architect installed a full-height sliding door. On the entrance side, it is covered with a mirror that reflects the church across the street and visually enlarges the space. On the bedroom side, a natural wallpaper extends onto the wardrobe doors, so that the whole thing blends into the wall once closed.
The insulation added to the walls also created extra thickness. Anthony Aoun used this to design an alcove around the bed, with small niches on each side that echo the Gothic arches of the neighboring church.
Materials to define an open-plan space
Without partitions, it is the materials that mark the boundaries. In the kitchen, large-format white tiles distinguish the floor from that of the living room, and Zimbabwean granite covers the worktop and backsplash. Its shiny surface echoes the mirrors in the bookcase.
Green tones and botanical wallpaper recur from room to room and connect the spaces. During demolition, a 19th-century wooden beam was discovered: restored and left exposed, it dialogues with the wood used elsewhere in the apartment, bridging the old and the new.
No balcony? A Balconie on the window railing
LECLERC has neither a balcony nor a terrace. Yet Anthony Aoun found a way to strengthen the connection between the apartment and the outdoors. By replacing and insulating the windows, he obtained deeper sills, wide enough to place a small balcony table on. One more useful surface, along the entire facade.
And then there is the little Balconie in Parisian Green, attached to the railing right in front of the window, with just enough space to set down a cup of coffee. Never Too Small presents it as the smallest addition to the project, and "perhaps the most charming". As the editorial team points out, the table does not turn the window into a balcony, but it allows you to enjoy what lies beyond the apartment a little more.
It is a use we know well. Many apartments in the city have only a window with a balustrade, without the slightest balcony. The Balconie attaches directly to the railing, without drilling, and offers a surface where there was only empty space. For plants, our Balconnières also hang from the balustrade. If you are in this situation, we have gathered other ideas in our article No balcony? Here is how to enjoy the outdoors, and we detail the differences between balcony, terrace, and window sill in another guide.
A great source of pride for Extra Terrasse
Seeing our table in an architect's project is already a great recognition. Seeing it highlighted by Never Too Small, a media outlet that has championed for years the idea that a well-thought-out small home can offer a real quality of life, is something else entirely. We could not have dreamed of a setting closer to what we try to do every day.
A big thank you to Anthony Aoun for choosing the Balconie for his apartment, to the entire team at Never Too Small for this very beautiful video, and to Alexis Lesage for the photographs of the project. To discover LECLERC in detail, visit the Never Too Small article and the AOUN INTERIEURS website.
Frequently asked questions
What is Never Too Small?
Never Too Small is an Australian media outlet based in Melbourne, dedicated to the design and architecture of small homes. It publishes video tours of compact studios and apartments designed by architects and designers, as well as a magazine and books about small-space living.
Who is Anthony Aoun?
Anthony Aoun is an interior architect and the founder of the studio AOUN INTERIEURS. He renovated LECLERC, his own 43 m² apartment located in western Paris, featured in episode 270 of Never Too Small in October 2026.
What is the small table attached to the window in the LECLERC apartment?
It is the Balconie, the railing table designed by Extra Terrasse. It attaches to the balustrade of a balcony or window and comes in two sizes, small and large, and in up to eight colors.
Can you install a table without having a balcony?
Yes, as long as a window is equipped with a railing or balustrade. This is the case with Anthony Aoun: the Balconie turns a simple balustrade into a small shelf for setting down a coffee. Our guide How to attach the Balconie to its railing details the installation.
Félix Miquel, founder and designer of Extra Terrasse