Old leather armchair, mid-century brass clad coffee table,
zebra skin, vintage globe light, books galore!
B joined a Philippine business mission that spent 2 nights in Paris, and 1 night in Bordeaux. Of course I was going to tag along but it was going to be too short a trip for too long a flight, so I made a deal: If you want a roommate, can we stay 3 more nights in Paris on the way home? (Although I wanted to say one-week more, I was being realistic and mindful of his business schedule).
Still, this was not going to be a quick fly-in, fly-out workaholic trip. That is being too disrespectful to Paris!
Black and white photographs on the walls
Our host said almost all the furniture and tabletop decor came from fleamarkets and brocantes
It was a third floor walk-up, but I didn't think twice since we could use the exercise. It was also tiny at 36 m2, but compared to a hotel room in the same area, which is about 18m2, this was going to be luxurious.
Best of all, the price was right.
Kartell Bourgie lamp and Philip Starck ghost chair
Bon Marche department store
It's always amazing to stay in 5-star luxurious hotels but I save that experience for places in Asia where one gets the most bang for the buck. In Europe, luxurious hotels are so expensive that it hurts not only the pocketbook but also the conscience.
iconic mid-century Nagel modular chrome candelabra
(Ahem, notice the correct order of my adjectives--print these writing tips for you and your kids)
Then it just happened that it is decorated in a way that speaks directly to my soul?! What a stroke of luck! I went from pleased to ecstatic.
It turns out that our host's boyfriend is a brocanteur and interior designer. No wonder the interior design is a deliberate mix of iconic finds. It is done up very confidently too--low key, practical and tasteful. There were tons of French interior design magazines on the bookshelves of the apartment.
I was conflicted--should stay in and devour all the design magazines (it didn't stop raining all weekend)? Or go out and rummage through the weekend brocantes? This is Paris... we have to go out--rain or rain! In the end we did both.
This particular trip was filled with so many highlights for me; the people in the group were all wonderfully warm and gracious, and the events we attended were exceptionally special.
I didn't take a photo of the opposite wall--she had lovely cookbooks and the pantry was stocked with high quality olive oil and balsamic, artisan sea salt.
don't I look thrilled?
1 comment:
Your recent posts have made me hungry for Paris, especially this one as I would have loved this apartment. We had such bad luck on the last lay of our latest visit in 2005 - we even missed the plane - that I haven't been able to persuade him for a repeat.
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