 | Would you like to take a tour of my half-furnished apartment? Ok, let’s go! |
Here’s our backstory, in case you’re new.
After years of getting furniture at Goodwill, Ikea, yard sales, and Toys R Us, and with only one kid left at home, we were finally ready to get some decent furniture. Then we decided to move to Paris. Shipping our crummy furniture would have been crazy, so we got rid of it and shipped only our personal belongings, books, the piano, my favorite green armchair, a beloved coffee table, some kitchen things, and two exercise machines (not my decision, also not a hill worth dying on). We’re waiting for that shipment now. Maybe August, they said.
Then we moved to Paris!
Our realtor helped me figure out the flea markets, furniture stores, and textiles. My taste is apparently Danish modern/minimalist/books/shabby chic, so putting it all together is interesting. Yes, “books” is a decorating category. If you’re me.
After years of getting furniture at Goodwill, Ikea, yard sales, and Toys R Us, and with only one kid left at home, we were finally ready to get some decent furniture. Then we decided to move to Paris. Shipping our crummy furniture would have been crazy, so we got rid of it and shipped only our personal belongings, books, the piano, my favorite green armchair, a beloved coffee table, some kitchen things, and two exercise machines (not my decision, also not a hill worth dying on). We’re waiting for that shipment now. Maybe August, they said.
Then we moved to Paris!
Our realtor helped me figure out the flea markets, furniture stores, and textiles. My taste is apparently Danish modern/minimalist/books/shabby chic, so putting it all together is interesting. Yes, “books” is a decorating category. If you’re me.
You go up these lovely stairs to get to our apartment. The entryway is quite large, so I put this little flea market table there.
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Living room. So far, we have a tv, a cowhide rug, and a cart which can either be an end table or a way to get party food from the kitchen down the long hall to the living room. The chair will go somewhere else. I’ve ordered a couch from Habitat which will arrive in July. For now, I’m going to skip the curtains. Nobody can see in there, and there are shutters if we really need darkness.
My office. I bought the 1950s desk, the end table, and the lampstand at the flea market. The couch is from Habitat.
Piano room. This is supposed to be the dining room, but we’re going to put the piano here and eat in the room off the kitchen. The piano is the size of a Buick, so it gets its own room. So far, the room has a rug and floor lamp from Ikea, and a desk lamp from Habitat.
The bathroom has tile on the walls, with this nifty shelf over the toilet. I got the wooden box at the flea market, and I got the decorating idea off Pinterest.
I’m not sure what to do about a shower curtain. I found L-shaped rods, but that doesn’t work because one wall is the window. We stayed in several French places with no shower curtain, so apparently the French don’t require a shower curtain, and you just have to shower crouched over so you don’t spray the room. I’m open to suggestions! We bought this washer and dryer, but have to get the vanity moved over so we can open the drawers again. There was no place else to put the washer and dryer! I have no idea what the last people did.
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The master bedroom. We ordered a bed last month, and it should come within a couple of weeks. In the meantime, we’re sleeping on the floor. Still looking for nightstands.
We got Ikea wardrobes, which Sam assembled magnificently. The lights come on automatically when you open the doors!
There is only one closet in the room, and it’s full of shelves. It is actually a passageway leading to the piano room, but somebody put shelves in there. It’s my shoe closet until our shipping container gets here with my hanging shoe bag. The master bath is small but functional. I bought the white storage unit at Muji.
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Kid 3’s room was easy. We gave him a budget and took him to Ikea. He assembled everything but the bed himself. His rug is from the flea market. I think he did a great job!
He collected all his tickets from our trip around the world and decorated his wardrobe with them. Beautiful!
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The minimally adorned kitchen and dining room are located at the back end of the apartment so that in times past they could keep servants far away from the classy people. These days, it keeps me far away from the rest of the family. Good thing I’m an introvert! The light is good so with some cozy furniture and accessories it should shape up nicely.
I got the 1950s table from a boutique called Nordik Market. Those Ikea folding chairs will have to do until some real dining chairs come along.
I got the 1950s table from a boutique called Nordik Market. Those Ikea folding chairs will have to do until some real dining chairs come along.
The kitchen is small, but it can hold two people if they are friendly and three if they love each other very much. The kitchen has an odd, curving wall because it is built around a staircase: the dark, little-used servants’ staircase.
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There is a long, skinny hallway that curves around the servants’ stairs and leads to the hot water heater. We put in the shelves and microwave cart. Here are the servants’ stairs.
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That’s it for now! I’m waiting for the bed and sofa to be delivered, then I’ll buy some nightstands and end tables. I should also start looking for wall sconces and hanging lamps, because right now we just have light bulbs sticking out of the walls. When our shipment arrives with our possessions, I’ll get some bookshelves and put flowers in vases. Until then, our decor is minimalist.
Here’s a link to my Pinterest board. I’ve been tweaking it for a couple of years.
If you want to see the apartment empty, here’s the video of the day we got the keys:
Here’s a link to my Pinterest board. I’ve been tweaking it for a couple of years.
If you want to see the apartment empty, here’s the video of the day we got the keys:
Decorating suggestions? Shower curtain ideas? Wall sconce styles? Comment with your suggestions!
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