A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 26 – Own Your Space

 May 15, 2020

Fiona Ferris calls Day 26 “Create Your Own Designer Decor Look For Less” in her book, 30 More Chic Days. In this Day, Fiona talks to us about our home space. She discusses how she has developed her own look using inspiration from magazine articles, Pinterest and advertisements. She admires the sensibility of Ralph Lauren’s home product line – an English country house style and comfortable and layered. (The layered look, she describes, as something that combines high-quality pieces with rich colors and textures so that the room looks like it has had items added to it over years or even generations.) She does confess that she is less enamored with the prices of the Ralph Lauren Home line. Using the Ralph Lauren Home “style,” she’s been able to create a very similar look that incorporates her own preferences by doing some of her own sewing (for pillows or curtains) and by being creative and patient in finding just the right pieces. Fiona has had fun building her “decor” over time using auctions and vintage second-hand stores.

I’m definitely a fan of Fiona’s approach. My husband and I like French antiques – Louis XVI and Empire style mixed in with flea market finds. Many of the flea markets we like are here in France but we have also had terrific luck in small antique malls in the various cities we have visited in the US. Our furniture is mostly purchased from auctions (Hotel Drouot here in Paris) or on-line. Surprisingly, it can be pretty inexpensive to find high-quality French antiques in US auctions. (The secret is to have the twin hobbies of learning about your favorite styles and searching on-line  auction houses.) After a while, we developed a working knowledge of how to get things crated and shipped – both domestically and internationally. Both my husband and I were comfortable with our US house standing half-empty for quite a few years after we bought it. Little by little, the rooms acquired furniture, lighting and paintings. (One caveat: We did have a good bed (antique headboard and footboard but modern, comfortable mattress) and I had a nice dressing room/walk-in closet when we moved in. Some things are required!)

Fiona’s discussion encourages us to think about what we like in our surroundings and to have fun moving slowly as we bring that look into our reality. We don’t have to break the bank to create a lovely, nurturing and comfortable home space. 

My husband and I walked across the Bir-Hakeim bridge today to a housewares and hardware store called Castorama on Blvd de Grenelle to look for flowers for our window boxes (much cheaper prices than what I find here in my neighborhood!) I have included a photo of 2 of my apartment windows with their window boxes (jardinieres de fenêtre) of red geraniums. We actually have 5 windows on the front of the building so there are five window boxes. We were experimenting with placing the window boxes outside the railings or inside the railings. (We decided to go with outside the railings so that we can shut the metal shutters to block out the sunlight while keeping the windows open when it gets warmer.)