Our Paris Flat - The Details
I'm excited to share with you some of the details of our Paris apartment. But first, a little story:
Back in 2010, we took our first trip to Paris. It was only for a few days while we were based in Berlin for two months but I quickly fell in love with the city. I remember pushing Alice's huge stroller through the 7th on the way to the Eiffel Tower and telling David that I'd like to live here someday. Have a little pied-a-terre ... "any of these buildings would do" ... and pretend to be Parisienne for a little while. He thought it was a great idea but impossible. Heh. (You can read about that day here.)
Anyway, fast-forward about seven years and viola ... our Paris flat:
It's on the corner of a residential neighborhood right across from a cute park, in the 16th district on the outskirts of Paris. Look at those trees! The building is from 1910 or so and near the Bois de Boulogne, the huge park to the west. Its location is perfect because it's close to the highway David will need to commute to the office and about two blocks from Alice's school. Shops and restaurants are just right down the street, as well.
It's a four bedroom (we'll have a guest room!), 182 square meters, with some built-ins in the living room and a mural in the dining room painted by the father of the original owner. David thinks they're "weird" but I think the Romanesque murals give the place character and charm. I love them (even though I haven't even seen them in person). We've got tall, floor to ceiling French doors in almost every room. And a small, city-sized balcony wrapping around one side that will be fantastic once the weather gets nice. I can grow some herbs!
The one drawback is the very small, isosceles-triangle-shaped kitchen with no appliances. But the Ikea cabinets are newer and well-maintained. And I'm trying to see it as an opportunity to simplify and create some fun solutions. I didn't pack a ton of dishes and bowls, so as not to overfill the cabinets. And we'll need to buy all new appliances so we can get what we want and they'll be new with a fresh warranty, in case anything goes wrong. So there.
When we were looking at the apartment (via Facetime for me) we learned the people leaving had been there for five years. And the owners were "very nice and accommodating." Those are good signs.
Lastly, you need to know this ... we negotiated the monthly rent down. After we lost the last lovely apartment, I started hunting around on the apartment listing sites and changing the rent maximums to see what was out there at a higher price. This one came on the list and I really liked it. So I asked our agent if we could negotiate the price to within our budget. And she did! Lesson: Doesn't hurt to ask for a lower price. Also, to be honest, from all the apartments (close to 15) we saw in the four apartment hunting trips we (and I mean David) went on, the rent was slightly overpriced for what is out there. Just saying.
Here are some pictures from the rental listing site:
The current tenants have just moved out and it's up to the owners to clean it up, repaint as needed and get it ready for us. The lease begins January 10, so we've got two weeks in our temp housing before we can start moving in.
We'll use that time to hunt for three things in particular that are absolute necessities before we can comfortably live here: curtains or we'll never sleep. Rugs or our toes will be frozen. And lamps, or we'll walk around in the dark.
More photos once we're in!
Related posts:
More Paris moving posts
Back in 2010, we took our first trip to Paris. It was only for a few days while we were based in Berlin for two months but I quickly fell in love with the city. I remember pushing Alice's huge stroller through the 7th on the way to the Eiffel Tower and telling David that I'd like to live here someday. Have a little pied-a-terre ... "any of these buildings would do" ... and pretend to be Parisienne for a little while. He thought it was a great idea but impossible. Heh. (You can read about that day here.)
Anyway, fast-forward about seven years and viola ... our Paris flat:
It's on the corner of a residential neighborhood right across from a cute park, in the 16th district on the outskirts of Paris. Look at those trees! The building is from 1910 or so and near the Bois de Boulogne, the huge park to the west. Its location is perfect because it's close to the highway David will need to commute to the office and about two blocks from Alice's school. Shops and restaurants are just right down the street, as well.
It's a four bedroom (we'll have a guest room!), 182 square meters, with some built-ins in the living room and a mural in the dining room painted by the father of the original owner. David thinks they're "weird" but I think the Romanesque murals give the place character and charm. I love them (even though I haven't even seen them in person). We've got tall, floor to ceiling French doors in almost every room. And a small, city-sized balcony wrapping around one side that will be fantastic once the weather gets nice. I can grow some herbs!
The one drawback is the very small, isosceles-triangle-shaped kitchen with no appliances. But the Ikea cabinets are newer and well-maintained. And I'm trying to see it as an opportunity to simplify and create some fun solutions. I didn't pack a ton of dishes and bowls, so as not to overfill the cabinets. And we'll need to buy all new appliances so we can get what we want and they'll be new with a fresh warranty, in case anything goes wrong. So there.
When we were looking at the apartment (via Facetime for me) we learned the people leaving had been there for five years. And the owners were "very nice and accommodating." Those are good signs.
Lastly, you need to know this ... we negotiated the monthly rent down. After we lost the last lovely apartment, I started hunting around on the apartment listing sites and changing the rent maximums to see what was out there at a higher price. This one came on the list and I really liked it. So I asked our agent if we could negotiate the price to within our budget. And she did! Lesson: Doesn't hurt to ask for a lower price. Also, to be honest, from all the apartments (close to 15) we saw in the four apartment hunting trips we (and I mean David) went on, the rent was slightly overpriced for what is out there. Just saying.
Here are some pictures from the rental listing site:
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| Lovely Murals and Fireplace in the Dining Room |
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| The Salon With Built-ins And Small Fireplace. Look How Those Doors Curve! |
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| One of the Smaller Bedrooms With French Doors |
We'll use that time to hunt for three things in particular that are absolute necessities before we can comfortably live here: curtains or we'll never sleep. Rugs or our toes will be frozen. And lamps, or we'll walk around in the dark.
More photos once we're in!
Related posts:
More Paris moving posts
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