Hello AT,
Dear AT,
I'm in the process of buying a tiny apartment in Paris. While it is in fairly decent nick, there are a couple of things I want to improve; as much as possible, I'd like to have a pretty clear idea of what I'm going to do before I meet with the contractor next month (I'm doing things long distance, eek).
I have a couple of things I need help with; I'll space them out so I'm not too much of an irritant. I do think all have general relevance.
First off, the skylight:
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I've never had one before, and I love it, but I'm a really light-sensitive sleeper. Two things: how would you cover the skylight? The current owner made a neat little canvas curtain on rails that she flaps down over the skylight using a dowel with a hook on its tip. It works, and is charming in its simplicity, but does anyone have any better ideas? The second: the glass in the skylight is frosted safety glass with a wire mesh grid - would you change the glass to clear, without the grid? I thought it might be nice to see sky rather than light. 
You can get skylights with the shade built into the glass. http://www.veluxusa.com/products/accessories/blindsAndShades/
In my old house we had these and they were awesome because they really block the light. You can buy them built into the glass or outside the glass depending on your situation.
I love skylights!
Bonne chance!
i was going to suggest installing a sliding shade made out hardboard and painted white attached to casters under the window, but Rachel's suggestion is more attractive.
nice apartment!!
check out mechoshade which offers custom sizes and different levels of opacity -- all the way to blackout shades. mechos are often found in office bldgs, but they work well for residential use too. also, since your installation would be ceiling mounted, you can order a shade that is kitted out with a remot controlled motor so you can draw or pull the shade from the comfort of your own bed. i believe they have distriutors around the world.
one cavet: they ain't cheap. good luck
HI May I ask you a question - your apartment looks wonderful - I am not sure if you are a French national, but I thought only citizen's could buy in Paris? Has this changed?? Please let us know I dream of one day being in your situation.
PS unless you can clean your skylight easily, sometimes frosted can be good especially in a polluted city.
I used to rent a bedroom that had a skylight, and the owner had installed some sort of honeycomb window shade on it. It was just a matter then of using a long pole with a hook on the end to draw and close the shade, which I think looks more attractive than a curtain on rails. Only thing was that the shade was white, so it did let in a lot of light.
The apartment looks beautiful, however, good luck!
I wanted to clarify that the shade had a hook on the end, I believe the shade was made that way. And now that I think about it, it did do a pretty good job of blocking the light. Not as well as a blind might have done but fairly good.
As a princess, I can't stand the light either. I just wear a mask.
It may not be your style - but what about a canopy bed with thick curtains? And leave the skylight unadorned...
Of course, if you have cash (LOTS OF IT with the euro at $1.34 to send cash from the USA to France to make the purchase!) you can buy an apartment in Paris. I've had my 27m2 aparmtent in Les Halles since 1986...and I bought a place in southwest France a few years ago and I bought yet another flat in Avignon in 2005 but...back to PARIS: for the last 4 months I have been in plumbing problem hell (not reimbursable by insurance). HOWEVER, I did have a wonder woman, who trained as a set designer for Hollywood films, who is adept at dealing with French contractors and bureaucracy (an American who has lived there since 1988) who has totally refreshed and renovated my tiny place (furnished 3-month rental, anyone, starting next week?) and communicates extremely clearly (and only does what YOU want, not what her tastes dictate)...who is very reasonable. She can (for a fee) help you acquire a place when you are ready to buy another (she has vast contacts that way) but she does not manage renting it out if that's your idea. You might want to contact her via e-mail saying you were referred by Bernadette, by writing to virginia.field@wanadoo.fr
What about a four poster bed with a canopy and, if really necessary, flaps at the sides?
You'd block out all the light you need to keep you asleep without doing anything structural or awkward to reach.
Thanks for all the great suggestions. I think that the Velux site may be my best bet; in France, Velux is so common that the word is pretty much synonymous with "skylight".
I was very much thinking whether a frosted skylight would be good in a city, because of pollution. It's such a difficult place to clean - the ceilings are 12 feet.
I know of no restrictions on foreigners buying in France, and have several American friends who have bought flats in Paris. As Bernadette says, the big problem is the collapse of the dollar. I've been looking for a place for about 18 months, and in that time, the apartment prices have gone up by at least 10% while the dollar has tumbled by about 10%. So my apartment is TINY - 23 square meters, a Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan-sized 250 square feet.
I live in NYC, but have a summer house on Cape Cod.
I have Window Quilts on the sliding doors in the kitchen and the master bedroom. I believe they do skylights as well. These are amazing. They help in energy savings with the sun in the daytime as well as during the evenings when it's cold; summer/winter etc. They're also amazing at repelling light.
Give them a try: http://www.1windowquilts.com
Best of luck to you.
_E
PS/ your flat looks like my small studio here in NYC. :)
nice going.......I too would love to have an apt in Paris...back to your skylight, Hunter Douglas makes custom shades operated on a track with remote control for easy open/close. It's great and not too expensive. Just find a rep for HD and give them inside mount measurements.
I don't think the WindowQuilts will quite work for the space the way I see it.
The problem with the HunterDouglas electrical shade would be... the electric part of it. I'm a bit wary of trying to plug American electrics into the European grid. Velux offers a kind of cool (at least, cool-sounding) solar motorized shade, which it claims has no wires and can be installed without an electrician. I'll nose about in Paris, see if I can find one of those there.
I do love the woman on the Hunter Douglas home page, the dreamy brunette gazing into the distance through her handsome Hunter Douglas vertical Venetian blinds. Clearly, her window solutions have brought her the sort of inner peace that I can only dream of, or read about in self-help books.
If you keep it all rustic like, as it is now, you may want to at least make the shade a darker color. Even if its thick canvas, it will still be better if its darker.
--"Clearly, her window solutions have brought her the sort of inner peace that I can only dream of, or read about in self-help books."--
More likely, she's daydreaming about buying an apartment in Paris, you lucky, lucky boy!
The only problem about buying consumer goods in France, in general, is that the velux in France don't seem to work that well and there is no or little after-service. You will find out for yourself. I don't know why this is, so buyer beware. Re: Velux--I have the one with the double panes and the shade over it in my beach place in the southwest, and have only had problems. Mine is older, so perhaps the newer models are better. Making choices like this is where people like Virginia come in handy. Last night, I just spoke to a friend who, like me, bought her apartment in Paris in 1986. She paid about $75,000 for 50 m2 on Ile St. Louis. It is a gem (and has a skylight like yours, which she keeps open, I think). She wants to sell it now and due to the fabulous exchange rate for buying dollars with euros, it's worth about $650,000. So, the exchange rate can be good for you, depending on your position. Good luck.
We also have a skylight, right above our bed. We debated for a long time about whether or not to cover it up, but there is just something special about waking up to see a square patch of blue sky, or even the rain beating down. So, we sort of adapted (eyeshades help). Of course we are in a quiet village in Switzerland, so there's no light-pollution problem at night...which you may have in Paris.
If you do change the glass be sure it is extra-strong and cleanable, because critters do walk around on rooftops. We have assorted cats, birds, and even marten (sort of like weasels, but slightly cuter) look down at us on occasion.
Hello,
Beautiful flat indeed, which area is it ? Check this website selling custom made "stores imprimés" on french website art-galerie-photo.com. Apparently you can have the photo you want printed on your shade. Brilliant
Hmmm. Good to know about Velux's iffiness in France, Bernadette. It seems like such a simple thing to make a unit with an integrated blind, but perhaps it ain't that simple.
Thanks for the photo shade referral, allegra - I'm not sure that that would work with the scheme I have in mind, although that may reflect the limitations of my imagination.
It's in the Marais. I'm lucky enough to have a 7th floor apartment - with an elevator, truly rare in the neighbourhood.