Two weekends ago, Amy Chase had the opportunity during our Paris trip to visit with Jess, an English actress living in Paris, and snap some lovely shots of her home, which she is renovating herself.
In particular, we are enamored of Jess's tiles and her cabinets for which Jess offers us the following source info:
"The tiles come from a Belgian firm called Emery & Cie. She has her tiles made in the traditional method in North Africa but chooses her own dyes....
"It's pretty expensive.
You can check out their new website where there are more amazing tiles but also wallpaper and more...
They have very few shops, the Paris one is five minutes walk from my flat which is how I discovered it. Although she doesn't have an American store there does seems to be an American contact for American orders.
The kitchen cabinets come from a French home furnishing and DIY shop called Lapeyre, which is really not much more glamourous than Ikea. But they have some good designs and are not expensive."
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
i think my kitchen chairs would look great in the bathroom ;)
*sigh* To have an apt where the lay out makes total sense! I love how she painted the furnace red!
What I really want to know is:
"HOW to be an ex-patriot and move to, and get a job in, France."
Seriously. I can't seem to find a book or anything that really talks about this in the kind of concrete realities that I need.
I'm an artist. My husband is an engineer. I speak the language and I want to live there so bad. Even more than NYC.
Rachel,
I think the book for you is "Paris Inside Out: The Insider's Handbook to Life in Paris." It's Paris specific but a lot of it applies to other parts of France too.
regards,
trillium
Hi Rachel,
This might be a good place to start -
www.americansinfrance.net
Paris is sooooo beautiful I really hope you get a chance to realise this dream
Just watch out for the roving bands of rioting maniacs.
Heh, I grew up in Detroit, roving bands of rioting maniacs don't bother me a whit!
Thanks for the link Karen,a dn I'll see about that book, Trillium.
The odd thing: I have never been to france at ALL. But I still want to live there. I only visited colorado for 48 hours before moving here, and while it's been a blast, I'm ready to go somewhere else! I'm starting to think that I should be a renter - while there is security in ownership, I want to be able to leave at teh drop of a hat - go live in paris for a few years, then maybe moscow, maybe san diego, maybe the keys.
But more than maybe Paris. :)
moscow is great. and horrible. and great.
these tiles are incredible! thanks so much for the link to the emery & cie website...so lovely! i want to move to paris.
Paris is beautiful. The food is fantastic, the wine is amazing, the people are thin, the sodas are ridiculously expensive (at least in restaurants), but boy do they like their cigarettes!
That's why they're thin :)
sharp eyes aimee... indeed she did paint the furnace red and i loved that too! wasn't sure you could really see that in the picture.
i also think we all need heated towel racks like she has. my god what a perfect, sensible yet luxurious invention...
Are those kitchen cabinets solid wood or more particleboard?
Also, the rugs on that Emery & Cie website make my mouth water. So beautiful.
Those blue-grey smoky tiles with the undercoat of terra cotta or whatever underneath the topcoat of glaze in the kitchen are just beyond beautiful. Ethereal and substantial all in one place. And then the bathroom tiles are also lovely.
Methinx I'd have switched the colors, since I'd rather have the blue watery thing happening in the bathroom, since green things growing in a bathroom aren't as appetizing as in a kitchen, though. But that green is VERY lovely.
Curtis, I'm sure Artistic tiles here in the city have something similar.
*amy, you can have heated towel rack/radiator in US; in fact, there are many companies on a market who offer two options: to connect the rack to your hot-water heating system if you have one in lieu of the radiator, or to install a dedicated electrical outlet and plug the electric-heat version in it (or have a hardwired rack).
One example- @my signature
waaaaaah!
I' m french, and i live in paris and i'm so crazy about the tile from emery and co (the store is 5 minutes away from my home!!!) : i'm really jealous!!!
beautiful!