Practical Guide for the Furniture shopper in Paris
Step ONE: Immediately fly back to the US, shop, and ship everything back to Paris.
I'm serious people. Now granted I have just started my search, but the outlook is VERY DIM. If you share my taste, then the idea of furnishing your apartment with IKEA makes you nearly dead. And this means you are in big trouble. I have asked around at work, in groups, from my small group of Paris friends and almost every single one immediately answers "Ikea". I went online: Ebay - France, Kijiji - France, Fusak.fr, Craigslist...take a look, go ahead, its ALL IKEA!!! and/or crappity crap you wouldn't even put in your shed out back!
Ok, so I'm being pessimistic you say? Well this weekend I hit two of these famous "antique markets" and well, I saw barely ANY furniture. So now my quest is to hit the more famous larger ones on the north side of Paris. It might be my only hope. My issue is two-fold really:
1. I just sold/gave away all my beloved pieces of furniture that were 100% me and I will not replace them with IKEA.
2. Aside from the taste of living alone in my last apartment (1 year), I have always lived in other peoples places/spaces and I need this apartment to be stamped with me. And that stamp does not include anything modern.
How can there not be a more classic furniture store here? Heavy solid wood with curves and shapes thick and sturdy. Nothing you build but something shaped into furniture, not crushed, smooshed and then laminated back together!!! Hell, even a Paris Pottery Barn would do! Honestly, half my shit came from there anyway.
There MUST BE a place. This will be my project/something to do. And believe you me, if there is such a place, I will HAVE to find it.
Ok. now breathe and exhale. haha. kidding.
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Monday, December 17, 2007
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1:53 PM
You may find some at Cligancourt, but it will cost three arms, two legs and your left breast. And it will be in poor condition. Bienvenue à Paris. My suggestion is to rent a car and go out into the boonies--you'll find things more easily and cheaper. Talk to Lyn on the Live In France list--she found some great stuff, but again, elle habite Boufou Egypte. You may not want to repeat that--I don't know if Boufou Egypt is a french term, and they will likely just look at you like you sprouted an extra nose.
Glad you're enjoying la politesse pariesienne. Compared to the Midwest USA, they're not so nice, but vs. NYC, yeah, I could see it. Oh, and they are really patient, because everything takes a really freaking long time. Everyone is slow, because they can't lose their job, so why rush? It gets really frustrating after a while. So don't worry about asking for time off--the french are used to it, and totally understand that nothing can get done in your off-hours. That's just the way it is.
But consider yourself lucky--in Boufou Egypte, nothing's open on Saturday, either. (Let me know if you run out of TP on Sunday, I can tell you where to get it. And they call it PQ.)