Flea markets of Paris...

When we visited Paris last month our goal, aside from eating and drinking everything in site was to shop.  I know it is terrible right!  We were in the process of trying to fill our first container to ship back to the States.  We started out in Paris at the flea markets and could have shopped there for days but as you know travel does not always allow for days and days of endless browsing and then going back to make final purchases and decisions.  Things move so fast it can be hard to know if you have made the right choices for weeks to come.  I know I should have bought the chairs that are shown below, I am kicking myself now for doubting my first inclination.  I love these chairs and I hope that they find a wonderful home somewhere in the world.. they are so amazing! 

Aside from that I tried not to pass up anything that spoke to me.   I finally had to realize that anything is possible with the right amount of determination and dare I say money behind it.  We did end up dragging dress forms and multiple goodies back with us on the metro, yep they looked at us like we were crazy but whatever, they did that every time we spoke to them in English after starting with "bonjour".  It was amazing to buy furnishings and accessories with the idea that we would be having them here in such a short time.  I am looking forward to getting all of our goodies and setting up for our first container sale!

 

 

We loved all of the displays, the talent in these flea markets blows away what we see here at home.  Although I must say that we have to remember these are permanent spaces not pop ups.

 

This space was amazing, I wanted every book!  I love the green blue!

 

This big guy was so cool and calm, he just wanted to chill not shop.

 

These two I did not manage to leave.  They are perfect and I love them.  I will also love them when they get home to me in my living room thank you very much!

 

I did pass this sweet little thing up.. I was tired and did not even ask the price - a mistake I know!

 

Gorgeous!

 

This vendor said this was a painting of his mother in law.  His booth was super cool!

 

(This picture is for Loi)

 

images by christina for greige

If you would like help creating inspirational spaces for yourself contact us!

Recovery...

 Just wanted to share a few of my favorite instagram pictures from the trip.  I promise to go through my photos over the holiday weekend and share a bit with you next week.  Every time I visit Paris I fall for it all over again even though she really makes you work for it!  I am exhausted when I return from these trips both physically and mentally!   This weekend I will do my best to fully recover!

I also want to extend a huge THANK YOU to the girls that were nice enough to guest post for us while I was away!  I could not have done it without you!  Thank you to Andrea, Si, and Shari!

 

 

If you would like help creating inspirational spaces for yourself contact us!

Design Traveler: Andrea of The French Basketeer

Design Traveler Visits: Le Domaine de Chantilly, France
When thinking of Paris and châteaux, Versailles, Fontainebleau and perhaps the Loire Valley come to mind. But just a short distance from central Paris lies a gem of a château that has been carefully restored and offers some serious eye candy of paintings, decorative arts, gardens and equestrian displays.

The Domaine de Chantilly passed from different parts of the same family without ever being sold, from 1386 to 1897. The Château first opened to the public in 1898, less than a year after the death of the final owner, Henri d’Orleans, Duke of Aumale. As with the Louvre, the Château de Chantilly was improved, expanded, destroyed and rebuilt over the course of centuries. Its long history is complex, fascinating and, well…very French...

 
Chantilly was at its peak in the 17^th century, when André Le Nôtre (who would be later become the head gardener at Versailles) created a Grand Canal, water features and parterres. Chantilly came alive with grand balls and fireworks displays, visits from Louis XV and plays by Molière.

The fun came to a halt during the French Revolution, when the collections of the Château were seized and carted off to the Louvre and the Château served first as a prison, then was partially demolished. The Château regained its glory in the 19th century when Henri d'Orléans, the fifth son of King Louis-Philippe, inherited the property (and great wealth) in 1830 at the age of eight.

 
Today, a visit to the Domaine includes the Renaissance-style Château, with grand entry hall and hunt theme, intimate chapel, a generous painting gallery, library with over 1,300 manuscripts and 12,500 books, private apartments and gardens. The collections are presented today just as they were in the 19^th century as Henri d’Orleans had arranged them. The collection can be considered a mini-Louvre, with representation by many great French and Italian masters such as Raphael, Corot, Watteau, Poussin, Delacroix and Clouet.

The private apartments have been undergoing extensive renovation since 2005, and the details behind that work are interesting from a design standpoint. The largest expense of restoration work on the Château is gold leaf. Pure, 24 karat gold leaf is used, not paint, and there is a lot of it. The walls and relief are cleaned, to uncover the original colors, and not completely repainted. The paint is made especially for the Domaine with a base of what is called colle de peau, or animal glue, which holds well for centuries and has been used since ancient times.

The Domaine de Chantilly is a marvelous and carefully restored château with its collection of period decorative arts, paintings, book & manuscripts. In addition to being beautiful, it is also fascinating in that it is the personal collection of one man, Henri d’Orleans. If you have visited the Louvre or Versailles, you will love this Château, for the intimate portrait it paints of the tastes and life of one of France’s royal sons after the monarchy. In the spring and summer, the Domaine also presents a series of live horse shows and dressage demonstrations in the Grand Stables.

 
For more information on the Château de Chantilly, visit www.chateaudechantilly.com

* * * * *

Andrea Drexelius is a devoted Francophile and divides her time between Laguna Beach and various destinations in France. In addition to importing classic French market baskets, she writes extensively on France. The first of her e-book series Rêve will focus on Paris (including Chantilly) and will be published imminently.  Information on Rêve and her blog can be found HERE.

Off...

 

I am off today, bound for Paris.. I am looking forward to sharing our adventures with you.  We are so excited to be going and bringing treasures back this time.  Keep your fingers crossed for us in hopes  that we find wonderful things!  

Follow along with me -

instagram

facebook

 

If you would like help creating inspirational spaces for yourself contact us!

Paris bound..

I am spending most of this week wrapping up projects here, shipping and packing for our trip to Paris. I will be posting prep and travel photos on instagram if you want to follow along or you can check out the facebook page too.  Our pool project should be finishing up too... so exciting!  Wishing you a wonderful Monday!

If you would like help creating inspirational spaces for yourself contact us!

Flowers of Giverny

 

I hope you had a wonderful weekend!  I spent some much needed time just relaxing and working on planning my trip.  This time we will not be visiting Giverny, but our last visit was so fun and beautiful I thought I would share it with you today.  My garden has been on my mind lately as I am going to have to start fresh once we are finished with the pool.  I cannot wait to gather more ideas from the beautiful gardens on our upcoming visit.  

If you would like help creating inspirational spaces for yourself contact us!

France once again...

 

It is official... I am getting ready for another trip to Paris in a few weeks and we are bringing back our first container.  I am a little nervous I will admit but excited at the same time.  We will stay in Paris and shop the flea markets there for the first week mixed with much site seeing and relaxing around the city, then it is off to Normandy to shop with Sharon from My French Country Home.  I am so excited to see her again and experience a bit more of her amazing everyday life!

These are just a few of the photos that we snapped on our last trip, some you may have seen and some are new.  I was just going through them and thought I would share some of my current favorites with you.  I have a few more posts lined up from our last adventure to share before we leave too!

 

 


If you would like help creating inspirational spaces for yourself contact us!